We're into week 6 of our Ignition course now when we've been reading 2 chapters of Acts in public each week (or trying to) and over the last couple of weeks we've gone on a walk around our area by ourselves and tried to see things with God's eyes and notice things and people and situations. It was amazing to hear about one person in the group going out to get potatos and then ending up watching and praying in her village on a bench and praying for the newsagents and the betting shop and wondering what to pray for each. Where would God go in our communities and what kind of work would God do we wondered together and separately.One suggested God would work for Christian Aid against injustice and for peoples survival but then changed her mind from this initial response to God as a Postie - trusted & known in the local community, entrusted with news to deliver, taking and receiving all kinds of messages from one person to another. One wondered if God would be a Caring Teacher working with wisdom to let pupils learn from our own mistakes, giving space for freedom to choose and supporting them in personal responsibility. One wondered if God would be a gardener and another if God would do the kind of things she does to occupy her - cleaning her home and making it a place to welcome people, cleaning her carpet and tidying so she offers hospitality. These are so diverse and it was amazing to share our different approaches. This is what we said we missed from our bible study renewal group - the connections between our daily life personally and the chapters we are reading weekly in Acts and something we wanted to share & encourage in other people at St. Marks.
The question from our Ignition pack was not quite the one I wrote above but it was: Think of an occupation that best describes how you see God. Why did you choose this occupation?
It set us thinking about what we do and what God does in our communities. It relates to mission and participating in mission as our life.
The hour-long walk we were prompted to go on in our communities was eye-opening for every one of us and something we'd like to share in our church life further by encouraging each of us to go on. It took us to new places we had never seen and to familiar ones. We saw different people and lives that we normally notice and these things promted us to pray differently. We want to do this again. One person in the group is moving home soon and wants to do this in her new area. We are being Ignited by the Spirit's life in and around us - together and separately. God is beginning to occupy more of us and it is affecting where we go, what we say, how we see and how we pray!
The footprints of God are all over the place in our communities and we are being drawn more and more into those places from our homes and church. I think this small group is changing me in a way that other groups haven't - we are making ourselves mutually accountable and sharing our fears about being in public but we are also sharing our life in public with faith and courage in ways that I have not experienced before at St. Marks. It is really encouraging - small steps of faithfulness lead us into new paths and ways of mission with God. It is something so difficult in a small busy community church in Wythenshawe - there are so many things in the church building - but we have needed the refreshing open air beyond the walls of the church - and as soon as that is happening heaven is breaking open with visions and dreams of renewing Wythenshawe. When we have shared this we see and understand this as an Ignition group as part of the kingdom of God; our church may be part of this and could be but is not necessarily always like heaven on earth.
