Transformation Thurrock : St Cedd meets Isaiah at Transformation Thurrock Prayer

St Cedd meets Isaiah at Transformation Thurrock Prayer

Intercessors from across the borough met to pray on Saturday 20 February at St Cedd’s Parish Church in Stifford Clays.

A framework of activities around the themes of Lent and Repentance had been put together by Rev Andy Higgs (Stifford Parish Rector), Pastor Sam Olumoyegun (of Dayspring Chapel) and Tim Harrold (of Transformation Thurrock). These themes were explored using Isaiah 58 and 2 Chronicles 7:14. John Gorham (of Fresh Hope Community, Stanford-le-Hope) led us in worship at the start of each section.

Sam had ‘booked’ this Transformation Thurrock Prayer morning on New Year’s Eve when Tim spoke at Dayspring Chapel’s all-night event about the work of Transformation Thurrock.

We began with the opening 5 verses of Isaiah 58:

1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

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Andy placed on a chair a bowl of small rocks and invited everyone to take one, to hold it, and consider the weight of our own personal sin and areas of hardness in our hearts. There was a time of quiet reflection while John played Soften My Heart Lord, and Andy used the Anglican lectionary to read out some responsive prayers for Lent. Then we placed each rock at the foot of a wooden cross that Andy had put at the front of the church (right and bottom right). After that, some of us prayed aloud.

The next section focussed on corporate repentance and the Body of Christ in Thurrock. We sang Father God I Wonder, and afterwards wondered if Father God wonders how we’ll ever get it together? But we know that Jesus said, ‘I will build my church’ - not us!

Tim Harrold read out Isaiah 58:6-12, pointing out just what an affront it must’ve been to the priests of the day to have the Prophet tell them them that fasting isn’t necessarily about abstinence, religiosity and looking good, but about the motives of the heart, justice and getting your hands dirty:

6 "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?
7 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 him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
you will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings

Tim noted that the promise of God is that if we do these things - if we repent as one church and turn to God’s way of doing things - then Thurrock’s ‘filthy water’ will turn to ‘fresh water’, and the ancient paths as laid out by St Cedd in the 650s will be restored by the current generation. With the help of the Holy Spirit, together we can transform Thurrock.

Tim handed out 12 sheets with prayer pointers adapted from these verses and asked everyone to pray through the themes in small groups. These were:

LOOSE THE CHAINS OF INJUSTICE - TRANSFORM THURROCK
UNTIE THE CORDS OF THE YOKE - TRANSFORM THURROCK
SET THE OPPRESSED FREE - TRANSFORM THURROCK
BREAK EVERY YOKE - TRANSFORM THURROCK
SHARE YOUR FOOD WITH THE HUNGRY - TRANSFORM THURROCK
PROVIDE THE POOR WANDERER WITH SHELTER - TRANSFORM THURROCK
CLOTHE THE NAKED - TRANSFORM THURROCK
DON’T TURN AWAY FROM YOUR OWN FLESH & BLOOD - TRANSFORM THURROCK
DO AWAY WITH THE POINTING FINGER - TRANSFORM THURROCK
DO AWAY WITH MALICIOUS TALK - TRANSFORM THURROCK
SATISFY THE NEEDS OF THE OPPRESSED - TRANSFORM THURROCK
FEED THE HUNGRY - TRANSFORM THURROCK

As an introduction to the final section, John led is in worship with Restore O Lord. Then Sam Olumoyegun (left, with John Gorham, Edwin Hughes and Andy Higgs in the background,) explained his focus was on repentance on behalf of the United Kingdom. He began by reading 2 Chronicles 7:14, the word over the UK at the moment:

...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Sam defined repentance as turning around; turning back to God’s ways; to stop, think and change behaviours - which is what the UK needs to do at this crossroads in its history. Sam made the passionate and compelling argument for a denomination-less future (reminding us of the church-in-the-house nature described in Acts 2), and observed that many of the problems in the church are the fault of bad leadership. He asked, ‘What are the ills that bedevil the nation?’ But again, God has made a promise: if we simply do things his way, then healing for the land will follow. He split us into groups, repenting for:

immorality in the nation
the church not realising who she is (meant to be) in Jesus, and the lack of prayer and humility among Believers
sin and disunity in the Body and Bride of Christ

A final group prayed for the healing of the land. Sam urged us to sing together the old Pentecostal classic, For I Am Building A People of Power, and everyone hugged each other - Anglicans, Pentecostals, Methodists, Baptists and all sorts - as a declaration of the freedom in Christ brought about by the unity of the Spirit, and and as a prophetic image of a land healed.

Tim concluded by reading the last 2 verses of Isaiah 58:

13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honourable,
and if you honour it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

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He pointed out that the New Testament talks about Christ being our Sabbath, and that the nation is in the trouble it is because it knows not the rest of Sabbath, for it does not acknowledge God nor live in Christ. The UK has grown away from Jesus - not kept the Sabbath, which is him, holy - and gone its own way, but now the Lord is calling it back to himself.

Just to add...
In the group prayer section, Graham Claydon-Knights (of Linford Methodist Church) pointed out the phrase 'spend yourselves on behalf of' in verse 10. That's the opposite of 'save yourself'... So, don't save yourself, but spend yourself - or as St Bono of Dublin says, 'give yourself away'. That's what Jesus did. At the end, upon the words 'It is finished', he was totally spent.

Transformation Thurrock would like to thank Andy and Sam for their enthusiasm in hosting and planning this gathering.
The next Transformation Thurrock Prayer morning is on Saturday 20 March - but as yet we have no venue. We’re looking for somewhere either in the east or west of the borough. If you’re interesting in hosting, then please contact Tim Harrold on tim@transformationthurrock.com.

Tim Harrold, 23/02/2010