Urban Monks @ TILT | Hearts for God through Prayer

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | July 30 Week

Bill challenged us this week as to whether or not we had tasted the reality of the person of Jesus in our lives and the changes that occur when we encounter Christ. Only after that can we truly proclaim His Kingdom and be a community of healing. Can we pray for this for one another?

As always, the prayer map is a great tool for pray for each other. Read about it here (I'm still looking for people to add!). View it here.

Of course, post your comments below...

Resources for the Week | 08/01 - 08/07

Two options for meditating on Scripture and journeying in prayer through the week...If you do once-a-day, maybe you and a few of your friends can sing together like these guys on the right? :)
Once-A-Day Approach for August 1 - 7
Divine Offices/Hours for August 1 - 7.
(A continuing reminder that if you print out the Divine Offices, I've changed the format so that they can fit on ONE double-sided page!)
Of course, you can use the Divine Offices Calendar, which includes links to reading the text online. It's pretty easy!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | July 23 Week

This past Sunday, our evening was centered around the Scripture of Acts 2:41-47, which describes the early church community:

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

How can we pray for such unity, devotion and fellowship at TILT? Do we want the same thing? Why or why not? What would we have to give up in order to live as a community, which witnesses to the world of God's love and grace?

As always, post prayer requests on this post by clicking on "Post a Comment", or "# COMMENTS" below...

Resources for the Week | 07/25 - 07/31

Here are our two options for meditating on Scripture and journeying in prayer through the week...
Once-A-Day Approach for July 25 - July 31
Divine Offices/Hours for July 25 - July 31.
(Note that if you print out the Divine Offices, I've changed the format so that they can fit on ONE double-sided page!)
Of course, you can use the Divine Offices Calendar, which includes links to reading the text online. It's pretty easy...

Sunday, July 15, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | July 16 Week

What can we pray for this week?
Pray for individuals of the TILT community using the prayer map here. What's the prayer map you ask? Read here. Get on the map! My apologies for not yet updating some new additions - early next week I promise!

What is happening in Toronto that we can pray for? Canada? World? The newspaper is always a good place to start - Globe, Toronto Star...

Please post how we can pray for you, or share your story...click on "COMMENTS" below or post here.

Resources for the Week | 07/18 - 07/24

As always, we continue to provide two options for meditating on Scripture and journeying in prayer through the week...
Once-A-Day Approach for July 18 - July 24
Divine Offices/Hours for July 18 - July 24.
(Note that if you print out the Divine Offices, I've changed the format so that they can fit on ONE double-sided page!)
Of course, you can use the Divine Offices Calendar, which includes links to reading the text online. It's pretty easy...

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | July 9 Week

How can we pray for one another this week? An easy way to do so is to pray through the new prayer map here. As always, post a comment for specific prayer by clicking on "Post a Comment" or "COMMENTS" below.

It was saddening to hear the recent remarks by the Catholic Church (read here). Although committed to ecumenical discussion (i.e. discussing between all different denominations), they declared themselves to be the only "full" Churches of Christ. Pray for the same spirit of unity for which Jesus prayed (John 17), that rather than bickering among ourselves, we would as the Church worldwide actually focus on the mission for which God has created and sent us!

Resources for the Week | 07/11 - 07/17

Urban Monk resources for the week...
Once-A-Day Approach for July 11 - July 17
Divine Offices/Hours for July 11 - July 17.
(Note that if you print out the Divine Offices, I've changed the format so that they can fit on ONE double-sided page!)
Of course, you can use the Divine Offices Calendar, which includes links to reading the text online. It's pretty easy...
NOTE: the picture is of St. Benedict upon whose "rule" we have based the Divine Offices...!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | July 2 Week

David led us in prayer on Sunday night, through many specific requests that have been on the website over the past couple of weeks. To view all of the weekly postings, click on the label "Community Prayer".

This week, we are introducing the prayer points map. For an explanation of the concept, check out the post below. Click on any red circle with a star to see details about the person/place and specific prayer requests. We encourage not only to pray for those specific requests, but for the places as well - that we would bring healing, reconciliation, grace, forgiveness and love to the places we are throughout the week. Note, you can also click on the names on the left to view where specific people are through the week. Here's the map.

If you are not yet included, please read this form and email your response to tilt.toronto@gmail.com!! I'll get you on the map ASAP :).

As always, please leave specific prayer requests, stories, praises by commenting on this post. Click on "COMMENTS" below or go here.

Resources for the Week | 07/04 - 07/10

Weekly resources are here!
Once-A-Day Approach for July 4 - July 10
Divine Offices/Hours for July 4 - July 19.
(Note that if you print out the Divine Offices, I've changed the format so that they can fit on ONE double-sided page!)
As always, you can use the Divine Offices Calendar, which includes links to reading the text online. It's pretty easy...

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Prayer Points | Praying for Our Communities

If you've ever walked into a church before, chances are there was a map of the world with pictures of various missionaries whom the church body had supported in their activities. This is a wonderful idea, but it neglects the reality that each and every one of us is sent by the church, our faith community, to be a sign of God's Kingdom in the places we are each and every day. We are called to authentically live as children of God, bringing compassion, justice, love, mercy, tenderness and grace to the places we are - at home, at work, on the sports field, in the coffee shop, at the grocery store, wherever.

So, here is our "prayer points" map! Any ideas for a better name? If you click on the image above, or go here, a map of Toronto will open up with various red circles scattered throughout the city. As TILT, we gather together on Sunday evening, but for the rest of the week, we are the scattered community of TILT. This map gives us an opportunity to pray for one another in the places we are throughout the week. Not only that, but to pray for the communities, places of work, schools, etc. themselves. Pray that we would reveal the goodness and graciousness of God wherever the people of TILT are as we live out the values of God's Kingdom. For a picture of what God's Kingdom is like, check out Psalm 145 here, (or any other number of biblical passages, stories, especially the life of Jesus!).

We would like as many people involved and represented on this map as possible. If you aren't yet on it, please check out this form here and email a response to tilt.toronto@gmail.com or give it to anyone on leadership at the next TILT gathering. If your information is out of date, please send updates to the same email!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | June 26 Week

What do you think of the picture? I initially put it up more for amusement than anything. But, as we prayed yesterday during the day, God has already created a perfect community, mirroring the unity of the Trinity - the community of Father, Son and Spirit. We do not have to create unity, it is there for us to take hold of! We can't excuse our disunity as a result of our "imperfectness" - we are united in Christ by the Holy Spirit already! May TILT reflect this unity and may the world know God by the love we have one another. I'll pray for that!

As always post your own prayer requests/stories for praise here.

A few other things we can pray for:
At TILT:
:. There are potentially, from what I know, four families from TILT (Halls/Adams/Moores/Kays) all moving within the next month. This can often be a stressful time and difficult in moving from a certain neighbourhood. May God grant peace and a sense of excitement about moving into a new neighbourhood. What is exciting for us (I speak for myself [Scott] only here, but I'm sure the others would agree) is that we are all moving into the same neighbourhood around Yonge & Sheppard. An awesome opportunity to be missionaries together in the area around Spring Garden! Are there any other people moving that we can pray for?
:. Continue to pray for Matt's step-brother Trevor and his family as they care for him.
:. Continue to pray for Martin as he prepares to head to France. Read more here.
:. We had a good day-long meeting yesterday as TILT leadership (thanks for praying). Pray that what God spoke to us and what became clear to us through the day would be brought into practice. In particular, pray for unity between TILT and the broader Spring Garden community - we affirm our part of that community and want to seek to be truly committed to one another in support and unity.

Broader Community:
:. There is supposed to be a First Nations blockade from Toronto to Montreal on Friday (read more here). This is a "national day of action". I'm not even sure what or how to pray for this. The First Nations people have been hurt so badly and yet confrontation and violence will not bring reconciliation in this nation. This is especially poignant for us as we can visibly be people of reconciliation as we visit the Moose Deer Point First Nations Reserve in August.

Resources for the Week | 06/26 - 07/03

This week we have switched our lectionary to the one found in "For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church". This is a lectionary that was designed to be used across all denominations, and I think this is something we all value - emphasizing the unity of the Body of Christ (the Church) in practical ways such as reading Scripture together across all denominations.

As a result, you will notice this week we'll be reading a couple of times from the book of "Ecclesiasticus", which is an Apocryphal book. Typically not included in the Protestant Bible, it is read by Catholics and some Anglicans (I think?! Matt A, am I right?). If you print out your resources, use the Divine Offices Calendar to find these texts as I imagine none of us have a Bible with the Apocrypha in it!

The resources for this week can be found here:
Once-A-Day Approach for June 26 - July 3
Divine Offices/Hours for June 26 - July 3.
(Note that if you print out the Divine Offices, I've changed the format so that they can fit on ONE double-sided page!)

Monday, June 18, 2007

Resources for the Week | 06/19 - 06/25

Please find resources for the week here:
Once-A-Day Approach for June 19 - June 25
Divine Offices/Hours for June 19 - June 25.

The Divine Offices Calendar is up and running too (click on the right sidebar). It is a great and incredibly easy to pattern your life around prayer.

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | June 19 Week

We have now finished our series entitled "Moth and Rust". It's been a seven-week journey (I think) of looking at various Scriptures relating to a spirituality of money and giving our everything to Christ. How has God spoken to you through these Scriptures and the gatherings at TILT? How can we pray for one another to respond to God with action in our lives?

Some things that came up for prayer last night:
:. Martin Dewar is headed to France in July. Read about it here. Pray for him!
:. Pray for Matt's step-brother Trevor, for his caregivers throughout this week.
:. Pray for Laura's friend Julia how is grieving the loss of family members very suddenly.

Please post anything else by clicking on "COMMENTS" below!! You can always post anonymously, or write in your comment that you don't want it to be published and only TILT leadership will pray for you.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | June 12 Week

On Sunday night, we spent time in small groups of 3-4 praying for one another. If you were at TILT, continue to lift the people in your group up in prayer. If you feel comfortable, please post the prayer requests you had so that more people from within the community can journey with you in prayer!! Post here.

We also learned on Sunday night that Rick Wukasch is leaving Spring Garden Church for another opportunity as a pastor with the Meeting House. Pray for him as he makes this transition. We will miss him!

Please pray for discernment as we seek people for the community connections trip to Moose Deer Point Reserve to run a kids' day camp. Our heart is that this be the beginning of a long-term relationship, but we want to make sure this is God's desire and not just ours! If you want more info, go here.

Of course, there are always things happening around our city and our world which we have the privilege of praying for with God. The looming renewed Cold War comes to mind. Please post anything else! Are there things at your places of work for which we can pray? Relationships? Government?

Resources for the Week | 06/12 - 06/18

We are back on the bandwagon for getting the resources out on time!
Once-A-Day Approach for June 12 - June 18
Divine Offices/Hours for June 12 - June 18.
If you print out the Divine Offices, click here for a format which you can print on one double-sided sheet.

Please post any thoughts, insights, experiences, ponderances as you use this resources throughout the week.

Monday, June 4, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | June 3 Week

Last night, we prayed through the Lord's Prayer several times and used part of it to lead us in praying for our community and beyond. The version of the Lord's Prayer we used is here under The Daily.

Our prayer time was specifically centered around this part of the prayer:
"Bring about Your kingdom.
Manifest Your will here on earth,
as it is manifest in heaven."

Stemming from this, we prayed through Psalm 145:9-16.

Please post comments, prayer requests, stories of God's Kingdom being revealed here on Earth!

Resources for the Week | 05/29 - 06/11

Hello fellow urban monks! Forget what this urban monk this is all about? Check out the original post here. You can also click on all the "about" links on the sidebar at the right.

We are a little behind on the resources, so here's two weeks worth.
Once-A-Day Approach for May 29 to June 4
Once-A-Day Approach for June 5 to June 11
Divine Offices/Hours for May 29 to June 4
Divine Offices/Hours for June 5 to June 11

We would love to hear from you if you are using these! Post comments on this post...
As always, you can also use the Google Calendar for Divine Offices. This calendar isn't yet updated but will be soon!!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

COMMUNITY LIFE & PRAYER | May 27 Week

Bill spoke to us on Sunday about having a heart as a community after the heart of God. This is what God said through the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 58:
This is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the Lord will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

Let's pray through this passage this week. How can we at TILT reflect God's heart in our community? Please post any thoughts, words, comments, issues, reflections, challenges...as always, personal requests can be posted so we can pray for one another.

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