Young people and being spiritual.

So last week during one of our youth groups we asked our young people a few questions and got them to answer those questions using paints on Canvas. One of the questions was 'When i say God, what is it that instantly comes into your head'? Above are some of the answers, these guys are between the ages of 13-15, and dont really bother much with church, but these pictures tell me these young people do bother with thoughts, questions and opinions about the Divine.

Album of the week - Friday 6th March

Its album of the week time, and clearly it has to be an offering from an Irish band.

Monday wasn’t a great day for the bank balance, although I must congratulate Morrison’s on providing me with U2’s ‘No line on the horizon’ for six English pounds, winner. This however is not where my musical journey ended as I also visited Fopp and purchased Bell X1’s ‘Blue lights on the runway’, this as it happens, wasn’t as reasonably priced as my earlier acquisition, however after buying both albums I am now left with an interesting question - which one is better?

So heres the deal, I'm not sure whether this is whimping out by not actually answering the question but I feel I have to be honest. ‘Blue lights on the runway’ has been that good that ‘No line on the horizon’ hasn’t really made it into the cd player, therefore my album of the week must come from Bell X1.

Each song is so original and different from the next, yet there is a thread that travels throughout the entire album holding it together as one piece. The vocals are very distinctive, with very tight harmonies and some extremely intelligent and thought provoking lyrics. The title track or indeed the song that inspires the title of the album is awesome and has this guitar lick in the chorus that sounds as if it has been inspired by a few hours of listening to Paul Simons ‘Diamonds on the soles of her shoes’, complimenting the alternative sound to the rest of the song almost as well as butter does toast.

What I really like about this album is that there are a few tracks that are instantly amazing and grab you there and then but there are also a few tracks that are like your favourite pair of shoes, you pretty much don’t start to appreciate them until they are well walked in.

If you haven’t got this album then I suggest you go and buy it. If you haven’t got any Bell X1 albums, make your weekend much better by getting your hands on ‘Music in mouth’ and ‘Flock’ as well.

The biblical basis for whys and how’s when working with young people

Our tag-line or mission statement, what is it that we look towards to remind us what we should be doing. What is our focus in all aspects of youth ministry within the church? If everything else is forgotten what do we need to remember to bring us back on track. This is what I have come up with.

“We must make every effort to be ambassadors for God and His love, being committed to making a difference in the lives of the young people within our community.”

Based on the greatest commandment found in Matthew 22:37-39, we must not only show Gods love, but be ambassadors for it! The word ambassador, isn’t just used because it sounds good, but I have used it because of the connotations it brings. An ambassador is ‘an authorized messenger or representative, sent by one sovereign or state to another’. It brings with it the idea, of being sent with an important message, which, for us, is the love of God. The word love used by Matthew in this instance is taken form the Greek word ‘agaphesis’, which means an un-conditional love, a love that is self-sacrificial. These two things alone are absolutely huge, and if we grasp this idea of caring for our young people unconditionally, putting them first in a way that is self-sacrificial, indeed modelling the relationship that Jesus himself modelled in His incarnation, we will create an environment that will make a difference in the lives of the young people we come into contact with.

More to follow........

My artist of the week - Friday February 27th - Erin McCarley

Well, i thought i might as well put my endless listening of music to a less selfish use and stick what i view to be the most entertaining music of the week up here. This weeks addition is Erin McCarley, she has a great voice and some fantastic melodies to back it up. Starting to make a name for herself across the pond, McCarley has songs hitting big U.S tv shows and movies (none other than 'He's just not that in too you', which ashamedly i have seen, but in my defence was dragged by Karen and Jess kicking and screaming) so it probably wont be too long before she gets a bit more recognised in the uk. I particularly like 'gotta figure this out', but go and have a listen for yourself....


www.myspace.com/erinmccarley

Its at times like this you suddenly become British over Irish

This believe it or not is a true news story from Reuters, how embarassing - Irish police have
solved the mystery of a Polish recidivist who clocked up 50 traffic offenses on different addresses and who was never caught, after one officer noticed his name meant driving license in Polish.

An internal police memo cited by Irish papers Thursday said officers taking details of Polish traffic offenders had been mistakenly using "Prawo Jazdy," printed in the top right corner of the driving license, as the holder's name.

"Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving license and not the first and surname on the license," the police memo dated June 2007 said. "It is quite embarrassing to see the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities."

A police spokesman declined to comment on the reports.

Let there be light

The joy of having a Blackberry is the endless information that can be yours at the touch of a button, and forget even having to go to the bother of opening up a web page anymore as the joy of the RSS feed is upon us. (Reading that last sentence has made me realise that I really, well and truly, am a geek, although let me continue) With the acquisition of my new Blackberry, I downloaded myself an RSS reader and it really is quite addictive, this sounds like proper rock and roll, addicted to information, it starts of with maybe a bit of BBC news, BBC sports news and the weather, but before I knew it, it was Recipe of the day, dictionary.com’s word of the day and quotes of the day which were gaining my undivided attention. But in amidst my RSS dependence comes this, which really was quite interesting and made me think.

“In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.”

The quote was made by an American talk show host/comedian but when I thought about it, it just made me realise that although in my humanity I may not understand much of who God is or why he does what he does, which in many ways adds to the mystery and beauty of my faith, God is a God of logic, and does things that make sense. As we read in Genesis chapter 1 after God created the heavens and the earth, God did make light, which surely helped with the making of everything that was to come. The truth is, God in his divine nature would have been able to make everything in the dark, but chose not to, which just gave me this lovely glimpse of order being part of the way God does things. Reaffirming my belief that things don’t just happen by chance, they happen because God planned them to happen that way.

How ironic

Become like me, as you were once like me, but then you became like I once was, so now you need to sort yourself out or alternatively - Galatians 4:8-21.

There are no surprises to see that Paul’s concern for the Galatians in verses 8:21, primarily regards rescuing them from the Judaizers false gospel. It seems to dominate this passage, as it does the rest of his letter. I love the irony in that Paul became like a Gentile in his pursuit to win the Galatians over, but the Christians in Galatia were now trying to become Jews in order to win Gods favour. Paul reminds them, actually pleads with them not to revert to such enslaving and miserable principles. Now that they know God or even better God knows them, its time to rejoice in their freedom, freedom that comes from faith.

On a practical note for some consideration, Paul urges the Galatians to regain some of their lost joy, as they seem to have mislaid it somewhere while trying to carry out their legalistic rituals and not keeping the main thing the main thing. This made me think about two things a) how free in Christ am I? b) Does my relationship with Jesus generate joy or have I lost it, or did I ever have it in the first place?

So what is this freedom in Christ/from the law all about? According to John Piper freedom from the law does not result in self-gloryfing lawlessness, he goes on to explain that becoming like Paul, and being free in Christ therefore free from the law means that we must allow Christ to be formed in us! Earlier in the letter (2:20) Paul gives us a big clue on how to ‘get some’ of this freedom, he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Dying to self and allowing Christ to live in us is pretty difficult. I depend on myself quite a lot and I feel we all have a little in-built desire regarding our own self importance. Allowing Christ to be formed in us means that we have to rely completely on him, proper Christ shaping only comes with us genuinely abandoning ourselves to him.

Now I must go and have a ponder at the joy that my relationship with Jesus should bring me……….