It was Something to do With Peas in a Pod?
This tale is about the first ecumenical prayer meeting that Simon went to in the little town called Milltown, lying in the hills between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Simon had just moved into this little town, he was a sub-mariner and was looking for a church to join when he was on leave and the hills between Yorkshire and Lancashire is as far away from the ocean as you can get.
He was always told that if you wanted to see what a church was like; spend a day in the minister’s home with his family.
Not knowing anything about any of the churches in the area, let alone know any of the ministers, Simon thought the next best thing was to go to the prayer meeting where all the churches would be in one place and check them out all in one go!
So Simon arrived just as the prayer meeting was starting, the vicar of St Elsewhere, the Anglican Church was explaining... “We are going to meet in the town hall the first Thursday in the month to pray for revival, as everybody attending the prayer meeting were from different churches it was agreed by the committee that had been set up to organise the prayer meetings that people would be more comfortable on neutral ground”.
Forgive him, Lord, but Simon decided to play happy family church snap ... he had a list of the churches attending the prayer meeting and attempted to match the person to the church when they prayed, then shouting bingo when he got it right... or maybe not!
Anyway, back to the prayer meeting, Simons worst nightmare! The vicar, the Very Reverend Timothy Timms had just informed everybody that he wanted to be inclusive so that night they would be praying around the room so everyone would have their chance to pray,
Oh No!! Simon always panicked when this happens, as when it came to his turn to pray he feared that he would dry up and would not know what to pray, and this night was no different,
Fortunately the Very Reverend Timothy Timms was going to start praying and was sat on the opposite side of the room, The first prayer lasted for five minutes, the next two seemed to last for hours, by this time Simon was finding it hard to concentrate and was counting the tiles on the wall,
Fred from the Methodist Church prayed about the local schools,
Charles prayer covered faith,
Mary missions,
Charles prayed a world tour,
Lay preacher Fred prayed against the evils of drink and his next visit to the local shops.
Pastor Steve prayed for the drunks on the high street on a Saturday night and was asking God for volunteers to help with the planned street mission,
Susan got excited about the second coming starting every sentence with Lord, Lord, and just in case God had forgotten who she was talking to, finished each phrase in the same way repeating His name again… and again… and again!
Then the old guy in the corner, think his name was Tom, he mumbled on forever and no one could understand a word, but to encourage him several people kept repeating “Amen” and “Praise the Lord”.
The vicar’s wife sat next to him, when it was her turn to pray, she gave a report of what she has seen on God T.V. last week, and to reinforce what she was saying started to wave her hands in the air and shaking from head to foot. She raising her voice, Simon was beginning to wonder if she thought God was deaf, because she was getting louder and louder and was now shouting every word! This made everyone sit up straight and Simon was sure she woke up several folk that had drifted off to sleep.
Then a young girl started to pray, except for Simon she was the youngest in the room by quite a few years, her prayer had interrupted Simon counting the cracks in the ceiling, when she prayed, she had such a peace about her. She prayed with a gentle authority, and when she asked God to send His spirit, A peace fell upon the room, the hairs on the back of Simon’s head stood up, she had a love of her Saviour that shone out with every spoken word,
Samantha, was her name, Sam to her friends, as Simon found out later, their lives were to be a lot closer than he could ever hope, but that’s a story for another time.
Sam prayed that everyone in the room spent a few moments to listen to God, to see what He had to say... the room fell silent; a warm glow seemed to fill the room.
Simon felt like he was standing in a waterfall, refreshing water pouring over him from head to toe, refreshing parts of him that no shower could ever reach, He wanted this feeling to last forever. To his embarrassment he realised that he was standing up with his hands raised up above his head ‘Praising God’
Simon quickly sat down, thankfully, he was not the only one that was standing up, hands raised, with a glorious glow on their face.
Stanley’s prayer bought things back to order, (it could be said it bought everything back to earth!) His prayer was a potted history of all the saints that had lived in Milltown since the time of the last great revival a hundred years ago, when ‘All the hills and the valleys rang out with hymn singing’ and ‘all the churches were full.’ Stanley was asking God why there hadn’t been revival since, and why all the churches were nearly empty in spite of all the committee meetings he had organised over the last twenty years?
Only one more prayer to go and then it was Simons turn to pray ... what was he going to say? His hands were sweating trying to think of something special to say that would make as good an impact on the prayer meeting as Sam did and for some reason he wanted to impress Sam.
The vicar’s wife was nudging Simon, he had dreamed through her prayer and it was his turn to pray, his mouth was dry, no words would come out.
That’s when it happened! Simon was saved, an old guy who was sat at the back of the room spoke up and said he had a vision that he wanted to share, the old guy went on about two peas in a pod, individual but all in the same pod, and they were growing separately yet together in the same pod.
This caused confusion; a general discussion broke out about the meaning of the vision. The Very Reverend Timothy Timms was getting flustered, as there had never been anything like this happen before in a meeting where he was in charge! You could see from his now blushing cheeks that he was losing control of the meeting.
Gladys from the ‘Free Church of the old Apostle’ said that she would put the kettle on and she had rich tea biscuits,” We could discuss it all over a cup of tea”. The Very Reverend Timothy Timms readily agreed and the prayer meeting seemed to be abandoned.
Over a warm milky cup of coffee several theories were offered up as to what God meant by the vision and it was generally agreed by most people, that God was talking about the different churches growing separately but together in the town.
While enduring this cup of coffee, Simon was wondering who won the raffle for the coffee bean as he hadn’t, the old guy came out of the shadows and introduced himself, a retired pastor who had family in the town, he was at the meeting with his brother’s daughter, who just happened to be the young girl Samantha,
He went on to ask if Simon had decided which local church God wanted him to serve Him in?
How did he know that was the reason Simon had been at the prayer meeting that night?
As Simon came to know Pastor James he found that Pastor James seemed to have the knack of asking the question Simon least wanted to answer, Simon only knew Pastor James could challenge him by asking the most simple question that rocked you to the core! But that’s another story,
Simon was invited to the little mission church by the old man, with a glint in his eye he looked over to Sam and said, “You know I have a feeling that you would fit in there”. “Come on son, I will introduce you to my niece”, he grabbed Simon by the arm he led him across the room.
Half way across the room the Very Reverend Timothy Timms was tapping the side of his cup with his teaspoon attempting to get everybody’s attention. “We’ve had a prayer request, Sybille, the daughter of Fred’s neighbours sister’s mother’s aunt is having an operation tomorrow, can we pray for her recovery and that she will come to know God as her Saviour in this troubled time,” several ‘Amen’s’ and ‘Answer prayers Lord’ were murmured throughout the room in response.
By the time they got to the other side of the room, Sam had gone to catch the bus,
“Never mind lad,” Pastor James said “it’s not the last you have seen of her, your just like peas in a pod you two!”
We chatted for a few moments longer then Simon made his excuses and left.
Simon was feeling very uncomfortable with Jim’s last statement, what did he mean we were like two peas in a pod!
Walking home, Simon’s head was spinning with all that had happened that night, had he heard the voice of an angel. Had he seen how to really pray...? What was that water that had washed over him in the prayer meeting, Simon somehow felt that he had been washed clean!
Does God really talk to us in visions? Who really knows what they mean? How come old Pastor James knew so much about Simon, when Simon had only met him less than an hour ago? , And them two peas in that pod?
Simon was walking on air still feeling that warm glow showering right through him,
With so many questions to be answered Simon couldn’t wait for Sunday to come so he could go to the little mission church old Pastor James had been invited him to, that’s the little mission church, in the little town called Milltown, lying in the hills between Yorkshire and Lancashire my home town.
This tale is about the first ecumenical prayer meeting that Simon went to in the little town called Milltown, lying in the hills between Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Simon had just moved into this little town, he was a sub-mariner and was looking for a church to join when he was on leave and the hills between Yorkshire and Lancashire is as far away from the ocean as you can get.
He was always told that if you wanted to see what a church was like; spend a day in the minister’s home with his family.
Not knowing anything about any of the churches in the area, let alone know any of the ministers, Simon thought the next best thing was to go to the prayer meeting where all the churches would be in one place and check them out all in one go!
So Simon arrived just as the prayer meeting was starting, the vicar of St Elsewhere, the Anglican Church was explaining... “We are going to meet in the town hall the first Thursday in the month to pray for revival, as everybody attending the prayer meeting were from different churches it was agreed by the committee that had been set up to organise the prayer meetings that people would be more comfortable on neutral ground”.
Forgive him, Lord, but Simon decided to play happy family church snap ... he had a list of the churches attending the prayer meeting and attempted to match the person to the church when they prayed, then shouting bingo when he got it right... or maybe not!
Anyway, back to the prayer meeting, Simons worst nightmare! The vicar, the Very Reverend Timothy Timms had just informed everybody that he wanted to be inclusive so that night they would be praying around the room so everyone would have their chance to pray,
Oh No!! Simon always panicked when this happens, as when it came to his turn to pray he feared that he would dry up and would not know what to pray, and this night was no different,
Fortunately the Very Reverend Timothy Timms was going to start praying and was sat on the opposite side of the room, The first prayer lasted for five minutes, the next two seemed to last for hours, by this time Simon was finding it hard to concentrate and was counting the tiles on the wall,
Fred from the Methodist Church prayed about the local schools,
Charles prayer covered faith,
Mary missions,
Charles prayed a world tour,
Lay preacher Fred prayed against the evils of drink and his next visit to the local shops.
Pastor Steve prayed for the drunks on the high street on a Saturday night and was asking God for volunteers to help with the planned street mission,
Susan got excited about the second coming starting every sentence with Lord, Lord, and just in case God had forgotten who she was talking to, finished each phrase in the same way repeating His name again… and again… and again!
Then the old guy in the corner, think his name was Tom, he mumbled on forever and no one could understand a word, but to encourage him several people kept repeating “Amen” and “Praise the Lord”.
The vicar’s wife sat next to him, when it was her turn to pray, she gave a report of what she has seen on God T.V. last week, and to reinforce what she was saying started to wave her hands in the air and shaking from head to foot. She raising her voice, Simon was beginning to wonder if she thought God was deaf, because she was getting louder and louder and was now shouting every word! This made everyone sit up straight and Simon was sure she woke up several folk that had drifted off to sleep.
Then a young girl started to pray, except for Simon she was the youngest in the room by quite a few years, her prayer had interrupted Simon counting the cracks in the ceiling, when she prayed, she had such a peace about her. She prayed with a gentle authority, and when she asked God to send His spirit, A peace fell upon the room, the hairs on the back of Simon’s head stood up, she had a love of her Saviour that shone out with every spoken word,
Samantha, was her name, Sam to her friends, as Simon found out later, their lives were to be a lot closer than he could ever hope, but that’s a story for another time.
Sam prayed that everyone in the room spent a few moments to listen to God, to see what He had to say... the room fell silent; a warm glow seemed to fill the room.
Simon felt like he was standing in a waterfall, refreshing water pouring over him from head to toe, refreshing parts of him that no shower could ever reach, He wanted this feeling to last forever. To his embarrassment he realised that he was standing up with his hands raised up above his head ‘Praising God’
Simon quickly sat down, thankfully, he was not the only one that was standing up, hands raised, with a glorious glow on their face.
Stanley’s prayer bought things back to order, (it could be said it bought everything back to earth!) His prayer was a potted history of all the saints that had lived in Milltown since the time of the last great revival a hundred years ago, when ‘All the hills and the valleys rang out with hymn singing’ and ‘all the churches were full.’ Stanley was asking God why there hadn’t been revival since, and why all the churches were nearly empty in spite of all the committee meetings he had organised over the last twenty years?
Only one more prayer to go and then it was Simons turn to pray ... what was he going to say? His hands were sweating trying to think of something special to say that would make as good an impact on the prayer meeting as Sam did and for some reason he wanted to impress Sam.
The vicar’s wife was nudging Simon, he had dreamed through her prayer and it was his turn to pray, his mouth was dry, no words would come out.
That’s when it happened! Simon was saved, an old guy who was sat at the back of the room spoke up and said he had a vision that he wanted to share, the old guy went on about two peas in a pod, individual but all in the same pod, and they were growing separately yet together in the same pod.
This caused confusion; a general discussion broke out about the meaning of the vision. The Very Reverend Timothy Timms was getting flustered, as there had never been anything like this happen before in a meeting where he was in charge! You could see from his now blushing cheeks that he was losing control of the meeting.
Gladys from the ‘Free Church of the old Apostle’ said that she would put the kettle on and she had rich tea biscuits,” We could discuss it all over a cup of tea”. The Very Reverend Timothy Timms readily agreed and the prayer meeting seemed to be abandoned.
Over a warm milky cup of coffee several theories were offered up as to what God meant by the vision and it was generally agreed by most people, that God was talking about the different churches growing separately but together in the town.
While enduring this cup of coffee, Simon was wondering who won the raffle for the coffee bean as he hadn’t, the old guy came out of the shadows and introduced himself, a retired pastor who had family in the town, he was at the meeting with his brother’s daughter, who just happened to be the young girl Samantha,
He went on to ask if Simon had decided which local church God wanted him to serve Him in?
How did he know that was the reason Simon had been at the prayer meeting that night?
As Simon came to know Pastor James he found that Pastor James seemed to have the knack of asking the question Simon least wanted to answer, Simon only knew Pastor James could challenge him by asking the most simple question that rocked you to the core! But that’s another story,
Simon was invited to the little mission church by the old man, with a glint in his eye he looked over to Sam and said, “You know I have a feeling that you would fit in there”. “Come on son, I will introduce you to my niece”, he grabbed Simon by the arm he led him across the room.
Half way across the room the Very Reverend Timothy Timms was tapping the side of his cup with his teaspoon attempting to get everybody’s attention. “We’ve had a prayer request, Sybille, the daughter of Fred’s neighbours sister’s mother’s aunt is having an operation tomorrow, can we pray for her recovery and that she will come to know God as her Saviour in this troubled time,” several ‘Amen’s’ and ‘Answer prayers Lord’ were murmured throughout the room in response.
By the time they got to the other side of the room, Sam had gone to catch the bus,
“Never mind lad,” Pastor James said “it’s not the last you have seen of her, your just like peas in a pod you two!”
We chatted for a few moments longer then Simon made his excuses and left.
Simon was feeling very uncomfortable with Jim’s last statement, what did he mean we were like two peas in a pod!
Walking home, Simon’s head was spinning with all that had happened that night, had he heard the voice of an angel. Had he seen how to really pray...? What was that water that had washed over him in the prayer meeting, Simon somehow felt that he had been washed clean!
Does God really talk to us in visions? Who really knows what they mean? How come old Pastor James knew so much about Simon, when Simon had only met him less than an hour ago? , And them two peas in that pod?
Simon was walking on air still feeling that warm glow showering right through him,
With so many questions to be answered Simon couldn’t wait for Sunday to come so he could go to the little mission church old Pastor James had been invited him to, that’s the little mission church, in the little town called Milltown, lying in the hills between Yorkshire and Lancashire my home town.
