Living Story Grace

In our neck of the woods, on the Florida Gulf Coast, near neighbor to the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the nation (in Mobile) and the largest (in New Orleans), there are a lot of folks feasting and partying today, perhaps because Lent begins tomorrow, or perhaps because they’ve always done it this way in their families.

I was trying to explain all this last night, to my poor husband, who is now taking the fourth day of call in a 5-day period, and is trying to understand what the big deal is.

This morning, I am thinking that we have great reason to celebrate this fat Tuesday, and when I think of celebrating the good news, this favorite song by Welcome Wagon comes to mind…So listen to this and get up and dance at the good news that the Son of Righteousness has come with healing in his wings!

But for you who fear my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in his wings.
And you shall go forth again,
skip about like calves
coming from their stalls at last.

You shall be my very own
on the day that I
cause you to be my special home.
I shall spare you as a man,
as compassion on his son
who does the best he can.

But for you who fear my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in his wings.
And you shall go forth again,
skip about like calves
coming from their stalls at last.

You shall be my very own
on the day that I
cause you to be my special home.
I shall spare you as a man,
as compassion on his son
who does the best he can.

(instrumental)

But for you who fear my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in his wings.
And you shall go forth again,
skip about like calves
coming from their stalls at last.
[ But For You Who Fear My Name Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Since ‘story’ is central to my thought, I loved this article that clarifies that The Story is the Trinitarian God and The living, breathing Word. Honestly, I’ve been concerned about some of the story stuff coming out, and Leslie Leyland Fields does a great job of voicing this concern. The Gospel Is More than a Story

While we’re at it, why not stop to read a poem from the Word of God: Psalm 97

And now, some of my favorite Olympic stories and photos. what are yours?
Where Was God When Lolo Jones Placed Fourth

Sex and the Single Olympian

And for photos – check out Olympic Beauty: The Bold, Bizarre, and Beautiful

I realized last week that I couldn’t leave books out of my “faves,” since I’m usually reading several books at one time. All of these books are well worth the time, so pick one and dive in.

Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III em>Cry of the Soul: emotions and the Psalms. A short quote; click to read the rest:
“Fear distorts our perception of ourselves so that we seem weaker than we really are. It distorts the size of our problems so that they seem huge and undefeatable. But perhaps most significantly, fear distorts our picture of God.”

C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces, a novel about love, shame, betrayal, and reconciliation. “I was with book as woman is with child.”

Mark Helprin, The Pacific and Other Stories. Helprin, crafter of exquisite stories, writes of restoration and hope. One of my all-time favorite stories, “Monday,” about renewing 9-11 wreckage is in this collection. One great line from the story “Perfection”: “If Ruth could, among the alien corn, begin the line in Judah that led to David, then what was not possible here, and what would not be disallowed?” To read another quote, click here
Chris Cleave,Little Bee, a redemption tale dealing with persecution, freedom, horror and hope…this is a real “heart-stretcher.” One quote:
“I could not stop talking because now I had started my story, it wanted to be finished. We cannot choose where to start and stop. Our stories are the tellers of us. ”

Beethoven plays Debussy

Some of you know my 18-year-old daughter is doing a summer internship with World Harvest Mission in London, an area called Camden Town.  Today, join me in praying for young hearts leaning into what God calls us all to do…to look around us, wherever we are, and LOVE the people in ways that communicate God’s love for them:

We finally moved to Camden and live in a backpackers’ hostel, a room about the size of an average 2-person college dorm room with 6 girls, 6 beds, and 6 jumbo lockers in it. I don’t mind living like sardines so much as the fact that the entire hostel is crowded and cramped as well—showers, common room, kitchen, hallways, staircases…etc. On the other hand, the location is perfect for us, a 5 minute walk from Dan’s house, the market & canal, the Tube station, and the grocery store.

The main problem with that is 2 things: one being I spend too much on coffee because I have to get some space every once in a while (not to mention no one makes “filter coffee” around here—its either instant or some espresso drink). The other problem is that we are sinful human beings whose selfishness comes out pretty blatantly in less-than-desirable conditions.

I think I’ll skip all the juicy details and move on to what you’ve probably been wondering (as I have myself) about what we’ve been doing and why I am doing this internship this summer.

We’re working with a very new church plant called Lysan, an Old English word meaning “redeemed or set free,” headed up by Dan Passerelli and his wife, Somer, and 2 daughters, and Oli Smith, who, get this, is actually British. And really fun too. Our job as interns: pray for Camden, and meet people.

So we’ve been doing exactly that. We pray a LOT (Euro style, with eyes open) and do outreach. So far, this includes but is not limited to:

• Prayer walks around Camden, praying for specific areas and people
• Playing music by Regent’s Canal—right by the Camden Lock market, a place where lots of young people come and hang out.
• Handing out free ice cream, water, and ice-lollies (popsicles) on the canal
• Handing out bags with water and snacks to vendors in the market to meet and encourage them
• Going to pubs to meet people
• Offering to buy coffee or tea for the flier-hander-outers who stand by the Tube station on Saturday nights from 10-1:30am advertising bars and clubs

Friday afternoon on the canal was a HUGE blessing for all of us. A couple people walked up and down offering ice cream to people, but we also brought a guitar and jembe drum and jammed a bit. (Pretty proud of the head bobs we got when we sang Oasis “Wonderwall”) It was really great.

I ended up talking to three teenage girls (around 16) about Camden and all the different clothing styles, the places to go, and whatnot. It was a really enlightening conversation—I enjoyed it, but it really left me feeling burdened for the youth culture here. Like any culture, there are things that reflect the glory of God and things that reflect the brokenness of our world—example. Raves. Techno music, neon clothes, strobe lights. Sound awesome? I think yes. Heavy drugs, alcohol, generally really destructive behavior. Not so much. That’s just one example. But that conversation really woke me up to the hunger for Jesus that these youth are trying to fulfill in anything but him.

Speaking of culture and its simultaneous reflection of God’s glory and man’s sin, I have some other really good examples that I’ll share in the future, so I don’t bore you to death.

So prayer for this week:

• “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2)—Pray that the Holy Spirit would give us a strong love for Camden and its people so that we’ll be empowered to minister to them.
• Pray for unity with our team that we would love each other well in work and in our free time.
• Pray that God would continue to prepare hearts of people in Camden—pray that God would send those who are searching our way, and pray that people would generally see a love that exists in us that is not of ourselves.

Jackie Turnage, http://www.jacksnack91.wordpress.com