Archive for May, 2008

Remembering the Cross

May 24, 2008 · Filed under Bible talks & thoughts · Tagged , , ,

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.

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Classic Hymns or Modern Worship

May 15, 2008 · Filed under Bible talks & thoughts · Tagged ,

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.”

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Risky business

May 10, 2008 · Filed under Bible talks & thoughts

In the past year I’ve worked out one of my greatest weaknesses – I’m not brave enough, or in other words, I’m a coward.

Let me clarify, when I’m within my comfort zones, feeling nice and safe with what’s going on in my life then I feel like I’m the proverbial knight in shining armour – ready to take on all comers. But knock me off balance, take me away from what I’m comfortable with and I start doubting myself, my capabilities, what I’m all about and as a Christian I’ll make the mistake of doubting God and his plans for me.

This last year has seen a lot of change in my life, more than I think I can handle sometimes. Coming away from my life in London, then away from my parents, now moving to another part of the country, new job, new people and here I am feeling scared and once again doubting, to say I am out of my comfort zone would be an understatement (the zone is a blur to me!).

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Becoming an adult

May 8, 2008 · Filed under Life in general

I’ve had an unsettling feeling for some time, I wasn’t quite sure what it was until recently.

I was best man at my cousins wedding and after I had done revealing the gory details of our childhood, my uncle put his arm around me and said “I just realised that you two are no longer the young boys playing football in the garden anymore”. And then it hit me – I was old! well at least I was an adult (which when you’re ten years old, anything over twenty one is classed as old!).

For years we are part of a family unit – our mums, our dads, are our guides, our conscience. We did what we were told; we went where our parents went. We knew our boundaries and we grew as individuals based around those boundaries, combining this with our own life experience and the lessons life has taught us in our short existence on earth.

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