The Friday Fix

  • Take A Chance On Me’ – Abba

    Nigel writes:

    In thinking about this post, I have been reflecting on two major challenges. The first is that normally it is the Friday Fix song that inspires our thinking, but in this case, I started with the thought and then my mind went to the song. It is sort of the wrong way around.

    The second – and a much more troubling challenge for one raised on the adolescent delights likes of the Sex Pistols, Sham 69, Buzzcocks and Joy Division – is that the song in question is an Abba song!

    In response to my first dilemma, I’m told this is ok as the ‘Friday Fix’ is flexible in approach. I’m also told that liking Abba is now cool. Whilst I’ll reserve judgement on this second point, I willingly concede that ‘Dancing Queen’ is one of the all-time great songs of its type.

    However, I digress – I’m not talking ‘Dancing Queen’ but ‘Take A Chance On Me’ … and I’m not delving into the lyrics, more about the idea of taking a chance – particularly taking a chance on, and with, God.

    My question is this: is exposing ourselves – deliberately – to chance, especially when we don’t know what to do or where to go – the best chance we have of allowing God to meet us in the ambiguity of our uncertainty? I say this in the belief that when we have no idea where it is we are supposed to be going – or how we are going to get there – that it is better to set off on the adventure and allow the voyage to determine what outcome subsequently results.

    In Mark 5:21-34, we read of a woman who reached out to touch Jesus’ cloak in the hope she would be healed. If you read the story, you discover that she had run out of other options and just decided to take a chance on Jesus. Given her circumstance, she decided that was her best chance.

    Similarly, in Luke 19:1-10, we read about Zacchaeus who took a chance and climbed a tree because he wanted to see Jesus. Maybe his life of taking advantage of others had caught up with him or maybe he was just nosey, but he took a chance and got an eternal reward.

    If you are anything like me – to borrow a few lines from the song – maybe you have times when you want to ‘change your mind’. Perhaps you have seasons when you ‘you’ve got no place to go, [and are] feeling down’. If so, my advice is to take a chance on God and see what happens.

    In both the above stories, Jesus meets those who ran to Him. Both characters took a chance and Jesus met them with compassion, healing and restoration. Neither the woman, nor Zacchaeus, took an unfettered, unassessed, reckless risk, but rather a voyage into the unknown in the hope of finding something better in the deep waters of God’s love.

    In Acts 1: 23-26, we read about the disciples who literally ‘took a chance’. They prayed about a decision that needed to be made, gave it over to God, and then cast dice or lots to decide the outcome. They had faith that taking a holy and righteous chance was their best chance of getting the decision right. I wonder how our world, lives and churches might be if we embraced such faith and took similar chances; a chance on God?

    My first Friday Fix was a Joy Division song – Joy Division to Abba is a big leap but our souls are so often shaped by an eclectic collection of songs and symphonies.

    If you sense you might need to reach out and touch God; or go climbing in search of goodness and grace; or are facing a tricky decision then perhaps you might like to take a chance – it could be your best chance.

    May the God of second, third and many more chances meet you if you do take a chance; and may grace abound in the ambiguity of our various uncertainties.

    Find out what Abba are up to these days at https://abbasite.com/

  • Caring and Sharing

    These devotions might be a good way to start a meeting or training session with Pastoral Workers. You could also use it to help people think about offering hospitality.

    What you will need:

    Set Up the Space

    • You will need to set up a table in a place where the group can see and access it. Drape with tablecloth. Place the teapot/kettle on the table. Place the plate of biscuits on the table. Set the two mugs on the coasters. Put the pens and slips of paper on the table.

    Reading: Matthew 25: 34-36 (from The Message version)

    34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

    I was hungry and you fed me,
    I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
    I was homeless and you gave me a room,
    I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
    I was sick and you stopped to visit,
    I was in prison and you came to me.’

    Reflection – Use the Friday Fix of Lucy Spraggan (with Scouting for Girls) https://thefridayfix.home.blog/2019/08/02/stick-the-kettle-on-by-lucy-spraggan-featuring-scouting-for-girls/

    Activity – Spend a moment or two calling to mind the people who you visit as a pastoral visitor – or about those people who you care for in a pastoral way.

    When you are ready – take a pen and as many slips of paper that you need. Write their names on the slips of paper and fold it once (or maybe twice). Place the slips into the mugs on the table and as you do so, pray about the care that you give to them and recognise that you can be the face of God to them.

    We all need our own nourishment too so as you leave the table, ask for God to continue feeding your spiritual life (and take a biscuit if you like)

    Closing Prayer

    Generous God

    Fill our hearts with love for those we offer care to.

    Help us understand what it means to love others as we love ourselves.

    Show us the ways in which we can strengthen those who are sick.

    Fill us with generosity so that we can feed the hungry, clothe the naked and offer water to the thirsty.

    Help us bring peace to those who are weak and lonely and weary.

    May we remember to listen, to smile, to pray as each opportunity of caring pastorally presents itself.

    Be with us as we share God’s love and care for and with others.

    Amen.

  • Come on – you know you want to…

    We know you’ve got a song that you really want to share – and we’d love to share it for you.

    Is it a song from a moment in a film?

    Is it a song that sums up a key moment in your life?

    Is it a song that’s always in your playlist?

    Is it a song that speaks to you about love?

    Is it a song that expresses your faith and spirituality?

    We know lots of you follow this blog and we’d love to share songs from a wider range of people. We really would like to share one of your songs and why it ‘speaks to you’.

    So stop worrying that others won’t like what you share; take a deep breath and dive into writing it for us. (If you’re worried about grammar, spelling and so on – don’t be because we have top class editing if needed!).

    Please send your song and story to Gill at thomasg@methodistchurch.org.uk.

  • ‘End of a Century’ – Blur

    Gill writes:

    I’ve been thinking about endings this week. I think it was triggered by listening to Danny Dorling last week on the ‘Somewhere To Believe In’ podcast (it’s the new Greenbelt podcast – it’s brilliant – check it out https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/somewhere-to-believe-in-a-brand-new-podcast-from-greenbelt/) where he explores the death of Empire (and inequality, Brexit and pandemics too) and the implications that this can have on us.

    Another reason to think about endings is that, come September 1st, our team will have reduced to three (and a bit) because our wonderful Jane is moving to pastures new (the Ministries Team no less) and so there’s all the ‘handing overs’ and tying up of tasks that only Jane can do.

    Us humans really struggle with endings. We want them to be neat and tidy. We use phrases like ‘drawing a line under it’ ‘wrap it up’ and ‘done and dusted’. We struggle with messy, or complicated. When people leave or move away, many of us prefer to say ‘see you again’ rather than ‘goodbye’.

    Even though we want a clean ending in some ways, when it comes to people we like or love, we still want to keep a thread that connects us – ‘we’ll come and visit’, ‘we’ll keep in touch’ and ‘we’ll see each other on Facebook’.

    Of course, Jane isn’t the only one making a move this summer. Many of our ministers and their families (please – let’s not forget their families) will be facing endings as a number of them move to a new circuit. With those endings, come endings for many Methodist people as they say goodbye (in very unusual cirumstances this year) and have to embrace the changes too.

    This song by Blur, which I think is one of their best, speaks to me of change – and our relutance (or reticence) towards it. You may recall that Blur were at their peak in the mid to late 90’s as we approached a new century. It was the time of Cool Brittania, the ‘Titanic’ film, the Millenium Dome and the Millenium Bug. It felt like we were being encouraged to get excited for the future when really lots of people preferred to stick with what they already knew.

    We all say “don’t want to be alone”
    We wear the same clothes ’cause we feel the same
    We kiss with dry lips when we say goodnight
    End of a century, oh, it’s nothing special

    That’s another way that we deal with endings – pretending that nothing is going to change. We’ll just keep on doing what we’re doing. ‘It’s nothing special’. While the world around us changes, we’ll make an effort to stay the same. I wonder – surely it gets to a point where trying to stay the same uses up more energy and emotion than adapting to change.

    Blur were one of those groups whose music evolved and changed with them. If you compare their album ‘Leisure’ to ‘Parklife’ (which this song is from) to ’13’, you’ll see what I mean. Or perhaps listen to ‘There’s no other way’, this song and ‘Coffee and TV’ – and you’ll see what I mean. The same could be said of many groups & singers – U2, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie to name but a few. The artists that are open to new ways and willing to take risks with their music often carry on their craft for longer.

    Endings and the change that they bring are often life-giving and energising. They can bring deeper understanding of ourselves and those we share the planet with. They push us to new places where we are likely see God at work in a new way – and what’s not to embrace about that!

    So – just to tie this post up nicely 😉 – just a reminder of what Jesus says at the end of Matthew’s Gospel ‘And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ Whatever the change; Whatever the ending; God is with us.

    Find out more about Blur at https://www.blur.co.uk/?frontpage=true

  • ‘Black’ – Dave

    Gill writes:

    I’m the parent of a teenager. Before he hit his teens (and being a person with ‘green’ tendencies), I used to moan about parents ferrying their children around in cars. I still do sometimes but we’ve settled for a balance between foot, bike and car – and that’s because some of the most crucial conversations with teenagers happen in cars. This should have been no surprise to me really – as a youth worker by profession, it was the minibus moments that were the most insightful and engaging!

    A key issue in parent and teenager travel is the ‘music in the car’ debate – and tempting though it is to say ‘my car, my music’, I’d have missed out on a whole load of musical education in the last 18 months if I’d had that rule.

    In 2018, British rap and grime music entered my life and became the soundtrack to many a journey (and background to conversation) with my adolescent offspring. And for much of 2019, the Mercury Prize Winning album ‘Psychodrama’ by Dave formed the backdrop to our journeys.

    When I heard ‘Black’, I was driving Max somewhere and I was blown away by what I was hearing. The opening words are so powerful:

    ‘Look, black is beautiful, black is excellent
    Black is pain, black is joy, black is evident    ‘

    I kept playing it and watching the official video of it (which is not the one above – that’s his performance at the Brits 2020 which is very powerful in a different way). It is refreshingly honest, eye-opening, poetic, intelligent, thought-provoking and the challenge that I needed to hear as a white, privileged person.

    ‘Our heritage been severed, you never got to experiment
    With family trees, ’cause they teach you ’bout famine and greed
    And show you pictures of our fam on their knees
    Tell us we used to be barbaric, we had actual queens    ‘

    Of course, the song has courted controversy with some white people, particularly on Twitter, who felt threatened by a black man celebrating his identity and people – with comments along the ‘imagine if it was a white man singing about being white’ type of lines.

    This led to DJ Annie Mac responding on Twitter with “It’s so very frustrating to see so many negative comments from listeners when I, and other BBC Radio One DJs play the Dave track ‘Black’. Let me get this straight, if you are genuinely offended by a man talking about the colour of his skin and how it has shaped his identity…then that is a problem for you. It’s a real issue that a song so intelligent, so thought provoking so excellently put together can actually offend you. It’s not just okay to talk about race. It is crucial. Listen to the song with open ears. Please.”

    The gospels show how Jesus spoke out against inequality, how he helped those who were oppressed, how he condemned those who oppressed and how he embraced those on the fringes.

    If we really want to follow Jesus, this means being more like him and not burying our head in the sand or shrugging our shoulders or denying that racism is not integral in our world. It means speaking up, asking questions and using the power that we have to bring about a world where nobody ever feels valueless.

    Find out more about Dave at https://santandave.com/collections/all

  • ‘Wish You Were Here’ – Pink Floyd

    Jane writes:

    For me a car journey has always been about far more than getting from A to B. Of course that matters but it’s about so much more. Music. The whole listening experience of music remains confined in the car space and I can tell you where I was going the first time I heard all kinds of albums. U2’s ‘The Joshua Tree’ or Alanis Morisette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’ – I could go on.

    We had car music listening rules in our house for as long as I can remember. Family trips as a child meant taking it in turns for your choices to be played with those of grown-ups. My daughter and I had rules about playing new albums all the way through first time around before launching into the repeat city that was around instant favourites.

    It’s also a place of singing. Loudly. Probably out of tune – well a little bit. Great improvised harmonies tho. All this with my Mum and Dad as a kid – those easy listening numbers that Neil Diamond and his contemporaries had to offer. My daughter and her friends – especially the big show-stopping tunes. My best mate and pretty much anything frankly!

    Right now all this looks radically different. We’re not really going anywhere to speak of. We’re definitely not going anywhere with groups of other people. So this week, when I went off for a trip to see my mum as a “bubble person”, I took great delight in putting on my “retro-happiness” playlist.

    When this track appeared it cut right through into everything. I sang it word for word. I knew when the lyrical content started. (I can do a mean impression of a guitar solo actually too it turns out.) I sang more harmony than even PF dreamt up.

    I can’t claim to understand it at all really. It’s typically Pink Floyd but it set me off thinking about what and who I was missing. Oh, and how I wished they were there. I knew exactly who in my life would relish a big sing to this track. Who would smile as soon as they heard the intro. Who would be playing their guitar along in their heads. Who, in that moment, I wished were in that car with me or indeed with me anywhere.

    It set me off thinking about broken relationships, long-distance friendships, contact thwarted by lock-down and new things being stopped from flourishing. It made me think about all those people I wished were really really in my life. Right now. The people who see me and wish to be seen in return.

    How I wish, how I wish you were here.

    We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year.

    Running over the same old ground.

    What have we found?

    The same old fears.

    Wish you were here.

    It’s interesting to me that even the writers of this track – Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour – think it’s about different things. For the former it’s a song he sings to himself about being really present in his own life and for the latter it is, in reality, about the loss of a friend and fellow musician. So I think that gives us permission to read into it just what we like.

    Being in real and right relationship with each other is what we are called to by God. Sometimes things don’t work out. Sometimes we only pretend. Sometimes we don’t know where to start. Sometimes it’s a click.

    For me the reason for that is to remind ourselves that we are a people of community, distant or otherwise, and that it really is okay to need others. So go on – get in touch with someone you value and if they are long gone, allow yourself to be sad about missing them because their value to you and to God never diminishes.

    Oh, for the record, we’re called to be in real and right relationship with people we don’t really “wish were here” too but that’s maybe a story for another day.

    You can find out more about Pink Floyd here – https://www.pinkfloyd.com/home.php

  • Let Your Light Shine

    Thinking about being light to others.

    What you will need:

    Set Up the Space

    • You will need to set up a table in a place where the group can see and access. Drape with material (as creatively as you like!). Place the large light or candle (this can either be in the middle at the back or to the side); set out the lined tray with tealights laid out in rows inside the tray (either to the front of the large light or on the other side of the table to the large light). Place the lighter to the side of the tealight tray. (PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT HOWEVER YOU SET UP THE TABLE, IT MEETS FIRE SAFETY GUIDELINES!)

    Reading: Matthew 5: 13-16 (from The Message version)

    13 â€œLet me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

    14-16 â€œHere’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

    Reflection – Use the Friday Fix of ‘Katrina & The Waves – Love Shine a Light’. Here’s the link: https://thefridayfix.home.blog/2019/05/17/katrina-and-the-waves-love-shine-a-light/

    Activity – Focus on the large light shining out, pray that God’s love will shine through your life and that when people see you, your life will communicate Jesus.

    Pray for your church or work – that it may become even more visible, attractive and accessible to the local community.

    As you pray you might like to light a tealight.

    Closing Prayer

    God of Love

    You have called us to be salt and light in the world.

    Guide us to the places where we need to take your light.

    May we bring hope to those living in darkness.

    May we bring hope to those who see no light at the end of the tunnel.

    May we bring salt and light to a world of blandness and shadow.

    Shine your light on and through us to show others the way to You.

    Amen

     

  • ‘City of Love’ – Deacon Blue

    Gail writes:

    As lockdown was announced towards the end of March, I resisted all calls to make the most of this great opportunity that being at home offered. I didn’t want to master a new language; I ignored calls to join in online fitness sessions; I made no plans to transform our interiors or read all those books that have sat waiting patiently.

    Instead, it was simply a matter of survival.

    I aimed solely on getting through and staying well.

    Around this time Deacon Blue released their 9th studio album: City of Love. The title track seemed to follow me whenever I turned the radio on – it was always playing. I felt an instant affinity (isn’t it a joy when a song has that immediate impact?) and my spirits were lifted.

    “All that remains” sang Ricky Ross, “is a City of Love”.

    These words swam around my head endlessly it seemed.

    As lockdown unfolded I didn’t join the ranks of those doing extraordinary things: key workers putting in long, dedicated shifts or gestures of great altruism: fundraising or volunteering. Secretly part of me wished I was contributing more. Instead I was working at home. Sitting at my desk. Writing emails and making phone calls. It wasn’t exceptional but in the circumstances it felt all I was able to do.

    As the lyrics to ‘City of Love’ continue:

    “If you’ve got the will, you’ve got to keep on going”

    so I did, feeling the whole weight of these peculiar and surreal circumstances. And yet there was relief as time went by, a new divine warmth, a sense of God near, his hovering in close proximity that enabled me to “put what I’m carrying down”.

    These spiritual overtones in City of Love have spurred me on, a song that Ricky Ross has described as “a hope for the future”. During a season of strangely abnormal normality, existing in our own bubble, I’ve discovered my grand offering to the common good is in fact a small one. Little gestures that build a ‘City of Love’ in my own and the lives of others. Because that is all that remains: love for those dearest to me. Love for my neighbour. Contributions that lovingly demonstrate kindness and hopefulness. That seek to let someone else know they are seen and remembered in a time we’ve been forced to become distant. And God inhabits it all in his own mysterious way.

    This song (along with other album tracks such as ‘Wonderful’) have been rich and comforting as we’ve progressed through the days, weeks and now months of lockdown. Hopefully my tickets to hear Deacon Blue live again in October will remain valid, for Ricky to sing “all that remains is a City of Love” just so I can join in with gusto and a very thankful heart.

    Find out more about Deacon Blue at https://deaconblue.com/

  • Our First Spotify List

    Well thanks to the bright spark who suggested that we put together a Spotify Playlist, we’ve created our first one which gathers together all of the 2019 Friday Fix songs.

    We’ll be creating another one soon – 2020 Vol I….