Victory – Haydon Spenceley

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.

August 18th 2014: Acts 1:1-14

Read Acts 1:1-14 here

“Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

As we reach the ascension in Luke’s account of the life and times of Jesus and the Church, one of the key questions for all of human history is answered. As the disciples ask about the restoration of Israel, Jesus, as He so often does, turns it round and says, basically, “it’s not for you to know, how, or when it will happen, and in the meantime, get on with telling people about me.”

We can spend so much time worrying about whether we get to win or not, whether we get things our own way, whether we get what we want, that we forget that life is actually simple: it’s all about God, not simply about us. We can be like the disciples and see that what Jesus did is all about us and what we hope for (in their case, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, sent to restore Israel).

God is for us. He has loved us. But what Jesus did in life, death, resurrection and ascension is, ultimately, for the glory of God. Similarly, our lives are, ultimately, for the glory of God. We aren’t converted so that our earthly lives are made better. We are converted so that we are brought in to relationship with God, and to tell the world about Him. Let’s try not to be selfish with our faith and our hopes. Christianity isn’t meant to be powerful. It’s not meant to be patriarchal, it’s not meant to be hierarchical. It’s meant for the worship of God. It’s designed so that rather than the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, the inauguration of the eternal kingdom of God is to come. We, as Christians, are not meant to win. We’re meant to follow our Saviour in losing, so that we can remember His ultimate victory and inspiring others to do the same.