Wonderful CD's

As 2008 draws to a close, it is good to reflect on some worship things. And in my seasonal reflections, I want to start with some worship cd's.

OK, so regular readers of my blog know that I am a little tired of most worship cd's. But there have been some recently that have made their way into my car stereo and been given a few - sometimes more than a few - airings. They stay in my car stereo because they actually lift my Spirit and help me encounter God - yes even in the car.

I would do a top 10 list. But actually I think I can only find 4 I like.

Break the Silence - Johnny Parks

This has been in my car for months now - most of the last year in fact. I think it actually came out in 2007, but I only picked it up this year. It is a beautiful album, with a couple of incredible musical and emotional moments. There is a real depth to the lyrics that seems to be born out of a desire to worship rather than just write songs - depth that is also reflected in the arrangements and the mixes which are powerful but not harsh. If I have one gripe - although it's a minor one - it seems that it's almost impossible these days to get a worship album 'for this generation' that doesn't start with an overdone, energetic guitar riff predictably diving into an uptempo sort of anthem type thing. Why is that? Is it just that I am now not 'this generation' so 'don't understand'.

This is our God - Hillsong

Famed in the summer for it's inclusion of the song 'healer' by fallen pastor Mike Gugliellmucci, this is a great album. In fact, I still really like the song 'healer' although understandably it's not really being used in churches since. My children, mercifully unaffected by the sad story that surrounds it, still love the song and keep asking for us to play it. An innocence that we as parents want to protect for a lot longer. This song aside, there are still some other great songs, including 'stronger' and the title track. Creatively, though, it is much the same as previous Hillsong albums. But actually in this case it doesn't bother me. This, after all, is essentially a church at worship and they are just being themselves. That's fine by me. Only gripe? Well the first couple of songs are a bit 'out there' and start with that usual guitar riff thing......

Nothing to Fear - David Gate

Previously of Survivor Records, but now just doing stuff in and for and with church (my church!), David released his latest album that he also produced himself. Can't say enough things positive about these songs and this album. It starts well, too (No guitar riff). Sonically this is very different to anything else I've heard in a while. The instruments sound like what they are meant to sound like - much more acoustic and real than on most over-produced albums. Songs are great. None of mine, though, so it only gets 9.5/10 rather than the full 10/10 if one of my tunes had been on there.

Wonderful Story - Eoghan Heaslip

Just out. Wonderful songs. Great vocals. Now of course I am biased as Eoghan is a friend and we have led worship together for many years. And also, Eoghan is someone who has benefited hugely from this year's x-factor - because now everyone knows how to pronounce his name...But bias aside, this is still a great cd. Eoghan and I wrote some songs together earlier in the year, and it's exciting to hear them make it on this album, and hear them produced by someone of the calibre of Nathan Nockles. The King has come, The way that you father me, What you've called me to, All to You...the list goes on. Great song after great song. The guitar riff intro is back though.......

Now I would, of course, mention my cd too, only it came out 3 years ago. Funny though. I didn't want to listen to it for ages after I made it. But this year I have been listening to it much more. I still love the sound that Clever Trevor brought to it. The strings from Prague are awesome. James White's solos are just incredible. And there in the middle of it all somewhere is a somewhat stumbling worship leader. Anyway, as I say, I would mention it, but I've just realised that the opening track begins with this guitar riff......

Songs of Praise vs Jonathan Ross

There is a great article in the telegraph about songs of praise today. You can read it here.

I once appeared on Songs of Praise. It was some 20 years ago, and I appeared with Graham Kendrick and Ben Castle. Our fledgling worship band at Trinity in Norwich played one of Graham’s finest tunes - Meekness and Majesty.

There - you didn’t know I was so famous with such an auspicious cv in the media, did you?

But let’s face it, if you are anything like me, over the last 20 years you have probably mocked Songs of Praise regularly, with it’s general cheese and old people in hats, introduced by such cheesy characters as Aled Jones. (Although there is one exception - Diane Louise Jordan makes it all worthwhile..). We all have probably publicly mocked it, whilst privately switching it on every now and then on a Sunday evening just to check up on it. Just for educational and information purposes, of course....

Well it now transpires, if we are to believe the Telegraph, that Songs of praise was getting around the same number of viewers each week as Jonathan Ross, until he was ‘rested’ recently following that radio thing. Only of course Jonathan Ross got paid millions of pounds each year, and songs of praise got....well a lot less.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind if Jonathan Ross disappeared from our screen forever. Admittedly he can be very, very funny, but generally I find his material offensive and overtly sexual and degrading. And of course, now he picked on one of our national treasures (Andrew Sachs) it should be curtains. He may find a home in the US for his awful material - but let the US have him if they want.

But what is more interesting is that, somehow, the British people are valuing Songs of Praise as highly as Jonathan Ross in terms of viewing figures. And now everyone is probably seriously questioning the multi-million price tag he has, up to now, demanded.

My own view is that, whereas over the last 20 years most people have judged things by cost, with the current financial climate, people are now judging things by value. Not only does this hopefully spell the end for Mr Ross, but it also presents us with a huge opportunity to spread and communicate hope that is Jesus Christ. There is an openness to the gospel in a way that hasn’t existed for many, many years. And as The Church we should not be dialing back on our mission, but stepping up to the mark.

And whilst we’re about it, maybe we should start to sing the praises of Songs of Praise just a little bit more.

Dr Sentamu talking sense

Once again, Dr Sentamu stands up, and is counted.

He says:

“At a time when a creeping social Darwinism is on the rise, where life is measured in terms of its quality or usefulness, the Church remains the last bastion of defence for those who would find themselves close to jettison by society”.

As the recession bites, the Established Church must rediscover its confidence and self-esteem. “The Church of England must once again be a beacon by which the people of England can orientate themselves in an unknown ocean."

He also says:

There is a strong case for regarding the Church as a public body that does not exist simply to serve believers.

The case is more than strong. In my mind it's overwhelming.

Christmas is coming

At the moment we are preparing for Christmas at church. And this year we’ve called it ‘Wonder’.

Wonder is one of those characteristics of life that is in very short supply. It’s pretty much counter-cultural these days to admit to live with it. We live in a world where everything boils down to an explanation. It seems that as a generation we can’t rest until we know, until we can explain, until we have the reasons. We also can’t commit to anything we don’t understand, or have all the answers about.

One of the most quoted passages in the bible on worship is Romans 12 v1, where we are urged to be living sacrifices - wholly and pleasing to God, as this is our spiritual act of worship. Too often though we miss the word ‘therefore’ that starts this passage off. And in this case the ‘therefore’ is a response to Romans 11 that talks about the truly unfathomable, inexplicable, indescribable nature of God.

What we are being called to, it seems, is to worship someone - God - who we will never fully know, understand, explain. In short - we are to live in a place of wonder.

And for me, that is what keeps worship alive - keeps me searching, keeps me following, keeps me singing. The fact that I will never be able to fully understand, fully appreciate, fully comprehend God - who He is or why He does what He does.

We in our churches and in our ministries need to live in wonder. We can’t reduce our lives as worshippers to a set of procedures, creeds or profit and loss accounts. We need to linger in the cloud a little more - not try and explain it, manage it, control it, assess it. But pause in that place where things are mysterious and let the wonder grow. It's what brings life alive.

Christmas is a time of wonder: but that wonder should never be confined to a few days at the end of December. It should stay with us from the cradle to the grave.

And well beyond.

Yes and Amen

Thanks to Dave Gate for putting me onto this: it’s a blog article from a pastor in Belfast.

Now I detest being told the latest worship leader is in town and we should all go to see or hear him/her. I have not bought a CD for over ten years and strangely seem no worse off in terms of my spiritual journey. If anything I am even more energised about following Jesus than I have ever been. I deplore adverts to buy worship, competitions to see who has sold the most, worship concerts, launching a CD, and “they have their own sound”. Can you imagine advertising the sale of your pastoral care, having a chart with best pastors on it, a theatre where you could come and watch someone delivering the latest pastoral care, launching your latest best pastoral care phrases in multiple languages and having a manager and a tour. Preserve me from the madness that has beset us! Adrian Mccartney

Most of the worship industry is now doing the church a disservice. I for one am not just holding it at arms length, but purposely walking away from it. And as I do, I find myself financially worse off, but strangely richer.

Change Has Come to America

Sometimes a single image can make a point so much more profoundly than many words:

The Serpent

I came across this display on a recent trip to Derbyshire - it was in a great museum in a very old, Tudor house.



















It talks about the use of an instrument in churches around that time, strangely called the serpent - clearly because of it’s shape. It says this:

Unfortunately, the prominence given to musical expression at the expense of liturgy and the generally unihibited manner of playing and singing was not for the most part to the liking of the clergy. A Suffolk clergyman expressed himself thus in 1764:

“The performers form themselves into a round ring, with their faces to each other and their backs to the congregation. Here they murder Anthems, chuse improper Psalms, leave off in the middle of a sentence, sing psalms of all kinds to new jiggish tunes”

These ensembles eventually fell victim to the introduction of organs and a more sober and respectable conception of church music in the Victorian period.

Thomas Hardy’s novel ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ has a secondary theme which deals with the supplanting of the traditional church band by the new-fangled organ: “Times have changed from the times they used to be. Barrel organs, and the things next door to ‘em that you blow wi’ your foot have come in terribly of late years. Time was when not one of the varmits was to be heard of; but it served some of the quires right. They should have stuck to strings as we did, and kept out clarinets, and done away with serpents. If you’d thrive in musical religion, stick to strings, says I. Yet there’s worse things than serpents. Old things pass away, ‘tis true; but a serpent was a good old note: a deep rich note was the serpent. Clarinets, however, be bad at all times”

So let’s get this straight. The clergy were moaning about their musicians, musicians were playing badly, and organs were despised by everyone apart from the church choir.

Now where have I heard all that before?

The Language of the Kingdom

The language and activity of the Kingdom seems to be something that wider church is beginning to forget. Not everywhere - I am part of a church where we push into the things of the kingdom wherever we can. Maybe we’re not great at it, and along the way we stumble and fall. But it is part of our language, and it is our whole-hearted intention to see it’s activity. But the thankfulness I have at being part of such a church is matched by a sadness that I don't see enough of it elsewhere.

The Kingdom is quite hard to define - even after so many books have discussed it and explained it. This ‘here but not complete’, ‘come but not fulfilled’, ‘present but in the future’, ‘fully in power but not fully revealed’ kingdom still manages to be surrounded in mystery, but is central to our lives as followers of the King.

Often the kingdom’s activity is momentary, surprising, and unpredictable, and so as fast as we try and devise formulas and courses and training programs to capture it, it moves on and we are left scrabbling to keep up. But in the kingdom, opportunities present themselves in the 'here and now' and need a 'here and now' response. We can prepare for the moment, but not predict when it will come.

And of course the Kingdom is totally King-centred. The activity of the kingdom always gives glory and honour and recognition and wisdom and power back to the King. There is no other shareholder, there is no other stake-holder, no political power-sharing agreement in place. The Kingdom is the King’s. The correct order of this universe is that the King comes first. There is no second place.

And ultimately the kingdom grows when we give it space to breath. And this can only happen when we intentionally give the King permission to be the King. Our motives, selfishness, and ministry aspirations can all crowd Him out.

And worship is at the heart of the kingdom. Not only the day-to-day lifestyle of worship, but the intentional coming-together-and-singing-the-songs worship. As we worship we lay down our agendas and welcome His agenda. As we lift up holy hands we are raising a banner high that says ‘this is your time and this is your place. Have Your way and do Your stuff’. And when our songs are intertwined with faith and obedience God moves. The mystery has been welcomed, the moment has been surrendered, the correct order has been established, and the space has been created: God of Glory have your glory.

In the Kingdom there is no space for another’s glory. There are no performers, stars or divas. There are no number one hits or award winners or song-charts or sell out gigs. All these things just confuse the kingdom. And the kingdom, though mysterious, is not confusing. There has never been any confusion. It is just for Him. Always has been. Always will be.

Church, don’t stop talking the language and walking the journey that is the kingdom. Keep pursuing the mystery, keep living in the moment, keep everything in the correct order, and make sure the King has the space to move.

God of Glory, have Your glory.

Far Reaching

A couple of days ago I posted a joke about George Bush.

One of my friends read it, and sent it to one of his friends, who sent it to her uncle, who works for the Obama Presidential campaign, where it has been very much appreciated in the Obama Camp.

Good to know that my blog is now reaching the highest echelons of world politics.

Beat that Hitchmo

My Mother

When I was growing up, I never really understood why my mother did what she did.

She used to feed up the cold meat from the Sunday roast on a Monday.
She used to wash our plastic sandwich bags so they could be used again the next day.
She used to re-use silver foil.
She used to get annoyed when we left lights on.
She used to say 'you can have coffee or squash, but not both'
She used to put the left-overs in little dishes in the fridge.
She used to make us walk rather than get a lift in the car.
She told us to put on another jumper, not the radiator.
She told us to look after the pennies and the pounds would look after themselves.
She used to moan about the way we put our foot on the accelerator.
She used to darn our socks and sew up our jumpers and tell us 'they will do for another year'.

I never really understood why my mother did what she did.

I do now.