Mr Average Christian

Far too often, when I take it communion, I let the whole experience wash over me. Not that anything magical happens in taking communion, but it’s a time of remembrance - of what Father God allowed on our behalf and of what Christ carried out and endured because of what we have done, because we needed a way out of our sin infested lives.

And yet there I sit, wanting to rush off home - “it’s been a long week”, “I need some ‘me time’”. Shame on me, missing the whole point of why we have communion, willing to brush aside the very foundation of my faith! The best I can muster is a couple of minutes reflection and a thankful prayer, but lets face it as soon as I get home it will be forgotten as I am consumed with thoughts of the week ahead.

So this post on the reality of the crucifixion is for those who easily gloss over what it cost, for those who take for granted what took place, for those like me:

Pilate had Jesus flogged. The usual procedure was to bare the upper body and tie the hands to a pillar before whipping with a three-pronged whip. Then Jesus was led away and turned over to a group of soldiers who stripped him and put on a robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it upon Jesus’ head, though I wonder if it was so much placed as pushed into his head, lets face it he wasn’t exactly favoured! He was then struck time and again, resulting in a face covered in bruises.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet. He just needs the right broom.”

The credo from the film ‘Hitch’, I quite like it. Not for its award winning script (hhmm) or the comedy genius that is Will Smith (questionable), I enjoy it because it does something that no other film does, it shows love and the dating game from the mans perspective.

Of course firstly, you have to cut through all that Hollywood rubbish, film makers feel obliged to cram into their masterpiece, but there are some interesting points made. The idea that a guy needs a game plan, because “it’s so damn hard to say I like you’. And how true it is, for every girl who dreams of being swept off her feet by a knight in shining armour, there’s a guy wishing he was sweeping her off her feet and being that knight!

But it’s just not that easy, because you see ladies, we are men, we do have feelings, we are sensitive, we do doubt ourselves and we do worry that wearing our hearts on our sleeves will result in it being trampled on and crushed, shot down in a blaze of despair!

Read the rest of this entry »

I am fascinated by the growing trend in evangelical churches to have dedicated ‘contemporary services’. The main focus of the shift being the worship songs.

Firstly let me say, I am in my late(ish) twenties – I am not a student who craves the big band experience, neither am I a Hymn purist who loves all the ‘thee’s and thou’s’.

Praise Songs explained…
Not long ago a farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses,” said his wife, “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The farmer said, “Well it’s like this - If I were to say to you:

`Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn.

If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
`Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows,
the white cows, the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn,
are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN,’

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus.”

Read the rest of this entry »