GO through the gates

This is the passage we were led to for tonight's meeting:

Go through, Go through the gates! 

Prepare the way for the people; 

Build up, Build up the highway! 

Take out the stones, 

Lift up a banner for the peoples!

... See, your Saviour comes!

Isaiah 62:10,11

Last week was pray, pray, pray.

This week it's go, go, go!

The key word for this week is ACTION.

Don't stay at home, in the city, but go out to prepare the way for people to return to God.

Pete Grieg's commentary on this passage:

There’s a cinematic progression here, as if a camera is panning down from those lonely watchmen high on the walls of Jerusalem, to the busy highway outside its gates where workmen are fixing the road, removing stones, and erecting welcome signs. Some people think that if we just remove ourselves and pray all the time, God will do the rest. But this passage shows we must get very practical about our prayers, stepping out of the holy city and getting our hands dirty in order to make Zion visible and accessible to outsiders. We see this same progression on the day of Pentecost when the Apostles came down from the prayer room, stepped out into the street and preached. And we see it in Jesus Himself who left the rarefied courts of heaven and came to earth. 

Go through the gates

• this echoes Jesus' command to go and make disciples. As he says - "you will be my witnesses... to the end of the earth". We are a sent people. It is our primary purpose. The primary impulse of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to fulfil Jesus' command to go.

• we have begun to ask what is our daily rhythm of prayer? Now we also ask what is our daily rhythm of action (being sent)?

• as a community we do not yet have any specific actions to take as a group together. But let's practice being mobile. Prepared to go where Jesus leads.

• In 24-7 Prayer, we say the church is defined very simply as two things - the family of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit. In being prepared to be sent out, we are preparing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit's moving.

• gates of the city were to keep enemies out. We may feel vulnerable when we open the gates, but there is another bible verse - 'fling wide the gates so that the king of glory may come in'. We are in a safe place when we let Jesus in!

Finding ways to be 'sent ones' when we have busy lives

If our days are full of responsibilities, how can we make time to be sent to the world?

We can offer God the transitions in our day - travel to work, lunch break, catching a bus. 

These parts of our day can be recognised as moments to offer to God. We can make them as prayers, but also be interruptible. If another person is there we can welcome them into that time and listen, share, bless as the Holy Spirit leads us. 

We can place prayer in these moments, but also be willing to 'be sent' to that person in that moment.

Personal reflection - breathe in / breathe out

1. What are my rhythms of breathing in (prayer)?

2. What are my rhythms of breathing out (being sent)?

Removing stones

• stones trip people up - what trips people up on their journey towards God?

• stones could be in us, such as preconceived ideas we have about people

• stoned could be our attitudes towards other organisations - thinking we are better than they are.

• so let us be preparing ourselves individually - be ready to change; be ready with faith

• we need a baptism of honesty - being honest about ourselves, no pretence with others.

Build up the highway

We had a few thoughts on this, around focussing on Jesus and the gospel, promoting the faith, being proud of Jesus.

Lift up the banner

It's all about Jesus! Let us continue to lift him up in prayer and in our being sent. We are sent by him, for him, to make him know.

Summary - prepare to be sent

In choosing the phrase 'be sent' we are trying to capture the fact that Jesus sends us to the world. We could also say 'take action' or 'mission', but 'being sent' roots our action/mission in our relationship with Jesus and our obedience to him. We are mobile, prepared to be moved. 

We have identified being interruptible is one way of being sent - noticing when God brings people into our path that he wants us to make time for, or to include in what we are doing at the time.

In 24-7 Prayer, we say the church can be thought of very simply as two things - the family of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit. In being prepared to be sent, we are preparing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit's moving.

So for SoHOP now, we offer this as the summary of our calling:

 to bring prayer and being sent from the edge of our lives to the centre