David writes:

Ten years ago a friend and I enjoyed a wee dram of single malt while listening to music. As we listened, we reflected on how good it was to share music and whisky! This idea grew. We invited some other friends to an evening with a few simple instructions; bring 2 pieces of music on a theme (the first night was simple ‘favourite tracks’), bring a favourite tipple and some food to share. This all took place in a Cheshire village called Moulton, so we gave the music night the title ‘Malt’n’Music’!

We have met many times since and even started to promote live music in the village (https://www.maltnmusic.co.uk). Last month we celebrated our 10th anniversary. We have been forced over the last year to meet on Zoom but we still bring a couple of tracks on a theme and our favourite drink – the food will have to wait until we can meet again in person!

Over the years Malt’n’Music has cost me a lot of money as I have bought numerous records of bands I have just been introduced to! (Yes! I still invest in music by buying CDs and Vinyl! I don’t rent music from the internet – that’s a rant for another blog!)

After our 10th Anniversary Meeting, I invested in an Idjut Boys album and was immediately struck by the refrain from Shine…

We’re in this together
Make it forever
This place, this time
Your love and mine
Let it shine

With these words sloshing around the forefront of my mind I passed a church noticeboard. Facing the main road, was a colourful poster depicting a cross made out of handprints and the message ‘His love is for everyone’. What a wonderful message to proclaim to all those who pass a church building. Surely no one can argue with the message! God’s love is for all.

So why, when I saw it, did I feel a sense of incompleteness?

…we’re in this together…

We are called not only to declare God’s love is for all but also to show that our love is for all too. I have witnessed and heard too many stories of churches and Christians who judge rather than love, love only their friends or people who are like them or allow racism, homophobia, sexism, bullying and other non-gospel behaviour to go unchecked.

…we are in this together…

We cannot hide behind the phrase ‘His love for everyone’ – our love must be for all too. As individual Christians, our lives – as Churches, our communities – must be overflowing in love. It is only half of the story to say God’s love is for all. A true witness to God’s love is when our own love is for all.

…make it forever…

God’s love is eternal – not talking about the afterlife but – for all time, from everlasting to everlasting. Our love can’t have a day off, take a rest or pick and choose. Our love is for all time.

…this place, this time, your love and mine…

We are called to love our communities, the places we live and worship in. God so loved the world that Jesus came and lived among us. We talk about following Christ, we cannot follow Christ from the safety of our pews. We are called to dwell among the communities we serve and to love all as Jesus did – even the tax
collectors!

…let it shine…

The lyrics finish with the simple, yet triumphant, statement. Loving all people will speak volumes. Our love will shine and we won’t need words to convince people of the reality of God. When we’re in this together, declaring God’s love, and showing ours, for everyone, we proclaim the gospel.

Make it forever
This place, this time
Your love and mine
Let it shine

As James puts it in chapter 2 of his epistle;

14  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?
Can faith save you?  15  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,  16  and one of you
says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their
bodily needs, what is the good of that?  17  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Find out more about Idjut Boys at https://ra.co/dj/idjutboys

Gill writes:

One of the lovely things about lyrics and music is that you can change the pace or style of the music and it seems to completely change the mood and meaning.

One such song for me is the ever-popular ‘Take On Me’ by A-Ha. I first heard this acoustic version a few years ago – and to be quite honest, it’s the version that I much prefer.

Strip back the synths and guitars, slow the pace and ‘unplug’ it and, for me, it becomes reflective and thought-provoking.

It even takes me to Maundy Thursday in my imaginings. Who would have thought that Morten, Pal and Mags could transport me to such a pivotal moment in time – but they do.

I can’t help hearing tiny bits of narrative from the various people involved on the night and hours following Jesus’s arrest and trial.

Judas, Jesus, the disciples in Gethsemene, Peter, Pilate…

We’re talking away
I don’t know what
I’m to say. I’ll say it anyway

The Upper Room – chatter and food. Judas planning a fatal action. Jesus breaking bread and sharing wine.

Take on me
Take me on

“Do this in remembrance of me.”

I’ll be gone
In a day or two

“I tell you, I will never drink of this fruit of the wine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

So, needless to say
I’m odds and ends
I’ll be stumbling away

“All of them deserted him and fled”

Say after me
It’s no better to be safe than sorry

‘”Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times’. And he went out and wept bitterly.

Oh, things that you say
Is it a life or just to play my worries away?

“Pilate said to them, ‘Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’”

Friday.

Saturday.

Sunday. He is risen.

And beyond.

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

You’re shying away
I’ll be coming for your love anyway

Find out about A-ha at https://a-ha.com/

Kay writes:

‘From A Distance’ is written by Julie Gold and I’ve got the version by Bette Midler (like the video accompanying this post)

I guess for me it’s about how from a distance things look so different – how we as humans prevent the peace that could be there if we co-existed in a harmonious way but that in all things God is present.

It’s a song I listen to when I run and walk. The words make me realise what a tiny cog I am in the wheels of life and how much I appreciate “being”.

I love music!

Here’s the lyrics :

From a distance the world looks blue and green

And the snow capped mountains white

From a distance the ocean meets the stream

And the eagle takes to flight

From a distance there is harmony

And it echoes through the land

It’s the voice of hope

It’s the voice of peace

It’s the voice of every man

From a distance

We all have enough

And no one is in need

And there are no guns, no bombs and no disease

No hungry mouths to feed

From a distance we are instruments

Marching in a common band

Playing songs of hope

Playing songs of peace

They are the songs of every man

God is watching us

God is watching us

God is watching us

From a distance

From a distance

You look like my friend

Even though we are at war

From a distance I just cannot comprehend

What all this fightings for

From a distance there is harmony

And it echoes through the land

And it’s the hope of hopes

It’s the love of loves

It’s the heart of every man

It’s the hope of hopes

It’s the love of loves

This is the song for every man

God is watching us

God is watching us

God is watching us

From a distance

Oh, God is watching us

God is watching

God is watching us

From a distance

Find out more about the writer – Julie Gold – here: https://www.juliegold.com/

And find out about the singer – Bette Midler – here: http://bettemidler.com/

Kristie writes:

“I’m all about accentuating awesomeness” – if I had a line that summed up my calling, it would probably be something like this one – encouraging people to notice and celebrate their awesomeness.

This is such a feel-good song with so many happy memories for me. Harry and Chris are a ‘comedy rap duo’ loved by my whole family from when we first heard/met them at Greenbelt. They always end their gigs with this song and so I have turned to many people in a variety of venues – friends and strangers alike – to tell them “you’re a flipping 10“.

 In a world that often pits us against each other, and has us judge and rank people, I think it’s great for us all to tell each other that they could not be any better than they already are. But it’s not just about others – we’re encouraged to remember that we too are ’10’s’. How many of us when we look in a mirror, notice with delight that we are wonderfully made?

Most of us are brought up in competitive cultures where we’re more likely to be self-critical and look for flaws, as the advertisers want us to look and find ourselves lacking so that we feel compelled to spend money instead of smile at our reflection and marvel at how lovely we are.

“Well I’m going to start a revolution today when I look in the mirror and say ‘I’m a flipping 10′”

And what happens when we take our own confident belief in the amazing beings we are, and join with other wonderful human beings who also know that they are fully loved and loveable? 

“Put them together, that’s 100%” Ah – to me that is indeed a wonderful world.

Find out more about Harry and Chris here: https://www.harryandchris.com/

Gill writes:

At a recent Team Meeting, I shared that our family (well, the parents in it) have been deeply challenged, and yet strangely reassured, by a book and a film lately. The book is called ‘Blueprint’ by Robert Plomin and the film is called ‘Three Identical Strangers’ – and in their own different ways, they explore the ‘nature/nurture’ debate.

There is a tentative connection for us to Plomin’s book because his work is based on a 10-year long ‘Twins Study’ that members of our family were involved in. Twins involved were identical and non-identical; still with their birth families and separated from their birth families. As with any study like this, there are discrepancies and fallibilities but there is a great deal to ponder too.

There were some real revelations for us, both as parents but also as educators; for example, our personalities are much more genetically driven than originally thought; it’s how we engage with our environment that shapes us rather than how we are shaped by the environment; good parenting recognises the nature and personality of the child and enables it; and perhaps the most challenging thing to hear is that education (certainly as it currently delivered) has very little influence on development and ‘success’. If a parent did well at school, there’s overwhelming evidence that the child will too. The twins that were seperated from birth families clearly correlated with their birth parents rather than adoptive parents. How well we are taught and how much we try to ‘mould’ a child has very little impact. Good education systems would be all about responding to the interests, passions and the way a child learns.

Having been a long-time fan of the Barenaked Ladies, this song has crept back into my consciousness lately. It’s all about the labels and expectations we place on our children – even before they are born – and it resonates even more now.

We’ve got these chains
Hanging ’round our necks
People want to strangle us with them
Before we take our first breath

It’s seems like we just can’t help ourselves in labelling and classifying people from the day they are born. We divide people into all kinds of groups which results in heirarchies and division and that, in turn, leads to conflict and antagonism. It’s completely bizarre that we do this and that it then guides and informs the way we interact and respond to each other.

This name is the hair shirt I wear

It’s not only bizarre – but tragic too. The reality is that beneath these labels and classifications we create are real, living, breathing people just like you. A unique human created in the image of God. By reducing people to descriptors, we are reducing God.

As well as this song, my ponderings also led me to revisit Psalm 139 – verses 13 & 14 in particular:

‘You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.’

We’re all unique, amazing creations that don’t deserve to be classified, graded and judged by others. Let’s work to create environments that enable each one of us to grow and flourish with the gifts that we have each been given.

Barenaked Ladies are planning a UK tour in late October – see you there! https://www.barenakedladies.com/splash/

Marc writes:

There are some people whose opinion you should always trust when it comes to certain things… those people you know you can count on for restaurant choices, or book recommendations, or what to watch on TV.

My friend Sarah is one of those people when it comes to animation, and she pointed me towards “Hilda” on Netflix at the start of Season 2 by sharing this song.

Based on a series of Graphic Novels, Hilda is a fearless young girl who lives a life of adventure meeting danger and wonderful creatures head on in the company of her best friends Frida and David, and her Deer-fox called Twig.

This song was written and performed by Bella Ramsey, a young actress from Nottingham who voices Hilda in the TV show.

Since January, my kids (4 and nearly 7) have watched every episode multiple times and have relished the adventure discovering trolls and woffs and deer-foxes and giants and elves and rat-kings. My timid and apprehensive ‘nearly-seven-year-old’ even came down the stairs the other day dressed as his favourite character from the show, David.

David is one of those under-represented types in: He’s a boy who is nervous and apprehensive, and who finally ends up joining every adventure not to prove anything to anyone but purely because he knows that as long as Hilda and Frida are by his side, things will be ok. He knows fear, and respects fear, but he doesn’t let it stop him. My boy has discovered a kindred spirit!

The kids ploughed on without me, and I’m still playing catch-up to find out about the latest creatures they’re talking about, and wondering what a Nyssa is and where “Nowhere Space” might be, but I keep coming back to this song.

I think every listen I’ve picked out a different line and thought “That’s where I am today!” or “That’s who I want to be!” Or “That sums up my calling and purpose in a way I could never properly articulate!”

I wonder what you hear today?

Maybe you resonate with the mistakes, and yet know deep down you’re doing your best and that’s ok;

Maybe you’re wrestling with how you make things right;

Maybe you feel like a wanderer, or that you’re journeying through a wilderness (maybe a Lenten one… maybe a beautiful one… maybe a barren one…) and you’re trying to discover something… anything;

Maybe you’re just looking to befriend those you meet on the path of life;

Maybe you’ve reached the point of being willing to claim the adventure of life and are ready to set out no matter what you might find;

Maybe you’ve found contentment in the simple things like cucumber sandwiches and a nice hot cup of tea, in the people around you;

Maybe you’re terrified and need to know there’s someone by your side;

Maybe… Maybe… Maybe… The possibilities are endless in just one song, and the parable or analogy or resonance with our personal journeys as people of faith will be unique to each of us.

But in this season I’m personally claiming my faith as an adventure:

The world is beautiful and I don’t want it to pass me by, so I will help wherever I can.
Life is an adventure and I will take you by the hand and show you what I see and understand.
The world is mine to roam, so roam I will then go back home.
This is the life, the life of an adventurer.

LYRICS:

My name is Hilda
I don’t learn from my mistakes
But I will do my best
No matter it takes

It’s usually my fault
But I try to make it right
And I do
Most of the time

I am a wanderer
An honorary troll
I roam the wilderness
And befriend any soul
Giants, Woff or Elf
And everything between
And the Hound, or Jellybean

This is the life
The life of an adventurer
This is the life
The life of Hilda

Cucumber sandwiches
And a nice hot cup of tea
My mum, my friends and Twig
That will do for me
David and Frida are always by my side
Even when they’re terrified

The world is beautiful
And I don’t want it to pass me by
So I will help wherever I can

Life is an adventure and
I will take you by the hand
And show you what I see and understand

The world is mine to roam
So roam I will then go back home

This is the life
The life of an adventurer
This is the life
The life of Hilda
The life of Hilda

Gill writes:

Once upon a time in the mid-80’s, I was a bit grumpy with a number of friends. I was grumpy because they were a bit older than me (as in 18 or 19) and had more economic means that enabled them to get to gigs that I so desparately wanted to go to as well. In other words, they were working or had part-time jobs that raked in reasonable amounts – and 16 year old me had a Saturday job scrubbing and cleaning a bakery for 5 hours for the grand total of £7.

So grumpy Gill didn’t raise funds quick enough to bag tickets for concerts like her friends – awww. One particular gig that I was devastated about was U2’s Unforgettable Fire Tour date at Manchester Apollo in 1984. They all came back fired up as much about the support band as they were about U2 – and that was when The Waterboys nudged into my musical universe.

I rediscovered this song a couple of years ago just before Ellie Goulding’s remake of it – and it regularly makes it on to my Spotify Daily Mixes these days. It never fails to raise my spirits, even on the gloomiest or grumpiest of days (yes – I still do grumpy!).

I love the melody because it makes me want to move – and I love the lyrics because they lift me up and reassure me. Sometimes I imagine it’s a rhetorical conversation between me and Jesus – my questions are being answered, even before I ask them. I use the word ‘rhetoric’ in it’s original sense here – from the ancient Greeks for whom the word captured an appreciation of things being true, good and beautiful; the ability to speak eloquently and persuasively and that the art of rhetoric required virtuous character.

How long will I love you?
As long as stars are above you
And longer if I can

This song, to me, sums up love that is unconditional – or as much as we humans can envisage unconditional love. That love is there in copious amounts, with leftovers. I know that some people struggle with understanding love, particularly when all that has been experienced has been conditional love but it’s worth bearing in mind that there are no ‘ifs’ with God. God doesn’t love us ‘if’ we do something for God, God loves us because of who we are – regardless.

How long will I want you?
As long as you want me to
And longer by far

God’s love for us existed even before we were born and unlike human love, it’s not hemmed in by time or circumstances. Our love may be limited but God’s love is not. It’s quite mind-blowing really and I think that’s why this song says so much to me. It’s trying to nail down what loving unconditionally looks like.

What, to me, is even more incredible is that God’s love is not just around me but within me also. Every now and again, my actions or my words are the way that God shows the amazing love and grace to others – and that really is top-level delegation.

How long will I give to you?
As long as I live through you
However long you say

Fancy trusting me to show others your Love God – that’s quite a responsiblity!

Find out what Mike Scott & The Waterboys are up to by visiting https://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/