a his story lesson

Two lions from Colchester Zoo were walking down Colchester High Street.

One turned to the other and said, “There aren’t many people around today, are there?”

[It’s a good joke, but you could add the punchline: The other one said, “You can talk!!!”]

Yesterday afternoon Christians from across Colchester gathered together in the town centre. We met at First Site, our new visual arts facility, which opened to the public yesterday. From there we spread to seven different venues across the town centre area and prayed. The group I was in went to St Nicholas’ Square (tee hee) where we prayed for the Homeless, the Soup Run, for charities in the town and for the market traders in the town. Other groups were praying for the politicians and Council, shops and businesses, the police and justice system and so on.

This is something that our Town Centre Chaplain, Alison, has wanted to do for a long time and it was great to be praying and seeking God’s blessing on the town in the midst of the hustle and bustle, with people walking past and going about their business, revving engines, beeping horns and occasionally glancing in our direction while we prayed for them.

Jeremiah 29:7 reads: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

It was a command for God’s people who had been conquered, deported and now lived as a conquered people in a foreign land. Yesterday I felt that we were doing that for our ‘city’*. From the seven venues across the town we then gathered in the shadow of St Botolph’s Priory and sang worship to God. St Botolph’s Priory was an ancient church that had been destroyed during the Siege of Colchester and whose ruins remain as one of our landmarks.

St Nicholas’ Square is the site of a 12th century church that stood on the High Street and had the tallest spire in the town. It was demolished and the site sold in 1955 but a small square remains in the middle of the area, with grave stones around the edge to remind us of the heritage of the place. In the square and at the Priory it felt that we were standing in a tradition of people who had praised God and prayed to him for centuries as we praised him in song and prayer.

It made me wonder what people will say about us in years to come. Will they stand in places where our churches once stood and continue to praise God? Will they give thanks for the heritage that we have passed on to them? Or will our churches still be standing as living testimonies of God’s grace and goodness?

God alone knows. (Literally). But he calls us to be his living stones, to be his people, to be his body, to be his hands, feet and mouth in our community TODAY. The past has gone, the future is yet to be and while God holds all of history, he wants us to live in the present. Never mind harking back to the good old days. Never mind dreaming of a glorious future. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get on with what he wants us to be doing today.

Whom will you meet? Whom will you serve?

How?

In whose name?

Who will get the credit?

Be blessed, be a blessing

*Technically Colchester is a town but there is a lobby to get us city status