The first day back home after our annual Vineyard Summer Camp in Sweden is always a day of unpacking, doing laundry and reflection. It is strangely quiet around here and the lingering warm fuzzies of sweet fellowship are slowly fading, although it is nice to sleep in my own bed and eat some greens instead of the camp hamburgers. I was so blessed but also stretched and provoked by Sunny Gilbert, Alan Scott and Christy Wimber, who visited our camp this year. Alan and Christy both talked so fast that I need to hear their excellent teaching again. Most of the sessions are already available at http://www.youtube.com/user/vineyardnorden thanks to Jørgen Bjerke from Oslo Vineyard.
Bill Johnson says that if there is a gap between what you believe to be true and what you experience in real life it creates frustration and/or hunger for more. I try to focus on the hunger for more, because I know all the promises of the harvest are available to me and I stretch out and press on. Once every few months I do muster up the courage to pray for a neighbor on non-Christian friend and then brag about it afterwards, whereas Alan's whole church is engaged in day-to-day encounters with people, showing them God's love on an on-going basis. Causeway Coast Vineyard in Ireland is having a real impact on their city and not just keeping the blessings within the four church walls. I feel like I need to have my old dusty phariseic brain blasted by the Holy Spirit so that I can see all this and walk in it more. I find it hard to grasp it, I guess that is why I need what they call the renewing of the mind.
I run a Bed & Breakfast and have spent this hot morning cleaning rooms while contemplating and praying, trying to reflect and discern what the Lord wants to do in our church during this new season where we are without a Pastor. We have a great leadership team where we experience unity and hunger for more and we also have many people in our church who have great but different ideas of how we can fine-tune and upgrade this wonderful messy diverse cluster of people that God calls His church. I am determined to do more outreach and invite more people in, that is one thing that is clear on my heart. Yesterday someone said to me: "Why make the service so seeker-friendly, no seekers are coming anyway" and I have been thinking about that. Actually I was praying about it while making the beds and David yelled up the stairs to ask me what I was doing. "I am getting rooms ready" I answered. "Is anybody coming today?" he asked. "Not that I know of, but it is high season and I want to be prepared". Immediately the Lord dropped the scripture into my heart about being ready in season and out of season. It became so alive in my spirit that the Lord wants us to do in the church what I naturally do in my Bed & Breakfast. It is high season, it is a season of harvest. We want to go out and we want our church to be a place where newcomers can feel welcome and embraced by the Most High God. Even if right now it looks like nobody is coming I want to live in the expectation that the kingdom is breaking through. It is at hand, right in our context. Not just in Redding or in Ireland, but right in Roskilde where I shop and work and live my life. I want to stay on the harvester, I do not want to jump off the harvester to chase mice. Lord, continue to stretch me so that I don't limit you, but expect that you want to do great things right here in our town.
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