Just thinking...

Yesterday a friend gave me a copy of the Guardian and G2 to read. Did you see it? I was amazed.

We got into a bit of a debate at homegroup last night about whether true worship (in a corporate setting) means people  visibly responding in an uninhibited way. Matt Redman calls it the 'undignified worshipper'.
The group seemed to fall into 2 categories. Some people said they did feel like when they were really worshipping that they needed to express that in some way physically. Others were firmly of the view that it is an internal thing, and not necessarily outwardly visible.

I made a shocking discovery earlier this week - that completely without planning we have a totally free day on Saturday (we do occaisionally cheat and put in a day that is not for doing anything).
So the first reaction I have (since this is a really rare occurence) is the usual 'how ridiculously over-busy London life (or at least our London life) is. Boring subject.

Staying with the 'How far?' theme, I was lamenting on the phone with a friend that we already seem to have fast-forwarded through a big chunk of 2006, and yet I feel like I've barely started.
He was busy telling me about how the most effective person he knew was convinced that his secret was rigorously working to a 3 year plan.

Last night at my local church we structured the format of the evening service to be very open ended and then created a mini 'winebar'. It included an exhibition of art by a church member. We encouraged people just to hang around and chat before heading home.
Last week we were discussing whether we should invest in a TV licence to be able to show the World Cup matches on the big screen in the summer.

As I was reflecting on a conversation over lunch where I was busy explaining the bigger picture of how I was hoping to get my ideas into practice, I realised that whilst I could explain this to someone who asked, I had rather lost sight of the bigger picture in my day to day work.
Somehow in the mass of things to get done, the big ideas, and things that most excited me about what I was taking on had got pushed to one side.

I'm not sure if it is because I haven't worked in a Christian organisation during Lent before, but I have not heard so much discussion about what people might or might not give up for Lent before

How about this as a great Christmas initiative for London churches?

Jesus House, a huge church up in North West London is spearheading an excellent project with a number of local churches. For the week running up to Christmas they have sent teams into tube stations to offer people free tea & coffee, croissants and mince pies. Such an offer nearly always prompts a response of 'why?', giving a great opportunity to talk about the true meaning of Christmas. What a refreshing alternative to the usual commercialised slant of Christmas!

Well Mike Tufnell has already posted about the launch of aboutlife being a significant day. I would wholeheartedly agree with that.
One of the aspects of my own church's Sunday meetings that I love are the times we have to hear about what's going on in each other's lives and what is God is doing in and through us. I really feel that is encouraging, but also starts to 'flesh out' who we are beyond the surface level of knowing each other. That fosters a depth of understanding, empathy and then relationship that strengthens the community.

Last week I was fortunate enough to be part of two amazing events in London.
Thursday morning, a prayer meeting for leaders across London gathered severl hundred people together to worship and pray together about unity of the church in London.