My Financial Hypocrisy via Byrnesys Blabberings
I was perusing face (stalker) book yesterday morning and came across some photos of a friend who visited The Call DC when it was on recently. My first thought was, wow, that looks great, but I then I began to think ‘how much did it cost to put an event like that on? How much money was used to travel to that place? How much damage was done to the environment by the trucks that transported the gear, the flights people took, and the cars they drove?’ I began thinking, What if we could calculate how much that cost and send it somewhere where it would ‘really’ make a difference (a very subjective concept in itself). As I had these thoughts, and began climbing to my moral high ground, I was reminded of these words: Matthew 26:7-10 7a woman came up to him with an... Is Theology actually useful for the Church? via Byrnesys Blabberings
I was recently asked quite a common question so I thought I would share my two cents and see if any of you had any thoughts on the subject. The Question was really more of a statement which wanted an answer: "Sometimes I wonder what use theology is for real people in real churches" When seeing the enormous breadth and depth of Theology it is very easy to wonder what real use it is for the Church, when you hear of someone spending years studying the dialectic intricacies of deutero-Isaiah, the question can often be, "What does that do to build the Church?". In a world with pressing physical need, the need for Christians to live out the realities of Matthew 25:37-40 and the need for people to serve in local churches as teachers and pastors are very clear, but I... Is Theology actually useful for the Church? via Byrnesys Blabberings
I was asked recently quite a common question so I thought I would share my two cents and see if any of you had any thoughts on the subject. The Question was really more of a statement which wanted an answer: "Sometimes I wonder what use theology is for real people in real churches" When seeing the enormous breadth and depth of Theology it is very easy to wonder what real use it is for the Church, when you hear of someone spending years studying the dialectic intricacies of deutero-Isaiah, the question can often be, "What does that do to build the Church?". In a world with pressing physical need, the need for Christians to live out the realities of Matthew 25:37-40 and the need for people to serve in local churches as teachers and pastors are very clear, but I... 21st Century Missions - Jamie Arpin Ricci via Byrnesys Blabberings
Today we get into the first responses to the questions I asked last week and begin with Jamie Arpin Ricci who in his own words is "a missionary/church planter and writer, serving
with Youth With A Mission for nearly 15 years. He lives and serve in
the inner city of Winnipeg, share life alongside his neighbours, trying
to love God and others along with his community. He writes and speaks
on issues of missions, missional community and urban ministry. He
blogs at www.missional.blog.com."So here are Jamie’s thoughts on the questions I asked, feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments: In considering financial support for missionaries to what extent do you think it is important for both the supporter and supported to think about the support as...
21st Century Missions: Explosion of Joy via Byrnesys Blabberings
I read this quote today and thought it would be a good preface to our discussion on mission. Sometimes the technicalities and practicalities of missiology seem to eclipse the focus of mission instead of serve it. In Mission we must always be motivated by the fact that we cannot be silent because of the things we have seen and heard: “Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the Church in the pages of the New Testament is like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.” —Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,... Start of the week round up via Byrnesys Blabberings
Yes, only one post since last weeks round up and I have a plethora of posts for you. I am wondering if these round ups are overkill, but I do enjoy cataloging the finds for my own use at any rate. Andy White has re:launched his site with a fancy new design and lots of ‘:’s. Andy is a great blogger and I’m looking forward to reading more of his technology, blogging and Big Life words. I’m starting a new blog series on Missions in the 21st Century, it will focus on responses from guest bloggers and I’ve had some great responses already which I am excited to post over the next few weeks, so keep checking in for that. Cool Tools is a great blog that I keep bookmarked, it features reviews on great books, gadgets and software and always picks up on... Theology is just for Bishops and Students via Byrnesys Blabberings
Universalism: Heresy or Hope via Byrnesys Blabberings
I dont want to run through the regular arguments of Universalism, there are many sources for that and many that are far more eloquent in their description than I could hope to be. In essense Universalism is the belief that in the infinality of existence, God will indeed save all, whether or not they professed faith or any other catergory which you might hold to be evidence for being part of the elect. When I originally read Barth in CDII/2 I felt uncomfortable at his departure from the orthodox understanding of election, this departure is commonly considered to lead him to a form of Universalism (though it is important to enforce that he is not guilty of the form Universalism he insistently denied) and I had to really try to discern what it was that made this ‘hope’ so... Praying in a busy schedule via Byrnesys Blabberings
Update on the Chapmans via Byrnesys Blabberings
Please Pray for the Chapmans via Byrnesys Blabberings
Please Pray for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family as a terrible accident killed their youngest daughter and particularly for their teenage son who was driving, a memorial blog has been set up to leave your condolences with the following message:
Maria
Sue Chapman, adopted and youngest daughter to Mary Beth and Steven
Curtis Chapman, was killed Wednesday night in a tragic accident in the
family driveway on Wednesday evening. She was LifeFlighted to
Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital but for only reasons God can explain she
went home to Him… not to Franklin as we all so desperately wanted.Your prayers are needed for all in the Chapman family. This is a
family who has so generously loved and given to so many. Just hours
before this close knit family was celebrating the... Electric Guitar Series Worship Series: Amp Selection via Byrnesys Blabberings
It’s been a while since I’ve written an electric guitar series post, mostly because I haven’t played in months now. A Very sad state of affairs indeed, but since there is no longer any worship band and no amp so there has been no playing.There was good prospect recently when a local music forum I keep an eye on had a very affordable combo amp for sale, I looked into it and decided to buy it. Unfortunately I spoke to the guy twice and made arrangements to collect it and he went completely silent and I havent heard from him since. This happened with a bass amp I tried to buy through the same forum, very fustrating. Less of my woes though and onto the amp itself; Its the Epiphone Valve Jnr. although admittedly I haven’t played it I want to try and review it for use... The End of a Road via Byrnesys Blabberings
Today I will have my last ever exam for the Masters degree I’ve been working on for the last 4 years at Aberdeen University, it’s, unsurprisingly for many of you, on the Theology of Karl Barth. It seems to have been a very long time since I came here to Aberdeen and a lot of things have changed, and almost nothing happened or progressed how I expected it to, but I am grateful for the time Ive had in Scotland, for the ways in which God has proved his faithfulness through blessing and correction.I thought this was an very apt prayer to pray today, it was posted at the Kingdompeople blog the other day:Savior and King,
I find it so easy to revel in knowledge for knowledge’s sake,
avoiding the goal of instruction: to learn love.
A puffed-up mind may be able to hide an... Slavoj Zizek on Christian Conusmerism via Byrnesys Blabberings
Absolutely rushed off my feet at work today but managed to read this excellent Zizek quote which was related to Christian Consmerism in an excellent post by Ben Myers in his review of "Rapture Ready!" As Slavoj Žižek has observed, the logic of late capitalism presses towards the commodification of a niche identity for its own sake; the Christian merchandise I buy is not itself the desired commodity, but it is merely an ephemeral signifier of the real
commodity, which is my identity as a particular sort of Christian. In
this case, the product I am really purchasing is radically
non-material, wholly spiritual; I am purchasing religious meaning and
belonging, religious “community” (since the merchandise allows me to
participate in a specific market niche). Here, any neat...
Money Matters but you cant serve two Gods via Byrnesys Blabberings
“You
can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating
the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other." - Matthew 6:24/The MessageThis verse then ends with "You can’t
worship God and Money both." but the opening statement "You
can’t worship two gods at once" can readily be applied to other things in our lives. This verse has been playing on repeat in my head for the last few days, so I think God is probably trying to flag it up to me.For the last few months my mind has been on alot of financial matters, with selling a house, working my way out of a student overdraft (fairly unsucessfully it needs to be said), sorting out a place to live once I move, deciding whether to buy or to let, working out how the... Mid Week Round Up via Byrnesys Blabberings
Death is Beaten via Byrnesys Blabberings
THE GREATEST DAY IN HISTORY
The empty cross, the empty graveLife eternal, You have won the dayShout it out, Jesus is aliveHe’s alive - Tim HughesSimilar Posts:The Peace…
Dealing with Sin, with Theology
Top Tips for Mobile Phone Contracts Part Two
Moving on
What the Hec is RSS... Good Friday via Byrnesys Blabberings
Confrontation - the truth in love? via Byrnesys Blabberings
There are many times in life and in Christian leadership where we have to address a problem, there could be minor problems or more serious ’sin-issue’ problems. A few from Church were discussing the best ways to confront, or address these types of situations last night in relation to Christian Ministry and a few good points were shared that I thought were worth sharing here.
Love the Sinner, Hate the sin
I was listening to a talk from Simon Ponsonby (St Aldates Pastor of Theology) from VineyardUK NLC08 who said that Love the Sinner, Hate the sin was in practise often short hand for hate the sinner, needless to say, the church has not mastered the practise of confrontation. If the person you are confronting isn’t completely convinced of your love for them the... Lent with the Jesus Creed via Byrnesys Blabberings
This morning I was racking my brain for something to do for Lent this year that would be meaningful and not just religious. Giving up things is really not quite the point of Lent as Maggi Dawn expresses excellently:"It’s a common misconception that Lent is
about self-improvement. Somehow a half-remembered custom of giving
things up has been mixed in with our society’s obsession with self-help
and self-improvement, so that we’ve blurred the true meaning of the
fast into a rather individualistic concept, more like a New Year
Resolution to detox or de-clutter.
Lent is not about giving up luxuries, not about losing weight or
gaining other benefits, not about food per se, not about de-cluttering
or Feng Shui or about ay other kind of feel-good, de-toxifying
exercise.... End of Week round up via Byrnesys Blabberings
I have a few posts in the mix but this is me signing off again for the weekend, leaving you with a few commended perusable articles:1) For those of you on the look out for worship music stuff here, mercy me have started a blog, and Im glad to see there not taking themselves too seriously, I wonder if they might post some pedal board pics for us guitar geeks 2) Take your vitaminz posted an interesting quote from Erwin McManus about how western christianity can be revealed as very narcisstic and when all is stripped away there is no heart, no compassion or urgency. take a read, its short, worthwhile and motivating.3) Jason Clark loves Church and so do I, the world is admirably arranged as one person once said. In actual fact though I think Jason has hit a really important balance here... Electric Guitar Series: Vineyard UK - Love Came Down via Byrnesys Blabberings
This was a Vineyard UK CD put out from a live recording at hull to commemorate Wilberforce who was the city’s MP and instrumental in the abolition of slavery. What follows is the very essence of guitar geekyness! Below is a picture of the electric set ups for the guitarists:
Unfortunatly I’ve had to copy a small version of it, click on the image or here to see the full version that I used to list the equipment I could work out. Firstly I have to say, there are just somethings you cant work out from a blurred picture and I also only have a limited knowledge of guitar equipment. Also I will only be working out the spec for the guitarist on the right as he seems to be the lead guitarist (condiering all his pedals etc) and I haven’t got a clue about rack effects, the... Matt Redman uses Apple macbook via Byrnesys Blabberings
For those of you with a keen eye yesterday who recognise a mac on a tiny highly pixelated image and can recognise matt redman will have put two and two together, but for those you didn’t I just thought I’d let you know.What does it even matter, well another Christian endorsing macs, thats good enough for me, join the revolution! (disclaimer: blog author may be slightly over-enthused about macs currently due to macworld expo) ... Andy Park and CompassionArt via Byrnesys Blabberings
On Sunday I played Djembe for Andy Park who came to Aberdeen Vineyard after being involved with the Compassionart writers retreat. Andy was a nice guy, at church he spoke about the link between justice and worship in amos and how the outworking of worship always has to be justice, and at lunch he spoke about song writing, worship and his church plant in Vancouver.Chris Tomlin didn’t make it after getting ill apparently, but there were plenty writers about, Martin Smith wrote a 4 day blog detailing the retreat herePart of the press release copied below - click here for the full release
Songs To Be Forever Donated To Help the Poorest of the Poor
Unprecedented Retreat Features, Michael W.
Smith, Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, Darlene Zschech, Matt and
Beth Redman, Tim... Electric Guitar Worship Series: The Sources of Tone via Byrnesys Blabberings
In the last post I introduced a series on the electric guitar in contemporary worship, this post is a continuation of the series which looks at what affects the tone or sound of an electric guitar within a ’set up’, I also mentioned that I would start posting pictures of the ’set ups’ of guitarists who have played live or on worship CD’s whose tone you might want to replicate, for those of you who might be new to electric guitar set ups the reason you might want to see what gear people are using is primarily to be able to replicate it. So for example when you hear a CD, and think "Wow, that guitar part sounds amazing" and then you find the tab, or work it out, and it doesn’t quite sound the same. Well apart from the fact that the CD was... Electric Guitar Worship Gear Series via Byrnesys Blabberings
I have played the electric guitar in worship for just over 2 years, and although now Im involved in a Vineyard Church plant where worship is mostly in smaller house group kind of settings which see’s worship music mostly confined to an acoustic guitar. I still am enthused about electric guitar gear and its uses within contemporary worship.Ive never quite known which format to include my guitar enthusiasm on this blog, but have kept an eye on others who blog their guitar interest well such as Worship Guitar Guy which, even though he’s blogging less regularly at the moment, has a brilliant archive of posts for worship guitar players which step out of the usual cold guitar technique format.For now I’ve decided to start doing some posts now and again on guitar gear, this... Hillsong United We Stand via Byrnesys Blabberings
"United We Stand" (Hillsong United)Im sitting watching the bonus DVD of this great album. At first glance I love Hillsiong United stuff, as a musician I love it because they've broken away from the 3 chord pap that was churned out in the late 80's and early 90's (dont jump down my neck on that note, that was great stuff for then, but Im glad theres progression.My first real encounter with stuff from Hillsong was in my first year at uni. While at first I wanted to dislike this mega church hype, I was insteadconfronted with the fact that I could only see the good in it. Young people, ministering to other youth, songs written with gritty reality, passion and depth. From what I can see its a ministry filled with integrity and a passion to redeem culture and bring young people to Christ.....I...