Carole’s Lent Project – Challenge 2

Today is the 11th day of Lent, which means it is time to start my second Lent Challenge.

For the last ten days I have read a new poem every day – everything from A. E. Housman and random poems online to the following poem written for me by my brother and his friend between turns during our Monday night snooker session!

For the next ten days I am going to write 150 words a day on my WIP. Any 150, even if they are rubbish that I slash out at a later date – a first draft is a first draft for a reason and I just need to get back into the habit of writing regularly and 150 words is nothing – this blog post is going to be about 150 words easily and it’s taken me all of ten minutes to bash out.

Fingers crossed I will get much more than my 150 a day written and my WIP will slowly start feeling less like just another beginning and more like something I might even manage a middle of….or possibly an end, now that would be a novelty.

Silent Sunday

When The Lions Roar!

This weekend was our annual Junior Church Camp and we had the theme of Daniel chapters 1-6.

We all get together in a field and spend 3 days doing activities, eating (lots), laughing and enjoying each other’s company. This year we had lots of new people come as we invited families from a few of our neighbour churches so there was even more cake than usual!

The weather wasn’t perfect but it didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits as much as it dampened everything else – wellies, umberellas and raincoats fended most of it off and we happily  sheltered together in the food marquee during the heaviest showers (usually using it as an excuse for cake).

Sometimes we had fruit instead of cake...

We had treasure hunts that helped us to learn the different attitudes of the people in the Bible stories (greedy kings always choose Wine Gums over boring fruit…) and had a giggle trying to remember and pronounce the names of Daniel’s friends (er, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednigo, I think – though I have probably spelled them wrong). We listened to how God gave the greedy Kings several chances to change their ways and learn from their mistakes and how Daniel’s loyalty helped him get through a miriad of challenge, finishing of course with the story of the Lion’s Den.

Treasure hunting!

We played games and built an obstacle course (I’ve never seen anyone have so much fun with a hay bale, some tyres, planks and a ladder) and Tori had a whale of a time pretending to feed the cows in the next field (over and over again).

We had a campfire (of course) and a sing song, we had a barbecue, we had a mini worship service on Sunday morning, we went out together to collect firewood and we all helped to pack up and enjoyed a bouncy trailer ride back down to the farm.

It was busy and exhausting but great fun enjoying the Great Outdoors and spending time with our church family. It didn’t matter that the weather wasn’t perfect – we all came home with a healthy ‘outside’ glow anyway (Though we only discovered Tori’s once we had washed off the thick layer of grub in the bath!).

We are blessed with quite a lot of children in our church compared to many and it’s great that we can bring them and their families all together like this once a year to share our friendship and fellowship away from the four walls of our church and the confines that can bring.

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Soundtrack Saturday

This group are particularly popular with the older members of our Junior Church, they went to see them in concert I think.

I’m a bit late to the discovery party but I really like them too

Casting Crowns – Who Am I?

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I’m calling,
Lord, you catch me when I’m falling,
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I’m calling,
Lord, you catch me when I’m falling,
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I’m calling,
Lord, you catch me when I’m falling,
And you’ve told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
Cause I am yours..
I am yours..

Soundtrack Saturday

You know how sometimes you listen to a band for years and then suddenly click what it is they’re singing about? This is one of those.

Sixpence None The Richer – Breathe Your Name

Apparently the clue is in the band name, but only if you’ve read the right book:

It comes from a book by C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity. A little boy asks his father if he can get a sixpence—a very small amount of English currency—to go and get a gift for his father. The father gladly accepts the gift and he’s really happy with it, but he also realizes that he’s not any richer for the transaction. C.S. Lewis was comparing that to his belief that God has given him, and us, the gifts that we possess, and to serve Him the way we should, we should do it humbly—realizing how we got the gifts in the first place.

Leigh Nash (Lead Vocalist)

Lyrics:

It’s every day
I’m in this place
I feel this way
I feel the same
It’s every day
I’m in this place
I feel this way
I feel the same

Is it all inside my head
Is it all inside my head
I’ll view the list
And take my pick
I view my faith
And make a choice
‘Cause it’s nobody else’s but mine

But you are in my heart
I can feel your beat
And you move my mind
From behind the wheel
When I lose control
I can only breathe your name
I can only breathe your name

So many days within this race
I need the truth
I need some grace
I need the path
To find my place
I need some truth
I need some grace
The part of you
That’s part of me
We’ll never die
We’ll never leave
And it’s nobody else’s but mine

You are in my heart
I can feel your beat
And you move my mind
From behind the wheel
When I lose control
I can only breathe your name
I can only breathe your name

You’ll view the list
And take your pick
You’ll view my faith
And make a choice
‘Cause it’s nobody else’s but yours

And you’re in my heart
I can feel your beat
And you move my mind
From behind the wheel
When I lose control
I can only breathe your name

‘Cause you’re in my heart
I can feel your beat
And you move my mind
From behind the wheel
When I lose control
I can only breathe your name
I can only breathe your name
I can only breathe your name
I can only breathe your name

Soundtrack Saturday Week 4

I only recently discovered this group & I really really like them. This song in particular is a favourite.

Beautiful Ending by BarlowGirl

Similar artists: Sixpence None The Richer, Casting Crowns, Jars Of Clay, Evanescence

Soundtrack Saturday: Week Three

The choir my Mum sings with did this and I love it. Both to sing and to listen to, it tends to get stuck in your head. Very firmly.

Siyahamba/Marching In The Light Of God

Soundtrack Saturday: Week Two

I discovered this group on a school trip to London. Whenever we went on such trips our group of friends always headed into the massive Virgin and HMV stores with the aim of each buying a CD for £1 or less. We all had to get one and we would then share our spoils when we got home and laugh at the rubbish we ended up with. I say rubbish, we discovered a couple of gems over the years. But mostly it was rubbish.

This is from one of those Bargain Bucket purchases. Happy memories. Good tune.

Fireproof by Pillar

Artist Direct’s similar artist list includes: Rage Against The Machine, Deftones, Blindside

Soundtrack Saturday: Week One

My faith is an important part of my life and so is music so I thought I would combine the two. There is a lot of religious music out there and it’s not all gospel or hymns – I love lots of hymns and I quite like a bit of gospel music too, don’t get me wrong, but there is just so much more out there that lots of people never hear.

I feel like sharing my favourites. Some weeks I might link up to a choral hymn, other weeks it might be a pop song, a children’s song, a rock song or even a rap. It could be anything – give it a look regardless, you might be surprised and hear something you like, even if you aren’t a Christian yourself or don’t think you’re ‘into’ religious music. I will include a list of similar artists if I can, just to give you an idea.

This week’s Soundtrack Saturday Track is:

Free To Be Me by Francesca Battistelli

Artist Direct’s list of similar artists includes: Norah Jones, Patty Griffin and Tori Amos

Lent Course 2011: Week 1

This year I am attending a Lent course being run by the ‘Churches Together’ in our town. It is ’5 Weeks Of Ancient & Modern Lenten Hymns’ and is designed to help us pay more attention to the words in the hymns we sing in church at this time of year and to think about and discuss what they mean to us and how they make us feel.

Each week we focus on three hymns: one ‘traditional’ hymn, one ‘modern’ or Celtic hymn and one other from any era which may ‘bring a more contentious or surprising facet to our attention.’ We are looking at them as pieces of writing rather than pieces of music, though we did have a bit of a sing too, just because we felt like it.

Our ‘homework’ is to have another look at the week’s hymns and jot down our thoughts and feelings on them, then at the next meeting we will pool our thoughts and see if we come to any group conclusion or if we all have wildly different ideas. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s opinions and sometimes others see things you miss or just hadn’t thought of.

I thought I would work my homework into a blog post each week (mostly just to make sure I do it!) – I will try and find the words to the hymns online and link them up too.

The three hymns this week were:

1. Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle. Venantius Fortunatus (TR. Percy Dearmer)

2. Though hope desert my heart. John L. Bell (Can’t find any words or videos for this one, sadly.)

3. There is a green hill far away. Cecil Frances Alexander

Here’s my responses to them:

1. Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle.

• This is apparently one of the oldest texts in our hymn book (the original author’s dates are c. 535-600) which surprised me because it didn’t feel at all dated. Instead the language and message feels relevant and contemporary despite being written so long ago.
  

• The words of this hymn felt somewhat reassuring and uplifting. They tell the story of Easter in a way that doesn’t focus on the suffering but still alludes to it. This was something I found quite powerful because sometimes we seem to get so bogged down by the suffering side we forget what it was all eventually for.

• ‘Destined, dedicated, and willing’ – This example of triadic structure sums up Jesus’ life beautifully and simply. I love this line because of the amount it manages to say with so few words.

• The whole of verse four, with its beautiful imagery of the cross as a tree, is pure poetry and, again, speaks volumes in very few words.

• Verse two upset the poet in me a little bit because it tried to rhyme ‘come’, ‘home’ and ‘gloom’ – but that’s just me being picky…

• ‘Like a lamb He humbly yielded/On the cross His dying breath.’ – Such a soft image for such a powerful moment, I found quite striking. I kept coming back to these lines and re-reading them because they struck a chord somewhere.

 

2. Though hope desert my heart.

• This was my favourite of the three hymns we looked at because reading it filled me with a real sense of reassurance and hope.

• The language used throughout the hymn is simple and accessible to everyone. Even children would be able to read and understand the words.

• Despite being ‘simple’ language and having an almost child-like feel to it, the hymn shares an important message without dumbing it down at all.

• It covers every emotional situation people go through and reassures with the repeated line ‘You have been here before‘ which reminds us that Jesus came to Earth and lived our life, felt our human fears and frailties and understands when sometimes we wobble and feel afraid. It reminds us that he was afraid, hurt, sad, tormented, abandoned and troubled too and that he came through it all as we can if we put our faith in him.

• ‘I will not dread the dark,/the fate beyond control,/nor fear what reigns in frightening things:/ You will be there before.‘ This final verse is my favourite because of the brilliance of choice of words. Everyone is afraid of different things and the reassurance that no matter what it is that you are afraid of Christ will be there before you and with you is incredibly comforting.

 

3. There is a green hill far away

• This was the only one of this week’s hymns that I was familiar with and yet I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at the words before. Having done so I can safely say it was my least favourite of the three.

• The words and language used in this hymn are typical of the Victorian era in which it was written. Obedience is very much at the heart of it through use of words such as ‘make’ and ‘must’. I instantly disliked this as it felt like Christianity was being pushed down your throat – if someone were to come into a church for the first time and all hymns were like this one then they would never come back again as all it does is tell you what to do and that you aren’t ‘good enough’ as you are.

• ‘O dearly, dearly has He loved,/ And we must love Him too‘ – This line made me *so* cross. You can’t tell someone that they ‘must’ love something/someone. Love is something you give, something you offer, something you feel involuntarily and wholly. You don’t love something just because someone says that you ‘must’. Jesus didn’t love us because he had to and we can’t tell other people they ‘must’ love Him in return, that is something they have to learn/choose to do themselves. (*ranty ranty ranty*)

• That line also goes on to say we ‘must’ trust in Jesus. Trust and love are similar concepts – I won’t go on again.

• ‘He died to make us good’ – This line is just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. He didn’t die to ‘make us good’ at all. The line before says ‘He died that we might be forgiven’ which is a bit more like it. The whole making us good thing is another Victorian obedience type element. And, as I may have mentioned before, is wrong. (*ranty ranty ranty* again)

• After all that making and musting the verse ‘We may not know, we cannot tell,/What pains he had to bear,/But we believe it was for us/He hung and suffered there.’ seemed a little bit wishy-washy to me. A bit ‘we’re not really sure but we have made the executive decision that it is and you MUST go along with it.’

• ‘There was no other good enough,/To pay the price of sin;’ - this sounds like they put an ad in the local paper to find someone…

• ‘He only could unlock the gate/Of heaven, and let us in.’ - It was locked?

• There’s lots of negative language regarding us as people – ‘We may not know, we cannot tell’, ‘And try his works to do’, ‘That we might go at last to heaven’. – May, cannot, might, try. It’s not much of a feel good hymn for us unworthy little humans, we’re clearly a bit useless.

• The first verse is all right though. Nothing wrong with that. Apart from the horrible rhyming meter that is. La di dah di dah di dah, La di dah di dah. – Yuck.

• What did this hymn make me feel? Grumpy mostly.