Christmas Party 16th Dec

At our place with these guys. And Dan Aykroyd.

On being in the office before the heating is on

Having never seen the office clock before 8am before, I now know why. The heating doesn't com on 'til half eight.

Things are much quieter when no-one else is around. Which leaves room for thoughts.

How will tonight go? Will God heal people? Will He heal Kirsty before she goes into surgery? Will my neck and headaches rear their nasty little head?

I have no doubt in my mind that He can. I'm just not certain it will happen.

Which brings me to last night, reading and learning about Romans 8 together, the 'pinnacle' of the New Testament. I thought to myself lots last night that the promise of God is not that we'll never see trouble, hardship, famine, death, or experience demonic influence, but that these things cannot separate us from the love of God that is in Christ.

M

Let's do more of this

Orderly Worship
26What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

I think when church is smaller it should look a bit more like this, rather than using the white boys with guitars model all the time.

I think in the fuse as we use the main hall we feel we should be using all the toys and gadgets, when really we are just 40 or so people who come together in a much less formal setting.

When we have com together to pray for those in our family who are sick, we have been much more open to listening to God, and seeing where He wants to go. I guess partially it's an expectation thing - sit on seats in rows looking at a band on a stage and something happens subconsciously that says 'you aren't part of what they're doing'. But when we all just gather round the cross, things seem very different, less strict, less organised, more scary and more fun!

FAR to close to the bone . . .

The Bible begins to get token reference, exposition recedes, biblical sounding slogans (like peace, justice, kingdom, mutuality, grace, acceptance, wholeness) begin to replace specific sentences, contextual considerations diminish, moral generalities begin to replace attention to grammatical detail, and soon the Bible in its pointed specificity is not the authority, but rather the ideas of man.

Seriously; this is scary.

and also . . .

I think this backs up one of my arguments - to apprecite the depth of your rescue you must appreciate the depth of your fall. You cannot have mercy without an understanding divine vengeance and wrath.

There is nothing more fearful in reality or in imagination than the prospect of everlasting, never-ending, omnipotent, unimpeachably just and righteous divine wrath and fury. And that is the consequence of our sin.

Unless we get this clear in our heads and powerful in our emotions, the love of God will be reduced to sentimentalism or to a mere assistance for our self-help improvement and recovery plans. It will not be to us the infinitely precious, tremblingly embraced treasure that it really is.

What to do when we have two truths about God that we 'can't' reconcile

You know you're being led and taught by God on something when your bible readings and learnings shed light on the debates of the community - this is from John Piper at DesiringGod.org, read this morning as I work through Romans(again).

When God's Word Seems to Contradict Itself

There is condemnation of Jews and Gentiles, and there is justice. And these two things do not contradict. This is where we began. Who are they whose condemnation is just? Those who play games with the Word of God. More specifically in this case: those who see two true things in the Word of God that they can't reconcile and deny that this can be. For them it was, on the one hand, God is faithful and God is righteous and God is true to his glory, and, on the other hand, God judges his very own chosen people and condemns them along with the Gentile world. Two truths, for them irreconcilable. What advantage then would the Jew have? So they try to reject one of these truths. And the result is sophistry - tricky reasoning, word games. Today we might call it spinning. And to this Paul says, "Their condemnation is just."

So my closing exhortation is: Don't play games with the Bible. Be as careful as you can in handling the Word of God. And when you can't reconcile one true thing with another. Wait and pray and study and seek the Lord. In due time, they will be reconciled.

BTW I highly reccomend the DesiringGod Podcast, and the resources on that website. Through the instruction I have found there I have rediscovered what it means to cherish Christ as precious.

God of wrath - reflections on a Dixon's musings

This is a thoughful meandering and thinking around some issues John raised over at woodiesworship.blogspot . its not fully formed and unedited, hopefully there should be a discussion coming out of it.

Matt

Reading John’s arguments again, I have a few comments to make which are not really directed at the arguments themselves, but more wider questions of exegesis and interpretation. I’m just going to let my mind run away with me on my lunch hour, so this is more ‘Matt’s thoughts’ than ‘Matt wants to sing this song!’ although where I end up might look that way! Firstly, a quick search for the word vengeance in the NIV shows a number of references (29 in fact), particularly Isaiah 34:8 and 35:4 So I think the question we should be asking ourselves is ‘What aspect of the character of God is trying to be put forward by the inclusion of these words in the Bible’. I appreciate that the word itself is a troubling one, one that causes tensions in the chest as we try and square it with the God of the love songs we so often bring to Him. However, it is there, frequently, in the Bible. Describing God is impossible, as we sing (!) . So we must be cautious with how we conceive of God as we try and make attempts to describe some part of him. I am a creature, and I have a character. As such I am made up of different characteristics and tendencies. God is not a creature, but Creator. Therefore we need to be careful not to apply ‘creature’ words to the creator. I might have been a kind man at some point but there is no guarantee I will as kind in 20 years time. God is not beset by such change – he remains the same, immutable, immortal, invisible. So it is more correct to describe God as having attributes rather than characteristics. Secondly when thinking about God we must remember that he never limits himself or any part of himself in acting in a particular way. So when we think of God as Loving and contrast that with his anger and wrath as a very clear opposite, we have already reduced Him down to creature terms. To be loving he doesn’t limit his anger. To act justly doesn’t diminish His love. Rather, as he is divine and we are not, when He acts He is ALWAYS acting fully in accordance with His divine nature. He is constant. He is always God, always will be God, not capricious and flighty but solid and dependable. So to judge is an expression of His mercy and love as much as his act of rescue in His only Son. Specifically, what He judges (in creature terms ‘takes vengeance upon’) in fact CONFIRMS his justice, mercy and love. God takes and will take righteous and perfect action against those who defile and deface the creation and creatures who bear His image. Because He loves them, and is summed up by love. 8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause I think reading Isaiah 35 is helpful – 4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." I would like to use Romans 1 as a sidelight here. We see that when people know God yet do not honour or worship Him, they are deceived in their minds and dimmed in their thinking. The rest of the chapter shows how sin corrupts the entire human race absolutely. And that ‘the wages of sin is death’. What we know, and should treasure, is that God, while demonstrating His kindness in apparently delaying this final day of ‘vengeance’ so that as many as possible may find the defence of the gracious gift of the Messiah’s blood, will act finally to rid the world of sin, to purify it and judge its evil. The day of vengeance is one that confirms to us that God IS just, that he doesn’t stand idle, that he isn’t disinterested in rape, child abuse, murder, holocausts etc. He cares, and cares deeply about any act which damages and crushes any of those created in His image. These are the things he burns against. I think it is a tension we must hold – let’s just remind ourselves exactly what God will take vengeance on. It isn’t malevolent, sinister self seeking war mongering for power and fame, but the full expression of his love for his people and that fact that those who ignore Him and are in fact openly hostile to him will receive due penalty; when the end comes all that remains will be that which is in the Kingdom of God. That which isn’t will come to an end. He hasn’t hidden his law; he hasn’t hidden His words from us. We know what God requires (in the bigger picture here – not addressing specific individuals at this point). We need to remember these things to appreciate the depth of our fall, and the greatness of the rescue. We have been saved from something – the due penalty for sin is death; the GIFT of God is eternal life. If there isn’t judgement and vengeance and judgement, then there is nothing to show us what God wants and what God hates. We have been saved TO something as well – to eternal life, joy and peace with the creator we now can stand before through His son. It’s hard, but need to somehow hold both aspects of the cross in tension in our minds. I’m going to let Nahum have the last word – spot the tensions! The Lord 's Anger Against Nineveh 2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. 4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. 5 The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. 6 Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. 7 The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, 8 but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh ; he will pursue his foes into darkness.

La la Hmmm

Seeing as it has been a while since I wrote anything meaningful I don’t see why this occasion should be any different. I thought I would take this opportunity to inform you of a few pertinent changes in my life since last year.

Guitar strings: Have changed from d’addario to elixir. Both displease me. The d’adds last longer but the elxirs have a nicer tone for a 5 day period.

Hair: Have abandoned all hope of haircut with a number one job. This, I have discovered, was mainly driven by a desire to let people know that I know I am losing my hair. Grief, is there anything more tragic than someone in the early stages of alopecia carrying on as if nothing as changed? When the mullet becomes a skullet? PS for sale: three tubs of dax hair wax.

Trousers: I now own at least three pairs of non work trousers that are not jeans.

Car: Mavis has been retired, long live the golf gti with more poke than an oversized poking device. On growth hormone.

ONE HUNDREDTH POST DISMAY

I always thought my one hundredth post would be an occasion for joy. Since suffering emotional turmoil my blogging frequency was jolted into increase, and seems to have been sustained, such that I have 'blogged 346% more from quarter 1 to quarter 4 in the year my 'blog has existed. (Sorry; the analyst Matt runs the fingers during daylight hours).

However, I use this momentous posting to tell you that Stew's studio is well and truly up a certain rather well known creek without the requisite directional impetus provision implements.

In other words I’ve lost all of my backing tracks.

Recording: Insanity welcomes swiss drivers

With big ups all round to Simple Sound Studios (point: it doesn't exist in this plane of reality) and the pouring rain adding atmosphere to 'Waiting' hence Stew constructing the miniature fort / booth you see below.

I encourage you to make a fort today. If yu have kids you have the perfect pretence that it's for them. We just make forts in our front room anyway. Futon not so great, sofa cushions very good, solid, tessalatable, and useful weapons to repel attack.

SCGS: The malaise continues

I put before you a sad example of a full blown case of SCGS:

Employees, also have the option of participating in regular consultation forums and feedback surveys.

This is a fairly straightforward sentence requiring little elaboration stylistically to make its point. What the hell. Let's have a comma!

M

PS some photos of my day recording to come after my dad returns my laptop.

Yes, yes !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/5271252.stm

C of E Vicar decides to save PosOffice from closure to open up links with Community. Can't agree more.

Either I agree with him or he agrees with me

but in any case Carbon offsetting is nonsense

At the offices of Travelcare and the forecourts owned by BP, you can now buy complacency, political apathy and self-satisfaction. But you cannot buy the survival of the planet.

George Monbiot. Go but his book, read his articles, think about them and then consider whether any of us should take a short haul flight for £30 again.

You know what?

No matter how many times I give in, fall over and dust myself off, have another go, fail, fall, dust off, repeat try AGAIN, Give in AGAIN but a bit later than last time, try again ...

No matter how many times I believe lies then repent . . .

No matter WHAT, He loves me. The cross isn't just an illustration of divine love, but the basis of it. Perfect love casts out fear on the final day. I have crossed the line form darkness into light. Anything that happens to me now is for my good, transforming me into the likeness of Christ.

Robipedia on tour

SCGS - Spontaneous Comma Generation Syndrome
A newly discovered mental disorder, whereby, the sufferer, often in , the most ridiculous and unxpected, places in a sentence inserts a comma for , no, or no known, reason. This disorder speaks of , the fear that many in society, face when , confronted with a comma, in which they turn from rational individuals into gibbering , illiterates.

Needless to say SCGS seems to have worked its way into my life and is causing me great distress.

Think before you offset . . .

So the Co-Op, in its latest quest to be seen and heard to do the right thing, is to become the first high street travel agent to offer travellers the chance to offset their CO2 emissions by way of a green surcharge .

For those unfamiliar with the concept, this method allows companies or activities to continue emitting CO2 as long as they invest in Carbon reduction technologies elsewhere. It also happens when companies buy in carbon credits from emissions trading schemes.

(For those unfamiliar with THAT concept, this is where nations or supranational organisations agree to cap emissions at a certain level in any given year. Individual sites are given allowances for how much C they can emit in a year. If they fall short of this they can sell their entitlement to the ones who have failed to meet their limit. Once this trading has been done, the overall limit is reduced for the next year so all have a financial incentive to be continually reducing their emissions).

As a solution to the catastrophic disaster that is irreversible climate change, this is nonsense. We need to cut emissions. This means some alterations in our lifestyles and a permanent move away from fossil fuels. We can’t all pay someone else to do something about the problem! Aviation taxation is nonsense too – tax the ears of flights and aviation fuel; result, the rich keep flying.

And on the Carbon trading thing – it depends on countries in the EU actually agreeing to an overall cut in their emissions. I refer you to someone wiser than me:

“National targets for 2008 set by Austria, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain are out of line with their Kyoto obligations, as are Estonia, France. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. Poland has proposed a hugely extravagant plan that permits 70 million tonnes more CO2 than it emitted last year. Overall, 130 million tonnes of carbon need to be cut from the national plans so far submitted.”

See – it doesn’t work. I think the only way you get the level of change we need is through personal carbon limits and personal carbon trading. To quote George Monbiot, we got into this through millions of seemingly innocuous infinitesimal actions. So we need the same number of small actions to avert the coming crisis.

Silhouettes and fake charades

Well I feel I have disappointed the blogosphere by not writing as much as I usually do, and also by not writing anything very interesting. Or least not thinking that I have which is part of the reason for doing it in the first place.

It seems to have been a bit of a period of change for a lot of people round me – Dan is miles away, Becky less miles away, Tom soon to be miles away, Martin miles away but reducing as we speak, sister miles away. So for some life is entering into a new period - another Marsh married, an extra Cotton in the world and one less McCoy, a smaller new Marsh and new Sopwith on the way- but for me things are progressing nicely along the same familiar routes.

I have been appointed as a non-exec director to the ECCR which is more exciting than the website would portray. I also might be becoming one of the trustees of my Dad’s new charity. So some people clearly think I am capable of rational thought and analysis in addition to helpful and insightful comment and criticism. God help them – literally.

I just want to be honest with you, though. These kind of things appeal to my vanity much more than the whole lead worshipper thing (which also presents issues, but I’m getting more used what I have to do to deal with them). In the same breath I see these things as answers to prayer about where my life was heading and what God needed me to be doing.

But above all else currently I am concerned with what I am becoming. I bear the image of God, but I want to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. And not how I perceive Christ to be but how He really is in Himself.

Don't be deceived . . .

Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemey's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

It is during the trough periods, much more than the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best.

Right to the core . . .

Sometimes somebody says something that cuts you right to the heart. It's when God speaks, usually (Hebrews 4:12).

Are we ADMIRERS of Christ ...



or FOLLOWERS ?

Geoff; Bob; Keith

Where is all this going, I sense my emotions quizzing my intellect. My intellect replies in cold terms that it’s not in charge of direction, merely the rational executions of the decisions of my will. The will in itself pipes up and asks why the emotions have to be so damn touchy feely about the whole thing and then we’re back to square one.

I’m learning to embrace these little lulls and bouts of melancholia. They mostly arise when public transport goes awry, but also when Manchester City go on a downward spiral. How I am not a manic depressive on these terms I don’t know . . . in any case. Back to informed and emotionally aware blogging.

Do you ever ask rhetorical questions to the ether in the hope that you might discover what you feel you’re lacking? I am lacking something at the moment – it feels like I’ve had and lost something in my spirituality, though that might be down to rounded on to do JOBS rather than be part of something. As far as being defined by my roles goes I’ve messed up a bit.

Why don’t I live in Plymouth?