Family Fireplace

fellowship and prayer …cuz they wanted to »

by Simon Cooper

Had a long but good community leaders meeting today. Gave a little power point on time management too, which felt good. But By 5pm I was really wiped out. Cancelled one evening meeting, but still had our regular Wednesday prayer evening at 7.30pm. Watched some TV to unwind, since we have a big screen now in our reception area. It never really works for me, TV, when I need to de stress.

Went up to our main hall to prepare the chairs etc at around 6.50pm and light the prayer candle.

some times we need others to shed light on our state of mind

Still feeling a bit fried. wondering if anyone was going to come, feeling a bit shaky, I knew there were some people in the building, but hey maybe they’re not up for it tonight…you can guess where my mind and heart were going. Was doing a reasonable job of coming to terms with what I had decided was a solitary evening. (God’s telling me: “leave that for me to decide”, not that I was listening.)

Especially by 7.30pm on my watch, I am thinking ‘yep I’m on my own’. I am half German – everything should start as the second hand strikes 12.

Decided to go down and see if everyone had opted to watch the football instead and thought I might invite people up. But as I was going down, people were on their way up – the guys who were in LG to practice for Live Lounge, Masa from our HQ congregation, and Aska from Bromley who had been helping in the UPF office.

That prayer evening tonight was seriously the best part of my day. I felt that we could not know how precious it was for God that we came together to pray. We sang a few songs, I asked everyone for their thoughts on some notes I took from Hyung Jin Moon’s talk. And then I asked Aska to pray – she shared the most exquisite prayer that just gave me the chance to wash my face clean. Then we prayed altogether for a while.

giving thanks

I was so grateful to those young people for just being there and giving me the chance to pray with them. I had been pretty wound up and strung out from an intense day, and had got into my ‘no one wants to pray thought-train’, but they just came because they wanted to and through that example lifted me up and out of my fear. Thanks guys.

Written by Simon Cooper in Blogs
Tags: church communities, faith, fellowship, prayer

Thank you for your comments, though I do not deserve getting such comments from you. And thank you very much for keep organising prayer evening. I am sure that our heavenly father and true parents cry in joy when they see you working so hard for it. Hope you have great weekend.

Asuka Ohagi - 20 June 2010

one response.

Post your comment

Mar 2 2009

Discovering God’s purpose for your life in 2009 »

by Simon Cooper

This is a summary of the message given at our West London Family Federation church yesterday, if you are interested in this topic or have further insight let me know, thanks:

We looked at 3 core points:

1.Your unique character and ability.

2.How to cultivate a sense of calling.

3.Making a commitment to God’s purpose.

A sense of purpose is what gives us value in life. A clearly defined purpose helps us to sharpen our senses: when my son cut his forhead open on a metal fence, and I rushed him to A&E I was fully alive in my role as a parent in a way I would like to be in less dramatic moments.

Purpose gives us a focus, and concentrates our energy: When you focus the power of the sun through a magnifying glass you can set light to a leaf. When our heart is dry we need to find th best way to focus God’s love on our self to light a fire in our heart.

Our purpose is always expressed in relationship to something: We discover our purpose through a task, another person, a cause, an activity. And in that sense it is something that is always been adjusted. In that sense we can say we have many purposes.

Why not take a moment to consider what are the many purposes in your daily life that give you a sense of value. Can you recognise them? How aware are you of purpose in your daily life? How much are you aware of your value?

So there are basic purposes in life that afford us our greatest value: our purpose within the family. In the family we discover and learn that the whole purpose is greater than that of the individual as it takes into account the purpose of each person.

As long as I perceive my identity just as an individual I am trapped in a wrong paradigm.

Walking with my four boys and their grandfather, my father, on Saturday afternoon I reflected on what is my commitment as a son to my father, and as a Father to my sons. As I see myself struggle as a son I see how I struggle as a Father.

You are uniquely created by God:

God is very specific. He gave you life for a clear and intended purpose.

You are not meant to be like everybody or anybody else, (so do not compare, it is a waste of energy.)

What are your unique talents?

discover your strengths, and gain confidence in your ability

serve God through your ability and talents to find a deeper happiness

What is holding u back form your place of most potential? take time and invest your energy to develop yourself so that you can have confidence. Have the faith to invest in God’s greatest asset….YOU.

A positive mind, will allow you to discover abilities you were unaware of.

Do we recognise our negative, critical thinking, towards ourselves, others, circumstances?

Negative thinking is like a darkness inside of us that hides all the opportunity and blessing.

How to cultivate a sense of calling:

using your ability and talent to serve God requires spiritual maturity

Develop habits for spiritual growth: Habits form our character, which is the basis behind all important decisions and will determine to what extent we find our calling.
Genuine spiritual fellowship within your community: we cannot grow on our own, but only together in a supportive relationship with others: start or join a small group.

Many of us here consider ourselves as members of FFWPU. Is it really your calling to be here? If it is then….

Make a commitment to:

Share God’s blessing and True Parents’ message with others.
help create a spiritually secure community where people can enjoy fellowship as one family.
Fulfil your unique calling to attend God and serve others.

Make a plan for how you will do this. Make a commitment. Don’t commit everything, don’t let somebody else make your commitment for you, but you make your decision about your commitment.

It may be on a very

•personal level (make a quiet time once a day),

•or family level (cook for my family/clean the house once a week),

•or some commitment you want to make for your community (volunteer my time for a particular ministry),

•

….but in the end it is your commitment and it is firstly between you and God.