RUSH: Live It, Give It

So the reason I have been practicing my drums like mad is that I'm going on tour in Nov/Dec with Jamie Hill. We are touring to promote/raise money for Rush: Live It- Give It alongside thebandwithnoname. Yes, this is primarily a christian intiative, but even if you don't have faith the cause is one that you can engage with: To provide a place for those in Tanzania who have been cast out of their communities because of their contracting HIV. The bible says that Jesus loves every single person no matter what their condition, status, class etc.

Now this is a great opportunity for me, but compared to those in Tanzania who are in desperate need of somewhere to live and work, it is nothing. The word "I" in the context of this post seems crass and selfish. I only wanted to say that this is not about me, but primarily about Jesus and the justice that flows from his cross into the world.

So come along if you can. It's gonna be great but more than that it should be life changing.

Dates are:
26th Nov - Manchester (Congleton) - Venue TBC
27th Nov - Northampton - Venue TBC
28th Nov - Letchworth - Venue TBC

11th Dec - Worcester - Venue TBC
12th Dec - Southend - Venue TBC
13th Dec - Barntsable - Venue TBC

Back in the driving seat!

So the effect of re-ordering church has been that my drums have been packed down for a couple of months. The times I have played over the summer (a wedding and a youth service) have been painful. My hands cramp up and I end up clamping down on my sticks - which results in playing louder.

So today I broke the duck, and set the kit up on the new stage at church (it's got no carpet yet). It felt nice to be behind the kit again, the freedom of playing for enjoyment. It is however noticeable that when playing at speed I start to clamp down again and get louder. So today's practice was about getting my hands to loosen up and relax especially when the tempo is up.

It took me a good hour and a half to get to grips with the song I chose and loosen up into feeling the tempo. The song of choice was Jesus Saves by Tim Hughes. Really had trouble internalising the beats of the bar in free flow bar long fills - that's how out of practice I am - the internal clock is just not there. So it's gonna take me a while to get that back.

The last thing to mention is that I've realised my fitness levels are not there - I can't play for an hour solid because I'm knackered about 4 songs in. So I need to get running or playing squash to build up my stamina in order to condition my body.

So getting back into drumming is not going to be easy, but I really want to do this properly and devote some time to getting a level of skill that I had a couple of years back (before children and meningitus). Watch this space!

New Shoes

I've recently bought a new pair of shoes for work purposes and after wearing them for a week or so, I've realised they're really comfortable. It's as though they were made for me and I just haven't found them until now and up until the present I've been wearing poor imitations or those made for someone elses' feet.

Now why am I telling you about shoes? Well walking home last week (yes, in my new shoes) I was thinking about calling and gifting. Now these two concepts are similar but not the same. I think that God gifts us in specific ways as Paul identifies:

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28)

So we are gifted as apostles or prophets, pastors or administrators and I think these are the metaphorical shoes of our ministry. These are what makes us comfortable. Now to continue the metaphor we can do lots of things in the same pair of shoes. Some things will be more suited to that pair of shoes than others (i.e. smart dress shoes are good for a formal dinner but not so good for running), but it is possible to do different kinds of activities in the same pair of shoes. So it is with ministry. I can be gifted as a pastor and still teach people. I can be a prophet and yet pastor people. Obviously going back to my metaphor it will not be as comfortable as acting in my gifting but it can be done.

Your gifting, I think, will also shape how you approach those other activities. So If I'm a pastor, I will teach with a pastoral slant. If I'm a prophet I will evangelise with a prophetic approach. This isn't a bad thing. It brings richness and flavour to Body of Christ and allows a widespread group of people to engage with the Kingdom of God. Recognition of a persons main gifting also allows them to tailor how they approach what God is calling them to do by working to the strengths of what God has gifted in them.

So in my life, God has gifted me as a pastor and it is a large part of my calling to exercise myself in this gift, however my calling will encompass more than just pastoring. It will inevitably involve being prophetic, evangelising, teaching and other activities involved in extending the Kingdom of God. But in all of these activities I will approach them as a pastor, and that will make it more comfortable, just as if I had the right set of shoes on!

The need for hope.

Over the past few months we have seen the foundations of our materially based belief in the world shaken to the core with the onset of the credit crunch. This has been imminent for over a year and has now finally hit.

People's faith in materialism has been rocked and in some cases crushed by the recent events across our globe. And where are they seeking for faith? Well Barack Obama has managed to inspire and give hope to people. His core message of change has captured the imagination of a nation fighting two wars, which has lost faith in it's leader and the narrow self interested policies he pursues.

People need hope and to aspire to the better. Obama appealed to this need in the USA where the nation was born out of aspiration and ideal. In the UK it is easy to be cynical and to not value ideals or values. I would like to suggest that these things are exactly what we need to pursue and hold closely to so that we can renew our hope for the future.

I'm back!

Well this has to be one of the longest breaks I've had from writing in this blog. For those few who await my comments with bated breath I apologise. I have an excuse ... really!

I have been very ill. At the end of August I caught meningitis and was hospitalised for 5 days. I have been laid up since then at home, thinking and reflecting. This will evidence itself over the next few months as I try and form the words that reflect these thoughts.

Please come back and read this blog when you can. I hope you gain some insight and feel challenged as I write.

God Bless

Chris

Interview

Hello All,

Ity's a long time since I last posted. I apologise and will try and get more regular. Here is a link to an interview I did with a guy called Matt Hains who runs a great site called "The Christian Drummer". Check it out.

My Daughter

Outpouring

You may or may not be aware of a massive movement of God currently taking place in Florida. Todd Bentley may be a leader that isn't everyone's cup of tea but God seems to be anointing him and blessing his ministry. The blind can see, the deaf can hear and the dead are rising.



People are flocking to Florida to catch this outpouring and bringing it back with them. A church in Dudley has been meeting every night for the past four weeks and is seeing God work powerfully.

If this is truly God, then I don't want to miss it. I want as much of Him and His power that I can get. I can't do anything without his spirit inside me.

So I am venturing up the motorway to try and get as much as I can of Him. Check it out for yourself: www.revivalfires.org.uk

Ringtone

I'm afraid my blog is getting a little serious so to lighten the mood I thought I'd post this. A mate sent it to me a few months ago and I think it's great!

The Sacred and The Secular

Continuing my series on worship and culture, this week I wanted to look at the attitudes on what is sacred.

In the email that I mention in my first blog of the series the young man in question mentions that he wants to work in the Christian music industry or in a Christian band. My question is does God value this aspiration to work as “full-time Christian” more highly than he does working in the “secular” world?

The obvious answer is “no” He doesn’t value ministry above work – they both have equal value. Christians and the church have created this system of separating the sacred and the secular and placing more emphasis on the former over the latter. I don’t think it is intentional but when did you last hear prayers at church which said “and we pray for those at work, that they may glorify God and be effective in showing the love of Jesus.”? No, usually we hear “we pray for x in some foreign country working with orphans and widows, that they may be blessed by God and spreading the love of Jesus.” Now don’t get me wrong, I think that mission work abroad is part of God’s great plan but it doesn’t have any more value in the kingdom of God than working in a 9 to 5 office job.

God values work. He worked for six days and then rested on the seventh. It is within God’s nature to work. Work is essentially an act of worship and in it God is glorified. Ken Costa who has written an excellent book called “God at Work” has coined a phrase “My workstation is my worship-station”. Essentially Ken regards his daily work as a banker as an act of worship.

You just can’t separate life and faith as I’ve mentioned in my previous post. If a faith is worth anything then it must touch and influence every part of your life. It should shape your thoughts and aspiration and guide your actions. Can you imagine what the world would look like if Christians in the workplace prayed when making big work decisions? A God guided ethic of work? I think it would transform business and the workplace globally and be a major testimony to those non-Christian colleagues in the workplace and therefore to the glory of God.

Ken Costa states in “God at Work” that he thinks the downfall of the mainstream church was this active separation of work and faith where the churches no longer had any relevance to life. He mentions that the greatest example of this separation was in the doomed Millennium Dome in London which contained various zones above life one of which was the “faith and Belief” zone. This compartmentation of life has led to the disassociation of faith to life. You get such bland statement as “faith is personal and private” and denials of faith i.e. Alasdair Campbells statement “We don’t do God” in where we now know that Tony Blair had a deep faith but thought disclosure of it would lead to his downfall. Surely this mistrust deep of personal faith that outworks itself into the public arena needs to change. At the moment it seems to be dominated by extreme Islam. Surely it’s up to people of faith to change this perception and show that faith is agent of change for the good.

In response to the original email, I want to say that anything you do (within reason) in worship to God has as much value as anything else. So playing drums in a Drury Lane pit or in a function band at weddings is equally as valid an action as being in a worship team or playing in a Christian Band.

So in conclusion, whatever you do makes you workstation your worship station. Makes sure your faith pervades you whole life and is a witness to people who work with you. Lastly pray as you work!