This post is written to parents, but is applicable to any household, with or without children. Let’s get on it people… Do the work and make a plan! There is no household with any kind of internet access that is immune.
Read it here in this excellent post.
Jesus has risen from the dead, has made a mockery of evil, has defeated death, and is alive! Now he says, “Look! I am making everything new!” (Rev 21:5)
Film from The Work of the People.
Today is the last day of our fast – tomorrow we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus! But for today, reflect on what God has whispered to you this past week. What has he done in you? Where has he lead you? What has he given you? What has he said?
This is what we (the School of Justice) ate for lunch on our first day here. It’s rice, dahl (lentil soup), a potato/vegetable dish, and an onion/chili pickle. The entire plate of food costs 200 rupees ($2.26) and is considered a typical middle class meal here. It’s a vegetarian meal; if it had chicken or eggs (for around an extra 100 rupees) it would be considered an upper class meal.
Today, let’s calculate what we saved on our grocery bills this week by eating less and simpler. Bring in the money you saved and give it to the church (designate it “Nepal Fast”) and we will give it to our sister churches in the Himalayan Region. We can tighten our belts, so they don’t have to tighten theirs. We can eat a little less and more simply, so that the hungry there can be fed. This is the kind of fast Isaiah 58 talks about. This is the kind of fasting that get’s God’s attention!
Blessings on you as you give! And may God hear your every prayer and come quickly to answer you (that’s a promise from Isaiah 58!).
Today is the Friday that’s called Good. The day Jesus was crucified. Everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord must also “take up their cross” and follow him (Mt 16). We are to follow his lead and embrace the path he travelled. Jesus was crucified and went on to defeat death. Thankfully we don’t have to defeat death (that’s already done) but we are still to follow him on this path. What does this mean for you? Where is Jesus leading you? Pray that he gives you the strength to follow and remain faithful as you follow his lead.
You can contemplate this on the Walk of the Cross today from 3pm – 5pm. Wear your walking shoes.
This is what we (the School of Justice) ate for breakfast today. It’s chapatis (bread) with a potato dish. The entire plate of food costs 150 – 200 rupees (CAD $1.70 – $2.26) and is considered an upper class meal because it was cooked with fresh ingredients and clean water. Noel told me (Suhail) that it’s a “quality breakfast.” Those who are poor may eat this dish but it will not be with the same ingredients or the same level of freshness, and therefore not be of the same quality.Pray for the leadership of the Himalayan Region Vineyard churches, that God would provide for all their needs as they trust Him and as many have had to sacrifice a great deal to pursue God’s call on their lives.
Manitoba’s new tourism slogan is “Canada’s Heart… Beats.” It’s a good one. It makes me think of the drum and how it echoes God’s heartbeat. His heart beats too, and the reverberations go far beyond the borders of our Province to reach every nook and cranny of creation. It’s not an irregular rhythm, nor is it random. It is a singular thumping for the restoration of relationship between himself and us! Can you hear it? Can you feel it? His heart beating for you. Who else is it beating for? Who in your life is God drawing your attention to now in this moment? Pray that they too would draw near their Creator.
When we (the School of Justice) went on outreach to Champi (a small village in the mountains just outside of Kathmandu), a woman who’s the mother of the first believer in the village served this to us. It’s popcorn, black soy beans, dried mustard pickle, and sweet potato. Noel said it would cost around 150 rupees (CAD $1.70) for the entire plate, which several of us ate from.The bible says that it is impossible to draw near to God without drawing near to others. When asked what commandment was the greatest, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mt 22). The linking word between the two commandments is homois which is translated “is like it” and means “of the same substance”. It’s where we get the word homo from. The commands are not the same, but they’re pretty darn close. If you’re not doing one, you won’t be doing the other. Today, pray for opportunities to love God, through loving your neighbour.
As we (the School of Justice) were walking in the street (in Kathmandu), a man had a little food cart where he was selling different kinds of chapatis (bread) with eggs and potato. This is called Aloo Paratha and is a popular breakfast dish or snack in Nepal and India. It’s unleavened bread stuffed with a spiced mixture of potato, and all kinds of people buy it from street vendors. This version of it costs around 30 rupees (CAD $0.34).Pray for the many who are poor in Nepal and who either don’t have access to food or don’t have access to nutritional, healthy food.
It’s quite common to become irritable during a fast. In a total food fast this moodiness is accentuated. In our Nepali fast, you may not be having hunger pangs, but you may be craving some more familiar cuisine. Either way our stomachs really do have a say in how we’re feeling. When those pangs and cravings hit, let’s use those moments as opportunities to direct our attention toward God and allow him to rule over our guts. He is the Lord of everything after all.
Momos! This chicken or buffalo-filled dumpling is a popular food all over Nepal and there is a great variety in price depending on where you buy it. These momos were made at the Kathmandu Vineyard for about 80 rupees (CAD $0.91). The “new boys and girls” (kids who live at the Vineyard that are from broken families or the street) love momos. It’s a real treat for them.
Welcome to the first full day of our Nepali Fast! These daily updates are meant to inspire and inform us in our prayer and fasting activities this week.
Part of what it means to draw near to God is to pray that we have his heart – that we see the world from his perspective and are moved by it. Somehow when we are close to him his heart is transferred to us. What he cares about, we begin to care about.
Pay attention to the movements of your heart today. Where is he inviting you closer? What does he want to share with you? In the activities of your day, pay attention to the moments his Spirit is whispering.
Part of our fast, by way of Isaiah 58, is meant to help us draw near to others in healthy ways. Understanding the lives and burdens of our Nepali brothers and sisters will help knit together the bond of love we have. Also, we want to pray for others.
Today is the “Global 4-14 Day“. It is a day to pray for the generation between the ages of 4 and 14. Across the world, 71% of the people who are currently following Jesus begin to do so within this age range.
Today let’s pray for the kids and youth of the Himalayan Region and Winnipeg.
It’s what we all want isn’t it? To see life come to the dry bones? To see skin and flesh clothe hollow skeletons. To see the goodness and mercy of the Father enfleshed. To see the dream of a distant land flowing with milk and honey brought to our land. To see hope restored and death reversed. It’s what we all want isn’t it?
Here’s another meditative moment from The Work of the People.
Many are familiar with the line in Psalm 23, “…goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life…” It’s a nice thought, but a one that does not nearly capture the tenacity of God’s goodness and mercy. These qualities don’t follow us around like a lost puppy looking for its home. Goodness and mercy are relentless, tenacious and precise in their pursuit. They will track us down like a hunter tracking it’s prey. They will seek us out like a heat-seeking missile. Simply put, God will hunt us down with his goodness and mercy – through the valley of the shadow of death – through the suffering of the loss of Eden – right to where we are today in the middle of Lent, preparing to celebrate and welcome the resurrection of the one who made it all possible…
Here’s another meditative moment from The Work of the People.
April 13 – 20
In the bible, fasting and prayer usually go together. Fasting isn’t simply about the lack of food, or the lack of anything else for that matter, but rather an intensified focus, or shift in perspective from something temporal to God. It’s about bringing our attention to the Lord in a specific way for a particular time by reducing our dependence on something physical. Our physical hunger reminds us that we are really hungry for God.
It makes sense, then, that fasting and prayer go together. However, it seems that if our lifestyles are not extending grace, mercy and justice in practical ways, our fasting is distasteful to God. Isaiah helps bring clarity to this issue in chapter 58 where he links “true fasting” with feeding the hungry, sharing with the poor, keeping the Sabbath and in general, living justly.
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
This fast is an invitation to hold both fasting and care for the hungry together. To that end we invite you to participate in a very practical fast for one week – that is to eat at or below the level of the average Nepali person.
For just about all of us, this will mean eating less – less quantity as well as less variety.
The fast starts Sunday April 13 (with an evening of prayer and worship) and we’ll break the fast on Easter Sunday, April 20.
Isaiah 58 makes it clear that we are to respond to the “hungry” in our world in practical ways.
God has linked WCV with the Himalayan Region Vineyards in a deep and profound way. Many of our brothers and sisters in this region live on minimal nutritional requirements. We are one body, and Paul admonishes us to “share each other’s burdens” (Gal 6). One way we can do this is to eat at their levels. This will allow us to consume less, while practicing solidarity with them.
Here are some facts and figures concerning the average Nepali that may help frame the conversation:
Canada’s average salary approx. $40,000 ($110 / day) Nepal’s average salary approx. $1,200 ($3.30 / day) 25% of Nepal’s population live below poverty line of: $1.25 / day. (Nepal Bureau of Statistics) Major concerns include little or no access to primary health care, education, clean drinking water and sanitation services. Food security and poor nutrition are major concerns, especially in rural areas. (IFAD) Nepal has one of the highest early childhood mortality rates in the region. 2/3 of Nepali children are severely deprived and just under 40% live in absolute poverty. 50% of children under 5 are stunted and over 2/3 are underweight due to malnutrition. (Unicef)
By embracing their diet, we are in a way embracing our brothers and sisters in Nepal. Eating their food in a way places them in the centre of our tables every day.
By spending a week eating at these levels, most of us will have saved money on our grocery bills. Keep track of what you save – or calculate it in whatever way makes sense to you. Then we encourage you to donate it to WCV (mark it for Nepal) and we we will send it to Nepal to be used to feed those who are poor.
If you do not normally spend money getting your food, but have participated in this fast, we encourage you to give what you can to the “First Fruits” basket and the food will be shared at Drop-in.
This fast is not just a clever way to raise money for those in need. It can do something in us and to us. As we turn ourselves towards God in prayer and fasting, we can be transformed. Our prayer is that WCV will draw closer to God as we participate in this “fast that he has chosen”.
Throughout the week we will be having regular stories sent from the School of Justice, who will be in Nepal during this time. They will give us short meditations to help us both understand the plight of the people there as well as God’s heart for them and us!
Checklist for preparing for this week:
2 cups rice (Basmati or Long grain preferred)
4 cups water.
We’ve been exploring points along Peter’s discipleship journey for the past few months (and we’ll continue for the next number of months). The audio recordings are posted here. Along the way, we’ve commissioned various artists – both visual and performance – to share their interpretations of what they’re learning. It’s like looking at the subject through a different set of eyes. The artists among us can help us see a new way. It’s been really fantastic – thanks to all the artists who have participated in a variety of media – from writing songs and poems to performing raps and dances. Here are the visual representations at this point in the journey (click on any pic to view a full size):
The water we need to live – that we need to really live – does not come from earthen springs. It is not discovered in any well dug by human hands, not can it be drilled by any rig of human ingenuity. This water is not pumped, bottled, chlorinated or dammed up. It does not stagnate in forgotten pools nor flow with the ocean’s tide. The water we need to truly live comes from an eternal source, springing from the resurrection into our lives, filling cracks and crevices with it’s cool, beyond-the-grave touch – transforming all in it’s path.
Here’s another meditative moment from The Work of the People.
