For me some of the highlights were:

• Great food cooked by Flic - and a willing group of helpers to chop and wash up.  Good job everyone - who needs a rota is everyone is wiling to serve each other.
• Conversations around the log fire.
• Praying for people at the end of Saturday morning, seeing the Lord touch, heal and encourage us.
• Seeing the desire to step forward with God, an openness to Him.  Just so encouraging.
• Malcolm’s film clip from Lord of Rings - encouraging us to take a step beyond where we have gone before, into something new.
• Personally, I found that it is true (again!) that we you give you end up receive more.  To talk about God’s love, is to receive God’s love, and to be changed God’s love.  I came quite tense and stressed, and that love melted something inside me.

What were your highlights?  What did God do in you?

There is a mixture of time to hang out & have fun together,  and some group time together to learn, pray & worship.  The beautiful surroundings lend themselves to walks (sometimes midnight ones!), but also the log fires inside are conducive for reading, board games, & conversations into the night.

This year, we are focusing the group sessions around God’s story and our story, with some storytelling on Saturday night, not quite around the camp fire but trying to recreate that inside the house!  We want to look at how we learn to be caught up to God’s great story of romance and adventure, but how often we are trapped into living out of our much smaller stories, dominated by fear, hurt and rejection. 

We believe it will be a great time together, and are really looking for God to be present, to encourage, heal and restore us.  Check back here next week for stories of what Holy Spirit does with us.

We were thinking that it would be good to get some discussion going on the blog.  I just found this statement about community, which I thought was really striking. 

“Community becomes totalitarian when its only purpose is to foster a sense of belonging in order to overcome the fragility of the lone individual. Christian community, life in the colony, is not primarily about togetherness. It is about the way of Jesus Christ with those whom he calls to himself. It is about disciplining our wants and needs in congruence with a story, which gives us the resources to lead truthful lives. In living out the story together, togetherness happens, but only as a by-product of the main project of trying to be faithful to Jesus.”

(From Stanley Hauerwas, a theologian)

I found it positive because it is so Christ-centred and discourages us from being content with our earthly representation of heaven without keeping in touch with the real thing!  But so often we see Jesus in people around us - he communicates with us through them, and shows his love through their love for us - and this is good!  Does the quote downplay this too much?  Comments welcome…

At one point we were praying for those who may be cold in their homes - that the Spirit of God would come and meet with them, warm them, comfort them. At that moment, both Flic and George had very similar pictures; a vision of lava being poured out over the area, God’s love descending on Granton; and a vision of fireballs coming down the streets. This was so exciting. For me, I had just been wondering how on earth change could happen in the area as it felt so overwhelming and difficult. And yet here we were, God speaking so clearly, reminding us of his love for the place, of his power, that all things are possible through him. It was like he was saying “I AM”…”I AM love”, “I AM peace”, “I AM hope”, trust me!

Of course we can never change things. That’s the whole point. We have to stop looking at ourselves for the answers and instead cry out to the God who is the source of everything. Only by him can lives be set free and whole communities completely transformed. We just need to be willing for him to use us and obedient when he calls. Thank you, Lord, and please help us to do that!

The computer is a bit wick here so I can’t write much but in brief.

I haven’t stopped since the day I found out I got the job in london back at end of May. I have lived in 5 different flats, met loads of people, learnt so much about buinses, finance, the world, life in the ”big bad world’ where if I don’t go to work I can’t put a roof over my head etc etc. But amazing and totally because of the grace of God I am happy, well and enjoying myself.

I am enjoying my work with the Commercial Crime Services. In a nut shell I investigate cases of actual and potential fraud and money laundering. The BIG picture being stopping the financing of crime from petty crime to the financing of terrorism on a BIG scale. I dont’ know how the flip I got here or how I end up in the meetings /discussions I am in but I take it all as a massive privaledge and learning curve. My ultimate career aim - still a mum hee hee!

I am fighting to keep my feet on the ground, to keep a healthy perspective on life and keep my focus on my real purpose - realtionship with God and bettering his Kingdom - the world we live in. How? I am not sure, the journey continues…

I have only settled in a flat a few weeks ago. I am in Balham (near Clapham) - South London. Living with two christian girls one from uni and one we met through the flat. I have been along to the local anglican church which was enjoyable and I am kean to keep going and commit to a cell in next week or so. I wish I could pick CCE up with all you guys inside and plonk it at the bottom of the road.

It is great to read of everything that is happening at CCE! God has been so faithful to all our/your prayers!

I hope you and families and friends are all well. I hope to be up in Edinburgh before Christmas and will definately be around on a Sunday morning!

God bless, much love
Debs

And surely, one by one people started to show up, it showed me, people are a bit slow to the call.  But nevertheless, I was all ready to prayer walk!!  It was a pleasant time to walk and talk as everyone gathered into pairs.  Nice format, guys. And something about what we were going into… I felt there was a since fo works… a spiritual change in the air I was breathing.

Dumbiedykes

When we had reach to the place (which is called some dykes), I was quite… excited.  It was dark and yeah, it was cold, but the something about the area, I sow to understand, made me feel inside a place of calling.  A place to see… and soak.  I don’t know.  Little things made me just stand and feel still.  I asked God, if you will, let me be… in Christ, that is.  Some of us started to split and walk to where we feel we would like to go.  And everyone headed forward, I felt that I wanted to stay behind.  Because… there was running water.
It was over a fence, and then, I looked over on the other side and I prayed to God, “Wow… the lights over there are orange!!  And this running water… feels so calm.”  So, I just stood there, waiting… in vain or not, I thought to God, it’s nice standing still.  And surely enough, a stranger walked passed me, I said to God, “If only I could say something”, and then the guy called to me.  “Are you alright?  Are you lost?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.  I’m just… soaking the atmosphere here.” I felt like, “WOW!!  Someone is talking to me… RANDOMLY…”
And he basically, told me that it was pond of running water. And after that, he said “Take care then”.
I strangely thought… that was a nice thing to say.

As I was walking, the darkness somehow came to me, speaking of memories rather than being afraid of “walking in the dark”.  It came to me with such emotional stir… I felt that the place was floating with dreams, dreams of falleness.  Something felt comfortable to be walking in and other places were not so much, but all in all, it was sensual.  I was uplifted by my senses, praying as I was feeling.  I opened myself to hearing and listening to what is physical and spiritual.  I trusted God in everything that came to pass.
It was memories… this place was full of it.  The old, old  kinda memories.  Something troubling but also stirring.

As we walked away and going towards to dynamic earth… I felt a real sense that it was like my parent’s home land… Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong

It really swayed me to see and feel this great wideness of space that made me feel small.  Even though, Hong Kong is triple or four times taller and compat than this place.  Something about it… made me wonder in amazement of the building lights, the freshness of the rain, and the darkness surround this quiet little place.  How the building are put together, how the stairs are there zig zagging…  it made me kinda Hong Kong sick.

But in all there was a beautiful place build with vision… but it’s so quiet. Kinda sad.
And when we reached to dynamic earth, there were a sense I got…  the “well of people” did what they wanted, and the “not so well off” people just ignore.  And there is a division that serperates people from meeting one and another from different backgrounds.  A wall build that no one wants to know anybody.  Such a way of thinking, people don’t mind those who might be in need (or vice-versa) the goodness and outlook  of the other.

Yeah, that was it really.
But it was a nice experience.

I’m so glad now that my English placement was withdrawn. The dietitians on placement have been so nice, the scenery is beautiful and the people are friendly. The main worry was finding accommodation because all the towns are quite “touristy” and expensive. Again I prayed about this and everything has just worked out so well, although slightly expensive! I think I’ve really learnt just to keep calm and pray, rather than worrying and trying to plan. “

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

These are the key things we have been looking at in this verses…

1.  Justification - is often said that it is “just as if I” never sinned.  While this is good, it doesn’t go far enough.  The image is a court room, and it is not just a pronouncement of “Not Guilty”, but a declaration of “you are righteous”!   This declaration is not based on our own lives, but on the life that Jesus lived.  Where the NIV says: “faith in Jesus Christ”, you could also translate that “faithfulness of Jesus Christ”.  In other words, it is His faithful obedient life, selflessly lived before the Father, that is credited to us. 

An analogy may help here:  We are in debt, for our selfishness (sin).  This debt has not only been wiped clean (which is good news!) but we have been credited with a huge, unlimited bank balance (which is fantastic news!).

2.  Redemption - is a slavery image, and the NT primarily sees us as in slavery to sin.  It is though there is a weed that is growing in our hearts, that however much you pull up, the roots are so deeply embedded, it keeps growing back.  Jesus has freed us from that slavery to sin.  It is not that we never sin, but we are not controlled by sin.  We are free to live a righteous life.  A “God-seed” has been put in our hearts, that if we nourish it and water it, will destroy the roots of the “sin-weed” and flourish in a fruit-bearing tree (oak of righteousness).

3.  A judgement out of time - He has shown his justice “at the present time”.  We would expect a judgement (or assessment at the end of our lives), but God has declared His verdict NOW: “You are righteous”!  It is a bit like enrolling at University on your first day, and being handed a certificate of graduation, first class honours, and a prize for being top of the class.  “But I haven’t done anything to deserve that“, you cry.  That is exactly the point.

On Monday night, a few of us met together to pray around Dumbiedykes, an area hidden behind the main streets of the city and often completely unnoticed by those who live in Edinburgh (it’s the white blocks in the photograph).

This small housing estate is one over which many prayers have been prayed by students at CCE in recent months, particularly as it’s so close to where we meet together on a Sunday and study at university during the week. It was great to walk around the area, led by a Christian who has lived there for 7 years, and pray into all the different aspects within the community. We were reminded of the power of prayer - that we can change situations simply by interceding on behalf of the residents. By walking in between the blocks of flats, we can also physically bring Jesus’ light and life to every place in which we tread. What incredible hope this brings!