Intervention

This year, Christmas has struck me in a particular way. I've followed advent and the singing of traditional advent carols in a more thoughtful way this time around. A few really hit home for me. Particularly "O Come O Come Immanuel". Is it just me or is this carol a really depressing one?

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

The first verse seems to capture the mood of the carol. Israel was captive to Rome, a nation in exile, with prophetic promises unfulfilled, and an impatient waiting for the Saviour of the world to appear. There is a desperation in the words here. Mourning, captivity, "o come" - a plea to God.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Death's dark shadows, un-cheered spirits, gloomy clouds of night. Israel was not in a good state. They were a good generation away from the last prophecies, and hope must have been in short supply. But they held on to a vague belief that God incarnate was on His way to save them. Ok they had more of an idea of political and war-mongering type revolution (which wasn't quite what Jesus did, he sort of trancended all of that), but they were watching and waiting in hope.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Thinking further, one can see here that the people were in a woeful, miserable, unfulfilled sate of longing. How many of us have been in that place? Unfulfilled hopes, waiting on prophecy to be brought to completion, sitting in misery, looking to God (and sometimes everywhere else we can find..!), mourning, exile, an un-peace-able-ness-until-God-sorts-it-out.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

The carol tells the Israel of history to wait, as God is coming. But we are singing back to the Israel of the past. The tense has changed. God has come. He did not stand by and watch his people in misery, destroying themselves, and being destroyed. He intervened. He came Himself, in flesh and blood, and encountered the human race first hand. He does not let His people go.

So as I read this carol I think with hindsight that we can "rejoice". We know God incarnate came through Jesus. He rescued His people in a way that went beyond what they dreamed or hoped. His revolution continues today in our hearts.

So this Christmas, as many struggle through times of difficulty, , at times feeling exiled from God's will, we have a hope that is celebrated in Christmas.

God comes.
God intervenes.
He doesn't just "stand there".

We invite His advent this Christmas for all those who are losing hope in their circumstances. There is a hope. There is a future in Jesus. Happy Christmas.

An Honest Prayer

I'm praying for you,
But not really for you
Because the things I ask God for
Are actually going to make my life easier.

If I really asked God what you need,
Would I say the same prayer?
If I really asked God what He wants,
Would the words trip so quickly from my mouth?

When you're so close that things affect me,
It's hard to know when care turns to self.
To know when I've stopped praying for you
And started praying for me.

So I'll try to be honest with you God,
And let my prayers be true.
I'll admit that I'm praying for myself,
Instead of praying for you.

Sometimes you just make the wrong decision

....and I decided to go to Belfast the weekend this happened in Gent...

Why, oh why?

South Africa Vid from August

Here's a short clip of our trip to Grabouw in August to help in the township etc...:

Blatently linking to someone else's blog...

I've been posting on David Gate's blog recently, and found lots of really good thoughts and critique on the worship "industry" and environment in which we find ourselves. His recent posts on Worship Cliches really hit the spot. Check them out.

Worship is a lifestyle

Theology from songs

Worship music in the charts

Why are some people so darned insightful

I used to listen loads to a guy called Henry Rollins. He never minced his words. One of his old tracks - Low Self Opinion, really struck me afresh recently, as an epidemic in our society, church, workplaces and families.

A great refrain of encouragement at the end.



I think you got a low self opinion man
I see you standing all by yourself
Unable to express the pain of your distress
You withdraw deeper inside
You alienate yourself
And everybody else
They wonder what`s on your mind
They got so tired of you
And your self ridicule
They wrote you off and left you behind



You sleep alone at night
You never wonder why
All this bitterness wells up inside you
You always victimize
So you can criticize yourself and all those around you


The hatred you project
Does nothing to protect you
You leave yourself so exposed
You want to open up
When someone says "Lighten up"
You find all your doors closed
Get yourself a break from self rejection
Try some introspection and you just might find
It`s not so bad and anyway at the end of the day
All you have is yourself and your mind


The self hatred that blinds you
Binds you
grinds you
keeps you down
The world falls down around you
You build up walls around you
You wear disgust like a crown



If you could see the you that I see
When I see you seeing me
You`d see yourself so differently
Believe me
I know the self doubt that runs inside your mind
I know the self that treats you so unkind

If you could see the you that I see
When I see you
You would see things differently
I assure you

Don't need people

I see you are a screen -
Emotions in binary;
Memory in machine.
I need no conversation with you;
Our transaction means
No need for a soul.

Don't need people anymore;
Just operators.
No relations;
No need to react anymore.
Pushing buttons
Requests action.

The hum of our machines
Screams silently;
A groan unheard.
Will humanity rise;
Communicate again;
As creation's instinct returns?

Sound Guy Haiku

From Stuff Christians Like

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/10/remix-304-sound-guygal-haiku.html

Great...!

And if you don't know what Haiku is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

Made me laugh, then made me think...

This excellent post by the insightful and experienced worship leader Neil Bennetts, at first made me laugh, then nearly made me cry, and then challenged my heart attitude to preparing for worship. It is "bang-on".

http://thebabyandthebathwater.blogspot.com/2008/03/leading-worship-coe-style-preparation.html

I would appreciate any comments from our group of worship leaders on this one! So who is our "hit-spray Simon"??

A debate on "old" vs "new"...

Found this great article, which really got me thinking...

Telegraph Article

I find we are entering a battle sometimes between old and new, and that the hunger for progression can sometimes halt our love for old and traditional.

There is definitely a tension between moving forward and recognising the value and depth of what has gone before. Though how we present this, and how we approach this I believe to be key. Do we approach older songs with cinicism having already decided that we might "lose" a congregation when we sing them? Or do we approach them with an attitude of excitement and discovery, asking God what He will say through an older song that He might not have been able to say through a newer one? Do we automatically believe that we cannot be creative with old hymns, or is there an opportunity to move into realms of creativity not yet explored?

The Have and Havant's

So I'm sure loads of people will draw Christian references to the obvious rise of the underdogs that saw Havant and Waterlooville take on Liverpool in the FA cup on Saturday afternoon.

I'm sure they will, but I'm also sure there is good reason. Who could fail to be moved by the rise of this non-league side? Who could not feel their gut wrench with that young fan who burst into tears as his team scored the first goal of the encounter?

But the bit that really got me was this quote on the commentary (don't quote me exactly on this though):

"And the van driver exits the pitch to make way for the bin-man".

Such ordinary people. With ordinary jobs. Holding down an ordinary income to pay the ordinary mortgage and keep their wives/girlfriends (not wags) and kids fed and housed (in an ordinary house). Yet called, just this once, to something completely extraordinary. Called against an adversary of such higher ranking and strength. Yet they held the nation's heart for that fleeting moment. They moved forward without fear, and left with their heads held high. In their moment of truth, they gave all that they had. They also put fear in the heart of the Liverpool players, who thought they were out for a walk in the park against this ordinary non-league team. But what the nation saw wasn't ordinary, it was amazing.

Living the lives we live, it's easy to feel the drain of the ordinary drawing passion out of our lives. So many of us do the normal jobs, have a mortgage to pay, marriages to prosper, lives to maintain. But there is a calling to the extraordinary. I wonder how I would react if I was called to come face to a face with an enemy of such apparent higher strength, to play in a league way above the one my self-belief says I should be playing in. Would I move without fear? Would I attack with every ounce of strength? Would I launch into the challenges? The truth is that my calling is daily, my challenge ongoing, the opposition strong, and the prize beyond any trophies this world has to offer. How can I respond to that?