There’s something about young people that fills me with optimism.  Perhaps it’s their all-encompassing world view.  Maybe it’s their insatiable love for life.  Or possibly even just because I remember being a young person myself and how crucial it was in my development.  Whatever the reason, I’ve discovered I all to easily agree to help kids in all sorts of ways, keen to teach them something new, point them in the right direction, prod them into thinking about things in a new way, and then shove them off a cliff to see how far they fly.

I guess it’s partly with that in mind that I and my wife are leaders each year on a Christian youth camp.  I say ‘partly’ because the other half of the reason I go is that Ellie asked me to, and since we were engaged at the time (the first year we went) I felt I ought to say yes.  Since that first year we’ve both made ourselves quite indispensible, doing lots of stuff, leading lots of things, running hither and thither to help out wherever we can.

This year was slightly different for both of us, for different reasons.  The main difference for me, as you may have read, is that I’ve had a hernia.  I was under doctor’s orders not to lift anything heavier than a kettle, and not to do too much walking around either.  Ellie’s time was also eaten into by the attention of our baby Samuel, who had his first experience of exuberant teenagers this year.  Camp this year was tough on all of us – physically and mentally.

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Further to my previous post, I’m afraid to say that my blog is still feeling a little under the weather at the moment.  I’ve Googled, I’ve prodded and poked, I’ve FTPed and upgraded, and all to no avail.  So, for now at least, I’ve given up.  One day when I have time I’ll look into it again, but for now I’m going to rely on other ways to update my blog.  My previous post came courtesy of the built-in blog editor in Flock.  This one is being written in ScribeFire, a Firefox plugin.

And it’s high time for an update, I’m sure you’ll agree.  A certain person has been on my case for days, if not weeks, asking for a photo of a smiling baby that I’d promised her.  I had intended on putting it on my blog, but that wasn’t working, so I emailed it to her in the end.  But, for those of you who are not Sarah, a photo of my darling son is in this post – the first I managed to capture of him smiling.

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This is a song I began to write at Spring Harvest last year.  On Sunday I included it in the worship songs and taught it to the congregation, as it seemed to fit well with the theme, and it seemed to go down well!  It was actually the first time anyone had heard it, my wife included, so it was good to get it out at last and being useful.  I even had a lady ring me up this evening asking for the words, because she’d found it really inspiring!  That’s such a huge encouragement for a songwriter.  Not that I seek attention or praise, but that God is working through my offering and allowing my gift to bear fruit.  Halleluia!

So, here are the words to the song, “Jesus your name is higher”.  I don’t have the music written out yet, but when I do I’ll try and make sure that finds its way onto here too.   (more…)

I love music.  It brightens my working day, it inspires my leisure time, it gives me an outlet for my passion and creativity.  No surprise, then, that I have a fair amount of music.  Not on the scale of some people, admittedly, but that’s probably because as a university student I was probably a little more honest than most and thus didn’t end up with a secondary hard disk filled with torrents and downloads.

When we were at camp just over a week ago my wife gave one of the talks, which was loosely based around the story of King Ahab and the vineyard – Ahab wanted it, the owner refused to sell it, Ahab sulked, his wife had the owner murdered and Ahab claimed the vineyard.  The point of the talk was that sin by association is still sin; God still condemned Ahab for his actions, even though it was Jezebel actually doing the deed.  He didn’t object to the sin, and benefited from it, so was held culpable by God.  Ellie used the illustration that “sharing” music is effectively the same thing – sure, someone else has ripped the music off the CD, but we’ve still accepted the MP3 files and are therefore benefiting from it.  So in God’s eyes, as well as the law’s, we are guilty.

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Here is a downloadable score for ‘Come holy fire’, a song I wrote fairly recently.  It was used for the first time at a Christian youth camp I was at last week (more on that later), and seemed to go down well, so I’m making it available for people to use at their home churches.  At the moment I hold the copyright and everything, and it’s likely to stay that way until a music publisher comes my way!

It’s a gathering song, speaking of our unity in Christ, so would go well at the beginning of a service.  I particularly like the end of the second verse, which says “trusting not in our own strength but in your power, saved by grace and not by what we’ve done”.  It helps us recognise how awesome God’s grace is, how he allows us into his presence despite our many failings, and the chorus invites God to “set our hearts ablaze with passion” to do his work.

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G is for Guitar and “Get a life”

Many of you will know that I am a keen musician.  I blame this partly on my parents, who insisted on taking me to a brass band concert before I was even born.  I didn’t stand a chance.  Church helps too, there’s always music there.  And so it was that I started taking up musical instruments left right and centre, starting with the piano, moving on to cello, and not stopping thereafter.  The list isn’t exactly endless, but it’s fairly sizeable.  The main problem with this, though, is being able to afford the instruments themselves, which don’t come cheap, especially if you want something decent.  So for many years I have had to get by without certain things, in some cases just the accessories, but in some cases the instruments themselves.  I’ve never owned a saxophone, for instance, much as I’d love to.

My first bass guitar was a pink (probably used to be red, but faded in the sun) Squier with a warped neck, which made playing anything but open strings uncomfortable and bone-jarringly out of tune.  Still, for £100 it wasn’t bad, considering it came with a whopping 80 watt amp.  The bass was replaced several years ago, thankfully, with a wood body Aria (I’d give the actual model, but since it’s a “Research and Development” model I think it’s more of a one-off, so comparing it to the mass-produced model that resulted from it might not actually be particularly useful).  The Aria is a dream to play, and has a lovely warm tone to it.  The amp, however, was always pretty ropey, so it wasn’t a huge tragedy when it stopped working.  It was something electric, I know that much, and it just played a very loud humming noise while it was turned on.  So I left it turned off, gathering dust in the garage.  Until just before we moved, when I took it to the dump.  Sad, but somehow very therapeutic at the same time.

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On sale now – only £5!!

Rooted is a band I set up at Orchard Baptist Church a couple of years ago, mostly playing completely original songs written by members of the band.  After almost a year and a half in the making, our debut album is now finished and available for you to buy.  At the moment there are limited copies available, so get your bookings in now to ensure you don’t miss out!

In the beginning features 7 songs, including one bonus track at the end, and covers a range of musical styles, from rock to reflective, with the aim of stimulating worship in a variety of ways.  From the loud and rocky “Father God you reign” to the softer “I draw near” featuring a cello trio, there is something for everyone in this concise album of original Christian music.

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Where to start… there’s just so much to say, and squeezing it all into one post is going to be a challenge and a half!  Let’s see, how about we start with an introduction…

Introduction

This year Ellie and I were both leaders on a Christian youth camp (a CYFA Ventures camp) for 14-18 year olds, at a boarding school near Southampton called Stanbridge Earls.  We’ve both been before, but this was the first time we’d been as a married couple, so that was a nice novelty!

Our week was actually started off a few days earlier than everyone else, as we went to Southampton University for my brother’s graduation.  It was lovely to see him, and all our family, and generally hang out in Soton for a bit.  Photos will be up on a gallery somewhere in due course I expect.  Ellie and I then stayed a couple of nights at a guest house in Soton, visiting the New Forest on the Friday before going off to camp on the Saturday morning.

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They say time flies when you’re having fun.  My recent absence from this blog is testament to the additional truth that actually time flies regardless.  True, I have had a lot of fun recently, but it has been mixed with periods of busyness too, the combination of which has meant that finding time to sit down and rant about it here has been quite difficult.  Nevertheless, the time has now been found, and here I sit to write a conspicuously verbose update.  In case such lengthiness should put you off, I’m dividing this blog into subheadings, to make the sheer quantity of text a little more bite-sized and easier to digest.  If you haven’t the time to read it all, I completely understand.  Just bear in mind that I went to the effort of writing it.  So there.

So, first of all, a general introduction.  Many things have happened since my last blog post, including (but not exclusively): two trips to theatres, some significant developments on the business front, a somewhat extended birthday, Neddy going to the garage a couple of times, a couple of additions to the Dawkins household, an above-average number of requests to lead worship, and a general realisation that Ellie and I are taking over our church.  That’s quite a lot to write about.  I’ll try to keep some of it brief.  Just to demonstrate that, you’ll notice the lack of information in the spaces between words.  Every little helps.

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Yes, yes, I know.  I’m three days late.  Well never mind, it’s not the end of the world, and at least I got round to it eventually.

In fact, part of the reason for the lateness of this post is due to the time I’ve been spending doing other (arguably more important) things.  Our New Year’s Eve party was a blast, with a good gaggle of guests cramming into our lounge to see the dawn of 2008.  In fact, so eager were we to savour the 1st January 2008 that we didn’t actually get to bed until at least 3:30am.  People just kept on talking, and we couldn’t get rid of them.  Actually it was a lot of fun, and we both really appreciated having so many people round.

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Computer Scientists.  You either get them, or you don’t.  If they are the typical kind who spend over 24 hours a day sat at a computer (don’t ask them how) and can speak Java, C#, Klingon, and a dozen other languages you don’t understand, likelihood is you’re not gonna want them explaining anything at you, no matter how urgently you’d like you computer back up and running.

So, with that in mind, I’ve been thinking about explaining the Gospel to those sorts of people, using language and terms they might understand.  It’s not a perfect analogy (no analogy is perfect), but I reckon it’s pretty good, and gives an interesting perspective on the message of the Bible in a computer-type context.  It’s now written up on FocusOnFaith, so give it a read if you have a moment.  If you don’t understand it, pass it on to anyone you know with more than three e-mail addresses and a server under their bed.

This week saw Pope Benedict announce that to celebrate 150 years since the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl in Lourdes pilgrims traveling to the town could claim time off from Purgatory.  This has caused widespread confusion and opposition amongst Protestants, who both denounce the authority of the Pope and don’t generally believe in Purgatory either.  This is a can of worms unlike any that’s been seen in recent years, and may take a while to settle.

Now, I’m no Biblical scholar, but I do have some thoughts I would like to share on this topic, exploring the nature of forgiveness, sin, Purgatory, judgement, hell and heaven.  Not necessarily in that order.

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You know, it’s useful to know who you are.  Now, before you all turn up your noses and scratch your heads in confusion, allow me to explain what I mean.  Are we defined by what we do?  Or what we aspire to do or be?  Or is our personality more important than our ability?  And can we ever really come to a conclusion without first reaching the end of our lifespan?  Big questions, and not necessarily easy ones.  Nonetheless, this is what’s been on my mind recently, and I think I’m beginning to come to a resolution at last.

My biggest problem is that I’m good at far too many things.  I made a list this evening of all the possible jobs or careers I would like to try, either from tasters I’ve had already or from sheer ambition and inspiration.  I managed to list 45 potential directions for my life, ranging from computer programmer to artist, professional guitarist to farmer, pastor to rally driver, novelist to teacher.  I also managed to rate those jobs in a rough order, to get an idea of which ones I most preferred, and thankfully the top ones were pretty much as I would have expected: (more…)

In my Bible study this morning my commentary was expounding on part of Hebrews that talks about Jesus as our High Priest, and how Christ suffered to be able to perfectly sympathise with our suffering, and in so doing more completely comfort us.  He was completely human, experienced the same challenges, the same temptations, the same sort of sufferings, and because of that we can draw nearer to God.

I’m not so sure I agree.  At least, not in full.

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Just recently I have been studying some of the Psalms, with the help of a big hefty devotional commentary.  It goes through the whole Bible in a year, and has some really meaty insight too, which is good.  Today’s theme, and actually a recurring one over the last few days, has been trusting in the Lord during times of trouble.  David, while on the run from Saul, persecuted, hunted, betrayed, attacked, always remained confident that no matter what happened that God would protect him and achieve His purpose in David’s life.  Today in particular I read of how David was hiding in a cave, and Saul his enemy happened to wander in on his own to relieve himself.  There was an ideal opportunity to kill Saul and take the throne, or so David’s followers though.  But no, David knew that doing wrong was not the way to become king.  God had promised that David would sit on the throne, and as such David didn’t have to worry about forcing that to happen – God was in control and would bring about his intended purpose in his own time and in his own way.

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Some of you may know that I have been reading my way through the Bible, reading a few chapters each day.  This was originally inspired by my little cousin Jacob who had read the whole Bible in a year, and I thought “well if he can do it, I should be able to!”  So I signed myself up to www.bibleinayear.org and got daily readings by e-mail, and got into the routine of reading over breakfast.  Today, a year and a half after starting, I finally read the final chapter in Revelation.  What an amazing journey!

I was actually reading everything in chronological order, rather than in the order it appears in the Bible, which made for interesting reading.  In some places there are two accounts of the same event, like in much of the beginning of the old testament, and of course the four gospels, so those were read in parallel.  It was an interesting approach, allowing me to get a good historical overview of what actually happens in the Bible in what order.  It was interesting seeing how different people recorded events in different ways depending on who they were and why they were writing it – I guess that’s my GCSE History coming back to haunt me!

The one thing I have missed, however, is spending time digging deep into God’s word.  This challenge has been more historical than spiritual, finding out what happens rather than searching for meaning and understanding in each passage.  I feel I know the Bible better now, but I still feel I have a lot more to re-read.  I love Revelation, for instance, with all the imagery and symbolism and awe and wonder, but reading it so fast didn’t really lend itself to spending time working out what it all means.  I shall now have to start re-reading various bits of the Bible, studying it properly, searching for understanding rather than knowledge.

As some of you may know, I’m in the middle of recording the first Rooted album, and I have now reached the stage where I’m needing to record the drums.  This has prompted me to do some research into the best way to connect everything up so that everyone can hear everything they need to.  This, then, is me putting it all in writing so that I can properly understand it all – if anyone more knowledgeable than me notices any flaws in the plan then do let me know!  The idea is to create a proper studio recording setup using the Behringer MX1604A mixer I have on loan from my mate AndyC, coupled with my Mac computer, which will be doing the recording on Logic Express.

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After our Good Friday service this morning several of us went back to the home of Kathryn and Jonathan for hot cross buns.  Like the typical Brits we are, we spent the time sitting in a stuffy conservatory rather than in the garden, despite the glorious sunshine, opened all the windows, complained about how hot it was, drank hot cups of tea, and didn’t even think to remove our jumpers.

Our conversations were mostly centred around some fairly deep theological issues, which I found very interesting to listen to – it was like being back in my first year fusion group all over again!  One of the issues mentioned was regarding Christ’s victory on the cross, and whether the battle was won on Good Friday or Easter Sunday.  It was an interesting conundrum, especially given how little we know about the intervening period; someone asked the question of where Jesus was on Easter Saturday, to which no one really gave an answer.

Nevertheless, I thought I would try to write something on this subject, on the understanding that even if I don’t have exactly the right answer I will at least have thought it through and hopefully inspired others of you to think about it too, even if you don’t agree with me.

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While adding some links to the Chelmsford Diocese web site I stumbled across an online quiz that assesses your theological stance and categorises you based on your answers. Now, I’m not normally one to participate in such quizes, simply because more often than not they are a load of rubbish, totally wrong, or require you to pay to get your results. This, however, came recommended from a church minister, so I figured I’d be really daring and trust him!

Some of the questions I didn’t know the answers to, not necessarily through the use of long words but through reference to various apparently important events in the history of the church that I am not familiar with. Nevertheless I answered all the questions, and the quiz kindly told me what sort of Evangelical I am.

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I went to church this morning to record the Rooted concert off the camcorder (it’s an old one that doesn’t have a firewire or USB connection), but the whole morning seemed beset by complications, as is usually the case when doing anything technical.  To start with it was a case of finding the right leads to connect everything up – I had to go out again shortly after arriving to pick up my friend Anthony to show me how to connect it all up!  We got there in the end and set it capturing, but because it does it in real time I had to sit around and wait an hour or so while it did it.

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