Now, to be honest, I've often struggled to see how the environment is an important issue. With all the other justice issues involving people in suffering, I've been pretty cynical about people who devote years to saving endangered species. There are so many injustices in our world, so surely we have to choose where to focus our efforts?
Last week at our Justice prayer week, i was at a talk some people were doing on the environment and why we should care and pray about it. The talk got me thinking, and I've since read a book on the subject which has challenged me greatly. The book is called 'Planet Wise - Dare to care for God's world' and it's written by Dave Bookless (pretty ironic name for an author), and I'd highly recommend it if you want a Biblical study of environmentalism.
As I began to look at this subject, I realised that a large part of my thinking was based on the idea that the spiritual world is the important one, and therefore the physical world is fairly irrelevant. However, as I read chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, I began to see that I've often only really focused on the point when humans enter the scene. Then as I saw in Genesis 3 the curse placed on humanity and the earth after the entry of sin, it became clear that there is a certain level of interdependence between us and the earth.
God was interested in saving animals from the Flood, not just humans. The Law given to Israel is full of instructions that concern the land and the animals. The Psalms are full of references to creation and how, even in a fallen world, creation declares the glory of God. God's response to Job in Job 38 - 41 is completely full of references to creation. Many of Jesus' parables refer to the creation that He was an integral part of designing, and creation obeyed Him. At the time of Jesus' death there was an earthquake and the rocks were split.
And then to salvation - could it be that Jesus wants to bring redemption to the earth He created?
Romans 8:19-21 - "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Obviously, there's loads more to this subject, and many other people could say a whole lot more than me.
I know that I'm only beginning a process of discovery, but God has already begun speaking to me through things I've seen in creation. There's so much God wants to teach us through what He's made.
If I am alive this time next year,
will I have arrived in time to share?
And mine is about as good this far.
And I'm still applied to what you are.
And I am joining all my thoughts to you.
And I'm preparing every part for you.
And I heard from the trees a great parade.
And I heard from the hills a band was made.
And will I be invited to the sound?
And will I be a part of what you've made?
And I am throwing all my thoughts away.
And I'm destroying every bet I've made.
And I am joining all my thoughts to you.
And I'm preparing every part for you
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Justice prayer room
Eight days ago in downtown Helsinki, a group of us gathered together to decorate/re-arrange the meeting hall of a Christian student organisation with material, rugs, paper, books, and lots of other stuff. We were preparing the place for a 24/7 Prayer week on the theme of Justice. For a few hours the room was a blur of chaos and creativity as people were hard at work. But when the time came for the first prayer slot at midnight, the place was transformed.
The first area was focused on the question "What is justice?", and written below that question were many parts of the Bible that deal with the subject. You don't have search very hard in the Bible to find out that God is passionate about justice, and seeing these verses written on the walls helped me see that this is something we can't ignore. We had several different areas in the room which focused on a variety of subjects.
One section focused on praying for the nations with a world map and facts about different injustices that plague our world. Written about this was the line - Jesus, Hope of the Nations. As you hear more about the injustices in the world, you can very easily end up depressed and hopeless. But Jesus is the hope that never fades; He is the only complete solution. I have been learning that these heartbreaking stories of injustice must not paralyze us, but must drive us into prayer, into crying out for God to intervene.
Other areas included: prayer for children (who are so often the innocent victims of injustice), prayer for our cities and areas in particular need, a wall of fame with the names of heroes of the faith who inspire us (especially in justice issues), praying for those who cause injustice (human traffickers, dictators, etc), that God would bring his love and transformation to them, and then prayer for the environment. On a few evenings we also had people sharing about some justice issues, such as abortion, immigration and emigration, human trafficking, and the environment, and one evening we had a worship and intercession gathering.
Yesterday, while taking taking down paper from the walls and returning the room to something like its original state, I was reflecting on a week well spent. The whole week was filled with people praying, and, looking through the paintings and phrases written on the walls, you could see that many people had been impacted by the time. I know God has also challenged and encouraged me through the week. The challenge now is not to leave these as simply memories, but to allow them to change our hearts and actions as we continue our daily lives.
At this point I'd like to direct you to my Myspace page, where I recently put a basic recording of a song I wrote based on Isaiah 61. I wrote it a few months ago, and I figure it fits pretty well with this theme of justice.
Listen to it at: http://www.myspace.com/bonoa
The first area was focused on the question "What is justice?", and written below that question were many parts of the Bible that deal with the subject. You don't have search very hard in the Bible to find out that God is passionate about justice, and seeing these verses written on the walls helped me see that this is something we can't ignore. We had several different areas in the room which focused on a variety of subjects.
One section focused on praying for the nations with a world map and facts about different injustices that plague our world. Written about this was the line - Jesus, Hope of the Nations. As you hear more about the injustices in the world, you can very easily end up depressed and hopeless. But Jesus is the hope that never fades; He is the only complete solution. I have been learning that these heartbreaking stories of injustice must not paralyze us, but must drive us into prayer, into crying out for God to intervene.
Other areas included: prayer for children (who are so often the innocent victims of injustice), prayer for our cities and areas in particular need, a wall of fame with the names of heroes of the faith who inspire us (especially in justice issues), praying for those who cause injustice (human traffickers, dictators, etc), that God would bring his love and transformation to them, and then prayer for the environment. On a few evenings we also had people sharing about some justice issues, such as abortion, immigration and emigration, human trafficking, and the environment, and one evening we had a worship and intercession gathering.
Yesterday, while taking taking down paper from the walls and returning the room to something like its original state, I was reflecting on a week well spent. The whole week was filled with people praying, and, looking through the paintings and phrases written on the walls, you could see that many people had been impacted by the time. I know God has also challenged and encouraged me through the week. The challenge now is not to leave these as simply memories, but to allow them to change our hearts and actions as we continue our daily lives.
At this point I'd like to direct you to my Myspace page, where I recently put a basic recording of a song I wrote based on Isaiah 61. I wrote it a few months ago, and I figure it fits pretty well with this theme of justice.
Listen to it at: http://www.myspace.com/bonoa
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
What I'm doing these days
This is basically an update to let you know what I'm doing these days. I realise it's pretty long, but hopefully it is fairly informative.
So firstly, things seem to be moving towards Jakomäki. This is the area that I lived in for a year, and it's very much on my heart. Silmu (the housechurch I'm part of) has a base in Jakomäki, a pretty small place which serves as a prayer room and an office. Since August people (including myself) have been praying there on and off, but we've felt that now is the time to take it up a level. So we're starting to organise much more regular worship and prayer there, and from this week I'll be taking at least 8 hours a week there.
About a month ago the business in a building very close to us moved. Some of us have visited that place, and we're praying into God's plans for that place. We feel that it could be God's plan for us to have it. It's lots bigger than our current place, and could be used as some kind of 'community living room'.
Also, a family in Jakomäki have offered me a room to rent in their apartment. They were part of the Alpha course in Jakomäki that I helped at in the autumn, and their son was one of the boys I played football with each week during the discussion part of the Alpha course. So, I've agreed to move there at the beginning of February, and I guess it could be fairly long term. Their apartment building is actually right next to the building I was living in when I lived in Jakomäki before. It's a real blessing to find somewhere to stay in Jakomäki, and it will hopefully be good for my Finnish language skills (their son doesn't speak English). Plus it's only a 5 minute walk to the prayer room. It is a bit of a leap of faith, as I've been living mainly on people's generosity so far. But I feel pretty sure that God orchestrated this opportunity, and He is more than able to provide, whether that's a job or some other means.
For more on Jakomäki, see this blog post from August: http://john-allison.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-make-beautiul-things.html
Another part of what I'm doing is stuff with Network4youth. I've been involved with Network4youth since 2004, the first time I came to Finland. For the past 9 years Network4youth has organised annual youth gatherings, called GearUp. This year's GearUp happened over New Year's, from 30th December to 2nd January. I was part of the planning team for it, and organised the worship. It was an amazing time; God was really at work. He spoke to me about being part of raising up communities of young people in Finland, and how my life since I first came in 2004 had been leading up to this point. To read more about this year's GearUp, see my blog post:http://john-allison.blogspot.com/2011/01/gearup.html or see the website: http://network4youth.net/cms/english/about/
On Saturday, a group of us young people (connected to Network4youth) from the Helsinki area met together to eat, worship, pray and discuss about regularly gathering in a similar way. What came out of that was the idea to have a weekly 'Sabbath Meal' on Friday evenings. This is something that our friends in Guildford have been doing for a while, and the basic idea is to remember what God has done the previous week, celebrate His goodness, and dedicate the coming week to Him, all around a meal. The first of these will be on 28th January, and we're all pretty excited about it.
Another part of what I'm doing here is working with 24/7 Prayer, as part of the group of people who want to see 24/7 prayer rooms happen in Finland. This week we are running a 24/7 Prayer week on the theme of 'Justice' close to downtown Helsinki. I'm taking a few slots, including an open evening of worship and intercession, and it's been amazing to see the week fill up with people wanting to pray. In a couple of weeks, some of us from the 24/7 team are going to a youth event to talk about prayer, and hopefully more opportunities like this will open up.
In mid-February, I'm going to Ylläs (in Lapland) for a week with some friends from the 24/7 team and others. The basic aim is to pray together, eat together, and just spend time together. I'm really looking forward to it, as I haven't been to Lapland before.
I'm also planning to go to a conference in Sweden in March with Eva Sarsa (who is a spiritual mother to me, and is also involved in pretty much all the things I've written about so far). It's run by International Christian Youthworks (http://www.icy.org.uk/), who sent me to Finland to do voluntary work in August '08. We're going to re-connect and to explore the possibility of me working and studying with them in the future. Beyond March, I'm responsible for planning a worship and prayer tour of Finland with Burn 24/7 at some point this summer, currently trying to find the best time for it.
Thank you to all of you who have prayed for me over the past years, it is very much appreciated.
So, a few things to pray for:
- General guidance as to the next steps in being here and where to focus my efforts and time
- Jakomäki - that God would change the area, and give us more opportunities for contact with people there
- That God would really form a missional community out of the group of young people that are beginning to meet regularly
- Provision of a job/finances - for rent for the room in Jakomäki, transport and travel, and other things
- Help with learning more Finnish - that I'd be able to learn the language fairly quickly
- Longer term idea of studying and working with ICY - that I'd have clear guidance about that
Bless you
John
So firstly, things seem to be moving towards Jakomäki. This is the area that I lived in for a year, and it's very much on my heart. Silmu (the housechurch I'm part of) has a base in Jakomäki, a pretty small place which serves as a prayer room and an office. Since August people (including myself) have been praying there on and off, but we've felt that now is the time to take it up a level. So we're starting to organise much more regular worship and prayer there, and from this week I'll be taking at least 8 hours a week there.
About a month ago the business in a building very close to us moved. Some of us have visited that place, and we're praying into God's plans for that place. We feel that it could be God's plan for us to have it. It's lots bigger than our current place, and could be used as some kind of 'community living room'.
Also, a family in Jakomäki have offered me a room to rent in their apartment. They were part of the Alpha course in Jakomäki that I helped at in the autumn, and their son was one of the boys I played football with each week during the discussion part of the Alpha course. So, I've agreed to move there at the beginning of February, and I guess it could be fairly long term. Their apartment building is actually right next to the building I was living in when I lived in Jakomäki before. It's a real blessing to find somewhere to stay in Jakomäki, and it will hopefully be good for my Finnish language skills (their son doesn't speak English). Plus it's only a 5 minute walk to the prayer room. It is a bit of a leap of faith, as I've been living mainly on people's generosity so far. But I feel pretty sure that God orchestrated this opportunity, and He is more than able to provide, whether that's a job or some other means.
For more on Jakomäki, see this blog post from August: http://john-allison.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-make-beautiul-things.html
Another part of what I'm doing is stuff with Network4youth. I've been involved with Network4youth since 2004, the first time I came to Finland. For the past 9 years Network4youth has organised annual youth gatherings, called GearUp. This year's GearUp happened over New Year's, from 30th December to 2nd January. I was part of the planning team for it, and organised the worship. It was an amazing time; God was really at work. He spoke to me about being part of raising up communities of young people in Finland, and how my life since I first came in 2004 had been leading up to this point. To read more about this year's GearUp, see my blog post:http://john-allison.blogspot.com/2011/01/gearup.html or see the website: http://network4youth.net/cms/english/about/
On Saturday, a group of us young people (connected to Network4youth) from the Helsinki area met together to eat, worship, pray and discuss about regularly gathering in a similar way. What came out of that was the idea to have a weekly 'Sabbath Meal' on Friday evenings. This is something that our friends in Guildford have been doing for a while, and the basic idea is to remember what God has done the previous week, celebrate His goodness, and dedicate the coming week to Him, all around a meal. The first of these will be on 28th January, and we're all pretty excited about it.
Another part of what I'm doing here is working with 24/7 Prayer, as part of the group of people who want to see 24/7 prayer rooms happen in Finland. This week we are running a 24/7 Prayer week on the theme of 'Justice' close to downtown Helsinki. I'm taking a few slots, including an open evening of worship and intercession, and it's been amazing to see the week fill up with people wanting to pray. In a couple of weeks, some of us from the 24/7 team are going to a youth event to talk about prayer, and hopefully more opportunities like this will open up.
In mid-February, I'm going to Ylläs (in Lapland) for a week with some friends from the 24/7 team and others. The basic aim is to pray together, eat together, and just spend time together. I'm really looking forward to it, as I haven't been to Lapland before.
I'm also planning to go to a conference in Sweden in March with Eva Sarsa (who is a spiritual mother to me, and is also involved in pretty much all the things I've written about so far). It's run by International Christian Youthworks (http://www.icy.org.uk/), who sent me to Finland to do voluntary work in August '08. We're going to re-connect and to explore the possibility of me working and studying with them in the future. Beyond March, I'm responsible for planning a worship and prayer tour of Finland with Burn 24/7 at some point this summer, currently trying to find the best time for it.
Thank you to all of you who have prayed for me over the past years, it is very much appreciated.
So, a few things to pray for:
- General guidance as to the next steps in being here and where to focus my efforts and time
- Jakomäki - that God would change the area, and give us more opportunities for contact with people there
- That God would really form a missional community out of the group of young people that are beginning to meet regularly
- Provision of a job/finances - for rent for the room in Jakomäki, transport and travel, and other things
- Help with learning more Finnish - that I'd be able to learn the language fairly quickly
- Longer term idea of studying and working with ICY - that I'd have clear guidance about that
Bless you
John
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
GearUp
So i thought i'd just write a bit about the youth gathering (called GearUp) held over New Year's in Greater Helsinki. I was part of the planning team, which was good, although slightly stressful at times, as some of the stuff we made up (or rather felt God leading) as we went along. But I think I learned quite a bit from the experience.
The gathering involved 40(ish) team members from Finland, England and Holland, and then another 40(ish) people from Finland. It was an amazing bunch of people, and by the end we really did feel like a big family. We spent time worshiping and praying, eating, doing practical work and just being together. There was little or no division between the 'leaders' and everyone else, which was truly wonderful.
One of my favourite things about the gathering was that we spent lots of time praying for each other. At many points during the morning and evening sessions we listened to God for each other and prayed into each other's lives. But what really struck me was that whatever was going on, there usually seemed to be people praying for each other. In the prayer room, every night people were praying and prophesying over each other, and God was bringing healing to hearts and transforming people. The Holy Spirit seemed particularly keen on us experiencing His joy and freedom.
One night i was up until about 4am praying with people. Sometimes I've found praying for people a bit daunting, having to hear from God and be bold enough to say what He says to me. But more and more I'm finding that it's a joy, and I can be at peace while I pray and not striving to hear God. It's amazing to see God do deep work in people's lives, and to be able to serve my brothers and sisters in this way is really great.
New Year's Eve was another big highlight for me. Going into GearUp, we'd had lots of prayer and discussion about what the night of New Year's Eve should look like, as we wanted to be sure to make the right statement and not just go with what our cultures tell us to do. So the planning for it wasn't finished until the lunchtime of New Year's Eve. But what resulted was truly amazing.
We took as a basis for the evening: remembering the last year (wow, my 2010 was pretty crazy), celebrating God and what He did last year, and dedicating the new year to Him.
The evening involved a whole series of things, including a meal, sharing testimonies, amazing music and dancing in God's presence, symbolically leaving things from the last year at the foot of the cross, writing a letter to Jesus about our hopes and dreams for the next year, a prayer tunnel, communion, prayer for each other, and lots more.
It was far better than we'd even hoped, and a perfect way to end one year and begin the next.
The gathering involved 40(ish) team members from Finland, England and Holland, and then another 40(ish) people from Finland. It was an amazing bunch of people, and by the end we really did feel like a big family. We spent time worshiping and praying, eating, doing practical work and just being together. There was little or no division between the 'leaders' and everyone else, which was truly wonderful.
One of my favourite things about the gathering was that we spent lots of time praying for each other. At many points during the morning and evening sessions we listened to God for each other and prayed into each other's lives. But what really struck me was that whatever was going on, there usually seemed to be people praying for each other. In the prayer room, every night people were praying and prophesying over each other, and God was bringing healing to hearts and transforming people. The Holy Spirit seemed particularly keen on us experiencing His joy and freedom.
One night i was up until about 4am praying with people. Sometimes I've found praying for people a bit daunting, having to hear from God and be bold enough to say what He says to me. But more and more I'm finding that it's a joy, and I can be at peace while I pray and not striving to hear God. It's amazing to see God do deep work in people's lives, and to be able to serve my brothers and sisters in this way is really great.
New Year's Eve was another big highlight for me. Going into GearUp, we'd had lots of prayer and discussion about what the night of New Year's Eve should look like, as we wanted to be sure to make the right statement and not just go with what our cultures tell us to do. So the planning for it wasn't finished until the lunchtime of New Year's Eve. But what resulted was truly amazing.
We took as a basis for the evening: remembering the last year (wow, my 2010 was pretty crazy), celebrating God and what He did last year, and dedicating the new year to Him.
The evening involved a whole series of things, including a meal, sharing testimonies, amazing music and dancing in God's presence, symbolically leaving things from the last year at the foot of the cross, writing a letter to Jesus about our hopes and dreams for the next year, a prayer tunnel, communion, prayer for each other, and lots more.
It was far better than we'd even hoped, and a perfect way to end one year and begin the next.
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