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Music Music Reviews Some Great Stuff I've Heard Recently

2024 Album Of the Year: Neil Cowley Trio ‘Entity’

Cover of Entity by Neil Cowley Trio, featuring the faces of each band member melded together on a dark blue background and with a blue-ish tint.

Going back a good few years I’ve done an end of year playlist/article of my favourite music of the year. This was in the slightly pretentious frame of mind that people would care or want to read about the music I listened to and liked. Odd, I know. But then so is having my own website.

2024 is a bit different. I haven’t written about music very much at all this year and yet Last FM (yes, I do still use it) tells me that I’ve listened to 1412 albums this year. That’s a lot of albums.

Standing head and shoulders above all other music I’ve heard this year is Entity by Neil Cowley Trio. I’ve linked to it from Spotify below but I’d urge you to go and find it wherever and however you listen to music and give your ears a beautiful period of time as a special gift.

You can buy the record direct from the band here: https://neilcowleytrio.bandcamp.com/album/entity

Sometimes music is special because of brilliance. Sometimes it is special because of exceptional composition. At other times it is the energy or vibe that comes out of the speakers as you listen which grabs and holds attention. Some bands have the capacity to be playful. Others have a talent for a tone and timbre which is almost majestic in its sombre resonance. Once described as ‘jazz for people who like Radiohead’ – which definitely placed them firmly in my wheelhouse, Neil Cowley Trio were, from the beginning of 2009, my favourite band until they went on hiatus in 2017. They were a special band, with the piano of Neil Cowley seeming to chime perfectly with the rhythm section of Rex Horan and Evan Jenkins whether they were going for a rambunctious cacophony or a or a maudlin sense of melancholy. Cowley’s humour was never far from the surface and through a series of increasingly intricate albums and complimentary art and video projects culminating in Spacebound Apes they stayed at the top of the tree for a prolonged period. And then they went away, and it was very sad (at least for me!).

It got to the point where I had given up hope of ever listening to new music from the guys as a trio. And then, lo! There was news of Entity and great excitement ensued.

When a band comes back from a long layoff, like a footballer recovered from a cruciate ligament injury there are questions: will they still be as quick, as lithe, as powerful as they used to be? Will the heights that might have been open to them in the past now seem distant false hopes in the rear-view mirror of history? On rare occasions, a reuniting after a hiatus brings something better than what came before. But it is all too rare. And so pressing play on Entity brings with it a sense of risk as well as the possibility of ultimately gratifying reward.

Having given the game away with the title of my post you’ll have guessed by now which way it went for me. As Marble fades up and into view there’s an immediate sense that all is well with the world. I don’t know how he does it but Neil has this recognisable tonal and rhythmic quality to his playing that as soon as the percussive, haunting chordal melody sets off the listener familiar with the band’s catalogue knows they are ‘back’. And then Rex comes in with a gorgeous picked bass part beginning in the high register, before Evan’s toms herald the synergy of the band returning to their rightful place at the heart of the British jazz scene. All within the first two minutes of the album.

I have to tell you that even by this stage I knew that Entity and I were going to be good friends. Having been slightly concerned that it would be a kind of uber disappointment the sense of relief was palpable. I was feeling all of this as the marbles skittered along in a series of off-kilter triplets and semi-arpeggios before returning to the kind of chorus-esque harmonious figure Cowley has been writing for decades but which always sound fresh and always sound like him.

Those Claws showcases a haunting atmosphere, ably augmented by the beautiful mix from Ethan Johns. An emotional listen indeed. V&A harks back to the days of Spacebound Apes with echoey synths giving extra room to the depth and resonance of the acoustic trio in the foreground. The playful Father Daughter gives something of a palette cleanse whilst losing none of the hold of depth and power that the album builds and maintains throughout. Broad reminds of one of my favourite songs of all time in Clumsy Couple from long, long ago, whilst Adam Alphabet sounds like the kind of song which has enough languid drive on record to be something which could be built with real power in the live arena. Similarly with later album highlight Shoop we’re shown that the band have lost nothing of their previous penchant for marrying the pithy with the profound. By the time of closer Entity we’re in the realms of Grace one of the band’s most famed songs of yore, being given the full band treatment.

Having named around three quarters of the songs here it should be clear that this is an album which doesn’t so much have highlights as which holds together as a coherent and beautiful whole. In these days of uncertainty it is a gift of beauty and wonder that the band have given to those who will listen to Entity. Whether the band would like their work to be described as comforting I have no idea, but that’s how I find it as I listen. In this changing world some things do indeed remain the same and one of the things that has remained the same, in spite of the odds and plentiful circumstances mitigating against the prospect is that Neil Cowley Trio remain a vital and delightful act. I have written before about them being, somewhat hyperbolically, the best band in the world. I’m yet to be dissuaded, in spite of knowing full well how subjective and perhaps foolish that claim might be.

Buy the album, devour the album, gift the album (I have), luxuriate in it, tell people about it, go and see the band live. I’ve been of the view for some time that there is something full of grace and mercy in the way music can soothe, salve, challenge, encourage and send people forth in to the lives they live determined to be and do better, kinder and more generously. Perhaps it comes from the place of having a faith and seeing what beautiful art can do to impact and effect people, often regardless of the initial intentions of those who created it, particularly whether God has any heft in their minds, process and creativity. All I’ll say is that this music draws me onwards to something better and greater in a way which other music does not, and for that I am very grateful indeed.

Entity is my album of the year. I hope you love it as much as I do.

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Music Reviews Some Great Stuff I've Heard Recently

Off To the Luna ‘The Pond, The Fire and the Macrocasm’ EP Review

We live in times which can feel heavy, almost oppressive. We know, instantaneously and in an ongoing sense, more about what is going on around us, both near at hand and all around the world than any group of people in history ever has. People, us, have always been, throughout history, just as we are now. It’s just that these days we know more about how each of us are, what we do, what we think and why we do and think those things. There’s so much information and data around to process and assimilate, a lot of it pointing to things either getting worse, or the future at the very least being far from certain. It’s a lot. Beauty can seem a distant dream.

There is plenty of good, plenty of hope, plenty of joy, of course. That stuff doesn’t get so much publicity, or to the forefront of minds, or to the point of shaping hearts and lives so often though. As I get older I find it hard to fathom why. Where beauty is found, we can enjoy it, share it and encourage others to find it too. That seems like a good way to live.

Music has so often spoken of something divine to me. Plenty of it that has has by no means had a faith-based or Christian undertone. I say this as someone who themselves is a Christian. Where there is tangible, lasting beauty I find God is never far away. For me at least music draws me to God in a way that most other things do not. I know it doesn’t work that way for everyone. There’s something deeply inspiring about hearing quality music which at one point didn’t exist and then through the spark of creativity of individuals or groups came into being. That’s before skills of arranging, production, engineering, mixing and mastering are added to the pot. Music connects us to something beyond ourselves, for the moments we listen and in the memories we hold having done so. I’m so thankful for it. For many years I wrote reviews for various magazines and websites, as well as this one. As I did a lot of it was to seek to encourage people who had worked incredibly hard and delivered something beautiful in the hope that more would hear. Music reviews can often seem little more than a marketing exercise which serves artist, record label/management company. There is scope to be naive enough to think that writing about a great record or a developing artist is a good thing to do in and of itself in the hope that even one set of ears and one heart are stirred to new love and joy because of hearing a set of songs. I am that naive.

With that in mind, I want to introduce you to Off to the Luna. In late 2023 an email popped into my inbox out of the blue from Matis, Santiago and Simon who make up the band. They were releasing the second single from the project, Suspiro Del Pajero. Would I listen? Their PR write-up noted that they purveyed a cinematic, piano-driven stream of jazz. This is right up my street so I pressed play, not knowing what to quite expect.

When you do, as I hope you will, you’ll encounter an enigmatic, gradually unfurling whirl of beauty as the synergy between the neo-classical piano, keening washes of strings and percussion which seems like a distant ship coming into shore radiate a perfect symmetry. It builds but never explodes, reaching a perfect point of crescendo before falling away at the last. I was hooked on first listen.

The previous single, which makes up the EP’s opening track, is To Explore Or To Lose the Way Although coming to it later, I was again bowled over. Here, the piano is stronger, more dynamic and the song builds from a purposeful start by way of a ricocheting drum part into a wholly satisfying climax as, again, the trio are in perfect synergy with one another. Each note, whether in the pared-down sections or in the beautifully bold climax is perfectly placed. The mix is stunning. It is hard to describe how beautiful this song is.

I’m hooked, there’s beauty teeming throughout these two songs. As I said earlier, for me this is where music points me to a deeper well, something beyond the here and now, the everyday. It might seem grandiose. It probably even seems silly to some who might read this. But that’s the beauty of life and the subjective elements of how music can impact us, the aspects we can view it from, the perspectives different of us can take on the same combination of notes, chords and melodies. When we hear things we can be instantly transported to the first time we did, or the time we last heard something like it, the places we were in, the people who were with us, even the sights and smells of that time. I think we can also similarly look forwards in the dark days of autumn and winter when I first heard these songs to the possibility of a better future. You might disagree, but it does me some good!

After these first two songs I was sold on Off to the Luna. The delight was that the other three tracks on this, their debut EP, add still further to the delights on offer.

Night Fable begins gently before caterwauling through deliciously cinematic sections which are akin to the best Neil Cowley Trio or others like Portico Quartet or Gogo Penguin bring to the table. At just under 8 minutes it is somewhat of an epic. Even this is surpassed by the following Boreal which for the first time includes vocal melodies, which augment piano, picked strings and washes of cymbals, with another drum part which is akin to a pushy drum n bass drive. As with much here, the song builds and builds and builds to a wholly satisfying height. Closing track Shiv’ah feels darker and bolder in tone. Synths and processed drums building to the resolution of a suitably funereal (in the right sense) melodic piano driven conclusion. Melodically and structurally this song moves around much more, never staying in one progression for long, rising and falling in volume, and with real beauty in the bass parts. The song and the EP conclude in an echo-laden and thought-provoking way which in spite of what one assumes the song is about, leaves the listener hoping that far from the end, this is only the beginning for Off to the Luna

I make no claim to be a real writer. I write about music (and other things) at largely random moments when the mood takes me and mostly because something I’ve heard or seen has mattered enough to me that I want other people to know about it. This is what happened here. This EP moved me to the extent that, somewhat rarely for me in these days of a never-ending deluge new music to hear and where music has seemingly succumbed to being something we consume and dispose of rather than returning to again and again over a period of years, I keep returning to it and finding new beauty, new possibility. Having promised the band I would write about it I am sorry it took so long, but I hope that as you hear the record you will have a similar experience to me.

Categories
Music Reviews Some Great Stuff I've Heard Recently

My Favourite New (or Nearly-New) Music of 2023

I don’t listen to as much new or nearly new music as I used to. However, when I came to try and put together an annual playlist I found it quite easy to come up with a huge range of music that was released either in 2023 or very recently which had really floated my boat this year. The genres range from heavy rock, via emo, ambient, various shades of jazz, singer-songwriter and folk all the way to a solitary Christian song (or at least a solitary one not written by me. I was a bit cheeky and included one of mine) so if it starts off in the wrong lane for you keep scrolling down and you’re bound to find something which is at least interesting and might even be enthralling.

Even throwing this together quite quickly I am reminded that music is vital and can be really life-giving. I’m also reminded that independent musicians (and the venues they play in and the ecosystems of family and business they develop) should be supported. Culture is important. The arts are important. All the more in times of crisis – real or imagined, political, military, religious or environmental – music can stir the heart and mind to action and hope like almost nothing else. There is more to life than what gets played endlessly on loops in every public place. Seek out beautiful music. I’ve always been convinced that God is at the heart of everything creative that is beautiful. It helps if the creators know that God is why they’re doing something, but even for those who don’t, even for those who would be appalled to consider that God had inspired them (least of all because they think God doesn’t exist) there’s something wonderful about music and creativity which leaves me certain that God has a hand in it somewhere.

Enjoy the playlist. Check out the albums the songs I’ve listed come from. If it is within your compass to do so buy the albums the songs come from as this really helps artists to keep going. Most of all, listen with open ears and hearts and enjoy.

Have a great Christmas 2023.

Categories
News Ruthless Trust

Announcement! Announcement! Light Has Come

I started an album in 2020. It is now 2023 but, finally, on March 21st you will be able to hear the first single from my new project Ruthless Trust. The track is called Light Has Come. I wrote it in 2016 about Boris Johnson, Brexit, poverty, inward-looking people and the risk I could see that nice things like eugenics might be around the corner. All infused with the fact that, try as we might, no human being can individually or even in conjunction with lots and lots and lots of others come close to providing the kind of life and hope that we all need. The light we need has come in to the world, so why bother walking in the dark? Seems a bit silly, no? That’s what the song is about. It rocks hard. We (Harun and I) made a video for it last year when I had had one of the worst night’s sleep I’ve ever had in a very loud and too expensive hotel the night before. You can see that on March 21st too. There’s a link all set up and ready on the Videos page. The song sounds like a big mix of what people who liked British rock c1995-8 might make when they reach the point of being so frustrated with the world that they just want to play everything as loudly and aggressively as possible. It sounds like me, but better than I ever have and I’m delighted with it. Which makes it ironic that to all intents and purposes I am a brand new artist as I haven’t released anything at all in nearly 10 years. Please help by listening and telling other people to listen too.

The album Ruthless Trust will follow in May. Before that there’ll be two more singles, which I’ll be saying a lot more about soon.

And so I’m gently grinding my way into gear to get ready to promote something new. It’s been a long time and the whole landscape of music and promotion has changed to the point that I feel oooooollllld as I come to trying to ask you to listen to my songs. But, you know, please do. I think this album is by far the best thing I’ve ever made and this first song is a really good kick off for it.

Since I last wrote anything here I also changed jobs and am now in what the manager of the football team I Chaplain for calls ‘holy recruitment’. I help those who are thinking of being ministers in the Church of England in the area I live in to work out if that is what they are actually being invited to do. It’s been a big shift. There is lots that’s good about it. It meant leaving Emmanuel, where I’d been working and enjoyed being part of a community since 2014, which even 9 months later feels like a fresh loss and a lack in my life.

I’m also older and grumpier. Cerebral Palsy is remorseless and my body, whether I look after it well or not, changes and finds new ways to ache and fail. Tremendous stuff.

But, mostly, things are actually pretty good and I have a new single out on March 21st, so how could things be better? Pre-save it by clicking on the beautiful cover below.

Categories
Faith

Waiting For the Phone To Ring & Hoping It Doesn’t

I’m sitting down to write this as a kind of reflection in progress. I say in progress because the event(s) I’m reflecting on as I’m sitting here ruminating are only in the midst of their processing. How I feel today is not necessarily how I’ll feel after the next conversation I have on the phone.

It’s been that kind of week. Each time the phone rings, change happens. Some calls have led to minor improvements in mood and outlook. Others the opposite and more than one has brought quite a swirl of shocking emotions, competing for attention in my increasingly-stretched and pressed emotional view.

Just under two weeks ago, my family suffered an unexpected and sudden bereavement. Trained in pastoral work and care as I am, quite experienced in doing it pretty well as I’m told I am, after those first few times the phone rang to offer increasingly desperate and then ultimately crushing news, comforting words seemed far from my mind. Presence, quiet consolation, mixed with a raging sense of the unfortunate unfairness of it all, they’re what came to me then and have sustained me ever since. I hope I’ve been of some support and use to my family in their grief, still so new and raw, but even if I haven’t, I’ve given what I had, what  God gave me when I prayed urgent, hushed prayers asking for ‘enough’ for today and then that tomorrow would bring enough for that day. God has been faithful, kind and generous as have so many of our family and friends, and yet, still I wish what happened hadn’t happened. Death and grief are fine enough when they’re distant, theoretical concepts, but when they come close the feelings they engender, the tiredness, the bone tiredness that’s been part of my life for 12 days now, that’s what I think will change how I talk to bereaved families or families whose loved ones are close to the end. Anyone who’s been through it will probably remember, or still be experiencing the feeling. Being a professional minister means that I sometimes have to do the professional work of supporting grief and loss, but it is so important that any of us who have this privilege don’t detach ourselves so far from the visceral pain of what is happening that we seem aloof. The most helpful things that have happened over the last few days are people who have asked us ‘how are you?’ or who have turned up at the door with food we didn’t ask for or realise we needed but which have meant we haven’t had to think. Thinking is hard. Thinking is tiring. Decisions are distant dreams. So I all of a sudden am very keen on provided soup, casserole and the like.

All of that would and probably should be enough, but then a couple of days ago when the phone rang, it was for a different reason. On the line when I picked up was the Family Liaison Officer from a prison not too far from us. As soon as the prison was named I knew who it was about, but what I was told next really did shock me. A prisoner who I an others at Emmanuel befriended through our Foodbank and other work and who became part of our Church family was seriously ill with Covid-19, she said. He was in a bad way. My heart sank. How sad. He’s due out this year. The shock didn’t end there though. The prisoner, my friend, had named me as his next of kin. Was I willing to take on the role? Having then as I do now, not much idea of what that might entail I thought I ought to say yes.

What a privilege, a sad and humbling privilege. On the one hand that the work I and many others had done with him had had such an impact; on the other that there was no one else who he felt he could trust and rely on to take on this role.

That was on Wednesday morning. I’m writing this on Friday afternoon. In the intervening time, P has deteriorated and rallied, deteriorated and rallied. I have decisions and judgement calls on his behalf which have all been best-guesses. Apparently the answer ‘keep him alive please’ is not detailed enough when responding to the question ‘How would you like us to proceed’, for instance. Just this afternoon I have spoken to the prison FLO, a Dr who is treating him and a member of the hospital’s fantastic chaplaincy team. What I’ve gleaned is that all of them are fantastic and want the best for P and are doing the very best they possibly can to bring it about. It is still very much touch and go what will happen in the coming time. This afternoon P has been asking if I could go and see him. It is, I have to say, pretty gutting that I can’t at the moment.

So, rather than just tell you a long-winded piece of a tale with an unknown ending, how about some reflections….

First, at the moment, the two situations I’ve described above are all I can think about at the moment. As I’m typing I know that there are some people I work with who are pretty unhappy with how things are going at work. I also know that the Church of England, of which I am a part and who to an extent I represent, has got itself in more than one media kerfuffle over the last 24 hours. I also know that all over the place people are receiving news, both good and bad, that the team I support and chaplain for, Northampton Town, have a game tomorrow and plenty more besides. Ordinarily, of course, all of these things are important, some of them crucial, even, but at the present moment I couldn’t really care less about most of that. I wonder where God is in that thought? I wonder how it might impact how I talk to those who are dealing with things of this nature (because I know there are a lot of them) in the future that might be changed compared to how I might have been three weeks ago?

What would Jesus say to P, or to those treating him, caring for and about him, or to my family, or to me, if we paused to listen today? Maybe ‘come to me all who are weary’ might be something. Would Jesus weep? Would he rage? I think I know what he would not do: walk by on the other side. I think he would point out all the ways he is at present involved, working, caring for, soothing and challenging in equal measure. I think at some point he would ask ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ and then do it, to show that this world is not all there is, that what we see in front of us, the failures, the mess of our own making and that made by others, is actually gloriously passing away, and would give a sign that the better world we are promised and of which we dream is closer than we even dare to believe. I think he would do all this and more.

A little while back, in a previous lockdown, far, far away before any of this happened (the end of October) I wrote a piece about starting to record a new album called Ruthless Trust. Sometimes my trust is wafer thin. Sometimes it’s thinner than that, whatever that is, but at times like these, when I honestly have no clue what to do or say, it’s a surprising comfort to me to be able to say ‘I am no longer my own’ and that in some small way I have understood a little of what it means to enter into the fellowship of the suffering that Jesus went through for me, for my family, for P, for those treating and caring for and about him. I’d give a lot to not have gone through the last two weeks, or to have watched those I love go through the last two weeks, but it seems like all I can do is persevere and hope that in doing that, faith and character follow and that out of all of that, this maelstrom of words I have written here which gives you an insight into a little of the chaos of my brain at the moment, new hope would be born. I want that hope to be firm, not in a concept or a thing, but in the One who is making all things new.

In the meantime, if you pray, please do for my family, for me, for P and all who have not had pieces written about them today but who also need some comfort, some peace and some strength to carry on.

The phone only rang 3 times while I was writing this. I hope it doesn’t ring again for a good while.

Categories
Disability

On the Value Of A Human Person

We all know we live in challenging times. When we are under pressure or under challenge, perhaps even under persecution, it’s often the case that what we really think about the things that matter comes more readily to the fore. We don’t have the strength, or the capacity, to pretend. We get closer than we usually do to saying what we really think; we prioritise the things or the people that are most valuable or precious to us; the values we hold and the lengths we would go to to gain or to protect them become obvious, when we would usually try and keep our personal and privately held motivations to ourselves

Over the last few weeks, I’ve read too many times that the lives of ‘vulnerable’ people should be sacrificed, in whatever sense that particular thought is expressed or meant, so that everyone else can ‘get back to normal.’ This isn’t theoretical, it’s personal. To me. If you think, or say that stuff, do you know what it says to me when I read it?

It makes me think you think the lives of disabled/elderly/unwell people are worth less than those who are, at the moment, none of those things. It makes me wonder if you realise you may well, sadly, be any of them, or all of them, someday.

It makes me wonder what you would do in response to a govt policy, now or in the more distant future, which said that ‘we can’t possibly afford to support people’ or something like that. Would you vote for a party saying that? I wonder these things. It’s more than possible that one of the outcomes of the economic and health and social care policies pursued during 2020 and beyond will have societal consequences. They will undoubtedly have fiscal consequences. All this bailing people and industries out was not, I believe, done out of largesse. We and our descendants will very likely be ‘paying back’ what has been paid out for a long time to come. In these uncertain circumstances, who will be valued, prioritised, encouraged, supported? Can we afford to support those who aren’t at present able to work to support themselves? What happens if we make the decision that ‘we’ can’t? My question would rather be, can we afford not to?

All of us have changing circumstances. Not only that, but they are constantly subject to change and often the change is outside of our control, however hard we try to pretend we have it all sorted. Not all of us live to an old age, but all of us are vulnerable, all of the time. All of us have underlying conditions. Some of us have over(?)lying conditions too. Do we want to live in a society that seeks to deny or demonise this idea? That’s one of many things I think is at stake here. The slow, gentle progress towards a thinking which makes covert or overt eugenics seem to be a sensible policy. And that is not acceptable to me.

If you’re a Christian like me, the language being used in public discourse, often by prominent people of faith, ought to give us pause for thought. Is the value of a human life only measured in terms of an economic unit, our productivity and net give and take? I don’t think people would say it is, but in practice it looks like a lot of think that way, judging by what we do, what we think and what we say. We all need to come to terms with the uncomfortable truth that ‘vulnerability’ is a breath away for any of us. If and when you or I become vulnerable, how do we want the society we are part of to respond or treat us?

And, speaking to people of faith again, how are we going to work to show that there is a hope-filled way of living which shows what a huge lie it is to think that ‘survival of the fittest’ has ever been a good way to choose how to live? Our faith ought to have something to say about this idea. If you’re not a person of faith, your ethical senses ought to start tingling, all of ours should, wherever our foundations are found and placed. Either every human being is of equal value (I believe this deeply) or they are not. If the prevailing wisdom is going to be that each human being is only valuable if able to perform certain functions, I think this is hugely dangerous and will oppose it with every fibre of my being.

 I know others have other views. My main point is, it actually hurts me to see what I perceive to be hard-heartedness towards others coming from people. I hope that I don’t fall into that trap, but I know I do sometimes and I’m sorry for that. It is not ‘woke’ to say that it matters greatly how a society behaves towards those who are poor, or vulnerable. If we harden our hearts and look after ourselves, good does not automatically follow. 

As an impaired and disabled person (those are not the same thing) I have spent a lot of time thinking about how I am valued. It follows that if I think I’m valuable then others ought to be too, no? If I decide because of the prevailing wind of things saying that I’m not valuable because (pick a reason) I wear glasses, can’t walk, can’t reach high shelves or cupboards, sometimes find it hard to do my job because of physical or mental/emotional impairments or ill-health or myriad other reasons, then it follows that I can both isolate myself from reality and also not value others. I am forced to look up to those whose function is higher than mine and I am forced to value them more highly. Is that the way we want it?

Alternately, if others are allowed, or even positively encouraged, to ascribe value to me and place me on a particular echelon or rung simply due to my impairment or functional ability, voiding my God-given personhood and identity, that means that it follows that beneath a certain echelon or rung a person could be deemed not valuable enough, too expensive, too needy and so on. It might seem that we in Britain are a long way from seeing or describing people in this way, but the recent debates in media and on social media about vulnerable people leaves me feeling at beast queasy and at worst fearful. I might be deemed valuable at the moment because I’m a public figure in a job which some people think is worth something, but it won’t always be that way. What happens when the protections afforded to me by my role in society are taken away? It’ll happen one day. It could happen to any one of us.

Jesus said that the way that people would know that those who followed him were his followers was that they would love one another. This is not a theoretical concept. It needs to be seen in practice and only when it is seen in practice can we truly be able to call ourselves Christians. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, I would say that loving one another, in the way of sacrifice, service, working for the good and benefit of all, those ideas should form the core of who we are or seek to be, whatever our ideology. If we love one another, that means that I don’t need to spend so long worrying about loving or taking care of myself (although valuing the self is important, certainly) because someone else will love, care for, support of me. That might seem twee or naive to you but I would contend that it is only when we live this way that we can claim to live in anything approaching a decent society. At the moment, the promotion of the cult of the individual, which we see everywhere, including in the Church, means that if some people at the bottom of the ladder’s rungs are gently eased off their perch, we don’t see it or don’t mind quite as much, because we ourselves, and the core of family and friends around us that we love, are ok. This is not a long term solution. It’s short-termism born out of fear. We need each other. Each person is precious. Each life is valuable. At present it is undoubtedly the case that not everyone agrees with my last two statements. The battle is on, one heart and one mind at a time, to turn it around. At the moment, on the particular evening that I’m turning a series of tweets that I fired off at relative random into something a little more formed, I find myself concerned. What are we about, as people? What do we think is important?

I’m vulnerable. You’re vulnerable. We’re all vulnerable. We have just celebrated Christmas. Some of us still are celebrating Christmas. At Christmas, we as Christians mark the birth of a vulnerable baby (all babies are inherently vulnerable) ‘born to save the sons of earth, born to give us second birth’ as the Carol you’re now humming goes. God decided that each and every human life was of such value that it was worth taking the slightly madcap and undoubtedly a little bit dangerous step of becoming vulnerable in order to both fully identify with what it is to be human and also to show us that the way to true fullness of life is the way of sacrifice, of true self-giving. It’s not fashionable, it’s not cool, it doesn’t make sense to most people, but as long as it makes sense to enough of us, there’s a little bit of hope that things can be different, that they can be better. I don’t want things to return to normal. Normal wasn’t and isn’t good enough for me. I want to see life transformed, one heart and one mind at a time, so that we can truly say that we did our best to love one another, whether we think of ourselves as vulnerable or not. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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Ruthless Trust

Ruthless Trust

Today is quite an exciting day for me. I start recording on my first musical project since 2013. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but a lot has happened in our world since then. Back then, when we were working on Mirrors, my friends and I, on both sides of the Atlantic, had no idea what would happen to each of us, to people we love and care for, and to the world at large over the next few years.

In the intervening time, I’ve become quite, ahem, busy, with my Church work and all the other things I’m privileged to do. I’ve also missed music. A lot. Writing about something is not the same as actually doing it, so I’m really excited to record these songs and see what everyone else thinks of them. I’m really glad and grateful, too, to be working with some fantastic people on this project. What’s best is that all of us have other things going on in our lives, so we can make this album at our pace, release it when we’re happy with it, and make sure that, as best as we can, we capture what we feel needs saying at the moment and how it needs to be said. It’s a sign of the times in my life that we’re beginning this recording with a three day session. That’s the time I have spare…

A couple of years ago now, I was at Lee Abbey in Devon, and Simon, who was the warden of the house at that time really grabbed my attention when he used the phrase ‘ruthless trust’ about how he felt I would need to live in the months and years to come. A lot of people say a lot of things to me. I say a lot of things to people, too. It’s interesting though that the odd phrase or few sentences of all of the conversations we have can really stick with us and either change the course of our lives or at least give them a renewed focus and vision. That’s what Simon did for me that day. He probably didn’t even realise it, either.

More than anything else that this year has demanded from all of us, a ruthless trust in the people, institutions or gods we follow has to be one of the most important. All of us follow something or someone, from a football team, to a political party, to the calendar of the social club or group we belong to. Or a religious faith. For me, leading the Churches I serve and trying to support the huge and wonderful community it is my privilege to work with as part of my ‘job,’ from the schools I visit, to Northampton Town, Weston Favell Centre Foodbank, to MPs and everything in between, a ruthless trust is the thing that has kept me going, even as I’ve been doing most of it over the last 7 months from an office at home. I would be lost without the confidence that the One I trust most of all is actually worthy of that trust, that it really is worth basing my life around being a friend and follower of God – what a gift that is – and so it seems like a good time to be making an album of songs that reflect that trust. The songs are also angry, aggressive, disappointed, frustrated and plenty more besides. They will, I hope, be pretty loud, and I’m so fortunate that I have a great team of people joining with me to bring them to life. I have no idea when the songs will see the light of day but I’m posting this so that whoever reads this can see that my intention is there and that I’m getting started on the endeavour. There’s something good about admitting publicly that you’re doing something. It brings with it a sense of purpose, but also an accountability that the aim is to see this through to completion and bring whoever chooses to give time to listening to the songs something to actually enjoy.

So, this is Ruthless Trust. It’s just getting started but I feel like we’re all going to need a lot of it before all this is over.

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2020 Bible Reflections

May 4th 2020: Psalm 112

Praise the Lord.

Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
    who find great delight in his commands.

2 Their children will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in their houses,
    and their righteousness endures forever.
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
    for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
    who conduct their affairs with justice.

6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
    they will be remembered forever.
7 They will have no fear of bad news;
    their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
    their righteousness endures forever;
    their horn[c] will be lifted high in honor.

10 The wicked will see and be vexed,
    they will gnash their teeth and waste away;
    the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

Surely the righteous will never be shaken….
How do you know if you’re one of the ‘righteous’? It’s a real challenge for many of us who are people of faith. The confidence, the trust, the relative certainty needed to know that you are in the right place, facing in the right direction, living in the right direction, being the kind of follower of God that will enable you to know and trust that all is ok, that you are ok, that people around you are ok. It causes a lot of people real angst when they aren’t sure. Is there anything we can do to help them?
I think so. When talking about people who speak of God and the way we should live, Jesus said ‘you will recognise them by their fruit’, that is, does your life and the way you live, what you say about God, end up with good outcomes? Are people helped? Are they shown love? Are they welcomed? Are they pointed to the hope and freedom that only God can give, ultimately? If, to one extent or another you can say these things about your life, then I think you can be counted as one of the righteous. If your trust isn’t just in yourself only, but in God, then ultimately that is the greatest sign of all that you are one of his people. We are told that faith that is planted first as a seed can grow in people so that they become oaks of righteousness, planted in the Lord as a display of his splendour (Isaiah 61:3). Later in the Bible we’re told that God himself is the gardener (John 15:1). If you put your trust in God, a seed of faith is planted, a new creation is made, the old has gone and the new has come  (2 Corinthians 5:17). If that is the case, God tends the seed and watches it grow and you are never out of his sight (in a good way). Seeds that God is tending may get pruned sometimes and the bad bits that bear no fruit thrown in to the fire, but they are never forgotten or given up on.
Put your trust in God and you can know that when a storm comes, it might make you wobble, it might make it seem like you are flailing about with barely anything to hold on to, but the true foundation at the core of your life will never be shaken or uprooted. That is the power of the love, mercy and passion of God, that we might grow up as trees bearing good fruit and be displays of His splendour, to point people to him.
Something to Do
What ‘branches’ of you are there to celebrate today? What do you think might need to be pruned off?
Something to Pray
Pray for all those afraid today, including you if you are, asking God to bring peace and calm. Maybe someone comes to mind as you pray. Get in touch with them and ask them how they are.
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2020 Bible Reflections

May 1st 2020: Psalm 149

Psalm 149

1 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song.
    Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.

2 O Israel, rejoice in your Maker.
    O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King.
3 Praise his name with dancing,
    accompanied by tambourine and harp.
4 For the Lord delights in his people;
    he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them.
    Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.

6 Let the praises of God be in their mouths,
    and a sharp sword in their hands—
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
    and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with shackles
    and their leaders with iron chains,
9 to execute the judgment written against them.
    This is the glorious privilege of his faithful ones.

Praise the Lord!

There’s no denying it: some Psalms are troubling. The first half of this is great. Just the kind of thing you want to sing in the words of a song at Church on Sunday. From the second half of verse 6? Well, yes, quite so.

I never really know how to make any kind of definitive statement about pieces of Scripture like this. The people of God had been taught and shown through the stories of their history that it was their role to be the judges of those who opposed God, or them. This isn’t very palatable in our day – I wonder if it was then, to be honest – and any group setting themselves up as being justified in behaving in executing judgement against anyone else rightly is quickly to desist.

But there is a key point at stake here. In the new relationship between God and people that is possible because of all that Jesus did and who he was, we are reminded that God is a judge, that he judged humanity, found that it fell short and that justice needed to be satisfied in a different way. And so, Jesus and all that he did and all that he was. Judgement doesn’t go away just because we are no longer living in Old Testament times. What I think is offered to us now in the days that we live in is the opportunity to be clear and certain that we have hope, that we are forgiven and free and to invite anyone else who needs or wants to be forgiven and free to trust in God’s offer of salvation.

Because that is what the first two thirds of this is about. It’s about God’s goodness, which is so very good that all we can do rejoice and dance around thanking him for his kindness and mercy. It’s about realising that God crowns the humble (or, in other translations, the poor) with victory. It’s a sign that what might look or feel like victory in this life often isn’t, but that what looks like weakness, putting our hope and our trust in a God who might be largely unseen but who is most certainly not unknown or unknowable, for safety and salvation will ultimately lead to the kind of peace and the kind of life that this world that we live in simply cannot offer on its own. So in one set of key ways, we are to be judgemental. We’re to be judgemental about choosing love, choosing hope, choosing to pray for those who call us their enemy, choosing to speak good news in love and not to back down, choosing to trust in God for salvation, and choosing to be ok with the now and not-yet of receiving love from God now but realising that we won’t receive a final reward until later. ‘Well done good and faithful servant’ has to wait until we have proved to be good, and faithful. Keep going, my friends.

Something To Do

Check: if you are judging about something, is it because of a kingdom-related reason? Does judging this thing help you to love God, other people and yourself more?

Something To Pray

God, help me to judge rightly the way that you want me to live, the person you want me to be and please give me what I need to be just that kind of person today.

Categories
2020 Bible Reflections

April 30th 2020: Psalm 73

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

1 Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those whose hearts are pure.
2 But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
    My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
3 For I envied the proud
    when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
4 They seem to live such painless lives;
    their bodies are so healthy and strong.
5 They don’t have troubles like other people;
    they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
6 They wear pride like a jeweled necklace
    and clothe themselves with cruelty.
7 These fat cats have everything
    their hearts could ever wish for!
8 They scoff and speak only evil;
    in their pride they seek to crush others.
9 They boast against the very heavens,
    and their words strut throughout the earth.
10 And so the people are dismayed and confused,
    drinking in all their words.
11 “What does God know?” they ask.
    “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
12 Look at these wicked people—
    enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.

13 Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
    Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long;
    every morning brings me pain.

15 If I had really spoken this way to others,
    I would have been a traitor to your people.
16 So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper.
    But what a difficult task it is!
17 Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,
    and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
18 Truly, you put them on a slippery path
    and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
19 In an instant they are destroyed,
    completely swept away by terrors.
20 When you arise, O Lord,
    you will laugh at their silly ideas
    as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.

21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant—
    I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
    you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;
    he is mine forever.

27 Those who desert him will perish,
    for you destroy those who abandon you.
28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

As April draws to a close, here is a psalm which says some of the things that I most certainly most needed to hear. I wonder if I am the only one who needed to hear them or if there are others besides me.

‘My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.’

Yes, indeed, I certainly can empathise with the first half of that phrase. My health might fail and we’re being presented daily with opportunities to consider the potential of failing health, either our own or of those around us. If health diminishes or your spirit grows weak (you get worn out with the struggle, perhaps) will you still be able to say ‘God remains the strength of my heart’? It’s a battle, for sure. It’s easy to give in and to say no, that God isn’t my strength, he’s not my shelter, my refuge, my help in time of need. It would be anyway, if it were true. I suppose there’s a reason why faith comes down so often to the question of trust. I can repeat these phrases until I’m blue in the face but what it really ends up being about is whether I am willing to trust that God is willing and able to be the strength of my heart. If I’m not, I know in the part of my not affected by emotion that he remains my heart’s strength anyway, but if I spend too long trusting things other than God I miss out on so much and waste so much time and energy.

There is a warming here for those who abandon their faith and trust in God with finality. It’s strong and it’s stark and we should pay attention to it.

But we should also remember that God’s heart is for those who are prodigal, those who have wondered away but who realise their need for him and the things that only he can bring.

In these days of shielding, how good it is to remember that God is our greatest shield of all.

Something To Do

Take a health check. How are you feeling? Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually? What could you do with some help with today? What do you have to celebrate?

Something To Pray

Pray that God would shield you today and give you time to rest and be refreshed.