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Ibiza 2
Saturday 28th July 2012 @ 3:19 pm

How to process 2012 in Ibiza?

Not sure yet … really, not sure yet. The older I get the longer it takes to wade through the experiences, emotions, kingdom connections and spiritual learnings gleaned from this island.

It hasn’t been easy. But it probably shouldn’t be.

On the other hand, the stuff that has been hard has not been the streets. The streets have been amazing.

Maybe it’s best if I just relate some of the stories, and then you can sense the spirit of God moving in these places too. Because that’s what’s in the centre of it all. And without that, it’s meaningless. There is no doubt that God still comes to us in hidden, mischievous, miraculous and unexpected ways in the west end of San Antonio. One of the ways this happened for me this year was meeting Julian.

We naturally bonded quickly because we both have the name that comes from the Roman Emperor, and means ‘stands handsome and tall.’ But I loved meeting Julian because he runs one of the bigger clubs in the west end. He has 24–7 on speed dial. He has become a personal friend to the leaders of 24–7 over the years, and every time I walked past his bar, if he was at the door he would smile, shake my hand, have some polite conversation, and teach me just a little more about life in the west end. He told me how tough it is for some people. How tough he has to be sometimes to keep running a successful club. How he recognizes the responsibility of the clubs in the whole mess that the west end can be. And while it can be a mess, he also taught me a bit about how beautiful it can be. It’s people, it’s colours, it’s noises, it’s vitality. He was just so decent. And he values and loves 24–7.

And so he shows me that 24–7 are more than a rescue service for the wasted here in San Antonio, they are forming – or rather aiming to re–form – real community in San Antonio. And Julian is very much a part of the extended family of 24–7. Sacred community – being communally subversive. Great stuff.

And I think he knows that. That’s why he treated me, and all of us, with such warmth.

My brother in law tweeted an Alan Roxburgh quote from ‘Introducing The Missional Church’ earlier today … “Nobody expected this turn of events. This did not fit the plans and paradigms of the first followers of Jesus. The Spirit broke boundaries that were already defining what it meant to be Christian. The church was forced out of the box it had created and into a space it had never imagined and would never have entered by itself.”

It’s talking about the Gospel of Luke, but it seems appropriate in these days. Everywhere the Spirit is breaking boundaries, raising new expectations, and setting new challenges. And the Spirit is even doing it by being in the midst of a redeeming community in the heart of party central.

And so to some of the stories …


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