Lent Bookclub Part 6: Grief is worship

Chapter 2: Worship; Part 2: Grief and Gratitude.

This section of the book takes a quick look at that amazing story in Luke 7 of the woman who brought Jesus an offering of herself, her tears and her jar of perfume. The trouble is, it was such a quick look that I didn’t get to say half of what I wanted to say, so here’s a podcast with a bit more to chew on. It’s really all about grief, and how we assume we need to fix it or get over it, in order to produce some good-quality worship. Yet to God, our grief actually is worship.

This is never an easy one to talk about, but if you’ve got any thoughts or stories to help other people keep company with their grief in prayer, please share them in the comments.

https://anchor.fm/lyndall-bywater/episodes/Grief-is-worship-Chapter-2-Part-2-e3fj1o

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Lent Bookclub Part 5: Mini Explosions

chapter 2: Worship; Part 1: Presence and Praise

After all the introducing and scene-setting, we’ve finally made it to our first “prayer type”, and that’s worship … arguably the most important aspect of Christian prayer. This section has some thoughts on what praise is, and how we might do more of it. Praise is one of those things we know we should do, and we know we should probably enjoy it, but sometimes it can seem more like repeating of old familiar words with little heart. What brings praise to life?

As for this podcast … well it’s me sharing my tips on how I rediscover the wonder and joy of praising God, especially when it’s all got a bit flat inside me. If that sounds like something you identify with, I hope my thoughts are helpful.

And the big question for today: Where is your “thin place”? Is there somewhere where you always sense the presence of God more strongly than usual, and where you find yourself bubbling up with praise? Why not comment and tell me. I’d love to know.

https://anchor.fm/lyndall-bywater/episodes/Mini-Explosions-Chapter-2-Part-1-e3etoc

Lent Bookclub Part 4: Deep calls to Deep

Chapter 1: Encounter; Part 2: Heart to Heart

This evening I’ve been thinking about being honest when we pray … honest about how we’re feeling, for instance. That’s handy as it’s what this second part of chapter 1 is all about. But why does it matter? Doesn’t God know how we’re doing before we know it ourselves? I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s something we miss out on when we don’t stop to acknowledge how we feel … when we don’t stop to tell God what is going on in our hearts. And that’s what this podcast is about. Oh, and of course the Heart to Heart section has even more to get your teeth into.

If you do the “Trying it” activity with the photograph, by the way, please do pop in here and tell us how it was for you. Some people find it challenging and others find it exhilarating.

https://anchor.fm/lyndall-bywater/episodes/Deep-calls-to-deep-Chapter-1-Part-2-e3eloa/Main-abl2d8

Lent Bookclub Part 3: God is real

Chapter 1: Encounter; Part 1: Face to Face

Today we’re revisiting some of the basics of Christian prayer. There’s a lot of prayer out there, but Christian Prayer has some distinctives that are encouraging to get hold of. Have a read of today’s section of the book to see what some of those distinctives are, and listen to this podcast to hear me debunking some of the unhelpful ideas we sometimes develop around prayer.

But most of all, take a moment today to celebrate the astonishing truth that God is not far off. God is real, present, and close to you every moment of your day, if you want him to be.

And if you’ve got a moment to leave a comment, tell us about a time when you knew God was right there with you. What was happening and how did you know he was there?

Happy Monday!

https://anchor.fm/lyndall-bywater/episodes/God-is-real-Chapter-1-Part-1-e3e1d8/Main-abhi6n

Lent Bookclub Part 2: God wants to be with you

Prayer in the Making Lent Bookclub: more thoughts from the Introduction chapter

Welcome back! I hope you’re enjoying thinking about your bests and worsts in prayer. Don’t forget to share your thoughts with us. I’ll give you this one as an encouragement: a couple of days ago, my brain was so dead when I sat down to pray that I ended up doing an online M&S order! And since I’ve banned myself from feeling guilty about prayer, I am just concluding that these trousers (which have just arrived) will be the most blessed trousers I’ve ever worn!

Maybe that’s what set me thinking about how important is for us to know that God wants to be with us. Even when we get so weary in prayer that we resort to the online shopping app, he still loves us and enjoys our company. (I have a hunch he quite likes a bit of shopping too!)

And if we know how much he wants to remain in us (john 15), then it changes how we pray. When we know we’re utterly known and loved by the one we’re talking to, it brings prayer to life in a new way. The prayer practices in this book are all good things to be learning, but they transform into vibrant encounters when we know we’re not talking to a distant acquaintance, a churlish parent or a task-focused boss, but to the one who said “I want to be right there with you – in you – for all time.

Listen to the podcast to hear me talking a bit more about that. And please do share your thoughts in the comments. There’s a little interactive exercise to do at the end of the podcast, so you might like to pop back in and tell us how it went for you.

https://anchor.fm/lyndall-bywater/episodes/God-wants-to-be-with-you-Introduction-and-Foreword-e3dibk/Main-abf6m6

Lent Bookclub info and instructions

Here’s some slightly more detailed information about how the Prayer in the Making Lent Bookclub will work. It’s just 5 days away now!

Listen to the podcast here …

Don’t forget, you can subscribe to this blog to be sure you get email notifications of everything I post, so you don’t miss a thing.

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“God’s resources for life’s challenges” – Women’s Conference

I’m doing the keynote talks at this event so do come along if you can.

https://www.brfonline.org.uk/women-2019

The “Prayer in the Making” Bookclub

Lent starts in just over 2 weeks, and if you haven’t already got your Lent Reading sorted, here’s an idea for you. Why not journey with me through my new book,Prayer in the Making. I wrote it last year because I’m passionate about helping people find the different kinds of Prayer that best suit their personality, but the only way to really do that is to try lots of different types of prayer at least once … and what better time to do that than Lent? The book takes you on a tour of 12 different types of prayer, and it gives you creative ways to try out each type, making for a rich and varied Lent experience.

So here’s the plan: you get hold of a copy of the book, and we’ll wander through it together, starting on Wednesday 6th March (Ash Wednesday) and finishing at Easter. Once we get underway, I’ll post every Monday and Thursday, pointing you to a different section of the book to read. Then we can share our thoughts on the type of prayer we’ve been reading about, we can discuss the questions and try out the prayer activities.

As well as pointing you to different sections of the book to read, I’ll also share some extra thoughts and stories along the way … stuff that didn’t make it into the book … and I hope those things will make it an even more worthwhile journey.

One of the things I’ve learnt about writing books is that we as authors need to keep living them … keep rooting our lives in the praxis we’re recommending to everyone else … so I’m going to work my way through Prayer in the Making again, almost a year after I wrote it, and I’d be thrilled to have your company. If you like the idea of joining a little Lent prayer community, this could be just what you’re looking for.

There are a few ways you can participate:

1. Here on my website. I will post everything here and you’ll be able to comment as you read.

2. On Facebook: I’ll post everything to my Facebook page, where people will be able to comment and share if they want to. Just go to Facebook and search for Lyndall Bywater, then like my page, and you’ll get posts from me popping up in your newsfeed. In addition I’ll set up a Facebook event for the Bookclub which you can join, then you’ll get notifications when I post something.

3. Through the podcast: I’ll be recording a little podcast every few days, so I can share a few more of my thoughts as we go along. You can find it and subscribe to it here:

http://www.anchor.fm/lyndall-bywater

Inner Room – a new app from 24-7 Prayer to help you pray

Do you find you turn to your phone when you have a few spare moments? This new app from 24-7 Prayer helps you turn your phone into a mini prayer space, so those few moments can become a few moments of conversation with God.

https://innerroom.app/

And some more detailed info about the app here …