03/3/09

Finding God in unusual places…

The last year I’d say I’ve been on a journey, I’ve discovered that actually feelings towards sung worship change

I’ve found that worship songs don’t always hit the nail on the head for me…

I’ve found that I’m left wanting something more from worship

at the same time I acknowledge that worship thankfully isn’t about pleasing Mark but pleasing God

as a result of this I think I’ve been learning two things…

firstly learning to worship God even when I’m not in the mood…acknowledging that God is more important than grumpy Mark

SECONDLY I’M LEARNING TO FIND GOD IN UNUSUAL PLACES

(and to stop doing a Rob Bell and doing 1 line paragraphs!)

I was watching an interview with Paramore on youtube at a church in America and the very lovely lead singer Hayley Williams was talking about how when you’re on tour and you can’t get to church every Sunday you learn to find God in other places…and actually when you work for a church or find that church doesn’t always work for you or perhaps if you happen to be super-spiritual you learn to find God in unusual places too.

I’m a massive fan of music and so often the finding of God has been in songs from artists whether Christian or not….back when I was in year 10 and I bought New Found Glory’s ‘Sticks & Stones’ the song Sonny spoke to me, a while back I posted on a Five Iron Frenzy song that got me thinking about God, I wear a hoodie with the Relient K lyric ‘It’s the beauty of grace that makes life not fair’ on the back and more recently I’ve even found God in sections of Lily Allen’s new album (which is surprisingly good!).

It’s interesting to find God in places outside of church because you get a different perspective of things, you find that people who don’t talk the church-lingo often have some interesting things to say about God whether you agree or not but they get you thinking about Him and I heard someone say that ‘whenever your mind turns back to God it’s an act of worship’

So don’t rely on church to provide you with God (even if you get the manufactured lights & smoke version of the almighty one) but go fishing…or rather searching for Him…you never know God may be behind the sofa all along…or in that new CD from Blink 182 when they release it in the summer!

03/2/09

Has the church worn me down or am I more understanding?

For some reason the title makes me think that it should be a Panic at the Disco song title but the question is something I was pondering this afternoon and at church this evening.

When I first came to Peterborough the 18 year old Mark visited a ‘healing service’ at Peterborough Cathedral and was outraged that their prayer for healing merely consisted of praying for the doctors looking after these people… in fact a quick search of my blog reveals that I blogged on that back in 2006 (link).

Now thinking of that situation now I still have issues that they didn’t call on God’s healing power but merely prayed for doctors but I feel like I’m a bit more understanding of it, I can see why perhaps it’s important to pray for the docs too…but perhaps alongside praying for healing direct from the big G (although is that covering all bases?) and I know the Mark of a few years ago wouldn’t have really got that but I was asking myself this afternoon and evening if that means the church has worn me down or if I’m more understanding?

I can even see how I’ve become more understanding or worn down (you decide!) the last few years in the ways which perhaps I’d lead a service…becoming more aware of something for everyone (although that in itself is a paradox because ultimately it becomes nothing for anyone if you take it too far).

I think even my beliefs of Christianity have gone from ‘I’m right and you’re wrong’ to being more accepting…not of heresy but perhaps the baptism vs confirmation arguement is a good example…although I have an opinion of them I don’t turn around and immediately dismiss the other!

However none of these mean the church has worn me down but more that I’ve become more understanding…so perhaps I’ve now answered my blog title!

Ultimately though this answer represents growth (I hope), to me it represents the result of looking at God and all that Christian-jazz at uni, it’s a result of reading Christian books and thinking whether I agree with the author (or not) and why, it represents a journey of finding God in unusual places (a whole new blog which’ll come soon) and working out what working for a Church means for my faith because in doing that you have to find God in places outside work and find your own feeding!

It’s a question I’m sure I shall ponder again and again, it’s a never ending spiritual journey of becoming as approachable as Christ but without compromising views, it’s about believing what the bible says God can do not just the bits church admits that he may occasionally do.

It’s been a bit of a rambling blog but I hope it’s been interesting…

03/1/09

Spotify

This afternoon I installed Spotify on my computer, it’s a new bit of software for Mac or PC which allows you to stream for free whole albums….with adverts every few songs but with a subscription you can remove these.

The service makes pretty much any music you like available on demand…for instance I was listening to Tobymac earlier and I’m now listening to the Jonus Brothers (with no opinion on them yet other than they’re different to what I expected).

A search on Spotify informs me that I can also listen to the new U2 album even though it’s not released yet and all sorts of other albums.

I was watching a video on the BBC News website about this service and they suggested that it would stop people downloading illigally…however I don’t agree.

Spotify is great for people like me who, if they like an album will go out and buy it however if you can listen to it for free I don’t see why people wouldn’t just then download it illigally if it’s worth it. It does breach the gap between illigal and legal downloads but I’m not convinced in a good way…it does mean however I can listen to more random bands and also check an album isn’t pants before buying it!

And as for the Jonus Brothers on track 4 I still have no opinion of them except I want to listen to something else instead!

You can download Spotify here