Christmas 2007
What did it for you this Christmas? Was it the time off work? Was it the traditional food? Was it being in the midst of family and friends? Was it the gifts you gave and/or received? Was it the arrival of a newborn baby or the carol service at the local church celebrating and remembering the arrival of Christ?
Three things did it for me this Christmas. The first thing that I enjoyed this Christmas was the night I was invited to Network at Muckamore Presbyterian Church. It was the first time I’d been involved in such an event in a while and it brought back a lot of very happy memories, running round the country leading praise, praying with friends, having great craic and eating McDonald’s at all hours of the night. Network itself was great, too. Ruthie put together a great band and, without much practice, we gave off a pretty good sound. I was also privileged to hear Rick speak. His message, the sentiments of which can be read here, made me think… and is still making me think! There’s lots I want to say about this subject, but I’d be stealing Rick’s thunder… so I’ll refrain…
The second thing that made my Christmas was finishing “The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical” by Shane Claiborne [AMAZON.co.uk]. For those of you that have read this book you’ll think it strange that it would fall into the set of things that made my Christmas, but it’s true. I’d recommend this book to anyone who’s passionate about social justice and new ways of exploring and doing postmodern/”relational church”. Shane’s writing and his ideas are pretty revolutionary but these aren’t just musings from his armchair; rather, he is writing about how he really lives. In his book, he is brutally honest and open with his opinions sometimes (which is a refreshing change from the publisher’s, Zondervan, usual permits). Shane has put new thoughts in my head to be sorted out and, without wanting to be melodramatic, this book has changed and will continue to change my life.
Finally, the biggest thing that made my Christmas 2007 was the time I spent with my family and Judith. Around the dinner table on Christmas Day and Boxing Day; looking like a fool playing the Wii that mum & dad bought the family; sitting on my sofa exchanging gifts with Judith; curling up in front of the TV to watch a film.
Christmas 2007… a happy time.
worship that really angers me
Argh…! One of the most annoying and frustrating things that I’m facing in the little youth work I do over the summer is around the word worship. It’s one of those unfortunate English “religious” words that’s got many meanings, none of which have very much of the Bible behind them.
When I ask young people these days about worship, the first thing (and often the *only* thing) they think about is singing and music and hands-in-the-air. This is such a tragedy. Because what they’re thinking about isn’t worship at all, in my opinion. My frustration isn’t helped much by the “big guns” in today’s Christian mainstream; they, too, use the word lightly and even misuse it on occasion.
Let me illustrate… a good friend of mine, who is also still a member of my youth ministry, asked me tonight about the new term and what to expect. Specifically he asked if we’d be heading to this monthly event for young people in the next town over. I said no, and he asked why. I proceeded to explain that the specific aspect of our youth ministry that we were discussing focussed on deliberate Bible study, partnership through peer prayer and the development of God-given gifts in the wider family of the church. I went on to say that this monthly event was disruptive to this relationship building so we weren’t going to set aside time to go. His response was, “so <insert ministry name> isn’t about worship, too?”
I couldn’t believe it! Of course it’s about worship! That’s the whole point.
There’s a really obvious difference between praise and worship, but some people (actually, a lot of people) cannot see the wood for the trees.
In the Bible, the word “worship” is a render of different Greek words in different contexts. (This is much like the English render “love”; sometimes it’s friendship, sometimes it’s sexual; sometimes it’s divine.) But note: none of the instances of the word worship are talking about singing or music or anything of the sort. Instead, they all refer to an attitude or alignment of the soul; obeisance, service, submission, reverence.
Singing and music is praise… and sometimes petition. Praise and petition are not even a form of worship – how does one form an attitude? They are, rather, an expression of worship… but not worship itself. Just like love is an expression of faith, praise is an expression of worship. But never allow anyone to say worship is singing/music. That is incorrect and not Biblical.
I think people prefer the word worship to the word praise, which is why it is in common mis-usage. “Worship” is so much more hip and cool than old-fashioned gospel hall “praise”, right?
Worship is an activity and an attitude of the soul. To reuse words that I feel fit: Worship is not something that can be observed (the expressions of it can, but they don’t automatically mean worship is taking place), nor should people say “are you coming to worship” or “let’s enter into worship”; because worship is within you and cannot be started and stopped at the flick of a switch. Worship is an ongoing phenomenon within oneself; a phenomenon that determines the depth of one’s relationship with God.
Would someone else please agree with me and let me know I’m not alone here?!
america’s favoUrite family
Jude and me went to see “The Simpsons Movie” tonight. We went to the 9.30pm showing in Ballymena rather than waiting until the 10.40pm showing in Antrim that most of our friends were going to see. I had been looking forward to seeing the movie since I first saw a trailer, but unfortunately it was disappointing.
It was alright, I guess, but it seemed to me like it was trying too hard to be a movie rather than just sticking to the simple, funny stuff that has kept it going for all these years. To be honest, I was beginning to get a little fed up towards the end; I was looking forward to the credits.
On the way home I asked Jude what score she’d give the movie out of 10. She said 6. I said, “that high?!” I scored the movie at about 4.5 or 5. ‘Twas no classic.
(God was looking out for us again tonight. On the way to the cinema Jude and me were talking. We knew that it would be busy but I joked that, even though it’d be busy, we’d get the best seats in the house – in the middle and two-thirds back. When we entered the screen it was already looking busy… but the seats we’d joked about were free. God is good!)
the simplest of prayers, answered
It was sunny and warm and just before lunch, so I decided to cut my grass. But before I started, I felt the Holy Spirit move me to stop and chat to my new neighbour. (Her and her partner have only recently moved in next door with their 4 month-old daughter.) Then I got started mowing…
I finished the front lawn (and did my neighbour’s while I was there). I then moved round to my back lawns. As I was half way through the larger of the two lawns the clouds above suddenly blocked out the sun and it began to get dark. I knew it was going to rain. I was using an electric mower and I wasn’t keen to mow in the rain, but I kept going believing I had a bit of time.
As I was wrapping up the lead, putting the grass in the bin and doing all the necessary clear up stuff, I quietly prayed, “Lord, please keep the rain off until I finish.” I kept going with the clear up, and eventually finished. I walked to the back of the house closed one of the two double-doors. Then, as soon as I closed the second door, I saw the rain on the flag stones! God answered my prayer!
Simple, yet powerful.
Prayer.
Why don’t I do it more often?!
seeing sin in weeds
I did something good today – I used my initiative. You see, I live in a mid-townhouse so I share a back pathway with my neighbour, which is how we get our bins out the front ready for collection. However, it has become very overgrown with weeds, trees and moss, etc. Some of the weeds were nearly as tall as me! So, I set about to tidy it up a bit. I spent an hour at it and completely filled my brown bin (organic waste).
But for all my work and despite the (very) noticeable improvement, there are still smaller weeds and stuff there. These are the small things that were underneath the other weeds, not visible when compared to the larger weeds but very noticeable now they’re all that remains. So, there is still work to be done but I need to wait until I get my brown bin emptied this week.
Why am I breaking my blogging holiday and telling you all this? Well, the Holy Spirit taught me a lesson while I was chopping down weeds and scraping up moss. He showed me a picture of sin. That it doesn’t just “happen”; rather, it’s a byproduct of neglect. Furthermore, even when I sort out the obvious stuff, there is still a lot more to do. Constant work and effort is required.
It’s probably not spectacular to anyone else but it was great for me to know that, even in the menial tasks in life, God can show me eternal truths.
MacMicrosoft ?
Okay, I know it’s very old news by now but I really do think this is awesome and worth a post in the middle of my current blogging holiday. (I would have posted sooner, but I was out of the country – Paris was great!)
Microsoft Surface – truly amazing! It elegantly solves numerous issues in the way humans interact with technology. Take a look at the promo videos on Microsoft’s website. Now, I know they could be propaganda but isn’t it nice to know that Microsoft has changed it’s thought process and is thinking outside the box. And, dare I say it, beginning to think like my friends in that company with the apple logo… oh, what are they called again…? 
Perhaps Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had a lunch time meeting and were throwing ideas out there, and this is the result – functionality, graceful elegance, stunning looks. This is perhaps only the second time I have said this: kudos to Microsoft for thinking less about the program and more about the person… Surface looks to be another giant leap for mankind.
