Archive for November, 2010
I owe Pete Greig for this one, because if it hadn’t been for his Twitter feed I would never have discovered it. It’s from Robert Plant’s recent EP Band of Joy, and the performance says it all really, a foot-stomping, spine-chilling, devil-bashing slice of folk genius.
Now that’s what worship music should sound like:
Okay, time for another Saturday round-up. A quieter week this week, given that it’s been Thanksgiving and so a lot of American bloggers have taken a week off, but there’s still some great stuff out there.
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ARTICLE OF THE WEEK // voices of the bullied – and where the bullying really stops:
I’m indebted to Doug Fields over at Simply Youth Ministry for putting me onto this amazing article. It’s a hard read, but as somebody who was badly bullied back at school, pretty much every word of it rings true, and it should be mandatory reading for everyone, whether you’re involved in youth work or not. America is currently in the grip of a real period of national guilt about the culture of bullying that has grown up unchecked, and McKee’s article suggests that action lies in adults being advocates, standing up and standing out from the prevailing culture. Totally essential.
// tumbleweed: Lovely meditation from Christine over at holding fireflies on being forced to slow down and awaken “to a life less blinkered, more connected to my hidden self, to the dry earth beneath the tarmac.” It’s great, and the blog is one to watch.
// my toxic bottle of water: Anne Jackson is a great writer, and I can totally identify with her thoughts on her time in India and the subsequent cultural observations it prompted. Another wise reminder to look closer at the things you take for granted.
// 700 billion minutes: That’s the amount of time that the 500 million users of facebook spend on the site per month. The always terrific Tim Challies has more information on what is a truly jaw-dropping statistic.
// church sign of the day: I would go to breakfast with Jesus and Santa, for sure. Thanks to Matthew Paul Turner at Jesus Needs New PR for the tip.
// the look: jonny baker is a great photographer and a wise, wise man when it comes to pioneer mission and creative expressions of worship. I loved this photograph in particular, but also his habit of posting his own photographic and creative projects on his blog – it’s a real insight into how one man’s faith is worked out.
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And that’s the round-up for this week!
I’ll see you tomorrow for sunday music, but until then:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit…
Amen to that. Let’s be a people “who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Now that’s a cause for thanksgiving.
A month ago, I started a new job. My first ever real job, if you want to know, unless you count holiday jobs in Starbucks or a miserable eleven-day stint in a call centre. I’m now working as a youth worker at a church in Oxford, and a solid amount of my first month on the job has been spent working out where to even begin.
There are a bewildering amount of resources available for youth workers out there, and many of them are very, very good. There are also a range of theories on how to do effective youth work, a huge and ongoing conversation that nobody has quite resolved yet. Like a lot of things in the Christian world, it can often be pretty exhausting.
Week-to-week, I read a lot of blogs – as an estimate, I reckon upwards of 100 a week. I get the paper daily, and read all of it (except the money and fashion pages). That sounds like a lot of information when you put it down on paper, but I think for a lot of people that is fairly standard now. It’s got to get you thinking, though – and not just about youth work, but more generally too.
If you are taking in that much information weekly, then what does it even mean to navigate it effectively? Is there ever a point where resources stop equipping you, stop being useful, and start being a hindrance instead – a kind of “saturation point” for the human brain? Maybe the answer is, in the end, to identify the things that tell you what you want to hear and then only read them, just confirming your own worldview.
Although I won’t lie to you, that feels like something of a cop-out.
It’s into that conversation about youth work that Jesus Christ walks, like a voice of sanity; speaking words that seem to bring truth and life, freedom from the endless pressure to analyse, to work out the programmes and strategies that will bring people in. His words are loose but liberating, not prescriptive but wise, describing a better way of relating – one free from the panic and pressure that seemingly grips so many of us. Impractical, perhaps, infuriating at times, and certainly difficult to live out, but words of life nonetheless, spoken directly to the weary and confused soul.
I have often wondered how people who don’t have faith, or whose faith doesn’t allow for a God who might speak to them, navigate life. I suppose there are some wise people out there, people with shades of the things that make Jesus admirable in them – that wisdom and compassion, and the promise of freedom if you follow them. I suppose, too, that’s why so many people end up praising figures like Oprah Winfrey or Glenn Beck.
I don’t say any of this to criticise people on the outside of the Christian faith. If anything, my temptation is to run about frantically in the search for the magic formula, too, hoping that somewhere out there on the internet is the answer to youth work. But when I have done so lately, I hear the voice of Jesus Christ speaking through his word, and through the people who know (and live) those words, and I hear him speaking with a different tenor to the rest, with a quiet power to those words that changes lives.
There are plenty of driven people in the Christian world, determined to tell the gospel as efficiently as possible and working towards targets and quotas in order to fulfill that aim. But beneath the noise of strategy and amidst the flurry of analysis there is that voice that Isaiah prophesied about many years ago, saying,
Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying “this is the way, walk in it”, whether you turn to the right or to the left…
“In an ocean of noise | I first heard your voice,” Arcade Fire sang on their album Neon Bible.
It is the voice that brings freedom, the still, small voice that Elijah heard on the mountain and that the people of God have heard again and again throughout history. It is the voice of Jesus Christ.
Two amazing live versions and one glorious cover from 80s rock band Dire Straits (whose “best of” album, incidentally, was the first album i ever bought) for today’s sunday music. First, the cover version, from Alex Cornish playing Brothers in Arms. It’s on Dermot O’Leary’s “The Saturday Sessions” and it’s completely awesome:
Pick number two is a Mark Knopfler solo effort in the form of The Ragpicker’s Dream, a sweetly Dylanesque fable about Christmas, alcoholism and magic. It’s beautiful, in a sweetly understated way, and it’s worlds apart from the blues-rock that Dire Straits started with or the clumsy criticism of Money for Nothing:
And finally, Going Home, surely the best intro song of any football team ever, currently soundtracking Newcastle United’s appearance from the tunnel. There’s a lyricism to the guitar playing that speaks way louder than words could, and this version only proves that:
That’s Sunday music for this week! See you on Friday.
Okay, welcome to the first saturday round-up of the new blog routine! Every saturday, I’ll aim to compile six or seven of the best links that have been posted by other people in the past week and then give you a short summary of what to expect from each:
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// resting in the will of God: a great prayer from Tim Challies’ excellent blog, and courtesy of a man called Pastor Scotty Smith, about dealing with anxiety and not knowing the direction in which God is leading you. It’s wise, thought-provoking and it seemed pretty pertinent, for me at least, so give it a look.
// Americans have it pretty rough: Matt over at the Church of No People is a blogger i have real respect for, not least because he has developed a great community and interaction with the guys who comment on his blog. He’s been on great form lately, and his thoughts on The Execution of Christ, by Chinese artists the Gao brothers, are no exception, reflecting on democracy and the perils of the instant commentary tradition. Highly recommended.
// are you a three-strike pastor? I’ve just recently discovered Monday Morning Insight, and these reflections on a pastor who was secretly filmed by an Oklahoma City television station spending hours and thousands of dollars at a strip club are a sobering reminder of the importance of integrity to anyone who has ever told themselves (as most of us probably have) “it’s only a little sin”.
// the Jesus Juke: at some point in their life, pretty much everybody in the Christian world must have been “Jesus Juked”. It’s happened to me in airports, at weddings and in coffee shops, and nobody tells it quite like Jon Acuff does. If you have no idea what i’m talking about, go here and find out. I’m guessing you’ll know the feeling.
// the end of flowerdust.com: this week the writer Anne Jackson announced that she was closing down her website Flowerdust to start a new website that is entirely focussed on being a place for her to write. Her reflections here provide some great context in the recent debate between writing and blogging, and whether there is a difference, as well as a link to her new project, www.annejacksonwrites.com, which looks really exciting.
// the six-second kiss: and finally, i’m not married, but Jani Ortlund’s comments on a simple way to build an effective marriage (courtesy of the resurgence) in the midst of the busyness of normal life sounds like a pretty good principle to me.
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And that’s the first saturday round-up done! Hopefully I’ll see you back here for sunday music tomorrow. And in the meantime, in the words of Jude:
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Amen indeed. Thanks for reading.
A little over a week ago, I mentioned that I’d been thinking about quitting this blog. It’s certainly been a challenge to write lately. The nature of this kind of writing – diffuse and all-encompassing, with a focus that is potentially endless – means that it can be a draining exercise, not to mention the fact that I’ve just started a new job as a youth worker at a church in Oxford and so have less time than before. But for all of that, there is something in me that doesn’t want to give it up.
So the change that I’ve ultimately decided on is a change in routine, more than anything else. Where previously I have written whenever I’ve found time or inspiration to do so, I’m now aiming much smaller. Here’s the plan. I’m going to write an article on some aspect of the interaction between faith and culture every Friday. This is likely to be a post from 1000 to 1500 words taking into account something that has happened that week, either from the news or experiences from my own context.
On Saturdays I’ll post a round up of any particularly good articles or blogs that I’ve come across that week, according to the usual categories (music, books, films, culture and God), and with a view to working out how to live meaningful lives of a faith in the modern world.
And then on Sundays I’ll continue with Sunday music, picking out some of the music and creative ideas that shine a light onto what worship music could sound like, as well as what is out there outside the walls of the church.
Those will be my main focus, and so although I’ll continue to post videos sporadically throughout the week, these won’t show up on a facebook imprint, just an RSS feed. I’m also pretty active on Twitter and so if you follow me there, you’ll get more of an up-to-date feed on when I’ve posted articles etc.
I’m excited about the new direction and about having a bit more structure and focus in the site, so people know what they’re getting when they come here. If I’m honest, i’m also excited about spending less time thinking about site stats, too. So hopefully I’ll manage to post the first Saturday round-up tomorrow and then will work at writing the first essay for next Friday. Please check back then to see what this ends up looking like!
Three songs from Richard Hawley’s mesmering album “Lady’s Bridge” tonight. Starting off with Tonight the Streets are Ours, a song with some great lyrics and one which is perfect for the wintery conditions we’ve had lately. “Do you know why | You got feelings in your heart?”, Hawley sings, “Don’t let fear of feelings fool you, | What you see sets you apart…” It’s wise, warm and hopeful and it makes a great first pick today:
The second, the haunting Lady’s Bridge (named after a famous lovers’ nightspot in Hawley’s hometown of Sheffield) has Hawley intoning in the chorus, “take me with you when you go | I’m tired of living life on hold | Take me with you when you go | Down to the river…” With a hint of melancholy and the quiet, weary desperation of young love, it is almost certainly one of the best songs of its kind ever written:
And finally, the devastating Roll River Roll, which is currently accompanying the title sequence of the beautiful BBC tragicomedy Getting On. As with all these songs, there’s hope even in the midst of the bleak, but as Hawley envisions the river taking him away from the loneliness of his existence, it’s a retreat into the fragile comforts of memory and home. That’s here, and the photographs are apparently by Thomas Michael Alleman (who i’ve never heard of):
That’s your lot for another Sunday night. See you soon!
I love that the second scene in David Fincher’s The Social Network is of Mark Zuckerberg writing his blog, criticising Erica Albright, the girl who has just broken up with him in a bar. It seems like such an accurate description of blogging on film, and a perfect summary of Zuckerberg’s character. He’s a figure who writes in his attempt to communicate, and in the online world he has profile and status. His comments are a statement of how he believes his thoughts to be worthwhile, an assertion that he is here and he should be heard. Sure, he’s a social disaster and so most of the film depicts him sitting on the outskirts of the parties that are going on around him, but his blog (and facebook) are nonetheless his attempts to connect with a world that seems to have forgotten him.
I’ve been thinking about this the last few weeks. The other day, exhausted and burned-out on this blog, I wrote this:
You have no idea how close I’ve come to quitting this blog lately. Watching my numbers crumble to a third of their original size almost overnight, developing envy for others who have managed to get huge numbers by posting articles that are hurtful, divisive or badly thought-out (and then boasting about those numbers afterwards) and being paralysed by the fear that maybe i have simply lost it, that i have nothing left to say. It’s all happened, and it’s hurt, no lies. Honestly, I’ve been seconds away from ditching the whole thing for a while now. And then finally, yesterday night, I decided to do it.
I decided that I was done with trying to say useful things, because I was no longer capable of even saying useful things to myself anymore. I decided that I was finished with listening for God’s voice in the ordinary life and finished with trying to talk about it. And i resolved to walk away from this internet community that has built up over the past couple of years and focus more on building real community instead. I nearly sat down and wrote all of this in a post last night, but instead exhaustion crept over me and whispered, “do it in the morning.”
When I woke up the next day, I took a deep breath, fought the urge to hide beneath the covers, and hauled myself out of bed.
I am no more likely to stop writing this blog than i am to stop getting out of bed. Some mornings it is the last thing I want to do and it feels like i cannot face it, but i haven’t quite yet. I have given up on a lot of things in my life – friendships, relationships, happiness, ever being tall, ever being well-built, multiple novels – all because of that seductive voice that whispers in my ear.
The one that tells you to quit. That your dreams are ludicrous. That faith will lead you only to pain. That you will never be loved, will never be worth it, will only be unwanted.
All of us know that voice at some time in our lives.
I have given up on so much over time and I’ve given in to the attacks on those things, but there are certain things that are non-negotiable. Because if you keep giving ground, sooner or later you end up robbed of everything you have, and unable to get out of bed. It has taken me a long time to realise this, but I can see it now. The Bible talks about Satan as a thief, out to steal from us all that is worthwhile and valuable in this world. He won’t stop. He won’t go away if we give ground. He will just keep stealing all that we have.
And so the only answer is to fight. Sometimes it might seem like a weary fight and often it will feel like one that has no end, facing the same temptations again and again, fighting off the same lies even years on. But listen, I am not giving up. This is too important to me.
I have given up enough ground to the enemy, and it has to stop here. So I am sticking this one out, irrespective of the cost. I am tired of quitting too soon – because of fear or pain or attack.
Satan has taken enough that is good and valuable from me this far. But it’s gone far enough. He is not having this.
I wrote that a couple of weeks back, and it’s been sitting in draft form for a while. The reason behind that is because I’m simply not sure whether to carry on anymore. A couple of writers who i really respect – Donald Miller and Anne Jackson – have both talked about shutting down their blogs over that period, so maybe it’s just that time of year or perhaps there’s something in the water. Matt over at the Church of No People talked about writing a blog for your own benefit a few weeks back, to encourage you to think and reflect on circumstances that you might not otherwise reflect on, and he’s got a point. But I can’t help thinking life would be a lot easier if I didn’t write like this.
In the end, all of this is an attempt to communicate. There’s been some discussion about the value of online identity lately, but I think David Fincher is onto something in his depiction of Mark Zuckerberg. We all want to be seen, want to be recognised as worthwhile, and for the people who write blogs, that affirmation comes from those people reading and commenting. So long as there is a community and so long as people are talking, then it’s valuable, but nobody wants to be writing solely for themselves – in fact, i’d argue that even the people in journals don’t want to be. We want somebody to share all that junk with one day, even if it’s not now, otherwise we wouldn’t have written it down.
That explains why I haven’t taken this blog down yet, though. I haven’t decided on whether it’s a community that’s still worth persevering in, or whether one day you call it a day and focus on putting your efforts into community elsewhere, probably offline.
I haven’t decided to quit yet, and if I do then it won’t be because I decided it wasn’t worth it. This has been a great experience, and I appreciate all of you who’ve been such a large part of it over the past couple of years. But in the end, if it ends up coming down to the difference between living life online and living life out in the world, I won’t lie to you. I might end up choosing the latter.
Three marvellous Oxfordshire bands tonight, many of whom are still playing gigs at venues small enough for you to see the whites of their eyes. The first pick is my buddies Praxis Bold, who write glorious songs about superheroes and apocalypses (i think), and whose myspace page can be found here. Praxis Bold are Oxfordshire boys George Townsend, Mike Dornan, Jesse Lloyd, Claude Pietersen and Simon Tarassenko, they have a saxaphonist in their band, and of their songs, i recommend love life in particular. They’re playing Oxford’s Purple Turtle on November 16th and tickets are less than £5 on the door, so get in while you have the chance.
Pick number two is Spring Offensive, who are named after a Wilfred Owen poem and whose song Every Coin is described as “the story of a man literally forced to eat the contents of his own wallet”. It’s terrific, brutal and exciting and bizarre, and live they are an awe-inspiring blend of everything that is great about Explosions in the Sky and Bloc Party. Check out “Every Coin” here:
And finally, no discussion of Oxfordshire bands would be complete without pointing you in the direction of the magnificent Stornoway. Their gig at the closing Brookes student union earlier this week was one of the finest I have ever seen, with the audience hanging on their every word and the atmosphere so taut that you could hear a pin drop. It’s remarkable that a band who are so defiantly uncool managed to be so incredibly, incredibly cool (one review i read suggested that they would have been beaten up by Belle and Sebastian for their dinner money, and i can’t help but agree) but if you get the chance to go, don’t miss it. Here’s I Saw You Blink, from their recent album “Beachcomber’s Windowsill”, although their first single Zorbing is also well worth a look:
And that’s your lot for another week. Go and see Praxis Bold, they’re awesome.
worship music should sound like this 