The Voice of Psalms......

'The Voice of Psalms' is part of a project by Chris Seay and the Ecclesia Bible Society that attempts to 'engage with the Psalms as never before' by producing work that "involves translation and elaboration, but mostly entering into the story of scripture and recreating the event for our culture and time. It doesn't ignore the role of scholar but also values the roles of writers, poets, songwriters and artists".

There is no doubt that this is a beautiful book - both in the interpretative way the Psalms are treated, and in the crafting and style in which the contents are presented. The attractive & high quality internal appearance inside draws the eye, and the reflections are insightful and thoughtfully written - it would make a beautiful gift.

It is important to understand the highly interpretive nature of the book though - which the author makes no attempt to hide - but which may not be understood by a reader new to, or unfamiliar with the Bible. Whilst the lyrical treatment of the individual Psalms is fresh and inspiring, in some places the breadth of interpretation can be challenging: for example the opening verse of Psalm 11 "I trust in the Lord for protection" becomes "I am already in the soft embrace of the Eternal One" - which left me uncomfortable.....

Having said that - if understood as a lyrical reflection 'inspired by scripture' rather than as it claims, 'a bold new translation and format' this is a beautiful book that I suspect I shall find myself returning to more than once to discover more about 'the Eternal One' - although I will still be more comfortable with him as 'the Lord'!

NB: I received a free review copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their book review blog programme. I received this copy for the purpose of writing a blog review and I was not required to write a positive review - all opinions are my own!

rivers

"You oh Lord are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high." Psalm 3:3

Sometimes we simply cannot hold our heads high. Sadness, shame, confusion and the weariness of the world around us all conspire to weigh our heads down and leave us looking at our feet.

At times like this we need to be honest with God & tell him how it hurts, rather than hiding behind some kind of 'it'll be OK' smiling-with-gritted-teeth dishonesty.

Yes - we trust and believe that one day it will be OK - but sometimes life just hurts and our heads and hearts are too heavy for us to bear alone.

But not too heavy for God - his loving care hold our heads up. Like Moses when he led the Israelites in battle against Amelek (see the story here) who couldn't hold his arms up any more, so was supported by his friends when he needed to sit down - so sometimes we are so weary that we need God to step in and hold us up. Sometimes we need to surrender our struggling to 'hold things together', admit that we can't - and trust in the God who can, and will.

This surrender needs to mark our lives beyond the hard times though. Especially in the times when we have plenty to hold our heads high about. When we are proud and full of ourselves, we need that same surrender lest we walk along with our heads held so high that we forget to look down, and so trip ourselves up......

God - the lover of our souls and holder of our hearts: hold our heads and hearts whether we're too weary or too proud - that we may honestly say 'you are my glory', and so sleep in peace........

taste of things to come.......

With thanks to Mariella Frustrup in last Sunday's Observer......... Apologies for the length - it's worth it.....

"In modern times life has increasingly been perceived to be all about volume, whether it's in terms of acquisitions, acclaim or adventures. The recent brief blip (pardon me, global financial meltdown) in first-world markets seems to have had one positive effect: that of encouraging us all to reconsider what our lives should really be focused on, obsessive avarice proving unreliable.

The most widespread human ambition for decades has been a pursuit of happiness based on more, more, more. The irony of our penchant for conspicuous consumption being that we then spend most of our time complaining about where to store or how to take advantage of this accumulation of our heart's desires. The most cynical among us might even question the point of archives of books read, places visited and memories attached since you'll most likely forget all the details when senility sets in anyway!

Forgive me for lending my voice to that chorus, but having spent the festive period trying to put some order into trunks full of old photos, I feel you may have struck a sensitive chord! Obsessive ambition and aspiration are the most likely routes to disappointment – and the old cliché of life lived a day at a time, accompanied by altruistic tendencies toward your fellow man, are the only routes guaranteed to induce contentment. A day well spent can never be obliterated, even though without the significant markers of triumph and despair such moments slide into the morass of oblivion to which most of our day-to-day memories are relegated – but often that's where life's real treasure lies.

I met a very old man the other day who had never left the Scottish village where I ran into him. He was as lively, informed and dare I say content as any individual I've met, and unscarred by his lack of tangible interaction with the wider world. Don't let me appear hypocritical: assertions that a lack of aspirational experiences may be close to real-life Nirvana are easy to make when you've indulged yourself and then judged in hindsight. I'm not sure I could have achieved contentment without exposure to the wider world, but this octogenarian's complacency may be no bad thing either.

What I've learned in 47 years is that only the days well spent leave any enduring satisfaction. Looking back through the photographic evidence of so many amazing journeys and colourful crowds of acquaintances made me wonder how much I'd missed while I was busy keeping busy. Now, with two young kids of my own and conscious of the advice of friends who warn that their now-adult offspring's childhoods positively sped by, I've started to greedily savour every moment. This Christmas, aided by arctic weather constraints, we spent an entire two weeks at our house in Scotland without attempting more than a quick wade through the snow in the surrounding hills. Instead of suffering near-terminal restlessness, I don't think I've been as happy in decades. Every day with nothing achieved but familial harmony and a few good meals felt like a triumph unequalled by any career high, exotic holiday excursion or intense romantic encounter. It's shocking to realise how indulging in endless opportunities to scramble to the top of your field or satiate a rollercoaster addiction to lifestyle extremes adds up to not very much. Meanwhile the days misspent in idling, enjoying the company of those you most care for and generally achieving very little are the ones you want to stash in your box of treasures.

Slow down your pace! With so much good stuff in your life, it's imperative you take the time to savour it. Books provide a salutary example in that one truly great read is more than equal to a thousand mediocre stories. Instead of concerning yourself with ticking off experiences and accumulated knowledge, try to focus on quality, whether it's who you spend your time with or how you spend it. Rushing around grabbing everything you can all too often sees you return to home and hearth empty-handed. Ironically, it takes a long time to understand that most everything we need in life is only hugging distance away."

Pop Idol?

When I think about 'idols' I tend to go immediately for the obvious - money, possessions, fame and the like, but God has been challenging me very hard recently about what my Isaiah 44 idols really are..... If we are prepared to wrestle honestly with this, it asks big questions of us:

What do we spend precious time investing in?
What do we spend the most money on ?
What can we always fit in even when we're tired, broke or busy?
What are we really living this unique life for - and why?

What would it mean to live a life totally invested in God - making him our 'all in all' - and seeking to see others do that too? Would it bring joy, excitement and fulfilment?

The answer is of course 'yes' - but conflict, pain and struggle may come along for the ride too.........

So maybe the most important question is not 'where are the idols?' - but am I prepared to trade them for a different kind of life - whatever the 'cost'?

Nearer..................

"Jesus came near and started walking along beside them."
Luke 24:15

Christ the stranger, who walked alongside friends in their sorrow and shared their bread, give us grace to walk with others on their journeys and so become true companions.

Reblogged from here

Wii Church?

As one who is about to enter the world of Wii I couldn't help but giggle at this.........

Loved......................

I heard this story a couple of weeks ago written for children by Max Lucardo which touched my soul........

There were once wooden people called Wemmicks. Each had been carved by Eli, a woodworker. "Every Wemmick was different. Some had big noses, others had large eyes. Some were tall and others were short. Some wore hats, others wore coats. But all were made by the same carver and all lived in the village. And all day, every day, the Wemmicks did the same thing: They gave each other stickers. Each Wemmick had a box of golden star stickers and a box of gray dot stickers. Up and down the streets all over the city, people could be seen sticking stars or dots on one another".

Stars were for things that Wemmicks thought were good - like being beautiful, clever and getting things right, "Some Wemmicks had stars all over them! Every time they got a star it made them feel so good that they did something else and got another star. Others, though, could do little. They got dots". Dots were for those who didn't fit in, who didn't look right.......................

"Punchinello got dots. Everything he tried to do seemed to go wrong, and when it did the others would gather around and give him dots. "He deserves lots of dots," the wooden people would agree with one another. "He's not a good wooden person." After a while Punchinello believed them...........

To cut a long story short, one day he meets Lucia - who doesn't care about stickers - infact nothing sticks to her, which makes Punchinello curious so he asks her why. "It's easy," Lucia replied. "Every day I go see Eli."

After agonising for ages because he was convinced someone as amazing as Eli would never want to see him, Punchinello plucks up the courage to go and see Eli. When he gets there Eli knows his name! He knows everything about him! Eli explains that dots and stars don't matter to him. Punchinello is special because Eli made him.......

However badly we feel about ourselves today - we can hang on to the fact that we are special because our 'Eli' - God the creator of the universe, made us, loves us and like Punchinello's Eli 'doesn't make mistakes'.

But there's more............ When Punchinello asks Eli how to make the dots not stick, Eli replies "simply come and see me every day, and let me remind you how much I love you again".

How often does the time we spend with God become about study, preparation, routine, or duty? How different would our lives be if we could simply come to God each day and let Him remind us how much he loves us again?

"May all your dots fall silently to the ground, for if given by man, they matter only to other men" Max Lucado

Life in all its to-do-lists?

I wonder whether one of the foundational beliefs that many of us carry in our lives is that God somehow wants us so that he can simply put us to work & give us a long 'to do' list'?

That lingering belief that God loves me "but he's most interested in how I'm doing with my job-list of "do's and don'ts" now that he has me....." One of the major "do's" being how well we're doing at sharing him with others........

The problem is, that if our day to day experience of God is just a dry list of jobs - then that is what we'll share with others - perpetuating the myth that a life with God is little more than a divine to-do list..........
Is it any wonder then that so many people find their faith is nothing more than a dry, unexciting, task orientated half-life rather than the amazing richness of the life promised here?

Of course God has, and indeed is, the purpose for life and he has amazing things for all of us to do - but just as importantly, God wants ME and YOU. He delights in us, he wants us whole, he wants us to spend time with him exploring who we are, and what this thing called 'life in all it's fullness' is really all about.

He has made a life for each of us to explore - full of pleasure and delight, richness and reality, relationships and growth, challenge and struggle. That is the life that he wants us to experience and live to the full - that is the life he wants us to share with others, sharing from our desire that they find this rich kind of life too not simply inherit a list of rules.

How often we get so stuck in a list of jobs, restrictions and rules that we forget the fact that real life is about 'God and me' and 'God and you'?

When did we lose sight of the fact that real life - life in all its fullness indeed- is the love story between God and us?

Ordinary People..................

Zechariah was an ordinary priest who was faithful to God, living a fairly ordinary life. (find him here ). He was on the ‘priests rota’, so when he was on duty he would go off to the church and do whatever jobs he had been given – decided by ‘lot’ so it could be anything and everything. Until one day when it all changed.

Zechariah was in the inner sanctuary doing his thing, when an angel appeared and told him that he would have a son who would be ‘a great man in God’s sight’.

As he was very old, Zechariah was quite surprised by this (both the angel and the news, one would assume) - “are you sure?” he replies “We’re both past it”.

Then - just to be sure – he asks the angel for a sign. The angel strikes him mute – which probably left Zechariah wishing he had been a little more specific in the sign he asked for.........

“God regularly works through ordinary people, doing what they normally do, with a mixture of half-faith and devotion, holding themselves ready for whatever God has in mind” Tom Wright

Zechariah would have known the stories of others like Abraham & Sarah, and Rachel & Jacob who had been in the position of being too old to conceive children, and yet being given sons by God - but he doesn't seem to be able to believe it could happen to him.

How many times do we think we are too ordinary? That the riches of God are for the more gifted, more talented, more obvious people..........

But throughout the bible, God lavishes his love on, and uses ordinary people for amazing things – so why on earth not?

Been away...............

Took a break from this blog for lots of reasons - but haven't been completely idle! Catch me here and I'll be back on this blog soon!