A thought from my recent guest blogger.

Eden and I were discussing worship last night. I asked her what she thought worship was. I was interested in her viewpoint, as she's mostly only ever experienced a traditional church setting now. She told me she thought worship was 'everything'.

Pressed to explain, she said "You know, reading the bible, praying at church, praying before dinner, talking about what God has made, telling other people about Jesus, singing songs, all that."

We carried on talking for some time, and I also asked her if there was any kind of music that was better or worse for singing in worship. She thought for a while.

"Yes, I think pop music isn't really good for church singing, because it helps to really think about the words, and with pop music, I just want to dance and that gets in the way of thinking"

What do you think? I think she's on to something.

Haven't had any politics on the blog for a while...

... this should keep up my quota.

ht: djp

OK, Matthew, that's fair comment. I'll just add this then. How come someone as reputedly savvy and brilliant as Gordon Brown claims to be, took the job when it was quite clear that all sorts of nasty stuff was about to smack into the whirring room-cooler? What on earth made the man think that a political marshmallow-weight like Jacqui Smith (my own MP) would have what it takes to be Home Secretary?

And when he finally begins to combust under the ill-fitting mantle of 'resolute' that he's fashioned for himself, who is going to be the one to throw him over the precipice?

Things to learn from Islam.

I noticed a contrast recently, and it wasn't a good one. As I'm sure you're aware, it's possible to view television channels that are 'religious' in nature - and not just Christian. I very occasionally watch something called 'Islam TV', and there are many contrasts to be noted, of course.

Something I noticed recently was the programming designed for and involving Muslim youngsters. I sat, open mouthed, as I listened to a 15 year old recite a verse from the Quran in Arabic, and then proceed to explain that it was important for us to fear God, because when we fear Him, we begin to love Him (And no argument from me on that one!) He spoke with passion and clarity, and his respect for God was something I am sure his parents were very proud of.

It was obvious that he was just one of a number of children who had spoken in this manner on this particular programme.

Compare that to youth programming on 'Christian' television - especially that aimed at the same sort of age group. One such programme has regular content including games designed to make a mess or make the participants look foolish and 'relevant' discussions about sexuality or peer pressure with barely a nod to the fact that the Bible might speak to those issues. The most in-depth look at Scripture in these programmes is likely to be in trivia quiz format. The bulk of such programming is usually CCM.

Now, don't get me wrong. If a child is speaking things from a false religion, it makes no never mind how enthusiastically or reverently they do so. But if a child is capable of behaving reverently, passionately and intelligently about false religion, why on earth do we ever act like it is beyond them to behave in the same way about the true faith?

I know the reasoning behing such foolish attempts to appeal to young people, but the simple fact is that by attempting to gain or retain the attention of young people with empty frivolity, we actually rob them of the skills they are perfectly capable of learning and the very skills that will keep their faith active and alive as they grow to adulthood.

I know it's been said many times before, and by others more eloquent and influential than I, but it is a very alarming thing to see Islam more adept at training young people to love scriptures and theology than Christianity. It need not be so.

Some of our Christmas preparations.

High time for some light-hearted frivolity, methinks.

Yesterday, my family went on our annual trip to purchase one special tree decoration for the girls. Eden chose a fairy she called a 'mercy angel', because it has both hands cupped in front of it. I'm sure the people who designed it thought it was trying to catch snow, but Eden sees things through a very peculiar set of spectacles.
Ant already purchased a bright blue boy's first Christmas bauble for Reuben, Aurelia chose a small wool reindeer, and Constance, ever the individual, set her heart on a ginormous pink faberge egg (though thankfully not with a real Faberge price-tag).

Dan Phillips recently asked about Christmas music, and although I have quite a collection already, I have added a few new albums this year (Oh, how much do I love those generic classical CDs from Amazon...) One of my own favourite little Christmas traditions is when the decorations are all up, by the light of tree lights and candles, having a CD on low in the background and eating mince pies together and just enjoying each others company.

Christmas harp music works very well for this, and I've wanted to add some medieval Christmas folk to the collection for sometime, so I spent a few pounds on a CD of that this year and it's quite an experience.

One of my other Christmas indulgences is The Box of Delights, which I've mentioned before (not least because of the Doctor Who connection in the BBC production). We do actually watch it all year round, but I know of quite a few people who have the DVD and watch it episode by episode in the six-week run up to Christmas Eve, when the last episode is set.

It is quite scary in places, and if you're a CGI snob, you'll find the special effects dated, but for me, that's part of the charm. It's quaint in what the English would call a 'Sunday-tea-time-serial' way, much like the BBC versions of the Chronicles of Narnia, which I still prefer to the big-budget version, because I really think Edmund was portrayed much better on the small screen than the big.

The reason I mention The Box of Delights is that the BBC serial used part of The Carol Symphony by Victor Hely Hutchinson as the theme tune, which has been my other CD purchase this year. It's a beautifully evocative section which uses The First Nowell, and really makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Pure magic.

On giant rabbits.

Would you look at that, I'm still alive. I nearly wasn't, but that's medication for you. I'll be honest, I don't remember an awful lot about it, except that I spent a night in a Coronary Care Unit certain that I was being chased by a person dressed in a giant rabbit costume.

I'm not really sure how to adequately describe the experience of telling a giant rabbit there was no use hiding behind the curtain because I could see his shadow, so it's probably best just to leave it there.

I am tremendously grateful for all your prayers, and once more stunned and humbled by the gift of life we are given. Once my giant lapin friend had disappeared, I was able to make profitable use of the time, and was able to witness to a lady dying of emphysema in the bed opposite, who allowed me to pray with her before I left the ward today. Please do pray for her as you are able.

On a much more trivial note, I had a 'custard' moment about a childen's book I've been working on for well over a year now. If you've ever made custard, you know that you stir, and stir, and sometimes you wonder if it's ever going to thicken up, and suddenly it comes together and you couldn't tell exactly why, but there it is - Custard!

My story had lots of elements in place - main characters, neccessary research, a beginning and a middle. But there was no proper end because I just didn't know who the main Catalyst character was. I knew what he needed to do, but nothing drew all those tasks together well enough. And then, sitting awake, listening to the never-silent sounds of a hospital ward, I suddenly saw the final scene in my head (which I won't share, because that would be totally unfair to Dan Phillips) and there it was - Custard!

I also read a book of the letters and general notes of the young woman, Bernadette Soubirous, who was the child visionary at the famous Roman Catholic shrine of Lourdes. I've recently become fascinated by her, largely because some of the things she wrote were greatly helpful to me in one of my own personal crosses - learning to have a godly approach to suffering.

It was a fascinating book, by turns greatly encouraging, and yet deeply upsetting, too.

For instance, this was delightful to read;

Put faith into practice by thinking on these four truths: God is always present, Nothing happens without His permission or outside of His will, Anything we do to others we do to Him, All kindness and goodness are in Him.

But by the end of the book, I felt great sadness for Bernadette. She truly had a desperation to be holy, and she felt the weight of sin keenly. But she never seemed to find peace. Even now, her body lies in an open tomb, looking for all the world like she has just fallen asleep, well over a hundred years since she died a frightening and painful death.

I am challenged by her desperation to be holy. I am not a holy woman. I do not face all trials with bravery, I don't shun sinful thoughts as I should. Though I do, really, want to be a holy woman, my indwelling sin battles with me constantly. If I put any trust in the outworking of His sanctifying work in me, I should be very tempted to despair.

But this is why I know I must trust in Christ's finished work alone. I can add nothing to such a perfect work, because I just obscure it.

Help me rest in grace, Lord - not in complacency, but not in my own strivings with your Spirit at work within me, either. Lord, have mercy on all those who are tempted to rest elsewhere. We're all such weak sinners, Father, and we love even other human beings so imperfectly. To those of us that You give the grace to love you, Precious Father, have pity on our frailties and help us to encourage each other to trust in nothing but the enormous safety of your perfect, final and infinitely worthy sacrifice for us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

With a profoundly grateful heart...

...I encourage you to read this.

The Big question for today...

... is it complete madness to have a brand new cream carpet in anything other than a vacuum-sealed room?

(Oh, and I have registered with Facebook. If that means anything to you, you should tell me in the comments so I can have more friends than just my husband...)

Random stuff from my head.

I'm feeling decidedly uncuddly today. I have a post planned about slavery, still in progress. I'm succumbing to DJP-itis and in long-hand note-form it's too long. I shall have to prune, and right now, I don't want to do that, I might get frustrated and rip it up, and that would be silly and counter-productive.

We're making a Jesse tree at home right now. Painting and distressing 'tree bark', cutting out a million little green paper leaves to hide to crafty little hooks that will hold our decorations. The back room looks like Treebeard exploded in it.

I'm beginning to recover from my recent medication change, and the reason I can tell is because I'm getting animated about things it's helpful for me to get animated about, like the bible, and the truth of the gospel and the exclusive claims of Christ.

I'm also approaching another yearly anniversary of my birth - Thirty-One this time. I'm going to try and get a babysitter so that my husband and I can get to the evening service together, which will be a rare treat.

My recent guest poster asked me today what 'Comparatively' meant, so we've had fun looking at planets and stars, too. She now wants to make a plasticine model of the universe, but she's realized that if she wants to do it to scale, we'll have to buy £100 worth of yellow and orange for the sun. So we may have to be a little more inventive, I think.

I've been reading Revelation before bed for a few nights, and now I keep dreaming about volcanoes suddenly appearing all over Worcestershire. What can this mean...? I'm kidding.

About Toddworld

This is my first guest post, by my six year old daughter. She had something she really wanted to say, and asked if she could say it on my blog...

Toddworld sometimes sez things that you shudn't rearly obay. Like Todd sed that you can sometimes do things differantly than thay are sposd to be done but thats not troo about going to god. (Mama takes over as typist, because Eden was getting worried about her spelling) The very importantly thing is that you should trust that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. It's very important that everyone knows about this. You can't go any other way.