Call to Prayer & Fasting: Jan 13 – 23

Reposted from Vineyard.ca:

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ear attentive to their cries
Psalm 34:15  

“When we join as a family across the country to fast and pray, we collectively turn our hearts and minds towards His Spirit. It’s like a vast array of solar panels moving in unison as the sun arcs across the sky.  We soak up His light, His warmth and in turn receive the power to keep moving forward during uncertain and fearful times”.
Cathy Graham VC Spiritual Life Coordinator

Prayer allows us to be ready to cooperate with what the Spirit of God is initiating and where God is moving.  It helps to align us with His way, with His heart, with His purpose. It enables us to stay in sync with the wind of His Spirit, helping us navigate the winds of life, of culture, of change, even when we’ve hit the doldrums where our own sails can feel so empty. It’s in this place of prayer that we gain perspective and catch a fresh glimpse of the One who has called us His own, something which we so need now!

It is critical for us in the Vineyard that our engagement in prayer is from this deep place of rest. Hebrews 4 makes it clear that from this place we approach the Throne of Grace confident that we will receive all that we need. Charis Rousu, who with her husband Nathan are our National Catalysts in the area of prayer, which we lovingly call PULSE, reminds us as we enter this time that as we do this together, “we practice surrender and devotion to the One who fully knows and fully loves.”  This is so critical in shaping our perspective. Our prayers are not transactional, designed to get guaranteed results.  Neither are they formulaic.

Though prayer touches a variety of expressions, “petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving” as noted by Paul, it is born and sustained in the exchange of unabashed love and devotion. As Jesus told us, we are not engaged in empty repetition, nor are we to be hypocritical – as the Greek illumines, “play acting” – as we pray, but to be deeply authentic. Real. Relational.

As we all lean into this time of waiting and listening beginning the morning of the January 13th-23 contact your local Vineyard Canada church to find out how you can participate.

Grace & Peace
David & Anita Ruis

 

What are we doing at WCV?

There are two invitations:

1. Engage personally. We are inviting everyone to 10 days of personal prayer and fasting. Here are some resources to help you engage in fasting and prayer:

  • Fasting Basics
  • Here is a sermon entitled “Why We Fast: an invitation to fasting & feasting” which provides more insight into the spiritual discipline of fasting.

2. Engage together. We will be meeting together for corporate times of prayer and worship both online and in person at 782 Main St. (25 people max).

  • Thursday, Jan 13, 7pm
  • Sunday, Jan 16, 7pm
  • Thursday, Jan 20, 7pm

The Zoom link to participate online will be sent in the Here@ newsletter on Thursday Jan 13.

What are we praying for?

This season of prayer is primarily dedicated to bringing ourselves before the Lord to ask for a fresh and renewed sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and community. We pray, “Come, Holy Spirit!” in every area of our lives.

Good Friday Stations – Fasting & Prayer – Resurrection Sunday

The events celebrated during Holy Week are epic. Jesus’ passion, crucifixion, burial and resurrection are not only central to the Christian calendar, they are the central events of all of history. However, most of us skip over the discomfort and pain of Good Friday preferring to jump straight to Easter Sunday – joyfully imbibing all the excitement and energy of the resurrection. We are right to be excited and energized by Jesus’ resurrection (and our eventual resurrection too, by the way!). However, in our excitement for Sunday, we miss the gifts offered in Good Friday and Holy Saturday. If we resist the urge to short-circuit, and if we linger in the way of the cross on Good Friday, and the nothingness of Holy Saturday, our celebration on Sunday will take on a whole other quality. Light is most brilliant when juxtaposed with darkness.

Here’s what’s up this Easter at the Vineyard:

Palm Sunday (April 14, 10am):

Andy will be teaching about Fasting in order to prepare us for our community fast from Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday.

Good Friday (April 19, 7pm)

Stations of the Cross Service & Exhibit

This year we will be worshipping together, and considering the Stations of the Cross through the eyes of one particular artist along with meditations from Scripture. Here’s what he writes about the images like the one above:

“The Stations of the Cross began as a practice of pilgrims going to Jerusalem who would retrace the final journey of Jesus to the hill where He was crucified. For the many who wanted to pass along the same route, but couldn’t make the trip to Jerusalem, a practice developed that eventually took the form of the Stations of the Cross that you can find in many churches today.

This journey to the cross is not only a meditation of Jesus accomplishing what He came to do – the redemption of humanity through His own willful sacrifice – but its also a contemplation of Jesus silently participating in some of the worst aspects of being human. Being tempted. Being betrayed by a friend. Being convicted in an unjust system. Physical pain. Mockery. Broken family relationships. Public humiliation. And a lot of our greatest fears… having to die. These are all aspects of human life that he was not insulated from. In fact on the cross he quotes King David saying “My God My God, Why have you forsaken me?”… as if to say ”Why is it like this?” He was one who was not separate from our own pain.

I don’t think our deepest question is “Is there a God?”
I think our deepest question is “Is there a God that’s with us in all this?”

These stations are a cross-section of elements, ideas, and objects from Jesus’ journey of being with us. As you work through these stations, may you see the that we are not troubled guests in this world… that we are not forgotten… and that the good news of this season was expressed best by Jesus when he said “in this world you’ll experience many trials. But take heart…. I have overcome the world.”

~ Scott Erickson

Fasting & Prayer: Friday – Sunday

Our Fasting will begin on Friday continue through Holy Saturday, a day of apparent nothingness, and be broken on Sunday.  The seed placed in the ground. Waiting. Our fasting echoes this “giving up” that Jesus did. This discipline isn’t to earn favour, nor is it an attempt to twist God’s arm into getting something you want. Rather, it’s a physical act of solidarity with Jesus. It’s a discipline and it’s a pain. Every time your stomach reminds you that you’re hungry you can recall what Jesus did and is doing, and you can offer a prayer – you can be reminded that ultimately we rely on Jesus for sustenance. When we break the fast on Sunday morning, we are rising with him – emerging from darkness to the glorious light of his resurrection – feasting on the new life He has for us and the whole world!

 

Resurrection Sunday (April 21, 10am)

Of course, this brings us to Easter Sunday. We will party, worship and celebrate God’s accomplishment all morning. Emerging from the shadows of the weekend, and blinking from the dazzling, blinding light of the resurrection, we will celebrate the first stunning glimmers of the new creation – and we’ll invite more (and He’ll show up)!

You are encouraged to contribute to the festive atmosphere in any number of the following ways:

>>Bring an acoustic instrument (drums, rattles, guitars, etc) or any other tool of worship.

>>Bring plants or flowers to decorate the space with signs of life.

>>Bring your Dancing Shoes (literally and figuratively).

 

Lent – an invitation to Life

Ash Wednesday (March 6) marks the beginning of the Lenten season in the Western Christian calendar. These 40 days (excluding Sundays) culminate in the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Lent is about preparation, self examination and meditation on Jesus’ life and suffering. It’s about journeying with him to become like him. It’s about taking up our cross prior to being raised with him.  Before being raised to life on Sunday, Jesus was lifted up on Friday.

Lent is about finding life – the true source of life

Our culture shuns anything that remotely hints of denial. “Why should I have to give up anything?” we ask, if not with words then through how we conduct our lives.  Examining the deep inner contours of our hearts is not something we do naturally – yet it is what followers of Jesus have done for centuries during this season and have found deep life in the process. This, of course, is the point.  Lent is about finding life – finding the true source of life – the very author of life.  In Lent we give up other embraces to make room to be more fully be embraced by Jesus.

This season, you may want to embark on a journey asking the question, “what in my life is crowding out the very source of life?” This is the essence of fasting – another practical marker of Lent.  Jesus wants to bring us to a place of being more fully alive and yet he won’t do it without our partnership.  As we posture ourselves toward him, the Holy Spirit will transform our self-centred lives into new lives of community and justice. Lent prepares us to live worshipful lives of compassion, generosity and all embracing love.  This sounds like a good definition of being fully alive to me – how about you?

 

Here are a few resources that may help on your Lenten journey:

Pray As You Go

A daily contemplative podcast that leads the listener through a series of meditative prayers and scripture readings.  Each episode is about 10 – 13 minutes long.  You can listen right from their website or subscribe to it via iTunes podcasts.

Lent for Everyone

This is an online devotional created by N.T. Wright.  It includes daily scripture and a well-crafted and thoughtful devotion by one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our time.  (You have to sign up to view it).

Living Lent Daily

Features prayers, thoughts and more each day to inspire you throughout your Lenten journey. A new article will become available daily throughout Lent.  These are quite short.

And a few WCV inspirations:

Lenten Devotional

There is a guided Lenten devotional centred around the book “Sacred & Desecrated: 40 days with Wendel Berry“. It includes daily readings and various challenges designed to deepen our connection with God while preparing us for Good Friday and Easter. The group meets Wednesday evenings beginning March 6th, 7:30-8:30. Contact Amanda for more info.

Empty the Pantry – a Flatlanders Lenten Tradition

The folks in Flatlanders Inn have been doing this for 9 years or so – you may want to try it in your living situation.

“Each year during this season, we dig out the accumulated boxes, tins, and bags from our cupboards and make a deliberate choice to use up the food that we wouldn’t usually choose to use.

Doing this helps us to remember that not everyone has the luxury of choosing what they want to eat. Many people simply have to find ways to use up what they have. Doing this also reminds us to be grateful – on a regular basis, we actually get to choose what we want to eat. We have enough food to have all of these extras.

At the end of Lent, we calculate how much money we have saved on groceries, and then use that money to bless others.”

 

Feature Image credit: Jenson Stidham

 

 

Easter at the Vineyard

The events celebrated during Holy Week are epic. Jesus’ passion, crucifixion, burial and resurrection are not only central to the Christian calendar, they are the central events of all of history. In terms of importance Easter ranks higher than Christmas – a fact that is lost on most of our children and many of us adults too. We just like the cradle more than the cross. In a similar way, we typically skip over the discomfort and pain of Good Friday preferring to jump straight to Easter Sunday – joyfully imbibing all the excitement and energy of the resurrection. We are right to be excited and energized by Jesus’ resurrection (and our eventual resurrection too, by the way!). However, in our excitement for Sunday, we miss the gifts offered in Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

If we resist the urge to short-circuit, and if we linger in the way of the cross on Good Friday, and the nothingness of Holy Saturday, our celebration on Sunday will take on a whole other quality. Light is most brilliant when juxtaposed with darkness.

Here’s what’s up this Easter at the Vineyard:

Palm Sunday (March 25):

Joyce Rees from Epic Vineyard in Calgary will be sharing with us. She will be here with a team.

 

Good Friday (March 30): Into the Shadows

Walk of the Cross, 6pm – 6:45pm

During this year’s Walk of the Cross we will journey with Jesus as we read and listen to the scriptures concerning his final supper in Jerusalem, the agony of the knowledge of what was to come in Gethsemane, his betrayal on the Mount of Olives and his Trial in Jerusalem. As we walk with the physical cross we will stop at various points throughout the neighbourhood to consider our own crosses – find our own ways to connect with Jesus on this guided journey. Wear appropriate attire and walking shoes. This event will be child friendly. The Walk of the Cross leads thematically into the Good Friday Service – we recommend that you participate in both.

Good Friday Service, 7pm – 8pm

Then we’ll come back to 782 Main St. for our Good Friday Service to consider and experience his journey to what they called Golgotha, the “place of the skull”, where he was crucified. We will also be with him as they laid his body in the tomb. This service will employ all the senses. It will be a visceral experience. We encourage everyone to participate in both the Walk of the Cross and this service, however if you can’t make it on the walk, you’re still welcome to join this Good Friday service. Children are welcome (we will talk about death and the crucifixion and will nail our own stuff to the cross, literally, but it won’t be gratuitous). We end by placing the cross in the basement.

Fasting: Friday – Sunday

Our Fasting will begin on Friday continue through Holy Saturday, a day of apparent nothingness, and be broken on Sunday.  The seed placed in the ground.  Waiting. Our fasting echoes this “giving up” that Jesus did. You can fast for the whole weekend, or part of it. You can choose to fast from food, or anything else you feel God may be inviting you to give up. Ask him. This small sacrifice isn’t to earn favour, nor is it an attempt to twist God’s arm into getting something you want. Rather, it’s a physical act of solidarity with Jesus. It’s a discipline and it’s a pain. Every time your stomach reminds you that you’re hungry (or every time you go to check your phone – if you’re fasting from social media), etc, you can recall what Jesus did and is doing, and you can offer a prayer. When we break the fast on Sunday morning, we are rising with him – emerging from darkness to the glorious light of his resurrection – feasting on the new life he has for us and the whole world!

 

Darkness to Light (God’s Joke): Sunday, 10am

Of course, this brings us to Easter Sunday. We will party, worship and celebrate God’s accomplishment all morning. Emerging from the shadows of the weekend, and blinking from the dazzling, blinding light of the resurrection, we will celebrate the first stunning glimmers of the new creation – and we’ll invite more (and he’ll show up)! On April Fool’s day, we will celebrate God’s great surprise ending – the ultimate joke.

You are encouraged to contribute to the festive atmosphere in any number of the following ways:

>>Bring an acoustic instrument (drums, rattles, guitars, etc) or any other tool of worship.

>>Bring plants or flowers to decorate the space with signs of life. You’ll be invited to bring your items forward at a specific time in the service. Afterwards, you can gift your flowers to someone in our community as an act of sharing God’s love with them. 

>>Bring your Dancing Shoes (literally and figuratively).

 

 

Invitations to Lent

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer. ~ 1978 Book of Common Prayer

Today is Ash Wednesday. Today, we begin the season of Lent – a 40-day preparation for and pilgrimage towards the Holy Triduum (the three days of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday) – where we celebrate Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

During Lent, we are especially reminded of the divisive and destructive nature of sin – of the ways in which it dilutes, distracts, and outright opposes loving relationship with God, our neighbours, and creation. Through the illumination and power of the Spirit, we are invited to a vigorous time of struggle against temptation and sin – reminiscent of the Israelites’ 40 days in the wilderness and Jesus’ 40 days in the desert – that we may be led more fully into the life and joy set before us.

This life and joy is the real theme of the season. The English word “Lent” comes from the Old English word lencten, which means “lengthen,” and refers to the time in spring when daylight begins to lengthen. We consider, struggle with, and repent of our sin because God is making all things – including us – new. The glorious daylight of his kingdom is coming and Lent is a way for us to respond to and participate in this exciting renewal.

Christians throughout history have taken on several practices during Lent in order to facilitate this renewal. I commend the following to you as concrete rhythms through which you may more fully enter the heart of the season. May the Father’s love, Jesus’ truth and grace, and the Spirit’s conviction and comfort be with you.


  • Examination and Repentance
    • With his help, ask God where have you sinned against him in thought, word, and deed, by what you have done, and by what you have left undone? Where have you not loved him with your whole heart? Where have you not loved your neighbour as yourself?
    • Trusting in his immeasurable kindness and unquestionable grace, ask God for forgiveness and mercy.
    • Ask God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen you in all goodnesss that you may be led in the way of life everlasting.
  • Prayer, Fasting, and Generosity
    • Fasting is a form of self-denial whereby we voluntarily set aside something for a time in order to intensify attention to and awareness of God (this attention and awareness is prayer). The things we are most reluctant to set aside are the very things that probably get in the way our life with God.
    • Fasting is a helpful, practical way to focus prayer and realize that God – not food, Facebook, friends, or what have you – is the real source of all pleasure, goodness, and satisfaction.
    • In tandem with fasting, Christians have often given special attention to generosity (“almsgiving”) during Lent as a way to avoid self-absorption and to inspire self-giving in love and service to others (e.g. fasting from food might give you more money to share with those who don’t have as much food).

Invitation to Pray – Invitation to Grow

2016 Budget:  $441,580
Offerings to date:  $369, 842
What we still need for December:  $71, 738

These, simply, are the numbers regarding our current 2016 financial reality.  While they are, in one way, our current situation, there is another reality at work behind these numbers.  That is the simple truth that God provides and always has provided for us.  This should induce hope and faith, and dispel panic and worry.  It should not, however, cause us to become complacent.  The staff and Board of Directors diligently and prayerfully set budgets and keep track of expenses and income throughout the year, and each year around this time we are reminded of our dependence on God.  This annual reminder of our reliance on him in this way has changed us for the better – it’s formed us.  Yes, we all need to be diligent and faithful in our giving (thank you for that), but ultimately, it comes from him.

With that in mind we’d like to invite you to join us in holding our collective financial situation up to the Lord, knowing that as we do so, he hears us, provides for us and changes us.  The Staff, Pastoral and Lay Elders and the Board of Directors have been fasting and praying on Tuesdays.  You are invited to join us!

screen-shot-2016-12-01-at-9-59-00-amThis call to prayer and fasting is not a manipulative attempt to get WCVers to “dig deeper”.  Far from it!  It is a call to lay our cares before the “Lord of the harvest” – to offer our concerns and cares up to him – and as we do so, we are changed.  We become more reliant on him.  We become more trusting in his provision.  Gratitude is stirred in us for the ways he does provide for us collectively.  The exciting opportunity is that we are changed in the process!  

Will you join us?

 

Lent – Becoming Fully Alive

Today is Ash Wednesday. It marks the beginning of the Lenten season in the Western Christian calendar. These 40 days (excluding Sundays) culminate in the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 11.09.16 AMLent is about preparation, self examination and meditation on Jesus’ life and suffering. It’s about journeying with him to become like him. It’s about taking up our cross prior to being raised with him.  Before being raised to life on Sunday, Jesus was lifted up on Friday.

Our culture shuns anything that remotely hints of denial. “Why should I have to give up anything?” we ask, if not with words then through how we conduct our lives.  Examining the deep inner contours of our hearts is not something we do naturally – yet it is what followers of Jesus have done for centuries during this season and have found deep life in the process. This, of course, is the point.  Lent is about finding life – finding the true source of life – the very author of life himself.  In Lent we give up other embraces to make room to be more fully be embraced by Jesus.

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 11.23.07 AMThis season, you may want to embark on a journey asking the question, “what in my life is crowding out the very source of life?” This is the essence of fasting – another practical marker of Lent.  Jesus wants to bring us to a place of being more fully alive and yet he won’t do it without our partnership.  As we posture ourselves toward him, the Holy Spirit will transform our self-centred lives into new lives of community and justice. Lent prepares us to live worshipful lives of compassion, generosity and all embracing love.  This sounds like a good definition of being fully alive to me – how about you?

 

Here are a few resources that may help you on the journey:

Lent: the road to the Cross  – a booklet prepared by the Vineyard UK.

Pray As You Go – a daily contemplative podcast that leads the listener through a series of meditative prayers and scripture readings.  Each episode is about 10 – 13 minutes long.  You can listen right from their website or subscribe to it via iTunes podcasts.

Lent for Everyone – this is an online devotional created by N.T. Wright.  It includes daily scripture and a well crafted and thoughtful devotion by one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our time.  (You have to sign up to view it)

Living Lent Daily – features prayers, thoughts and more each day to inspire you throughout your Lenten journey. A new article will become available daily throughout Lent.  These are quite short.

On the Mountain of the LORD – a call to Pray

There’s something powerful and unsettling about recognizing our own inadequacy. Abraham must have felt something of his own inability to provide, as he was witness to the miraculous conception and birth of his son Isaac. Abraham’s firstborn was God’s living, breathing promise – a skin and bone sign that God would honour his vow to make Abraham a father of many descendants. Imagine, then, what must have been going through Abraham’s head as he trudged obediently and perhaps reluctantly, up the mountain for three days to sacrifice Isaac. Was God going to turn back from his promise? Did God really ask this of him? Did he hear God correctly? What was going to happen when they got the top?

Screen Shot 2015-12-10 at 4.01.49 PMIn the end, God walks with Abraham into his greatest fear and delivers him from it. Instead of sacrificing his son, like other nations around him, God provides. Jehovah Jireh is the name Abraham uses for the LORD when he sees God’s provision in the form of a Ram for the sacrifice.

“On the mountain of the Lord, it was provided for” is what they still say of that event. “On the mountain of the Lord it was seen.” The connection between God providing and God seeing a need is deep. Jehovah Jireh can be translated equally, “God who provides” and “God who sees”. Abraham knew when God sees, he also provides. Whatever was going on in his heart that day, his actions declared, “the Lord will see to it”. This same idea caused the Hebrew people to cry out, “Remember us, O LORD” (Jer. 14:21) and “Hear us, O, LORD!” (1 Kings 8:30). As soon as God remembers, it is provided. As soon as he hears, it is provided. As soon as he sees, it is provided.

In this season, we are joining with Abraham and the ancient Hebrew nation in calling out for our financial provision. We are joining together to ask God to remember us, to hear us, to see us and, ultimately, to provide. We may not feel the same kind of desperation Abraham might have felt as he ascended the mountain, but we are confident we will see provision – that God knows our situation and will hear our prayers. He walks with us into our own inadequacy and meets us there. On the mountain of the Lord it was provided for – it was seen (Gen 22:14). Let it be so in our situation as well!

Please consider joining the Pastoral and Lay Elders as we fast and pray every Tuesday in December.

 

More with Less Fast – Invitation

The world around us always seems to want more from us, but gives less in return.  It may be your schedule demanding more from you.  Perhaps there are debtors wanting to be paid.  Maybe there is a situation in your life that requires a lot of extra energy and it’s simply draining you.  Or it may be one of the “stories” our society tells us – like the script that says the more money we have, the happier we will be.  Or the more we exercise, the more desirable we will be.  Or the more we drink, the easier it will be to forget.  But these never really work.  The more we feed these various appetites, the less we seem to get in return – we are less comforted, less happy, less satisfied and less fulfilled.

The Kingdom of God is the opposite.  The more we give ourselves to him and his Kingdom, the more joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and sense of his presence we get in return.  The more we are fully given to our Father and his Kingdom, the less we need all the other stuff.  It’s not that all the other stuff is necessarily bad.  Rather, when we look to all those other things to fill us, they can make us numb to his presence in our lives instead of giving us life.

You may ask, “what does this have to do with fasting?”  The answer is “everything!”  If you’re like me, when I think about fasting, images of suffering, discipline, pain, and self-denial fill my mind.  The end goal of fasting has been lost to the activity itself.  Like one who looses the forest for the trees, too often those who fast see only the lack, and miss the more!

The end goal of fasting is to open us up to more of God, not to make it through a week without eating or checking Facebook!  While, there is an element of giving up in fasting, this is never the whole picture.  There is always more, rather than less, when it comes to fasting.

surrender1In this “More with Less” fast, we are calling us to recapture the joy in fasting.  There is a beauty in the simplicity of sharing a meal with a stranger (in the Isaiah 58 sense) and there is a simple goodness in forgoing a meal in order to spend time with the Lord.

In your life, what dulls you to God’s presence?  Certainly, there are many things which have the power to either numb us or draw our attention towards God.  What might he be calling you to detach yourself from during this week of fasting so that you can more fully experience his “more” for your life?

We will begin this fast on Sunday, March 15 and finish on Saturday March 21.  We will have daily encouragements as well as a time to gather together to worship and pray in the evening of Wednesday, March 18.

It will be a week of revelry in the Holy Spirit as we dislodge our usual comforts and displace them with God’s comfort for us.

March 15 – 21

Join us!

 

Nepali Fast – Saturday

Drawing near to God:

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?

Drawing near to others:

Rice and DahlThis 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!).

 

Nepali Fast – Friday

Drawing near to God:

Cross Good FridayToday 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.

Drawing near to others:

Chipatis and PotatoeThis 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.

Nepali Fast – Thursday

Drawing near to God:

Canadas Heart BeatsManitoba’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.

Drawing near to others:

IMG_7826When 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.
Pray for the believers in Champi and the Vineyard church there – that they’d continue to grow in Christ and that they’d see God’s kingdom come to their neighbours in the village through healing, deliverance, and faith in Jesus.

Nepali Fast – Monday

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.

Drawing Near to God

Draw near to GodPart 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.

Drawing Near to Others

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.

Misal, Amit and Lakpa play in the Katmandu Vineyard courtyard.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.

  • Reaching children – that Kids and youth would come to know and passionately follow Jesus.
  • Calling children – that God would sovereignly reveal himself.
  • Protecting children – from all manner of evil (slavery, malnutrition, gangs, prostitution, homelessness, hopelessness, etc).
  • Releasing children – to lead in prayer and praise.
  • Resourcing children – that God would send workers.
Photo Credits (excluding the hand): Matthew Sawatsky