Together For The Harvest
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Week of Prayer 2009
A Week In The Life Of...
Richard White
Richard lives with his wife Louise and children, Laura, 11, who supports Everton and Joe, 7, who supports Liverpool. His main “hobby” is coffee shops!
Sunday
Pentecost Sunday… come Holy Spirit! On Sunday mornings we worship at the Anglican Cathedral. (Our house is on the car park so it’s our local church!) This week’s service began with the announcement that I have been appointed as the new ‘Canon for Mission and Evangelism’ at the cathedral, starting in September. My role will be to develop a culture of mission and evangelism in the life of the cathedral, so that every visitor encounters God in some way. With around 400,000 visitors each year from around the world the opportunities are amazing!
The evening is a monthly ‘Dream’ worship service in the cathedral. Dream is a network of groups across Merseyside that are involved in creative approaches to spirituality centred on Jesus. I’ve been the pastor of Dream for the last three years and will continue in that role when I take up the cathedral post. At the moment there are two Dream groups based at the cathedral as well as others in Ormskirk, Haydock and Grassendale. See www.dream.uk.net for more info.
Monday
Whenever possible I frame my working day with morning prayer and evensong at the cathedral. It’s a discipline I started in Lent this year and will be part of my new role. I grew up in a ‘house church’, spent eleven years in YWAM and am still a Charismatic who enjoys bopping to the latest worship songs, so set liturgical prayer and worship has been a relatively recent discovery for me, but one that is enriching my walk with Jesus enormously.
The rest of the day is pastoral visits, supervision, admin and another prayer meeting.
Tuesday
For the past year Dream have hosted a ‘reflection zone’ in the baptistery area of the cathedral. It’s a set of simple prayer stations based on the seven days of creation. There are scriptures, reflections and creative prayer activities. It’s been tremendously popular with around 10,000 people having used it already. Today I’m working on a new version.
Wednesday
Off to Leicester for a meal with a couple who have joined the new Dream ‘Rhythm of Life’. The Rhythm of Life is a shared commitment to a way of life built around practices that have been central to followers of Jesus down the centuries. We’ve based it on Jesus’ summary of the most important commandments giving us six areas that we commit to: Loving God with all of our passion, prayer, intelligence and energy, loving others and loving ourselves. Everyone involved in the Rhythm of Life goes through a process of discerning how that pattern should look in their own life and has a mentor to help and support them in it.
Thursday
Need to do my tax return today... what fun!
Friday
We’re very good at making sure we take a day off on Friday. I’m a city person, but Louise, my wife, loves the country, so time off for us means getting out of the city to somewhere with lots of green for a walk and good coffee shop, then an evening with a curry and a DVD…. life is good!
Saturday
I usually work less on Saturday to have some good family time. Today I’m chatting to others and working up ideas for Dream’s next Guerrilla Worship event. The idea is to take a little taste of the kind of creative worship we enjoy in Dream groups and do them out in public. Our first Guerrilla Worship event was a worship “flash mob” in Liverpool One in April. We were dispersed among the shoppers, and then at the signal, we suddenly stopped and took off our shoes as a symbol of ‘Holy Ground’. We were saying God is present in shopping malls as much as church buildings. We then made our way to the park and sat in the shape of a cross to pray silently for the challenges and pain our city is facing in this economic crisis. Finally we released a balloon as a sign of our prayers and of the hope God offers. We think it was the first worship flash mob in the world. You can see the video at the Dream website if you click on ‘Guerrilla Worship’. The response on the net has been incredible with over 5000 people watching it so far and articles on the Times, Guardian and Spectator websites. The next one will be on 18th July in another iconic Liverpool venue, check the Dream website for details.