fumbling for the light switch
been doing a wee bit of teaching lately based around this concept and passage. very powerful message lies within i feel.
it’s something i used and wrote stuff on a couple of years ago but it has been a timely reminder recently. and been reminded of how often the stuff i’m communicating are things that i also need to put into practice in my own life.
big thanks to stewart mcilrath for the initial design way back then!!
powerful images. some strong messages. thought provoking issues. fun and humourous at times.
i love banksy graffiti art. some of it hangs in our home. and the whole mystery around him and the hidden identity he has just adds to it all.
here are some samples…
It’s so refreshing when bands don’t try to churn out the same things that have gone before them. Or attempt to duplicate the sounds of other artists who have already seen success and popularity.
First stumbled across the Rend Collective Experiment at a gig in the Black Box around 18 months ago. Their music that night grabbed me and their EP was creative and fresh. And so I was looking forward to their album launch gig in Belfast last month.
But even with high expectations, I was really blown away by the songs they have written, the sound they produced, and the new ways in which they expressed what’s written on their hearts. Even the whole concept of a ‘collective’ seems unique and I’m excited to see how this grows and develops over the years.
It seems like they approach music from a different angle, and I think the whole package has a lot to say to people in our country. Enjoy this music video which somehow captures their uniqueness…
Very excited about this film coming out this week. For so many reasons.
I remember watching the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final and getting completely caught up in the game and the occasion. I got behind South Africa because I loved the underdog, plus I didn’t like the All Blacks very much. I was ecstatic when they won yet, as a young 10 year old boy, I didn’t have a clue about the history of what I was watching as a black man handed a rugby trophy over to a white man. Or the political and national significance of what I saw unfold in that country. Or what a hero that black politician in the rugby shirt really was.
To be honest, this blog post by Paddy which focused on the story behind it all will do it way more justice than me, but I think this story has so much to say to us today. Especially here.
Perhaps we need a reminder that we can put our past behind us. Or that tribal differences should never cause us to treat someone differently. Maybe we could see the power of living side by side with our neighbour. Or realise that nothing gives us the right to look down our noses at another human being. And we need leaders in every walk of life: politics, education, church, who will see a future rather than a past.
Change really can be for the better.
i’ve been writing a lot about story recently, and sometimes, football has a habit in coming up with some of the best scripts you could imagine.
yesterday was no different.
after the week that’s been, with this man filling the headlines of our newspapers both front and back, john terry was always going to be the centre of attention this weekend in his match. and doesn’t he pop up with a vital winning goal for his club?!
horrible allegations. but it adds to an interesting story.
i’m always intrigued by the moments in the films where huge chunks of time are skipped past. where the words ‘6 months later’ or ‘1 year after’ scroll across the bottom of the screen as we look at the character holding a new baby, sitting in court, or starting a new job.
maybe i’m too curious but i want to know the process in between. see the journey rather than just the destination. glimpse the decisions and the mistakes that have been made in between. is life that meaningless that we just rather dilute everything down to focus on the highlights.
perhaps that’s why our lives can seem so mundane when held up beside a film character.
anyway, it has got me thinking that if my life was watched as a story, what would be the bits that wouldn’t make the cut. what parts of my life would be summarised with the mere phrase of ‘2 years after’?
because the answer to that would probably reveal to me the points that i wasn’t living a good story. my hours in front of the television wouldn’t make the cut. those countless lie ins wouldn’t be there. and the times i was more consumed with i and me, than you, us, we, or them.
instead i am convinced that the story would focus on the things that would seemingly matter to other people. am i living enough those of moments now so they wouldn’t be skipped past? are you?
Every good story has a conflict. Forces of good coming against forces of evil. God’s story is no different.
It seems that in a story, for a character to grow, develop, change or reach their goal, they have to come through some sort of conflict. In fact, its the conflict that keeps us hooked. The conflict that brings tension to the story. The conflict that forces us to come off the fence and pick a side.
The disaster in the story of God has led to the conflict in the story. Forces of evil that oppose this ultimate force of good are now a part of this story. Even from early on in this story we see the serpent presented as the enemy of God. We immediately see this creature desperate to tear down the perfection that humanity finds itself in.
And this conflict continues. Through God’s people encamped in slavery. To His people walking their own way. Then the long and difficult journey to the promised land. To the years of silence. Not forgetting the temptations in the desert and the depths of the cross. Conflict is a constant thread throughout this whole story.
And conflict forms a part of our stories as well. We must deal with the conflict that exists between good and evil. And in doing so, deciding which side of the fence to live our lives on.
We can learn not just to do good, but to represent God’s good character in everything we do. With God’s help to love, to pray, to show compassion, to give. Every moment spent in teaching a child, every minute given to serving our family, every hour devoted to putting an arm around the unloved, every day we live our faith out to our friends. In all these things we join God in the conflict between good and evil.
Allow the conflict to shape your story.
just a little break from blogging over the next wee while.
time to read more. think more. and listen more.
back soon!
just read something written on facebook written by a friend and it felt like such an important response to the whole local situation which seems to have been overlooked a little. so i thought i should share it.
to be honest, this looks like such a mess on the outside. trial by media. a horrible advertisement of Christianity. so much still unknown.
but amanda shared this passage which has meant so much to me over the years. thanks for the timely reminder in the midst of a week when many people are all too quick to share their own opinions and condemnation.
“…but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, ‘All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!’” John 8:6-7
sometimes the most simple things become the most profound.
so all of our young people at church were sharing part of their stories last night. we played lots of games, ate lots of food and then everyone had been challenged to bring an object, a story, a song, an image, or a verse which summed up their story with God.
there was so much variety and creativity as we listened to song lyrics, looked at paintings, heard books read and thought about different symbols.
it was all so good. just a privilege to listen. (see my last post!!)
and then a 13 year in our group pulls out a packet of wrigley’s chewing gum. ‘this sums up my story’ he says, ‘because the ad says its about getting a little closer………and i need to get a little closer to God.’
powerful.
