...Neil Bennetts at HT Cheltenham posted as below. Resonates completely with where I think God is wanting us to go with our worship, our songs, and our responses.
http://thebabyandthebathwater.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/we-need-to-go-deeper/
Read and respond.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Finally
Have spent the past month or so getting a tune together which represents a vision I had of a pendulum. It's in the player on the sidebar. I'll share the vision at some point too!
Monday, 26 January 2009
Monday, 22 December 2008
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.
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.
Friday, 28 November 2008
Sometimes you just make the wrong decision
....and I decided to go to Belfast the weekend this happened in Gent...
Why, oh why?
Why, oh why?
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
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
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
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