#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/

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.

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

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

https://www.facebook.com/pages/peter-colvin/44467206450

The saviour who stands in our defence

Great to gather last Sunday, our community of Christ followers, Dublin West Commuinty Church. Thanks to Eamon who brought us a piece of Stephen’s story, whose vision at the very end was of his saviour Jesus, literally standing in his defence before the Father, and that we too, through the blood shed on the cross by Him, have a advocate before the Father. The picture (literally a metre high hand drawn sketch) that Eamon brought of the stoning of Stephen, which later he turned up side down at the end, because that’s what Jesus does to our lives, added the cross and then painted in the blood flowing from the cross over the lives of Stephen and the crowd was particularly powerful. Thanks to Debbie and Emmanuel for sharing some stories from summer madness. And thanks to Ronnie for leading our congregational worship & encouraging us to “sing out loud” in praise of our saviour. We sang

Happy Day

Don’t build your house on the sandy land/the wiseman built his house upon the rock

My lighthouse

You laid aside your majesty

We closed with For the cross by Brian & Jenn Johnson and Bethel Music…

  

The great God in the gentle breeze

Great to gather this week as our local church, our community of God’s people. Thanks to Lake for leading our worship, remembering how great God is and that He is with us through the valley as well as on the mountain top. We prayed for suffering sisters who need to know Gods comfort, peace and His faithfulness even in The “valley of the shadow of death” and we heard the great story, what felt like first hand of God’s great servant Elijah. And not just the bit about the fiery chariot and the trip to heaven. But the man who followed God wherever He led, and who heard God’s voice not in the fire, nor the storm, nor the earthquake, but as a whisper in the gentle breeze. Thanks James for telling Elijah’s story in a fresh, engaging and challenging way. Oh, and we sang, as we do…

Psalm 23 by Stuart Townend

His love endures forever by Chris Tomlin

10,000 reasons by Matt Redman

Faithful One by Brian Doerksen

How great is our Giod by Chris Tomlin and

Mighty to save by Hillsongs

HAWFW

God for us, God through us

This week, Dublin West Community Church gathered on Sunday morning. It was great to hear what God has been doing though two of His servants Paul and Alice as they followed Jesus from Dublin to Tanzania to work serving children with albinism and other projects through Tear Fund. Isn’t it great to be able to support God’s work in His world.

We shared communion Together, remembering what God has done for us, bread and wine, Jesus’ body and a blood, paying the price for our sins. We read from Psalm 104, 103 & 94. We prayed for our world, so often a place of suffering, darkness and pain. We prayed for healing for our brothers and sisters and for our world, particularly in the light of the events of last week. And we sang…

Grace is enough, by yours truly

How great is our God, by Chris Tomlin 

Just one touch from the King, by Godfrey Birtill

My lighthouse, by Rend Collective

Once again, by Delirious

Come, break us out, by yours truly and

God of justice, by Tim Hughes.

HAWFW