Filed under: Doing music
Well a few weeks ago I asked about bands having their own names and identities in order to avoid the ‘bob’s band’ syndrome. Tonight the first of our nitechurch bands to take on a name are playing at Coast Youth Revolution (CY revolution is a combined youth event with churches from Gosford to Newcastle hosted by our church).
While I’m not totally sold out on the name ‘Jacob I loved’ yet, I love that there is a name. Jacob I loved play kind of blocparty/killers-esque rock stuff. Hopefully we’ll record something tonight as a bit of a teaser for nitechurch live.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hello world.
I know I haven’t posted in about two weeks and I never finished that JC Ryle post series. I struggle to finish things. And then I felt guilty that I hadn’t finished so I was ashamed to come back here…
But there are heaps of things exciting me so I need to post about them!
Firstly I was stoked to see our kids at church get up and sing their hearts out last week. Sarah and Todd are doing a mad job there!
Secondly I was excited by some cool books I bought last week. I got two volumes titled ‘Then sings my soul’ they are each a collection of 150 hymns as well as the stories behind them. Pretty encouraging.
Thirdly I was excited by wordles. In fact the whole reason I got back on the horse was because I wanted to jump on the bandwagon with wordles. My bro Dave, and my friend Hayesy have gone global with these bad boys.
Here’s all of Isaac Watts Hymns
And here’s Charles Wesley’s
Here’s all the songs our church has written. I forgot to not include words like chorus and bridge:
Filed under: Everything else
If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a leter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother. Others may see little worth notice in the letter. They can scarcely take the trouble to read it through. But those who love the writer see something in the letter which no one else can. They carry it about with them as a treasure. They read it over and over again.
Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian delights to read the Scriptures, because they tell him about his beloved Saviour. It is no wearisome task with him to read them. He rarely needs reminding to take his Bible with him when he goes on a journey. He cannot be happy without it. And why is all this? It is because the Scriptures testify of Him whom his soul loves, even Christ.
Filed under: Everything else
If we love a person we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report others make of him. We are all attention when others talk about him and describe his ways, his sayings, his doings and plans. Some may hear him mentioned with utter indifference, but our own hearts bound within us at the sound of his name.
Well it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! The true Christian delights to hear something about his master. He likes those sermons best which are full of Christ. He enjoys that society most in which people talk of the things which are Christ’s. I have read of an old Welsh believer, who used to walk several miles every Sunday to hear an English clergyman preach, even though she did not understand a word of English. She was asked why she did so. She replied, that this clergyman named the name of Christ so often in his sermons, that it did her good. She loved even the name of her Saviour.
Filed under: Everything else
If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation. He comes up before our mind’s eye many a time in the day. Though perhaps far distant, he is often present in our thoughts.
Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ! Christ ‘dwells in his heart’, and is thought of more or less every day (Eph 3:17). The true Christian does not need to be reminded that he has a crucified Master. He often thinks of him. He never forgets that He has a day, a cause and a people, and that of His people he is one. Affection is the real secret of a good memory in religion. No worldly man can think much about Christ, unless Christ has pressed his notice, because he has no affection for Him. The true Christian has thoughts about Christ every day he lives, for this one simple reason that he loves Him.
Filed under: Everything else
When I was 18 in my first year of uni I bought a book called ‘Holiness’ by JC Ryle. I’d never heard of him or the book before but I was in that age where I gambled money on whims and fancies. As I read the first chapter on Sin (I can remember sitting in front of my parents fireplace at home, wearing a blue t-shirt – must have stuck in my head) I was blown away at the way this guy wrote. He applied scripture like a hot iron. There was no compromise, no getting out of it, no ‘in my context it’s ok to do that…’ He was straight down the line and convicting. I found it refreshing to read someone who was so honest and who didn’t allow me to shrink back from the call of God’s word on my life.
I’ve since read ‘Holiness’ three times as well as reading ‘Practical Religion’, his devotional/expositional commentary on Matthew, and articles on worship, prayer, sickness and warnings to young men. I shared him with many of my brothers. JC Ryle has been dead for over a hundred years now (its coming up to his death anniversary 14th June) and yet I still find him relevant, compelling and helpful.
In the lead up to his ‘death day’ I’m going to post a series of points from ‘Holiness’ on the marks of a Christian who loves Christ. I found it helpful. I hope you do too.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I bought my first itunes plus cd yesterday. A year after it came out. For the uninitiated itunes plus is a higher quality audio file that has heaps less strict usage rules. If you’ve ever been frustrated that you can’t play your itunes-bought-music on another computer, you’ll love itunes plus.
It is a step towards making digital music files more usable. I love it. Bring on the future. Undoubtably it leads people to misuse their files more as well. People can give away itunes plus music to whoever they want illegally. Not sure of any protection itunes have against that. They are obviously still turning a profit.
In terms of church do you find it hard to stay abreast of legal issues in music, video and images? I do. Do you feel tempted to give in to the way of the world and so cheat for your own selfish gain. I do. I justify sin in my mind by saying its for church and so its all ok. Copyright is a big deal. It can be a pain in the bum but maybe its an area we can work hard to shine in
A recent article on Sydney Anglicans dot net speaks of a couple of ministries where music is playing a large role. In particular the Dean is supporting Richard Maegraith in his ministry to Jazz musos in and around Sydney. I reckon this is a sweet thing to be highlighting. We have a band at nitechurch called Dissonance who play for our evangelistic cafe nites and are looking to get some more gigs. They are a tight jazz standard band and I can hook you up if you want some jazz action. We got Dissonance started because we saw a need to have good music at our events. We don’t want to put off musically minded people by having sub-par thrown together stuff.
I’m intrigued though why Christians always seem to go for jazz. I love it. But where are the evangelical industrial goth bands? Is it because we are all nerdy and so is Jazz?
This vid was made by one of the baristas at the cafe I go to. He did the art and composed the music.
Sing Unto the Lord 