Valley Songs: Troublesome Waters - Johnny Cash

This is not a particularly well known Johnny Cash song, in fact I believe it was written by his mother in law. I am yet to try this in a congregational setting but I suspect it would work, it's singable and the lyrics are great. We don't have enough songs about the toughness of life and this one does it really well.

Troublesome waters

(C)Troublesome waters much (F/C)blacker than (C)night
Are hiding from (Am)view of the harbor's bright lights
Tossed in the (C)turmoil of (F/C)life's stormy (C)sea
I cry to my (Am)Saviour have (G)mercy on (C)me
Then (F)gently I'm feeling the touch of his (C)hands
guiding my (Am)boat in (G)safely to (C)land
(C)Leading the way to (F/C)heaven's bright (C)shore
Troublesome (Am)waters I'm (G)fearing no (C)more

Troublesome waters around me do roll
they're rocking my boat and racking my soul
Loved ones are drifting and living in sin
the treacherous whirlpools are pulling them in
Then gently I'm feeling the touch of his hands
guiding my boat in safely to land
Leading the way to heaven's bright shore
Troublesome waters I'm fearing no more

When troublesome waters are rolling so high
I'll lift up my voice and to heaven I'll cry
My Lord I am trusting give guidance to me
and steady my boat on life's troubled sea
Then gently I'm feeling the touch of his hands
guiding my boat in safely to land
Leading the way to heaven's bright shore
Troublesome waters I'm fearing no more (x2)

© Carter Family – Johnny Cash arrangement

I'm Over Facebook

Every time I log on to Facebook my page is flooded by people who take all kinds of ridiculous quizzes. Things like “Which Harry Potter Character are you?”. Because I’m not glued to it 24 7 I probably miss the more important updates from people. I couldn’t work out why would anyone spend the time to do these quizzes so I thought I'd create my own dumb quiz. “which random household object are you” and people did it, about a thousand so far. The Answers are random and completely unrelated to the questions (see below) any way I'm back to my trusty RSS blog feeds and dabbling with quiz free Twitter.

Which Random Household Object are You Questions

1. Which Musical Artist Do You like the best?

• New Kids on the Block
• Vanilla Ice
• Kikki Dee
• Yanni
• Backstreet Boys
• Michael Bolton
• Céline Dion
• David Hasselhoff

2. My Favourite Swearword begins with...

• A
• B
• C
• D
• F
• R
• S

3. You have a recurring nightmare about...

• Chickens
• Zombies
• Losing your clothes
• Driving with no brakes
• Failing exams
• Your Ex
• Flying
• Facebook Quizzes

4. Facebook is...

• Wasting my life away
• A way to keep in touch with friends I can't stand to see in person
• A place to put that glamour photo I spent so much money on
• Wasting everybody else's life a way
• The only way my friends talk to me any more
• A great way of distributing all my personal details to potential identity thieves
• A Social networking Site
• Just Like Twitter only with more Features

5. The Household object I most identify with is…

• Hair Brush
• Cup
• Tea Towel
• Door Handle
• Light Bulb
• Spoon
• Pencil
• Rubbish Bin

The Beginning of another Alternative to Penal Substitution

I sometimes wonder if the only reason that Xns have successfully been able to tell their non Xn friends about penal substitution is because when they say “let me tell you about penal substitution” they’re expecting to hear a story about two lesbians and a sex toy.

Then when we start telling the story about the Nazi prison camp (a story used in Alpha courses) the one where a prisoner is about to be shot by the prison warden for some very minor offence. When an innocent fellow prisoner steps in and says shoot me instead, which the prison warden does. It’s a horrible shocking story. As shocking as anything Hollywood could come up with. Then as we say “Jesus is just like the innocent guy who dies”. I wonder is the quiet respectful response that we think people are giving is actually shock and astonishment as they process that we have just told a story about our loving God who is best represented by a cruel Nazi guard who is happy to kill an innocent man for a petty offence.

So how can we describe of the atonement

In my head at the moment I’ve got this image of Jesus, in his death, diving through the walls of reality as we know it and then coming back resurrected. This means that if we follow Jesus we will not die it means that God is bigger than what we see. The problem with being Christ like, being reconciled to God is that it seems to be all in vain but in Christ’s death and resurrection we are invited to take up our cross and follow him and be part of a new Kingdom that cannot be stopped even by death.

How I’ll flesh this out into a fuller atonement theory I’m not yet sure. It’s just a start. And I’m sure just like the penal substitution theory it will not completely explain all of the atonement, hopefully it might be just another face on the diamond that is all atonement narratives and that helps us to fully understand the atonement.

Dividing and Outscourcing the Kingdom of God

I think this will be my final reflection on the holes in the social services sector for a while. I recently met someone who went to a Christian social service agency looking for help. As I heard his painful story of being knocked back by several agencies because he did not quite fit their categories for help and the quite severe situation he now found himself in I couldn't help but think that although now his problems were big enough that he could access help he needed some help at least two years ago. But, there isn’t a free service for people who are "worried about what might likely happen in the future". I find this so frustrating the system is really irritating me and unfortunately I am not one of the movers and shakers who can influence any change either.

By dividing the Kingdom of God into churches for the soul and professional government funded agencies for physical, mental and emotional help we have done damage. I am all too aware of some churches that have inappropriately tried to care for people with various problems that needed professional help. I am not suggesting that we replace mental health professionals with a couple of nice Xn people praying for someone, not at all. Their must be a third way where the people can become integrated into a community whilst getting professional care.

Valley Songs: Oh Mary Don't You Weep

This song I first heard on the Tokens Radio Show. You can buy just one of their shows from Noisetrade. Why they haven't been selling Mp3s from the show was completely beyond me and got me writing and requesting just that. I'm told that very soon they'll be selling MP3s from their website. This is a song I've done a number of times in a church setting and it's great fun. Their are many variations on the lyrics, I tend to stick with just the story of Moses. Enjoy...

Mary*, don't you weep

(Em)If I could I (B)surely would
Stand on the rock where (Em)Moses stood.
(Am)Pharoah's army got (Em)drownded
(B)Oh Mary don't you (Em)weep.

CHORUS

(Em)Oh Mary, don't you (B)weep, no more
Oh Mary, don't you (Em)weep, no more
(Am)Pharoah's army got (Em)drownded
Oh Mary (B)don't you (Em)weep.

Moses stood on the red sea shore
Smotin' the water with a two by four.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

God told Moses what to do
To lead the Hebrew children through.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

One of these nights about 12 o' clock
This old worlds going to reel and rock.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

--- Other Lyrics ---

Mary wore three links of chain
On every link was Jesus' name.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

Brothers and Sisters don't you cry
There'll be good times by and by
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

Well God gave Noah the rainbow sign
Said no more water, but fire next time.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

The very moment I thought I was lost
The dungeon shook and the chains fell off.
Pharoah's army got drownded, Oh Mary don't you weep.

*Mary of Bethany John 11:32-33
© Traditional – Siani Mountain Boys arrangement