Everyone Else is Going Delirious? So Why Not Me?

I want to make something very clear before I write the main part of my post... because in some Christian circles I think it may very well be potentially divisive.

I like Delirious? I have a couple of their albums (the favourite being Live & In the Can), and have bought a few singles off iTunes in the past (Miracle Maker is another favourite). I even heard them in concert at Coventry Cathedral  during Pentecost a few years ago. I'm not a fanboy and I'll admit to going a bit off their newer material when they went stateside,, but essentially from a Christian music perspective I generally see them as a force for good... and my post is by no means an attack on them, their music or their supporters.

Now with that cleared up, I can to get to the point. I've heard a lot on Twitter and Facebook about the campaign to get History Maker to No.1 in the charts, I've even had group invites to "Christian Music Topping the UK Charts". I have ignored all the invitations and I've got no intention of buying History Maker (I already own it anyway).

Am I crazy? Am I traitor to the cause?

No... I don't think so (and I know several other Christians who like Delirious? but who feel the same way).

In an attempt to explain my seemingly strange notion, I want to wind the clock back a little to last Christmas... that's when a similar campaign took place to stem the tide against the constant drivel pumped out by Simon Cowell's various chart manifestations. The (succesful) plan was to get Rage Against the Machine to No.1 in place of X Factor.

I agreed very much with the sentiments... I want real music in the charts (although the RATM single didn't float my boat), but I felt very much that it was a case of hating the enemy by becoming the enemy... people were still being sheep... they just chose a different shepherd.

I've referenced this clip before on my blog but I think it sums up my feelings perfectly when it comes to this kind of campaign:

"Those of you.. I see the look in your eyes like "I would have walked differently" well... ask yourselves why you were clapping".

You see... I think when you enter a campaign like that, you might think you are acting differently... but really you are just "clapping" to the same tune.

So when these things come along... be it Rage Against the Machine, Delirious? or anyone else for that matter... I decline to take part. It's my way of "exercising the right not to walk".

It was the success of the Rage Against the Machine campaign that no doubt inspired some of my brothers and sisters in Christ. I'll be the first to admit that I get somewhat frustrated with the lack of Christian related material on TV at Easter, but I have to ask what this campaign hopes to achieve... ok so a Christian band gets to number one (and it is looking promising), but how does this change the world? How does it glorify God?

I hope I'm wrong, but what I suspect will happen is that it will polarise opinions and the hard hearted will become even more grounded in their position that Christianity is about a bunch of people trying to force their narrow agenda onto a public that hasn't asked for it and doesn't want it (even though in truth they need it).

My problem with the campaign is that there is a lack of depth. It's as if someone is posing the question "As Christians how can we change the world?" and the only answers that are coming back are "I'll make a banner", "I'll make t shirts", "I'll make a flag... and what's more I'll wave it too!"

Frankly it's not enough.

"Wouldn't it be cool if..." is not enough.

How did Jesus get his message across? Most of the time he fulfilled the practical needs of the people around him and then he shared his message. He demonstrated compassion, action and righteous power first...and then shared his message with those who were willing to hear.

Actions speak louder than words and if people see the truth in what you do, they will listen to the truth of which you speak.

At some point we need to realise how important it is to avail ourselves of the power of God... in order that we can carry out the will of God.

Some commentators have also criticised the choice of song to rally behind; History Maker is largely about how we respond to God as Christians and not about Christ himself. Now I think that charge is a little harsh, because even though it talks about "us" in the first person, it does point the listener in the right direction. Here are the lyrics:

Is it true today that when people pray
Cloudless skies will break
Kings and queens will shake
Yes it's true and I believe it
I'm living for you

Is it true today that when people pray
We'll see dead men rise
And the blind set free
Yes it's true and I believe it
I'm living for you

I'm gonna be a history maker in this land
I'm gonna be a speaker of truth to all mankind
I'm gonna stand, I'm gonna run
Into your arms, into your arms again
Into your arms, into your arms again

Well it's true today that when people stand
With the fire of God, and the truth in hand
We'll see miracles, we'll see angels sing
We'll see broken hearts making history
Yes it's true and I believe it
We're living for you.

Written by Martin Smith �1996 Curious? Music UK

I would say that the lyrics of that song are a reminder to us of what we should be doing as Christians... but as mentioned above, I believe that we should be doing these things and not merely listening to songs about doing them.

As it's getting close to Good Friday, I'd like to leave you with a Delirious? song that I think is an excellent meditation on what Jesus actually did for us. I like it because its verses alternate between the charges that people lay against God, and a counterpoint response that illustrates that the pain and hardships we see around us... God identifies with because he himself endured hardship. The Song I am referring to is White Ribbon Day:

Whatever your opinion is of the Delirious? chart storming debate... I hope that you will continue to be blessed by their music, and more importantly God himself.

Normality

Recently I've been involved in a couple of discussions on the subject of normal behaviour.

Truth be told I have NEVER really considered myself normal. I developed this attitude towards myself (and indeed others), during my formative years. I think I was first inspired by observing an American spoof commercial where two men are standing in a busy street waiting to get opinions on the benefits of their product from passers-by; they claim to want to find out what the ordinary person on the street has to say about their product. As they are talking, the camera zooms out and we see that everyone in the street is betraying a streak of eccentricity. Some are walking funny, some are dressed funny, some are using strange modes of transport... but ALL of them are unique... and the ad men confess glibly that "they are still waiting for an ordinary person to come along".

Yes it's a silly advert, but it made a strong impression on me as a child... something evidenced by the fact I can still recall it to this very day.

You see to me, there is no such thing as an ordinary person. In fact, so convinced am I of this notion, that I find it distasteful when people try to claim the centre ground of normality for themselves.

I accept that there is a scope of what we would call "normal behaviour" in society... but I believe that is primarily about laying the ground rules for what is acceptable in terms of how we treat one another.

If you've read my older posts, you will know that I have always been wary of following the crowd. If I feel something is hyped too much and I'm not already into it, chances are I will be resistant to the idea of taking exposing myself to it.

It is not that I consider friendly encouragement and inspiration from peers as entirely a bad thing... i just think it is very important that we discover things for ourselves.

The things we care about, the causes, doctrines and principles we believe in... all of these we must claim as our own. We cannot walk along a path that others dictate - along that road lies ruin.

So rather than seeing the vast majority of the human collective as "normal" or "ordinary", I much prefer to look at each individual and celebrate them as extraordinary.

Nobody occupies the same point in space and time as you, nobody will have quite the same effect on the people around you, as you will. Nobody else has been given the words you have been given to say, nobody else will feel quite the same about the people around you, as you will.

You are unique... and you should not hide this gift, nor shun the blessings and yes, even responsibilities that come with it. Nobody could fill your shoes.

You ARE unique... but before you let that go to your head... just remember, so is everybody else!

It's not Christmas yet, so I'll refrain from quoting It's A Wonderful Life. However the sentiments expressed in that film are absolutely true.

Another good illustration is the following clip from Dead Poet's Society:

I don't want to slavishly conform to the expectations set on me by others... in some cases , I want to walk in the way that is right for me. Sometimes that will mean I agree with the expectations laid before me, other times it means I'll throw them utterly out the window.

To conclude though, to live an extraordinary life, I believe there is one person and one person only, who is worthy of emulation - Jesus Christ:

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:1-11

I really do believe that sums up the debate perfectly. If we are to truly serve Christ as unique individuals, we should not overly covet a popular position at the very centre of society. If everyone stayed near the middle, how would anyone ever be rescued from the edges?

So wherever you are in the diverse spectrum of human characteristics and interests, may God bless you an continue to strengthen you in your unique and extraordinary ministry to the other people around you in your everyday life.

N

Unlearning

"You must unlearn what you have learned."

Yoda - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

On several blogs in the past,I have explored the issue of conformity. I didn't just talk about the need of Christians to avoid conforming to the pattern and nature of this world, I looked at it in terms of personal development - for myself and for anyone else reading these pages who might benefit from my musings.

There were times when I'd told you of my exasperation at being the odd one out... about how I felt different to the people around me (even Christians), how my natural instincts were frowned on and I felt a great strain to comply with certain social expectations.

At the moment things feel very different from the stark days of last March. During the past year and a half I have found myself able (by God's grace) to close the book on a few situations that were burdening me and causing me distress. It's not to say the situations have necessarily been resolved... but God has taught me to unlearn how I react to them.

Much more important than this though, I have discovered over time that as different as I am from most around me, I have discovered individuals dotted around here and there who I share similarities with... I am nowhere near as alone as I might have once thought. I am not the lone man on the train who sees everyone partying on another train on the other side of the tracks. I have wandered down a couple of carriages and discovered plenty of parties of my own. I think my original issues may have come from living in a fairly insular community. It's been the act of branching out and meeting people from further afield over a course of a couple of years, that has gradually made me realise this. This in turn gave me the confidence to accept that I don't need to become a clone of the Christians around me if I want to fit in. I have found I can totally be myself and be accepted for all my quirks.

Naturally over time, this has led me to feel a little like a fish out of water in my own surroundings. I certainly feel a lot less bound to my town than I used to be... and I have to strongly consider whether in fact God is preparing me for something as yet unrevealed. Many years ago, whilst in prayer I had a vision of an eagle stripping it's nest... preparing it's young for flight. Could it be that God is preparing me for an entirely new phase in my walk with him?

Surviving the Tempest

I have passed through the storm.

The latest personal struggles I have wrestled with have not overcome me and i thank God for that. I was stretched and hard pressed in the face of my old insecurities and now I understand why. I suffered because it bothered me that people... even Christians tend not to listen to me... and the enemy wanted to remind me oh so much. However as wily as evil is it always, ALWAYS makes the same mistake... it becomes overconfident and overextends its thrust.

Sure enough when I was on my knees in despair a misunderstanding flared up between me and a couple of brothers/sisters in Christ that threatened my entire relationship with the Body of Christ - that is, the Church. I could have just been hostile or shrink away dejected at what had happened... but despite my feelings, I sought the Lord in my troubles - I asked him to use the day's set scripture in Every Day With Jesus to be relevant to what was happening and speak to me about the situation. Here is the verse that stood out most:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

I felt convicted about my emotions and my fears. While it's true that we all have them, it is not always healthy to base our actions entirely on them. You see, I conformed to my fear of being ignored. It governed my actions. If I felt depressed about not being listened to, I obsessed over it and hankered after people all the more. Deprived of contact by people around me, I wallowed in hurt and pestered people. Looking back it's been a dominant factor.

I wonder why God chose now of all times to call it to account? It feels like he had been filling me up like a jug for some time but was holding his hand across a hole in the bottom of me to stop the water falling out. It then felt like he took the hand away so that I'd notice the water falling out and call on Him to fix me.

Maybe this is something new I'm learning and if so, I offer you this same pearl of wisdom:

If God's hand wasn't there to cover each hole in the first place we'd never get filled with His blessing. That God sometimes chooses to take His hand away so we notice the sense of being blessed seemingly ebbing away, isn't an act of negligence or callousness on His part... but a way for us to understand we have a need to be healed... and the means to find that healing in Christ.

In my case I got others to pray for me and do you know what... I've not been bothered the slightest since. I need to remember this victory, lest I fall back into the same conformity that damaged me before.

It is not merely enough to strip ourselves of the ungodly armour that protects us - I had done that... but it was insufficient. we have to clothe ourselves in God's might too, there's no room for Conan the Barbarian in God's army we need to protect ourselves and one another by relying on God.

I felt God saying to me that if I place too much value on how other people, even Christians feeling about what I say... then how can he use me to say the hard things that may need to be said soon?

Could it be that God is preparing his people in this area... for something major soon?

I pray it is so

blessings

N

Conformity

Yesterday's Doctor Who was highly enjoyable. Not only did we have the return of the drone like Cybermen (with a new twist to their name as well), but at last we have a plausible explanation as to why the Doctor is limited to travelling only along our own timeline and not that of parallel dimensions. It had been niggling me... the idea that the idea that the Timelords were all but extinct, when surely there must be Timelords in alternate universes that have not been destroyed. now we know why the Doctor feels so alone - he can't get to the other universes to visit their versions of Gallifrey.

Anyway there were a couple of interesting points in yesterday's episode that could easily be used as allegory for Christian theology.

Firstly you have the "Preachers" led by Ricky (the parallel universe's Mickey), so called because they believe in the Gospel Truth (they don't believe in receiving information and data from bluetooth headsets invented by Cybus Industries, and with good reason for the owner of the company John Lumic is using the technology to further his own agenda of upgrading humanity with his technology and turning them into emotionless automatons trapped in steel bodies - the Cybermen.

Then you have the whole attitude of the Cyberman "race" to the rest of the populous. You must conform or be deleted. This is obviously setting them up with a showdown with the preachers who are the very antithesis of this. True to form the Preachers show up and try to gun down the Cybers with normal ammo - which fails to have any effect (long term Doctor Who aficionados will know that you need gold plated weaponry or ammunition as it messes up the run of the mill cyberman's respiratory equipment).

However the cliffhanger leaves the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and the Preachers surrounded by cybermen who are ready to "delete" them for not being compatable.

That is the world's attitude to Christianity. If you don't conform, you are incompatible and risk deletion. If you do conform, you lose your identity in Christ and become just another face in the crowd. OK, so you might not be trapped in a steel body deprived of all emotion, but you become something less than what you were designed to be, cut off from all the promises and potential that god had set aside just for you.

I'm going to leave you with a few scriptures to ponder and a challenge:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." Romans 8:13-17

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

and:

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

So what are you going to be? A Cyberman or a Preacher. are you going to be a conforming tin man or a spiritually liberated child of God.

The decision is yours...

N