“Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort
to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can
respond freely to God’s guidance.” – Henri Nouwen
Throughout Reveal we have tried to create a variety of opportunities
and ‘events’ that evoke all sorts of emotions, thoughts and questions. Many of
these have been designed specifically to help everyone go on a journey through
the specific concept and idea we want to explore. In almost all of these cases
we have made sure that we have given a strong indication of what we want people
to consider, and hinted at how we might want them to do it. This structure has
allowed people to have direction in their pursuit of God, but at the same time
allowed them to explore God in new ways with freedom. However, this week we
very much stripped back the structure of the evening. Reveal is a fantastic
evening for people to come and be taken on a journey towards an increased or
new revelation of the Father, but we cannot always rely on using planned events
to seek after God. We want people to face the challenge of just giving God free
time and space in their lives.
As people arrived at Reveal this week they were asked to
consider the ways in which they had become ‘slaves to law’. In other words,
what rituals, processes, structures or disciplines had they placed in their
lifestyle that were not birthed from a genuine desire for the Father, but more
an attempt to please and earn the love of God. Having pondered these aspects of
their faith life, they were encouraged to write them down. Following on from
this they were encouraged to take the piece of paper outside and lay it down on
the fire pit that was burning away. As they returned indoors from laying down
these things before God, everyone was encouraged into the Sanctuary where a
space had been created for them to be with God.
In the Sanctuary there were a few stations designed to give
people a creative outlet in prayer, and some people immediately took the
opportunity to spend some time painting, drawing, sculpting and writing.
However, many others just rested in God’s presence, listening to the gentle
worship music, or reading through some scriptures.
For many people the chance to give so much time to God is not
normal or even easy. It is a great challenge to us all to become more
comfortable with spending time with God, and not only when it is a well-planned
and structured event. After a significant and lengthy time of unstructured
prayer the evening began to draw to a close. Tom shared with the room a word
that God had given him during the week, expressing just how beautiful God says
we all are. He then led a time of prayer for the group, as well as gathering
everyone around a few individuals to seek God specifically for healing. At this
time Phillipa Snelling shared what she had used done during the time of
reflection, believing it was a significant word for a wider audience than just
herself.
She had drawn a picture of a rope that had soon developed into a
noose. Following this Phillipa drew a candle, believing the significance was
that it was burning away the noose and setting us all free from the things we
had placed in our lives than we could consider ‘slavery to law’, and now we
would be free to serve and love the Father as true sons and daughters.
A great image and a fantastic way to end the evening.
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