"If you are going to accept the horse, you have to accept the horses head."

So I was having breakfast this morning with Karen in a nice little cafe and we happened to be eating beside two very audible ladies (apparently it’s rude to say old, so I will use the term ‘getting on’). It started as one of those conversations which you didn’t really want to hear at 10am. I am not really a fan of salivary ailments at the best of times, but especially not when I have just sat down to pancakes and maple syrup.

Anyway, after blocking as much of that conversation out as I possible could, we were invited with the rest of those in the coffee shop to passively listen to the ecclesiological events ongoing in the town. Most of the conversation revolved around the lack of skirts and hats in many of the congregations today. Apparently you could count the number of skirt wearers on one hand at one particular denomination on a particular Sunday evening, and all bar one had left their hat at home. It was at this point that we were introduced to the phrase "If you are going to accept the horse, you have to accept the horses head." It was some sort of metaphor or simile that this lady thought she had heard regarding ecclesiological head coverings. It was very bizarre. She continued by telling us that she couldn’t really criticise the sermon that the minister was delivering as she was sitting at the back of the church so she couldn’t quite hear it.

Now I have absolutely no problem with ladies wearing skirts or hats to church if they want, but I consider it rather petulant to pick on people that don’t.

It pains me that people believe issues like this are more important than spiritual growth, relationship with Christ, connecting in Spirit filled community, giving glory to God in corporate acts of worship, and many other important issues. It did however get me thinking about my perception and attitude towards church. Is church about what Church offers me, or is it about what I can give to building and sustaining Gods Kingdom here on earth? I would like to be known as a kingdom builder rather than a kingdom criticiser. I am going to take a good look and pray hard that this week God will show me some ways to be a Kingdom builder.

Jack Attack

It was hard to call how, or if, Jack Johnson was ever going to return to what the industry may describe as his solo studio album successes of ‘in-between dreams’. The album sold more than 15 million copies worldwide (putting that in perspective would mean that, the population of Ireland would have almost 4 copies of the album each , quite impressive) and was probably as commercial as Jack has been in his music to date.

Sleep through the static is Jacks 4th studio album. It sees him reunite with producer JP Plunier, who was the chief architect in Jacks first offering, and coincidently my most favoured Johnson album, Brushfire Fairytales. Holding this in consideration would mean that I quite like ‘Sleep through the static’. As yet I haven’t had a chance to tear it apart completely, but what I have heard I liked. Others though are not so keen,

“Sleep through the Static has one gear, and that's the one marked 'Actually, can we do it tomorrow?'."

[The Guardian]

The constant reference to the sun in the album (featured in at least six songs) is undoubtedley linked with the fact that the album was recorded with 100% solar energy. Songs I particularly like are the title tune ‘Sleep through the static’, ‘If I had eyes’ which is getting some airplay at the minute, the quirky beats featured in ‘What you thought you need’ and as its coming close to valentines day (that one day per year were humanity deems it possible to show expressions of love to one another) ‘Angel’. Guys this song is gold dust and its inclusion on the inside of a valentines card would mean serious brownie points, it reads;

“I’ve got an angel, she doesn’t wear any wings
She wears a heart that could melt my own
She wears a smile that could make me want to sing

She givs me presents, with her presence alone
She gives me everything I could wish for
She gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home.

You’re so busy changing the world
Just one smile and you could change all of mine
We share the same soul.”

[Jack Johnson]

So is it worth a buy, at under a tenner definitely! In so many ways it’s a step forward from ‘In between dreams’ but ironically its also a step back to Jacks earliest offerings, and there is not even one cartoon monkey in sight.

The most famous no7 - Cantona, Ronaldo or Jack

I was standing in Kelvinbridge subway station the other day, and while waiting for a train noticed a poster for Jack Daniels Silver cornet band, I thought he was only famous for making his No7 brand, but apparently not. Infamous might be a better description of the band, as rumour has it they were not really that good. I was intrigued, advertising had prevailed, and I wanted to know more.

According to the Silvercornet website, the bands were made up of amateurs, townsmen like the banker, the hardware clerk, the feed merchant, the harness maker, and (in Lynchburg's [I presume a town in Tennessee] case) workers in Mr. Daniel's distillery. Their instruments were temperamental conical horns,­ a challenge for trained musicians, and nearly impossible to control and play in tune by the perspiring home grown players whose enthusiasm and energy was seldom matched by any technical skill or musical knowledge.

But play they did, at rallies, saloon openings, parades, funerals, picnics, and at regular concert appearances in the gazebo bandstand in the courthouse square. Their repertoire ranged from the raucous to the reverent, from music hall to battlefield, from the popular to the patriotic.
What gripped me was the fact that although these guys were lacking on the skills front, they still had a go. It’s now over 100 years since they came on to the scene, yet they have websites which attribute to the enthusiasm that they showed back in the day.

So what about enthusiasm? Generally it means great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause. The English word apparently first appeared in 1603, and fascinatingly (or maybe not) stemmed from the Greek adjective ‘entheos’, which means ‘having God within’. This made me think. The parallels and symbolism of great excitement and having God within were once upon a time very relevant, socially relevant enough to form language. It made me question how closely they are linked at present. If we were making up words today, what would we use to describe the feeling of being greatly excited about a subject or a cause?

Taking it further, Jacks cornet band has made me appreciate that just because you aren’t the best in the world, or even your town, or possibly even your office or classroom, at a particular activity, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue it. I haven’t even heard Jacks cornet band and in many ways they have influenced my thinking today. God can use us to impact his society in ways that we will never be able to understand, and truthfully perhaps we don’t need to understand in full, we just have to be willing to do what he asks.

“I pray that out of God’s glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

[the apostle Paul, Ephesians 3]