#BehindTheBanner

My #linkedin banner contains pictures of four things that tell you a little something about me. Not where I work or what I get paid to do. But instead, some of the things that make me who I am regardless of who I work for…

MOON. [or “Lady Luna” as I call her when I say good morning, good day or good evening to her]. Lady Luna spreads the light of the sun across the darkness of the night despite being just a lump of rock. Her textures show a life well lived and she is quite happy for us to glory in her imperfections as she lights up the dark by generously reflecting our source of light, heat and life. This particular picture is of a November full moon rising over Eastbourne Pier, East Sussex, England, UK.

GUITAR. This is Uhambo Kahle [Zulu for “journey well”], one of my guitars and is a 2022 Adamas by Ovation, hand built in the Ovation custom factory in CT, USA. I have played guitar since I was 11 years old and play everyday. My guitars are my accompaniment for my voice and serve me as I serve my local church as worship leader. Playing guitar and singing are 2 ways I access the joy of performed music. Although most days I only play for 15-30 minutes, my guitars are always at hand and never in cases.

BEE. This is a bee photographed by me in my own back garden. Tending to my little [very little] patch of land helps me connect with and value the natural world right where I’m at. Celebrating all the beauty of creation’s diversity & wildness even in the confines of my tiny garden. I celebrate the creator and try to honestly steward the patch of green I have been given within the bounds of my time and skills. I love when nature comes to visit. I feel privileged when the bees collect pollen and nectar from my plants, when spiders spin their webs in my shrubbery and when the birds come to play in the bushes I have grown.

VINYL. The other way I consistently access and receive joy from music is through the listening experience. Time has never allowed for regular live experiences, but vinyl is second best. A vinyl collection that reminds me tangibly of music I have loved over the years. Whereas streaming gives us access to “everything”, vinyl requires a choice, a commitment to a collection of music that I feel like I could listen to in decades to come. And so, when time permits, I leaf through a physical library, make a choice, turn off all the screens [and sometimes the lights too] and engage just my ears and my heart in the listening experience that may include a little imperfect crackle along the way.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercolvin1/

With the shepherds and the angels

3 miracles happen when we join with our fellow followers of Christ to worship God together.

First, our “Hallelujah” joins with the Hallelujahs of our brothers and sisters no matter where in the world they gather, and they rise up together giving glory to our God.

Second, our “Hallelujah” joins with the Hallelujahs of history, connecting us to the followers and worshippers who have gone before us, no matter how long before. And

Third, our “Hallelujah” joins with the angels and the heavenly host as they sing praises before our Lord in the throne room.

This Christmas, remember, when you sing your Hallelujah to the Christ child, your Hallelujah joins with the worship of the shepherds on that first Christmas night and with the angles who announced the birth of our Saviour, God with us, Emmanuel.

THE STABLE DOOR – Peter Colvin (copyright, fingernailmusic 2016)

We come to the stable door, with the shepherds to adore, this baby born the King of kings, our “hallelujah” we will bring…

“Hallelujah!” We will sing on this holy night, “Hallelujah!” With the shepherds and the angels bright, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”

We come through the stable door, bow our faces to the floor, the Lion and the Lamb we come to praise, our holy chorus we will raise…

“Hallelujah!” We will sing on this holy night, “Hallelujah!” With the shepherds and the angels bright, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”

“Glory, glory to the baby born in Bethlehem, Glory, glory to our God with us Emmanuel, Hallelujah, Hallelujah”

” Glory to the Wondrous Counsellor the Prince of Peace, Glory, glory to the Saviour sent to rescue me, Hallelujah, Hallelujah”

“Hallelujah!” We will sing on this holy night, “Hallelujah!” With the shepherds and the angels bright, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”

Running

There are days we will feel -like the psalmist- that God has deserted us and is out of reach no matter how hard we try. But then there are days when we feel far from God and know it is because instead of reaching for God, leaning into Him, we are running away from Him, His love and His direction for our lives. On both days, God hasn’t moved and still remains by our side, the difference is that some days we need God to let us know how close He is, while others -and the kind of day that may have inspired psalm 139 and “batter my heart” by John Donne but did inspire these words below- are days when we need God to catch up with us as we run FROM Him, wrestle us to the ground (however painful that may be) and bring us back home…

Running, always running. Running away

From Your power, Your majesty

From Your love, from Your arms that give life

Running, always running. Running away

From Your glory, from Your strength

From Your truth that would set this heart free

I want to say “I’ll stop running”

I want to say that I’ll turn around

But I know deep down in my heart there will be days

That I need You to wrestle me to the ground. ‘Cause I’m

Running, always running. Running away

From Your comfort, from Your peace

From your grace, from Your mercy that waits

I want to say “I’ll stop running”

I want to say that I’ll turn around

But I know deep down in my heart there will be days

That I need You to wrestle me to the ground

Batter down the door of my heart

Pick me up and carry me back home

Home to where I’ll live like I’m Your son

Your child, Your beloved and free. ‘Till I’m

Running, always running. Running into Your arms.

Copyright fingernailmusic 2016

Looking back, looking forward

Happy Gregorian New Year to one and all.

May you look back on 2015 with fondness, full of thanks for another year.

Thankful for the blessings of good times, and bad times that taught you to trust more as God carried you through. Thankful for successes to celebrate, and failures that taught lessons which successes rely on. Thankful for friends and family who have been with you through another year, for new friends who will be part of the journey from here on, and though it hurt to say goodbye, thankful to be part of the lives of those for whom 2015 was their last year with us. Thankful places to go, people to meet, experiences to broaden our life experience, risks to take and opportunities to use our gifts to serve and bless others. Thankful that God extended his love to us in grace and mercy through it all.

And so, as we begin a new Gregorian year, may it be one of success & lessons learnt, joy & trust, following & leading, with time to go, stay, be, grow, give, receive, learn, work, play, rest, wonder, worship and serve. And above all, for without it, all the above is no more than a clanging cymbal, may 2016 truly be a year to love.

Happy New Year.

God’s message that moves us from lament to abandoned praise.

This weekend at Dublin West, as worship leader, I needed to begin in Paris.
Maybe it was because it was so close to home. Maybe because it was the periodic and inevitable “straw that breaks the camels back” in an endless news reel of violence and death in our world, creating an overwhelming expression of compassion and solidarity for our fellow man. Maybe there is something very personal to someone walking into a restaurant and killing the people standing in front of them with a gun.
Whatever it was, I needed to start here, lamenting lost lives and as we watch on, asking questions of my God because I wish sometimes He would step in and not let some of this stuff happen. It just seems so unjust and unfair.

I wrote some words to help me, found a melody to sing them to and shared it this morning as our opening worship. Maybe you needed these words, maybe you just wanted to pray for Paris, Lebanon, Beirut or some other thing going on that makes you want to ask God “why?”.
City of love (a lament for Paris) | fingernailmusic

We then read psalm 103, confessing our sins in the middle.
Y’see, God invites us as we are, but His desire is that we leave different, that we don’t stay in lament, but by His Spirit, we will allow truth to speak into our lives, so that we leave having met with God and learned a little more of Him, surrendered a little more to Him and fallen a little more in love with Him.

For despite this world, there are countless ways (10,000 is a nice big number but still doesn’t come close) our God is true, compassionate, merciful, forgiving and worthy of our praises and worship.

And so we could move from lament to truth, to response as we sang…

Bless the Lord, oh my soul (Matt Redman)

Forever (Kari Jobe)

Sing and Shout (Matt Redman)

He reigns (Newsboys)

Without God and his message of love, grace, mercy and justice (not an expansive explanation of the good news I know), I’m not sure how I’d manage to honestly and openly lament and this be a stepping stone closer to my God and not further away.
HAWFW

City of love (a lament for Paris)

How deserted lies the city
Once so full of all the people
Now the cameras of the world
Join the eyes of the masters
Watching over scenes of violence and hate
In the city, in the city, of love.

When will it end?
Oh God, when will the hating end?
When will You send Your Kingdom to come
Here on the earth as it is in heaven?
Y’see it all just seems like a bit of a pipe dream
When You said it was close at hand,
When will it end?
Oh God, when will the fighting end?
When will it end?
Oh God, when will the killing end?

But today the world dresses blue, white and red
The height of fashion for blood that’s been shed
And I know that one day HIS Kingdom will come
A day when LOVE will have won.

For how long, Lord? Let the Lament Linger…

…for a few minutes at least.

As I lead worship each week, I seek to create a journey, a liturgy if you like, that brings our gathered congregation into the presence of God. This journey visits different places and was beautifully and simply summed up by Jared Wilson in a Gospel Coalition video earlier this year. While discussing “Gospel Centred Worship”, Jared talks about using 4 themes, God, man, Jesus & response.

I like to add a 5th dimension to my worship journey, at the beginning. Y’see, God invites us as we are. He doesn’t ask for us to change coats or hats at the door and become happy smiley Christians as we walk into the worship sanctuary. I believe we need to create a journey that includes dealing with the fact that some may not come ready, may come disappointed, angry, struggling, needing to ask “why Lord?”, before we present some answers and our journey of response to the amazing message of the gospel. As Bishop NT Wright puts it [as we gather]”everyone is carrying something” and so we “need to have wise ways of inhabiting the ancient lament traditions”.

So, For at least 3 reason in my opinion, we need to read Psalms [such as 13] and sing songs that give our gathered congregation words of lament to sing before God and each other.

1. If you come to worship [personal or public] struggling, in pain, suffering, carrying guilt, then these words are for you to sing, to cry out to God if that’s where you’re at today. To sing before we start looking at who God actually is, who we are, who Jesus is and what He has accomplished and responding to it all. To sing so that you have acknowledged to God and others the truth of where you’re at today. Remember, God invites us as we are.
2. Maybe you’ve had a great week. Your life is struggle free. Your family and you are all the picture of spiritual and physical health, the job is going well and life is, well, just super-duper. These words are for you too, to stand with your suffering brothers and sisters and sing with them, minister to them, encouraging them that they do not walk alone in their suffering. And
3. If you’ve had a great week like the one in point 2, then know this. There have been times in the past when you needed these words and there will be times in the future when you will need these words, so sing them, say them, memorize them, so that when you need them, you will have them in your worship arsenal.

And so, a new song by yours truly.

For how long Peter Colvin/fingernailmusic

HAWFW

The voice in wilderness, declaring the way of the Lord

It was great to meet Sunday gone as Dublin West Community Church. We lamented, asking God how long? For how long? we read Psalm 13 & Psalm 100, we sang of this same God and His wondrous ways and amazing love, of Jesus and how our identity is in Him alone, responding in praises like, well, like fireworks. We prayed for our suffering family and thought about Mondays. Then heard from John, John the Baptiser, from his prison cell.

A powerful mix of emotions from the “voice in the wilderness”. The one who declared the way and eventually baptized Jesus, the Christ. He was there as a witness to the Father’s declaration of Jesus identity [“the best day of my life!”]. And now he was in prison and likely to die because he challenged the powers that be and in his probable last moments, questioned if he had been right. Was Jesus who he thought he was? Had all his crying in the wilderness, pointing to the one whose sandals he was unfit to tie been what God had really called him to? Would he die never knowing? Thanks James Clancy for being John for us and leaving us with a vision of a man whose identity was truly found in and only in Christ

The songs we sang were…

For how long?

How great Thou art

Counting on Your name

Emmanuel

Praise like fireworks

He is Lord

Revive us

HAWFW

God and the ultimate expression of “out”

At our church, Dublin West Community Church, we express following Jesus with 3 directions. From the youngest to the oldest, from the most mature believer to the folk who have just dipped their toes in the “water of life” with us, we express our following of Jesus in

Up: following Jesus by loving God?

In: following Jesus by loving each other?

Out: following Jesus by loving others?

On Sunday morning & moving into our home group studies, we’ve begun a series on Matthew, looking at Jesus’ life & words and how He challenges us in the area of the direction we feel most burdened by, “Out”.

From the gospel of Matthew, what does Jesus say about loving others, being missional, bringing God’s message to those who are loved by God, and as we know, that’s everyone? What does Jesus say about evangelism, ridding the world of injustice, feeding the hungry, healing the broken etc.?

We began on Sunday gone with Chapter 1, the genealogy of Jesus, including the name given Emmanuel, “God with us”.

And there it is. The ultimate expression of “out”, loving others by being with them!

Jesus left the comfort of the heavens & being fully God, and stepped “out” & down to this physical world where he became fully man without losing any of His “fully God”-ness.

In order to save us, the ultimate expression of “out” was required, culminating of course with Jesus being left “out” of the eternal fellowship with the Father & Spirit, forsaken as He bore our sins on Good Friday 2,000 years ago.

So, if Jesus had to step out to save us, likewise we will need to step “out” to sow the seeds of God’s saving grace and mercy in the lives of those around us, be that in word or deed. Can’t wait for week 2

We also prayed

We prayed for our sick and struggling brothers & sisters.

We faced the window and prayed for our world

We wished our October kids a happy birthday and we sang…

The Lord is my strength and my song

Lord, let Your glory fall [just the chorus]

Who’s the King of the jungle

Just one touch from the King

Your love is amazing

We will magnify [just the chorus]

Glorious

Happy day

Shout to the Lord [just the second half]

HAWFW

Who are you?

I’ve been away from Dublin West Sunday’s for a while but thankful for the summer break. Back today and many thanks must go to Dawn who contrasted Saul and Paul to remind us of our true identity. Both of whom were chosen by God, filled with the Holy Spirit and anointed as Kings, but only one of whom really “knew that they knew that they knew” that they were loved by God and lived in that identity. The delivery of the A to Z of who we really are in Christ and a snapshot of how her learning in this area has made such a difference over this year was beautiful and challenging, closing it all with a great music video. We also prayed for folk who are leaving. Rachel and Kathleen just for a short time as they visit the Bethesda project in Romania and for the Mapisa family who are migrating to Canada. May the Lord bless you all in your journeys. We read Psalm 103 and we sang of life, of God, of Jesus, of who we are in Him and our praises in response…

Never let go (Matt Redman)

How great Thou art (Stuart K Hine)

In Christ alone (Keith Getty and Stuart Townend) and

10,000 reasons (Matt Redman)

HAWFW

http://www.dublinwest.ie

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