Background Music

I've yet to see in a record store a section entitled, 'Coffeehouse Background Music.' So I'm not sure where cafes get their selection of music. I usually quite like it in a sort of unnoticeable-but-there kind of way.

But the other day, while I was in Insomnia, a track came on which caught my attention. Maybe it was the slightly sensual French(???) accent or perhaps it was these words of the refrain:

This is my life.
I can't live it twice.
All I can give is a piece of my heart.

I'm not sure who was singing. Perhaps a quick google will reveal something. Excuse me a moment...............Ok, I'm back. I didn't find anything conclusive. Just a few quotes of the song on a couple of Russian sites. (Maybe it was a Russian accent). I've left a comment on someone's blog and I'll wait to see if I get an answer.

Anyway, I wrote the words down in my pocket notebook because I thought it was quite profound...although I'm not so sure now.

Wise Word

Deadlines for my studies are pressing in on me so I went out again tonight to my local coffeehouse to hit the books for a couple of hours.

Alister McGrath, in the introduction to his Christian Theology: An Introduction, says that theology is one of the most exciting subjects to study. Some people may choose other words than exciting, but I would tend to agree with him. I'm not sure why people oppose Christianity as something only for weak or simple minded people. Yes, these people have much to gain from Christianity, but there is so much more to getting your head around the things of God. Should you desire you can plumb the depths of all things historical, philosophical, moral and eschatological within theology. For me tonight it was Christology - thinking about Christ.

One view which has really struck me in my reading this evening was the thought of a cosmological Logos Christology. (Now there's a Phrase to bring up at a dinner party.) In essence, seeing Jesus Christ as the Logos (Word/Reason/Reality/Wisdom) of God who always has and always will hold the entire cosmos together like some sort of ontological cement. To reject this Logos is to reject reality and begin to slip back into pre-creation non-being. But this Logos became incarnate in flesh and blood (Jesus) in order to redeem creation and prevent a return to disorder by repairing the fabric of the universe so that humanity can become participants in the divine nature.

That's pretty heavy, I know, and I'm not sure I fully grasp it. But that's what makes theology exciting, I suppose - the wanting to grasp it.

Tea 'n' Biscuits

Walking home from the coffeehouse tonight I needed to pop in to Tesco's to get some tea, biscuits, bread and a magazine for my wife who seems to have finally caught up with the rest of the household in suffering through the family cold.

McVitties chocolate digestives were on special offer so I opted for them rather than the usual 'Tesco Value' rubbish. Afterall, nobody makes them quite like McVitties do. (Hmm, McVitties. What a strange name.)

Suffering from the aftertaste of a couple of (not that great) cups of coffee I decided to open the packet of biscuits on the way home and enjoy a couple. Yum.

I didn't have any tea though as the kettle lead doesn't stretch that far.

Worship

You can tell someone who has absolutely no social life because he goes out to a coffeehouse on a Saturday night. Alone. To study.

Hello. That's me.

In an attempt to catch up in my studies I'm taking spare moments here and there to do some reading. At the moment I'm studying a unit on the practice and theology of worship. So I decided to listen to some worship tracks on my mp3 player on the way to the cafe. Flicking through the choices I stopped on a song by Matt Redman called Lord, let your glory fall. I like this song so, as I hadn't listened to it for a while, I repeated it (three times I think). The song expresses a desire to see God reveal himself in glorious ways just like he did in ancient Biblical times.

Yeah. I like that. That would be amazing.

The particular focus of my studies on Saturday was looking at incorporating music in to liturgical worship. It's interesting because my faith background is very musical, but in no way liturgical - in the traditional sense of liturgy anyway. The books I was reading emphasised that the liturgy was the main act of worship and music should only be used to complement these words, not used as a stand alone form of worship. Hmm...I'm not sure about that.

However, I have found myself in recent years moving away from musical expressions of worship and being more interested in delving into the ancient traditions of the historical Church. But then I start to get confused and question myself as to who I am as a person of faith. Actually I've been doing a fair bit of that in recent years as I explore what I understand of theology, Christian mission and worship.

I suppose worship is something that, because of its eternal qualities, gives you a sense of connection to something/someone bigger. A kind of anchor, I guess, while you ask questions.

The ancients repeated a helpful phrase, a liturgy, a kind of anchor, which can be found in some of the Psalms of the Hebrew scriptures and which Matt Redman uses as a refrain in the song above. Addressing God then/now they/we sing:

You are good,
And Your love endures forever.

Wright Stuff

I decided to follow one of my own links and visit the (unofficial) website of N.T.Wright as mentioned in a post below. (I'm not sure that there actually is an official site. I've also now added the site to the link on the sidebar.)

I've got a couple of books from Theologian/Historian/Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright including one of his latest called, Simply Christian. So I was interested to see that a video is available to watch of a lecture he gave at Washington National Cathedral (Washington, DC) as part of his book tour for the above book.

The talk is just under an hour long so I made a pot of coffee and downloaded it. (The lecture I mean, not the coffee. I suppose I uploaded the coffee...only to download it later. OK, stop it!)

Anyway, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to getting more from his site. You might enjoy it too. Here's the link:

Simply Christian Book Tour - N.T. Wright at WNC

Worthy of more thought

I took this book to the coffeehouse tonight: Emerging Churches - Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures.

I read through a chapter about doing away with the sacred/secular divide and then I flicked through earlier chapters of the book to briefly review what I had underlined. A couple of paragraphs stood out because I wrote in the margins, "worthy of more thought". See what you think about the reaction of leaders in the emerging church to identifying with Jesus and his message of the kingdom of God:

Rooted in the work of N.T. Wright, emerging churches embrace the gospel [literally the "good news"-Cosmo] of the kingdom as revealed in Mark 1:15-18. At the outset of the Gospel narrative, the good news was not that Jesus was to die on the cross to forgive sins but that God had returned and all were invited to participate with him in this new way of life, in this redemption of the world. It is this gospel that the emerging church seeks to recover. As one leader confided privately, "We have totally reprogrammed ourselves to recognize the good news as a means to an end - that the kingdom of God is here. We try to live into that reality and hope. We don't dismiss the cross; it is still a central part. But the good news is not that he died but that the kingdom has come."

Worthy of more thought, I think.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the period known as Lent which runs up to Easter. I'm not giving anything up for Lent. (I'm not actually sure what the point of this exercise is unless it's something substantial - I don't think giving up chocolate for a few weeks compares to the agonies of crucifixion.) Instead I'll take up this thought: Did God come to Earth to live or die?

Look Up

As I walked home from the coffeehouse tonight an alarm from a building across the street caused me to look up to where the sound was coming from. I'm still not sure which building it was, but the simple act of looking up made me notice some great architecture that I usually pay no attention to. So I kept looking up the rest of the way home.


Try it.

Breakthrough

This week I managed to go to a cafe with my two young children (and wife) and enjoy drinking my latte at a leisurely pace. (YES!!) Up until now it has just been a bad idea to try and go out for coffee with a 2 year old.

However, the nine month old will be a toddler soon...and then it's going to be business as usual.

So I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. In fact I am enjoying it - I went out with the kids twice this week already.

Country Pancakes

Finishing the last couple of bites of my Dutch Apple pancake I washed it down with the remainder of my latte, looked out of the window at the fir trees and gathering of birds and thought for a moment about what a lovely week I'd had.

Over the past several years when my wife and I (and now our two children) have gone on holiday it has usually been in connection with visiting family. Now I 'm not complaining about that because over the past several years visiting family has taken us not only to places in the UK, but also the USA and Australia. But it has been some time since just ourselves went on holiday. The need to get out of the house while a new kitchen is fitted presented the perfect opportunity. So, following a conference in London and family vists in both London and Bournemouth, we headed off to Centre Parcs in Longleat Forest.

I've wanted to go to Centre Parcs for years and I can tell you it was worth the wait. Fantastic!

Along with just the pleasure of staying in a "villa" in the middle of the forest it provides a great time for families of all sizes and ages. The Sub-tropical Swimming Paradise was a big hit for my two young children, especially the toddler who couldn't get enough of the slides. The spa provided hours of relaxation with it's various saunas, steam rooms and pools - my favourite was a stretch in the Japanese salt bath (steam room) quickly followed by dosing myself in handfuls of crushed ice from the ice fountain. Another highlight for me was laser clay shooting - I didn't do great, but I did hit the target a few times and didn't have the lowest score.

Perhaps the only negative experience was the lousy latte I was served at the Sports Cafe. However, the pancakes and coffee served at Country Pancakes more than made up for that.

I really hope we can go again soon.

Up in Smoke

For about three years now the smoking ban in Ireland has been very well received - at least by me. So when I'm in the UK you really notice the difference. While out on a rare date with my wife we wanted to go somewhere for coffee. Peering in to restaurants we noticed people lighting up so gave them a miss.

Originally I planned to pick up a coffee from the cafe in Borders in Bournemouth (current home of my parents who were now responsible for listening out for our children while they slept - the kids that is - as we went out for a short time), but 30 seconds after walking into the bookshop the announcement was made that the cafe was now closed. Thirty minutes later the whole store closed leaving us to look elsewhere for (smoke-free) coffee.

We opted for a romantic evening at Asda. I sure know how to treat a lady so I suggested that I pick up a latte and a cappucino from the McDonald's as we entered the superstore. We went our separate ways with coffee in hand - my wife to the cheap children's clothes and myself to music/movies section.

I bought the first Thrills album which I have been wanting for a while and also a 3 CD compilation album for 7 quid featuring "True Number 1's".

Getting back into the car and driving down the A338 (can you tell this date night is getting better and better?) we listened to sections of a few Number 1's: With a little help from my friends (Wet Wet Wet), Killer (Adamski), One day in your life (Michael Jackson), Pass the dutchie (Musical Youth), and so on.

And then the ideal track arrived which deserved to be listened to all the way through despite the road getting increasingly dark as we drove towards the New Forest: I think we're alone now (Tiffany) A song which was obviously meaningful to my wife and me from across both sides of the Atlantic. (I think I can hear you singing it now too...)

Whatever happened to Tiffany, anyway? I believe her career went up in smoke after just one album.