Getting All Orchestral

I interrupt the flow of insight into what’s been going on with me lately to give another update of sorts on the teaching front. Yes you do recall some of the sessions I’ve had of date as I’ve made note about them of late. The last note I made was the one before the big date on 20^th October. It was a big date as I was scheduled to do a micro-teach – that is prepare a lesson of 20 minutes to present to my peers. It is not as straightforward as it appears and the preparation work was likewise not that easy to do either. Still do it we had to and it was done. I was very disappointed in my effort. Very disappointed indeed.

What was illuminative about the experience looking back on it was how it didn’t actually subscribe to one of the lessons I’ve learnt and continue to learn from church. You see I remember clearly being upset about how I was doing at church. Especially on things like lessons or preaching I always felt somewhat as if once I had done it then I was under scrutiny. Had I done a good job, I didn’t always feel I had. It became an issue especially when I was asked to do stuff on a regional and national level. To me at that stage if you’re really going to ‘minister’ you have to be good. I mean there’s the usual Christian cliché about being anointed, but what that is all about is being in a stream of doing what God has called you to do.

When you’re there, then it’s a matter of submitting to that and going with it and that works just as much when you’re being a mother, a student, a bank clerk or a preacher. I didn’t feel I was being ‘good’. I thought I was just trotting, just giving out stuff cos I could just give out stuff. It’s not that I had to do 72 hours of deep biblical interrogation and a further 72 hours of cultural application before wrapping it with a 72 hours session of fasting and prayer before turning up to teach/preach. It’s just about …

Well where the breakthrough came for me and the teaching thing was first to realise that it didn’t matter whether it was a national, regional, local or family thing. The audience is always an audience of one. That one the one hand relieves the pressure and can heighten it all at the same time. It heightens it because no longer am I looking to ‘impress’ a crowd. Now I’m actually looking to get something done that will be pleasing to the Creator of the universe. In His presence there is no fooling of anyone, everything is exposed and there’s nothing to hide.

That however relaxes things immensely because then we are humbled to be in the presence of one who knows everything and everything I am and can do is down to Him. He knows my capabilities and in the light of who He is I can know what I am capable of and not only that but how it’s applicable to that given time. So I am free and impassioned to give of my best for Him out of gratitude and love for all He is.

Once in that frame of mind, I’m not under any pressure to perform and likewise I’m not under any pressure to know if I’ve performed well because the heart has been true and the focus has been single as well, not only that but because it has been responsibly based I have only gone as far as I’ve been led. That’s not to say others will like it, others will get it or it will be to anyone’s great taste. The deal is that I would have pleased the audience to whom I’ve directed it because of those factors.

I was fascinated relating that to the whole orchestra metaphor where you are an instrument among other instruments privileged to be playing a beautiful symphony. You can either play yourself or be arranged to play by the orchestrator being able to play at the right time, to add your notes and rhythm to the appropriate stage of the music and when it’s all together the blend of tone, feel, emotion and timing can make the heart soar. I forgot all about that on Tuesday 20^th October. Instead I was doing a micro-teach, it was a job to be done, it was a chores to be completed and as a result I forgot my whole part in God’s great symphony of life at that point. What a pity. What a shame.

It’s for similar reasons that I now face some interesting questions now as to where I fit in that symphony, what note I am to play at this particular time. When you’re going with the flow of what’s been played by the Lord you get to enjoy others’ contribution and see how yours fits with others and appreciate just how simple and yet complex the piece can be. It’s like a song, it may sound simple but when you check the component parts and their subtle arrangements you get to see why songs are not that simple and why the part we get to play in making a song is so crucial and why paying attention to the orchestrator and learning what the place we play is so important.

Oh and just out of interest, I passed the micro-teach, but as you know it’s not always the passing that counts it’s passing well. Where the song is concerned, thankfully it’s not just putting out a boring track of pop junk, but it’s a memorable musical masterpiece made by so many but orchestrated by and for the audience of One.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

The Erik Factor: For The Unsung Heroes

Working at the YMCA in the way I do is a bit funny. In other contexts the people I serve and come alongside could be seen as customers, clients, consumers, residents, service users or other terms of reference that sets our relationship relatively securely in set parameters. That doesn’t work for me though.

The proper term of reference for the young people that we serve is customers thereby taking any sense in which they’re to be ‘done to’ and rather seen as people of value receiving a service. That can work to some to an extent, but it’s useless to me. I develop relationships with the young people and get to them as much as they wish me to know them but the ideal is to build a relationship to an extent that I can call them friend. Between that point and the opening conversation they are someone I know and care for.

For the time being Erik falls into that category. We’ve spoken a bit and I know a few things about the guy, but it’s hardly enough for me to merit the honour of being called his friend. Of what I know of the guy, though, he is one that I’d like that title to be conferred from him to me. In the short time since I’ve come across him he’s been a good laugh and eager to join in with anything that CSD is doing including the recent Restaurant event that I referred to in a previous post.

At this event I was particularly taken by his diligence in using his talents in serving in what I’m sure would be positively termed as the catering domestic engineer but was known as the dude who did the washing up. I notice that the dude that does the washing up doesn’t really get much credit but the efforts of the dude that washes up is noticeable when it’s not done. When it’s done shabby it’s also an issue, but you don’t see magazines adorning the shelves of a newsagent on Washing Up Today. It got me thinking about a larger theme from scripture.

He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Mark 3:16-19)

When people name the 12 disciples I can almost guarantee most will not remember Thaddaeus. In fact dudes will only remember it because it’s a name highlighted because it is easy to forget it! Likewise in life there are always those unsung heroes whose names we never hear about whose contributions have been vital to reflecting God’s Kingdom on earth.

As God knows each bird and has numbered every hair on every head, so He knows the name of those that don’t get the attention, are not in the spotlight.

In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest. We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts, but we don't have to be modest about other parts. God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honoured, the whole body will be happy. (1 Cor. 12:22-26)

Paul here then gives the big up to unsung hero, even as some parts of our body don’t necessarily get others ogling in admiration and yet we know that without them we know things would suffer. So we’re called to make a practise now of showing honour to those less popular parts of the community – the Eriks of this world. The subject is close to my heart because my dad was an Erik, the dude that would come in and set up the room for the congregational service and would sort out all the menial stuff that we used to take for granted. He was well suited to the role of deacon in our church in the sense that he had a servant’s heart while bringing no attention to himself and being one of those unsung heroes. So this is to all those who don’t get the credit afforded to the loudmouths who get the credit for their singing, talking, writing or hey even blogging. Thanks to the Eriks of this world – God has said your reward is great!

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Celebrating Success Together

I don’t usually endeavour to be ambitious in a blog entry, my process is to write it in a word document and try to keep it to a page. Sometimes I go over, sometimes I go way over, but often I stick to the target. In this case though I am deliberately trying something audacious in combining the following – breakfast, the national identity of my daughters, Usain Bolt’s World Record breaking victory, Paul and Barnabas, Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, the reconciling work of Jesus Christ and my approach to supporting Liverpool this season. Reckon I can do it? Let’s have a go.

So today has been fascinating. I got to spend some time with my children. I educated them in the ways of appreciating Match of the Day even if it is on a Sunday morning. We then enjoyed another of my mother’s sumptuous breakfasts. Seriously people, my mum is feeding me up food and proper I cannot complain – let me just paint the picture for you in words – fried dumplings and fried plantain on one plate, beans and callaloo on another. These are not small plates either, so you know that once I was fed I was sorted for the rest of the day! Authrine and I spent some quality time with our precious daughters taking them out to Hanley and then to the park around the corner. There was just enough time to enjoy a bit of a break at home before Authrine and I were out again for a marvellous afternoon/evening’s session at church.

Our story begins in earnest though with the events of what took place on our arrival back home. Our precious daughters greeted the returning parents with their usual glee and enthusiasm and we entered the living room to see the television showing Usain Bolt’s celebrations at clinching the gold at the World Championships at a world record time.

Now imagine the scene, Authrine: Jamaican; Patsy: Jamaican; My Mother: Jamaican all full grown women technically all making a whole heap of noise at their countryman’s achievements as well as Asaph Powell’s bronze finish. So as that celebration kicks off Abigail and Deborah (both born in England to a self-confessed Englishman … that’s me) started joining in with the celebrations in similar mood to the technically grown up people. To this scene my mother rejoiced and proclaimed that indeed my children were Jamaicans. You can imagine my joy at that news.

There is something to celebrating together, though. There is something to being united in the achievements of others almost as though you achieved it yourself and when we are together and united by a shared bond your success is my success and vice-versa. So it’s a real shame when things happen to prevent us from celebrating success together. For example I am currently reading a memoir on the time a journalist spent with Brian Clough. (Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years With Brian Clough by Duncan Hamilton.)

The success of Clough – getting two provincial sides completely unfancied to English and, in Nottingham Forest’s case, European glory – was down to his partnership with Peter Taylor. They learnt to celebrate success together because they stuck at it together, recognising what each contributed to the other. Underneath there were issues that led to the sad demise of the relationship n and just goes to show what happens when our focus is taken off together and is more self-inclined.

Just because we see that in ‘the world’ don’t think even heroes of the Bible are immune. When reading of Clough and Taylor I was reminded of Paul and Barnabas. If you read the book you’ll see that Taylor was at first seen as the senior figure of the partnership because of his age and experience, but soon enough the younger guy comes to the fore. Not that dissimilar to how Barney and Saul were before it became apparent that the partnership was more Paul and Barney. For all their successes together and sticking at it together their missionary partnership came to an end in acrimonious circumstances. To read it is so sad again to see how stubborn people can be especially in their opinions of others.

When I talk about those relationships I mean it in the same way that our Creator made us so we can celebrate success together. When you read of how the pinnacle of creation – man meets women in the garden made for them – you are reading something with God saying that is very good – that’s success and sin coming ruins everything – that self-inclination again. We are no longer able to celebrate success together, that’s what makes Jesus’ sacrifice so amazing and so relieving, because now that brings us back together – man and man as well as more importantly man and God – and it puts everything else in context.

Like seeing your daughters celebrate the victory of the fastest man in the world.

Or football.

Now if you know me, you know I love me football and I’m a Liverpool fan. Yet as the season starts I find myself in a funny position. I want them to win the League, I think they can and hope they will. First game of the season wasn’t the best start, but I remain hopeful. For all that, though, I find myself actually weaning off the devotion I used to have for the club. I want to glorify God more in my enjoyment of football and in as much as that calls for enjoying footie and supporting a side, that support doesn’t have to become so precious, so much a part of me that my moods are affected by it and my relationships are affected one way or another. Indeed win, lose or draw the bigger picture can allow me to enjoy football for its positive qualities of bringing people to celebrate success together.

More importantly as we enjoy it, this can be the basis on which links can be made to something even better of eternal value that’s worth celebrating together forever.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Daily Thoughts – Celebrate: Intimates

Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. (John 2:2)

Jesus’ first miracle took place at a wedding party. It is as if He wanted people to keep on celebrating one of the most precious moments in life. The idea of keeping the wine flowing may seem shocking to the prudish, but when you consider two becoming one was the first human relational contact recorded at creation, it’s no surprise that the One who created it would want us to celebrate it. Even beyond marital union sharing a love for each other that brings a sense of oneness – community in all its splendour – is something worth celebrating.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
da man cd