The Reality of 24/7

This afternoon a bunch of friends and I went to take part in a local week of 24/7 prayer.

Now, I've read Red Moon Rising and done 24/7 as part of a week in Liverpool, England, so 24/7 isn't new for me. I went on the 24/7 site and found that a local group was doing it and decided it was important to give it a try on American soil and also to support them.

Walking into the room it was nothing special - it was pretty spare. An old couch, a chair, a bench and a table with a CD player. A sheet of newsprint on the wall and a map of the world on another. No special formula and thankfully no scented candles.

Yet somehow there was something special in that room. No distractions. Nothing else happening. Nothing else to focus on. We spent 2 1/2 hours in that room spending time alone and then praying as a group. Pretty amazing.

It was exciting to see that happening in a non-descript building in the middle of a non-descript town. Equally exciting to me was that it was a Salvation Army activity. The Salvation Army that I grew up with didn't do 24/7 prayer. I'm glad to see I was wrong.

While the setting was underwhelming, it was good to see 24/7 starting to come to life in the real world. No bells and whistles.

A very cool way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The Project

If you're a regular reader you know I think a lot of Bono. I've always thought he was interesting, but in the summer of 2004 I read the book Bono In Conversation. I thought I was just going to learn more about the band, but I ended up with a lot more than I bargained for. Finishing the book I couldn't look at Africa the same way again and I couldn't get the AIDS crisis out of my head.

The burning question was, what could one person do about it?

Flash forward to the Perspectives class last year. Got a whole new perspective (no pun intended) on being a global Christian. Still didn't see how this worked in with the other issues I was concerned about. Meantime, I'm reading up on DATA and some other organizations. One of the key things I got out of the course (in regard to social justice issues) is that I'm called to be a mobilizer. Not that I shouldn't do things too, but I'm good at putting things together that will get people to examine what their call might be.

Flash forward to my trip to England and my time at the Northumbria Community. One night at dinner I was sitting with a man named Roy who's involved with End Poverty Now. So, I ask him "what can one person or a small band of people do to make a difference?" So glad I asked. Roy talked about the people in Birmingham who had prayed about how to impact global poverty issues. They received an answer that seemed small in human understanding, but they were faithful in executing it and it led to big impacts. He talked about doing things, that the impact of small things is often much bigger than we know.

So I prayed about it.

In late November I was preparing for Night Watch and my section on World AIDS Day. I was reading through statistics, the latest news and key issues we should be addressing. One of the sites I visited was World Vision. In the midst of lots of great information, cool projects and initiatives I found something small. It was the Caregiver Kits project. Nothing fancy. Won't cure AIDS or change the face of the world.

And I couldn't forget about it. For days. Then a week. Couldn't get to a month because I had to do something about it.

Continued next with The Plan....

Happy Birthday

Today's a big day for birthdays. It's my friend Christina's birthday and my Dad's birthday. Whoo hoo! Of course, I'm not near either of them, but I'll be partying on their behalf.

Christina is one of the key reasons I went to England and I've really enjoyed getting closer over the past year. It's really amazing the way God sends people into our lives in the ways we least expect. The age difference between us is considerable, but in the "math of God" it doesn't matter. I only think about it when I realize she's an undergrad and I'm.... well.... not! I'm very thankful for her and looking forward to more time together in 2007. Cheers!

Blurb

Earlier this year my pal Janet blogged about some interesting sites from a Time article. One of the sites was blurb.com. It was back in the summer and I didn't think much about it. But going to England gave me the idea to make a book of my pictures for those people in my life who are a little harder to buy for. Of course, I made one for myself as well.

The books arrived this week and it's been so much fun to have a professional looking book to drag it around to show everyone. It's been a big hit. Much easier than a bulky photo album. Much more streamlined than the 400 pictures I have up online.

It was a fun project to to do and it's a great keepsake from the trip.

Join Red

When I first saw the announcement of RED I was a little skeptical. The message that just going shopping was enough to change the world seemed a little weak. I went through the website and wondered at how Armani, Converse, Gap, Apple and American Express were going to save the world with some t-shirts. I also wondered whether I should buy a pair of Converse just to be supportive of the project. And I thought, and I read more, and I thought some more.

Here's why I'm supportive of the RED project.

1. It's Bono. Don't laugh. Bono is really visionary and has an ability to think out of the box that I don't have. He's able to see a level of connection that I don't see and I trust that even if this doesn't look that substantial to me, there's something deeper going on that I'm not aware of yet. I've gone through the process before of being sceptical of his ideas (like ONE) when they first came out and later realized how brilliant they are.

2. This project is much bigger in England and has raised a high level of public awareness. I'm not a fan of tokenism or slacktivism, but if it helps people be drawn into the movement, then I'm willing to give it some leeway. Also, England tends to be ahead of the US on social justice issues, so watching what works there can be a good barometer of what can work here.

3. (and related to two) One of the kick off events in the US was a televised shopping trip by Bono and Oprah. Initially this turned me off the project until I realized how many people who had no previous exposure and would never look at ONE mentioned this event to me. They would never have listened to the more political message of ONE, but they were willing to listen to RED.

4. When I talked to a friend who has a strong background in social justice and social activism about it, he raised the point that this is providing a new model of corporate engagement in social activitivism. I wouldn't underestimate the importance of this point. If this is successful it will just be the start. Years ago people were laughing at the concept of "Fair Trade" goods.

I firmly believe that RED is just a small step in a bigger plan on this issue. If this step is successful, I think more companies will become involved and more layers of it will be revealed.

I don't think RED is the be all and end all. I think it's one small piece of a much larger puzzle of solving the problem of AIDS in Africa. It's not the most substantial piece and it's not the most aggressive piece, but I think it's the most populist piece. Solving the problem is going to take a multi-layered approach. I think this is just one of those layers. Seeing this roll out at the same time as Bono has been working with American churches on more faith-based initiatives to address the same issue tells me that Bono only sees this as one piece as well.

I totally respect the decision to support ONE and not RED, but I think it deserves more consideration than just as a shopping trip. Sometimes it takes a little while to understand and catch the vision. I'm willing to make the jump now.

Take a watch of the (RED) Manifesto below. I've got RED on my links so you can take a closer look.

Lifted

Over the last month I've been feeling like I'm stuck under a big rock. Bad things happening. Lots of conflict. Lots of things happening that I didn't understand. On November 16th, I blogged about holding on to promises.

I had a bunch of opportunities this weekend to talk with people and tonight I was walking back to my car from another meeting I realized that the rock is gone. On Friday night a friend who's very sensitive to these thing said that she thought I was "glowing" for the first time since I got back from England.

The interesting thing about this is that during the time when I was "stuck under a rock" I felt like I wasn't learning and I wasn't growing. I didn't understand what was happening or how this could be part of anything good.

The great thing about this weekend was that all of a sudden a whole bunch of things kept coming to me. Plans for things fully formed, like I had pondering them all month. New ideas springing up all over the place.

Turns out that while I was feeling that nothing was happening, a lot was happening. It's been good this weekend to see the results of that. Tonight when I got home I thought of that earlier blog that called upon the promise of Isaiah 40: 31 -

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

All of a sudden I could feel the soaring. I'm excited about these new ideas and new directions that are coming in the new year. It's going to be another big adventure and I have a feeling this last month has been preparing me for that.

At What Price Community?

Over the last year I've been thinking and talking a lot about community. While I was in England I had the chance to see two radical and intentional communities in action. In the US I've been talking to people who are trying out community here and I've been a part of a couple communities at various stages.

All this is great and I think exploring what God's plan for His Kingdom here on earth definitely includes some ideas of community that don't fall within our current society's values.

Recently I've been in conflict with someone in several of my communities. Plus, I've been going through a really hard time personally. This has given me a new perspective on communities.

It's swell to talk about radical community, sacrifice and being counter-cultural when everything is good and you're all friends. What happens when someone in the community really hurts someone else? What happens when there's a conflict? What happens when someone disappears, either literally or figurately (there in physical presence, but withdrawing in every other way)? What happens when community hurts?

It seems to me that we're not very good at dealing with conflict. It's easier to let people go than to deal with the issue. It's better not to interfere and just sweep things under the rug. People will come back "when they're ready". It's also easy (and I'm definitely including myself here) to simply run away and start again with new people. Conflict resolution means taking a good hard look at the two sides that created the conflict and what's underlying. Often this is a painful and ugly process.

If God created us to live in community, did He really think we'd smile all the time? Did He really think we'd always be good to each other? Not likely. But, that's how we seem to live. We get involved in communities like it's some kind of a self-help group or a team of people to support us. We don't actually make any commitment. When the going gets tough, we head off to the next group/church/therapy group.

It seems to me that there's not a lot of point to community if it's only for the good times. It also seems to me that it's doomed to failure if we're not prepared for conflict and willing to hold each other's hands through the pain of resolution.

I'm not sure what the price of community is. Sometimes I think it's too high. I know the price of vulnerability to a community is extremely high. I know how much I have wanted to run away from communities. I've also seen how empty some of my communities are and how low the threshold of giving up is.

So, here's my thing - if your idea of community is hanging out on Sunday afternoons at Panera, please don't include me. Seriously! I'm not a perfect person and clearly I'll mess up your perfect little world. I don't see the point in this. If we're really going to be a community we have to figure out how to stick it out when things get hard and how to hold on when someone tries to bolt for the door. We have to learn how to love each other is a radical way that goes beyond just a group of friends. In my present spot I can't see settling for anything less - it's too hypocritical to bear.

C.S. Lewis

One very observant reader points out that there are no C.S. Lewis books on my list of Top Twenty Books. This is not a slam on C.S. Lewis. This is a slam on my reading. I have not yet finished any one Lewis book, though I have read individual chapters from them and enjoyed them a lot. One of the many books I'm currently working on is Mere Christianity.

While in Oxford, however, I did do the C.S. Lewis tour. Walked the trails he walked, saw where is apartment was, went by his favorite pub.

As I said, making the list just made me realize how much I have left to read.