Welcome to Sabbath.

Originally hospitality was God's idea. With His word he separated the land from the water, by His word he spread the skies open, made trees grow and plants flourish. God spoke fish and game to exist and with His word God invited man into being, to sit in the table He had prepared. Ever since creation the very core of God's plan for hospitality has been about sharing life. He made man in his image, He gave man a spirit from His breath. He gave from His own, He invited to share. He created man to be a partner, to rule with Him and created him a companion, it is no good for man to be alone.
Hospitality doesn't mean pompous presentation of richness but in it's most simple pure way it is transparency, presence, breaking bread and sharing the Word and dwelling in them. Like the old phrase says, shared sorrow is divided, shared joy is multiplied. Freely we have received, freely we will give.


"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Lk. 12:32-34


Here in Guildford we have found that one of our favourite ways to practise hospitality is to celebrate Sabbath. Most often it's Saturday evening when one of us whips up a simple but delicious meal, and we invite group of friends to come around dining table. We begin our Sabbath by REMEMBERING, remembering who God is, who we are and where God is and where He has been this week in our lives and where we can see His works in our world. Then we eat together. Next we CELEBRATE often with communion, breaking bread and drinking wine and celebrating the life and death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We give thanks to God. Then it's time for a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of cake. Thirdly we DEDICATE, we pray for ourselves and our friends, our needs and the world's needs, dedicating the week to come, giving our joys, frustrations, sorrows and worries to the hands of God, trusting that He is everlastingly good.


In these simple ways we invite God deeper into our lives, and others deeper into God. Eating together levels things out, it sustains and keeps us dependant on others. REMEMBERING, CELEBRATING and DEDICATING together inspires, encourages and challenges us individually and as a community.

FAIRYLIGHTS by Jon Bilbrough (A song for 24-7)

a day in helsinki

I'll be in Helsinki during the day on September 2nd to catch up with the kollektiv there. Looking very much forward to it ladies!

our gathering

few weeks ago we had our last 24-7 prayer evening for the spring.
again about 15 people gathered to our living room to sit, chat, eat and pray.

this time we didnt have one certain theme for the evening,
but had small groups. our appartment was divided to four
different stops, and the groups went around in them.

one room had a 24-7 clip from youtube about praying for europe
to be watched and then the group spent some time praying for europe.

in katris room we were reminded that when we come together, all of us
have something to bring, a song, a teaching, a revelation, etc,
and everyone got to share what God had been speaking lately.

our living room was a place to pray for helsinki and for our summer.
Jesus said that the kingdom of God is inside of us, so we prayed that we could really
carry his kingdom with us to the places we are going this summer.

then at one stop we were doing listening prayer, taking some time
to be silent in front of God for others, and then sharing what images,
words or feelings we had for them.

all in all it was a nice, encouraging evening!

an early spring visit.

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! It's like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard, Flowing down Aaron's beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes. It's like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that's where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.

I remember many years wondering why on earth david is describing unity as an oil that flows down some guys beard- I mean come on.. isnt that kinda weird? Is it actually a positive and nice thing, or just something messy..? Then one evening as I was reading my Bible it somehow struck me, that actually oil was something with a purpose, it was to anoint. to anoint the prophets and the kings, to be rady for their tasks. and I guess this is also what unity, fellowship and other people do to us. in the proverbs it also says, as iron sharpens iron, so does man sharpen a man. in relationships it is, where we have the change to be seen, to see, be recognized and regocnize, to mold and be molded, take risks of loving and being loved and have our characters developed.

and also just to enjoy. what a delight it is, that our God is a relational God, and that he has given us the gift of being friends with people from different backrounds, with different personalities, with great senses of humour, from different countries, with different mother tongues.

our small finnish e-street community was blessed and excited by the visit of sollentunakollektivet last weekend. more of this!

evenings with values

our little 24-7 team in Helsinki decided to start

inviting people in, and we just had our second 24-7

prayer evening at our home.

mikko prepared some really good lense-soup

and made some delicous bread, and vilja was

in charge of the evening. this time we gathered

around the theme and value of "prayer".

next gathering is in april, about "mission"

it was so encouraging and nice to see our living

room filled with people, dreams and smell of

good soup!

24-7 is starting a half a year encouragement

to pray for europe, and I shared briefly about it,

and gave everyone a chance to take a little

piece of paper with some european country

written on it. to have some country on a paper,

to search something out of it, to bless it.

montenegro, england, portugal, romania,

and the polish ania who has moved to finland

as a missionary got FINLAND on her paper!

vilja shared about seeking the place of prayer,

and we all took some time to listen to God

and think what and where and how God would

want us to pray and live it out.

we also watched the "vision" clip, and it was

really ispiring after a long time to hear the prophetic

words of it.

its coming, isnt it?

I dont know where it comes from,

and where it goes,

but I feel the breeze.