Seek His Face!

Ok, I'm a bit behind with these posts, since this was a couple of weeks ago-the weekend following the last post, in fact. It was the 'anniversary' Seek His Face event, as it was about a year since the first one of them was put on. And it was also the unofficial launch of  Andi Foster's album-there will be an 'official' launch at some point this month somewhere.   

                                                       
Anyway, I felt I should go along, that God wanted me there, though I didn't really know why. I didn't really know whether I actually wanted to be there, but I felt I should be, so I was. I was actually quite interested to see (hear?) the rest of Andi's music, as up to that point, I'd only heard the songs from the E.P.

Once I got there, I tried to relax and pay attention to God, but I found it difficult. However, after a bit, I kind of got the impression that relaxing and doing are not necessarily things that go together. So, as much as possible, I tried to let go. And that worked much better. Although, it does mean I can't really say what the result of that was, as I wasn't really in a state of mind where I was able to process much. However, one thing I am sure of, is that God was there, with me-and He seemed to be happy with that. I went up at the end to be prayed for, and though I'm not sure whether anyone did pray with me (I think someone did), I know that God touched me. In a way, I kind of think that this follows on from what happened at New Wine in a way. It seems that, at the moment, God isn't telling me to do anything in particular, but just to rest and wait. For now, anyway.

And, at the end, I got to chat to Andi, and he gave me a copy of the album (my pre-ordered copy-sort of); which is excellent, by the way. I strongly recommend you get it-you can find it here. Either a C.D. or a download. Oh, and he also said he wanted to meet up with me, as he wants me to get more involved in certain things-I'll say more about that when I know about it.

Cafe Church Weekend

Well, after hearing about the cafe church from Rich (in my last post if you want to know a bit more), I decided I wanted to go and visit. And, as well as that, I felt I should go, at least once. There was one coming up on Sunday 19th-and as it's currently only on every other month, I felt I should take the opportunity that was presented to me straight away. I'm not good at making that sort of decision, but I asked Rich that evening if it would be okay for me to come and visit on the Saturday, and then join him on the Sunday for that month's cafe church; as it would be a lot easier for me to come up then than try to find a way of getting up in time on the Sunday. Straight away, he said that would be no problem, and to let him know as soon as I could either way.

So, after a few days sending messages back and forth, and checking train times (it didn't take long to discover that coaches would be no use), we eventually figured out where and when he would pick me up-and, in the meantime, he'd got me invited out for a meal with him. Which was nice. He'd been invited out, and his hosts were generous enough to invite me to join them. So he picked me up at the train station and we went there via Asda and some very winding roads. We were just two of a large party, and conversation flowed well. A good time was had by all.

So we got back to his quite late, and I just about had time to meet his 'lodger' before going to bed. I got up a little later than the others, so I had to make my own way to the 'cafe'-but that was easy enough. I could see the church from the window, but it took a little longer to go round by the road than straight across the fields-still less than 10 mins, though. I got there to discover things were well under way, and a couple of friends of mine were there from my church. So I sat with them and read our paper-every table had one to inspire conversation and thoughts. I grabbed smething to eat, and sat down to chat. After a bit, the programme started, as it were. Rich and his boss, David, got up and opened proceedings by asking what people had been reading in their papers. We had The Church Times, so we read an article about how heresy is good for the church; but I didn't really think that appropriate. Anyway, a few people said stuff about things like the tax avoidance issue with Stabucks and Amazon, and they engaged with that; and then the M.A.D. youth did a sketch about miracles (that's Martley Amateur Dramatics to the uninitiated), and we had a few songs led by the Rev David. And then the main presentatin began-which this time was an interview with a friend of Rich's who had had a major heart attack, and was talking about how he drew closer to God as a result-and also how he is now healthier than ever. This touched lots of people in different ways for different reasons-the thing that touched me about it most was a bit where he said he was praying when things went really bad for him, and he was pleading with God, saying something along the lines of 'have I really been such a bad son'?; and God replied 'Now, you know that's not true'. Which is along the lines of something He's said to me over and over.

And, all too soon, it was over. The only other thing of note before we packed up was from a girl called Lottie, who was telling us about how her fundraising was going for a trip to Africa she's doing next year. She's going out to do some building work of some kind-she doesn't know what yet, as it's not til next year, and they will be doing whatever needs doing at the time. Whatever that is. In the meantime, she has to raise about £4000 in order to go. I will pass on something at some point, and if anyone else feels they wish to contribute, I'm sure that would be gratefully received.

And then, we all helped pack up, and it was off to lunch. Which was also nice and relaxing. it was a cafe in the middle of a sort of wildlife park called The Cob House; and the four of us had a nice chat about life, the universe and everything-or, as much of it as we could in the all too short time we had. The cafe church goes on every month, and my friends say they are going to go to most of them, so I may join them. They're away for the next one, so I may turn up again in July or August. I look forward to it...

DESTRUCTION!!! Part 2:More than Destruction

And so I got to the meeting about 20 mins late, which you might have thought would be a bad thing. Not really the case, in this case. As any Christian knows, a meeting which is due to start at on the hour, can in reality start any time from quarter past. This one actually started at about 7:50, which meant I had plenty of time to get myself settled, have a cup of tea (of course), and chat to a few people before anything important happened. Loudly. Let me be absolutely clear that two guitars in a small space (one electric) will, without doubt, demand your attention. They used the same set-up for the church service on the Sunday, and the main difference between the two was that more happened in the church.

After starting by worshipping (loudly), we moved on to the main business of the evening-praying for people. It was originally supposed to be praying about what people are getting involved with back home where they are, but apparently God had other ideas. People came up to ask for prayer about what was going on in them, which was both powerful and moving-to know that they trusted people with what was going on with them, and that people obviously cared. I don't really want to go into any more detail, as I don't feel it would exactly be appropriate. It's not my things to share. And then more people arrived shortly before the end of the meeting, but to be fair, they had come from Chesterfield. A rapid tidy-up followed, and then we decamped to a pub-the one where the gig would be held the next evening. And then another. And much merriment followed.

The next day was very busy, but thankfully didn't start too early. I got up at about 9:30, which was actually a fair bit later than I would normally get up on a Saturday, so that was good, and I had a relatively leisurely journey to Islington where I was meeting a friend-and on the way discovered that my phone battery was almost dead. Which would make things tricky to keep in touch over the weekend if we separated. Oh well. The event we were attending during the day was a celebration of 30 years of  Workshop. It was an interesting and fun day, but although for my friend it felt like coming home, I had a distinct feeling of not quite fitting. So, for that reason, I don't feel that I should really say more; as I definitely wouldn't do it justice. I enjoyed it, it was fun and interesting, and it was good to spend the day with him; we shall leave it at that. Apart from to say it gave both of us plenty to talk about later, and we are both fully agreed that Universalism is not true Biblically. And then we came to the evening, where we had a bit of a problem-there were two gigs to go to, D-Fest and a gig connected to the Workshop 30 day, and we both wanted to go to both. We decided to do a bit of travelling between venues, and see what we could see. So we missed the first bit of D-Fest and saw the first guy on, and I for one wished we hadn't. I fell asleep during his set. Let's say he was brilliant at what he does, it's just not for me. Or it could have been that I was really tired. Or maybe something else. Anyway, we got to D-Fest, and I was quite happy to stay where I was from that point, so I did. And definitely feel I made the right choice, if only for Seventh Angel-their first UK gig for 20 years. I thought they were brilliant; something I wasn't alone in thinking, I'm certain. I look forward to hearing more from them here....

And so, after finally getting to bed at some ridiculous hour (our hostel had a bar that stayed open until 3a.m.-though we weren't there quite that long), we had to be up and about in time to check out at 10. I'd discovered that didn't mean we actually had to leave the building, just hand over the keys, so I went to have a shower after that. And I felt so much better after that-almost awake, in fact. Anyway, we left and grabbed breakfast in a nearby pub, and then went to check out the British Library, cos we're cultured, like-and it was basically just across the road. I definitely recommend it-it's a striking maze of a building, and you never know what you might see around the corner. Or who. In this case, it was a fellow D-fest attendee, who we both knew. Which was nice. And we saw some very old Bibles. Which was interesting. And then it was time for us to leave and go back into the real world, as my friend had to catch a coach back to his life. I still had 1 1/2 hours before the D-Fest closing service, and once again, I managed to be late. Which appears to be a real skill I have. Anyway, I got there and celebrated with all. It was a very informal (and, obviously, loud) church service with people wandering in and out, and then people drifted around and chatted for a while-apparently a more or less typical Glorious Undead service, by all accounts. Which was generally just really relaxing and really nice, as well as worshipful-I will definitely remember it and the people for a long time to come (definitely the people, as I'm keeping in touch with several, so I won't be able to, even if I wanted to). And then I had to make my way home. I had thought that a 5:30 coach would be fine to catch, but as I didn't leave Camden Town until almost 4:50, the journey to Victoria was a bit fraught. Especially as I realised that my return ticket was on my phone, and I didn't know what the battery situation was like. Well, you'll be pleased to know that for basically the first time that weekend, I managed to get somewhere on time...

And so I caught the coach, and got home. And just generally relaxed after an absolutely stupendous weekend. I won't forget the people I met, and I look forward to meeting up with them again at some point. maybe the next D-Fest, whenever that may be, but hopefully sooner. Who knows what might happen..?

DESTRUCTION!!! Part 1 (Eve of Destruction!)

Well, another weekend when I was busy. Very busy this time. This time I was down London way for the third Destruction Fest-a Christian metal festival put on by a church called Glorious Undead, who have a particular desire to reach out to those in that music scene. They are linked to the Elim network, and work together with St Michael's, Camden Town, where they are based.

I first heard rumours of a planned D-Fest several months ago, which was exciting, as it's by no means a regular occurrence; the last one was three years ago. They do them every so often, as they are not a money making venture-the last one was free, and this one was to raise money for a local homeless charity, where they pledged to double whatever money was raised over the weekend. So, it's not something they feel they can make a regular feature in their calendar. I guess that's the reason, anyway.
So, quite a few people I know were at the least intrigued when these rumours started circulating, rumours which quickly became confirmed fact. So I knew I wanted to go, and a couple of others who might want to go as well, so it was just down to whether we would. I talked about going for quite some time without doing anything about it, until I got to a point where I just had to make a decision. So I spoke to one of my friends, and said 'so, are we going or what?'-nothing like passing the buck when it comes to decision making. Anyway, the upshot was that we decided we would go, so we left it that he would book us somewhere to stay in London. There were a couple of practical reasons for this. one was that he is much better with computers than me, so I expected he would do it no problem (whereas I would probably procrastinate-no, make that definitely); and second, at that point, he wasn't sure exactly when he would come down, or if he would stay for the whole weekend, so it made sense for him to work that out, and then let me know what he'd sorted. And it had the added advantage that, if he was doing that, I could assume that it was happening, so I wouldn't change my mind. Probably. So, I booked the time off work (you know, quite useful to know I could go), and then pretty much forgot about it. Until just a few weeks away, when I realised we hadn't sorted anything definite out. It got slightly more complex on each side when we each found other things to do that weekend-some in London, some not. So, after a couple of frantic couple of phone calls, we finally worked out where we would be staying, and (important) where it was in relation to the places we wanted to go over the weekend-4 in total. And then I realised I hadn't done anything about sorting out transport, with less than a week to go. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to get to London-seems quite a few people want to go there. The only slight difficulty was that a friend wanted to show me a church in London, and I'd said I could do this weekend and then hadn't heard any more about it from her. Were we going or not? How long would I need to stay in London? (As it turned out, probably longer than I did.) I booked my ticket there, so at least I knew I could get there, and then I was ready. As ready as I ever am, anyway.

So, on Friday morning, I got up bright and early (well, alright, not early); and got myself ready. I had plenty of time, so I left the house with just enough time to catch the coach. Well, actually plenty of time, as it was late-not that that mattered much as I had about 4 hours to play with at the other end. And I still managed to arrive late to the prayer meeting which kicked the whole weekend off. But, at least I HAD ARRIVED...