prayerscapes - creative journeys in worship and prayer

creative prayer journeys


Monthly Archives: May 2016

Reflected By The Screen

Old tv

As a teenager, I watched a lot of soaps! Anything from Dallas to Eastenders, Neighbours to Friends. I’m sometimes shocked by the amount of hours it’s possible to spend doing this. I suppose I was searching, straining to see and connect with the world, and I found media to be a quick fix for these things. I was also a bookworm!! Always eager to reach the next chapter, lost in the detail of a carefully crafted human tale. As my faith started to blossom, my prayer life flourished and I guess this need fell by the wayside. Suddenly I didn’t so want to fill my mind with fiction, and gradually cut out such “telly time”. And there was a blessing in this! I found that the dreadful “comparison game” halted, as we all know that many of these media characters are just that – illusions of fiction! What’s more they are “framed” in a way that flatters and distorts.

In this new season I began to have thought time to devote to real relationships, social issues and family. This created a space in my mind for God’s love to come and transform me. It was a revelation! Here I found great productivity and creativity.

Facebook

And now I find that this space is under threat again. This time it’s filled with real people. It’s a book brimming with wonderful friends and family in, both distant and present. With many of these people I might once have just exchanged cards at Christmas time. Now I have a perpetual window into their lives. Yet I feel the burden of this too! I find it hard to keep up with so many people. And sometimes Facebook makes me feel sad and empty…with so many people living apparently fun-packed lives, it makes wonder about my own. However, on more than one occasion I have presumed from Facebook that one of my friends is leading a wonderful life, only later to find out that their lives are in crisis.

So here I stand upon the edge of a great challenge. How can I engage with the new social media world, but not fall to it? How can I be thankful for the opportunity to engage with old friends, but not be bound by it? Maybe tonight I might do something radical and pick the phone up. Have a proper chat with just one person…just like the old days!

Between Your Shadow And Mine

The inspiration behind this track came many years ago, when I used to travel the trains regularly through London city. Back then as a shy, slightly overwhelmed 18 year old, I would keep my eyes down, and watch the shadows that travellers made. I was fascinated by the way that the shadows of two people could join and overlap, yet the commuters were completely oblivious to these meetings. At the time I was a young Christian, and I wondered how I could be one with Christ, how the holiness of God could touch me. The looming shadow of tall building combining with the fleeting shadow of a person – such things form a picture of how earth and heaven combine. God is so awesome that even between that close connection other vast creative space can exist.

Abba! Abba, Father I often cry! I snuggle up in that space, in the arms of my heavenly dad, open, vulnerable, known and loved.  Such knowledge has gradually transformed my life. Light has fallen in the dark places of life, and every piece of me – my feelings, my health, my mind – is being renewed in this interaction. Yet walking in faith with Jesus is not a “done deal”, like some some signature on a dotted line that contractually binds me. It is a rich and beautiful journey, deep inside my heart and soul, one I remain open to and ever thankful for.

We’ve already used this song as part of a meditation on Psalm 139 as part of our first prayerscapes album. We thought we would start to release some of the songs we’ve written for the albums as singles, some of which will have a more scaled back, acoustic feel. So here’s the first of these! Between Your Shadow and Mine….

To download the mp3 of this song and read the lyrics, please visit this page on prayerscapes.




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