Listening to God, listening to each other - Ruth Rice

Do you know I think during these times god has been calling me and us to know him really know him like to spend more time with him i i think for me he’s been really pleased to have some time with us not that he’s been the author of this terrible time but that during this time i’ve just been able to sit with him you know one of my things i do is i take the cup and i like to sit with my hands around it that’s like god holding me and my life’s the cup and i’ve had more time to do that you know that mary and martha stuff from luke 10. i think he’s i think he’s longing to spend time with his children and right now as his church we’ve had some time to spend with him on our own and together you know we’ve made it so complicated and we’ve made it so busy and really it’s quite simple just not easy it’s about gazing at him knowing him spending time with him looking at his word meditating on him experiencing and knowing his love and i think really we get a bit over busy with all that stuff and right now what god is calling us to in worship is about him so much about him about our identity crisis comes from an identity crisis and knowing who he is and falling in love with him again of looking at him and who he is in jesus of spending time in the gospels of looking at the psalms that it’s hard to do isn’t it when you haven’t got other people to do that with but there’s the opportunity just to who is he who what are the hands that hold us are they safe do you believe them to be safe do you trust him and then let him fill your cup i mean that’s what’s been happening i suppose for me i’ve heard people say you know what’s the pointless getting back together if we can’t sing together and i’m a you know paid up charismatic love to be together in large places of worship but you know what that was not the point do you know when we spend time in the presence of god in our renewed spaces that we’ve been setting up actually we don’t have singing because music can be quite difficult for some people it’s a it’s quite a subjective thing and so to sit quiet together just to be quiet in god’s presence to let him speak to hear his voice there’s a call for us as the worshiping people of god to let god speak to stop saying his words for him i long to see churches engaging again with these rhythms of prayer that open up prayer to their communities as well it’s really interesting at this time the mission of god has always fascinated me you know like it’s it’s not the church that’s got a mission it’s the god a mission he’s got a church and right now we are i think before this locked down before this pandemic that the the situation around mental and emotional health there’s like a tsunami coming right now there’s more people anxious there’s more people not okay there’s more people in despair i always see it like a battlefield of despair and the picture i had when we started setting up renewed spaces was like these picnic rugs where people would set up safe space in the middle of a battlefield and people could get up off the ground and join in with the good things that were filling these these picnic baskets from above and like the battlefield became a picnic site and that that’s that’s what i’m seeing happening little by little where churches local churches are being prepared to be safe spaces in a storm now i i just feel that now the mission of god is more that on steroids it’s like time for us as little local churches big local churches doesn’t matter which ones to join in seeing well-being restored because well-being is that shalom that jesus came and bought at such great price but it’s not just for the church to have a little meeting the picnic wasn’t just for us it’s this idea that he is restoring hope and well-being and and where the picnic mugs have been there’s there’s rich soil now for the planting of hope in our communities of places of peace and why would the church not be at the heart of that that the five ways to well-being that mental health organizations use are connecting learning getting active taking notice and giving those are five things that the church does really well but we’ve done them in our boxes now we’re out of our boxes so what’s the mission of god to restore and renew well-being in the land and who’s he got to do that the church the local church i feel good has been talking to me quite a bit about his church over these last few years actually but particularly over lockdown about how much he loves his bride just loves his church i don’t think he’s saying try harder do more i think it’s interesting the kind of ability to breathe a little bit that the church has had but and one of the things i’m a bit concerned about is seeing post-breathing um leaders ministers feeling like now i’ve got to perform well on this platform and this one i’ve got to get my building open safely and we’ve got to worship god together in lots of meetings and shiny things and i’ve also got to do this online space now because this works i’m just concerned for the church that the bride doesn’t try to be too many things at once we’re still just called to be loved by him known by him and his light and presence and i’m thinking for the church to be the prophetic family to which people long to belong there’s loads of isolation out there but there’s people also who’ve experienced a little bit of connection within their communities and to lose that would be a shame so for the church to say well we’ve always done this we’re the prophetic community of god’s people just coming together around a set of practices and and loving one another and loving him that doesn’t have to be complicated it doesn’t have to be complex it can be simple safe and sustainable the church could be at the heart of seeing real community that we don’t create we’re not the creators of it god it’s that’s a bon offer thing i just really love it that our life together is key this isn’t about each person going off and having a lovely time with god on their own we need each other i’ve missed it i’ve missed church i’ve missed people but is it that we need to do what we did before or is it that there’s space now for everybody for the people who are the sheep without a shepherd to get in on this is it that we could have simpler pens where people could get in them whether sheep knew there was space for them i i’m kind of longing for the church to know how loved they are already without the performing and just do something simple small sustainable um and be at the heart of a move a wave of well-being we’ve seen a tsunami of mental ill health we’ve seen a global pandemic started by a tiny virus we could have a virus of well-being there’s loads of local churches you know loads i’ve been thinking about our baptist family our baptist movement and what god is up to and it makes me quite excited actually because what i’m seeing through renewed well-being is a movement it is where baptists are being prepared to unite together with other churches in their area to see themselves as part of one church and they’re often the brokers of spaces so if we’re having a renewed space for example in north allerton where five churches have put five grand in each and opened a space together if we’ve got one on toaster that’s because the church is together put one heart and one purpose at it and where i’m seeing that happen i’m often seeing baptists who started a conversation without power dynamic where we can be quite light on our feet as baptist we we are pioneering we’re a pioneering denomination not just that and i do love that the pioneers are being able to be supported and i’m really behind that i see myself as a pioneer but that we’re all pioneering right we are we are the people who believe that we are all ministers every member minister and so where we can see a release of every person different sorts of leadership the other thing we’re seeing through renewal being is people leading who we may never have chosen to lead who might never have gone through our bible colleges but who god has placed leadership on for a new time who are leaders and community orchestrators and they’re they’re lovers of jesus and they’re right there in the heart of our churches and we’re not always recognizing them so for our baptist denomination i’d love to see us as a spearheading these sort of unity movements where the blessing the commanded blessing of god already is and i’d love to see us being those people brave enough to recognize that leadership doesn’t always look like it has looked in the past and recognizing new ways of of engaging with our communities where jesus love is being brought to us by people that we might not have trained in the way we thought people needed to lead church i just love to see a renewed space like this i mean one day we shouldn’t need renewed spaces this is what the church does right but at the moment for every church do you know there’s 50 200 churches in the uk so wouldn’t it be great if every church just had a space where it was okay not to be okay because that’s the heart of the gospel where there was prayer available just like getting a loaf of bread you could also come and pray where there was community you were welcome to belong to any faith and none and where we partnered with all those other people who are doing kingdom work without knowing they are what about on every street wouldn’t you think every street needed one of these and whilst we can’t get back into our big spaces why don’t we inhabit the smaller spaces and see a web of well-being across a nation this is where we can hold hands with brothers and sisters and say look we’ve got one on this street let’s have another one on the next street this is not a competition this is about hosting the presence of god in our communities i long to see that happen and not just in this nation but beyond i just love it if right now and whilst we’ve got a little bit of time and before we’ve let back into busyness ministers from all over the place from all over the country we’re just going oh go on then ruth what’s the thing and we’ve got a free webinar on mondays and we’ve got free training on our website for all churches that just says this is how it’s been working have it if you want it set it up do it and call it whatever but if you’re going to call it renewed well-being come and do this with us and then we can share good practice together we can tell each other what works we can pray for each other we don’t have to be on our own out there i just love it if if people would pick something that engages them with the mental health of their communities of their churches of their their own lives and with the beautiful gospel where jesus says it is okay not to be okay because he is the hands around the cop he’s got us he’s never let go of us and the biggest story that we’re engaged in is big enough for everybody right .