((deep)) -- no.5

I like the way each ((deep)) is different. The Spirit shows up and makes the evening His own. Saturday night was no exception.

The Essential Band were without a drummer for the evening... but they made some beautiful lemonade with this lemon they were thrown - they stripped it down and played an "unplugged" set... with Paul on acoustic guitar... Jen & Laura on vocals... and Stuart & John on bongos... with John playing the trumpet too. Special times.

Another reason why this ((deep)) gathering was special - Adam Howie joined us to express his worship through paint. He produced 2 paintings - the one at the top of this post (which was purchased after the gathering by an anon benefactor and my sincere thanks go to them) and the picture below entitled "deep" ::

I received very positive feedback that reinforced my gut feeling - watching a painting unfold connects with visually stimulated people thus keeping their attention while folks are speaking. Adam did a sterling job and I hope he will join us again.

After worship... we had a period of testimony... where various folk spoke of who they thought Jesus is... along with an open mic for participants who wished to speak. This was another special time. Hearing testimonies is always moving... but to hear from folk who I haven't heard speak before is wonderful - Stuart's testimony was simple... Jesus is his best friend... and yet he spoke with a heartfelt eloquence that proved for me, there and then, the power of testimony. Peoples' stories move mountains. My thanks to Dan, Laura, John, and Stuart for their preparation. Moving.

It was fab to see Jon, Leeanne, Bobby and Dan... as well as those not pictured including Lorna, Ian, Kirsty, Lauren and the other Bobby. Thanks to you all for making the effort to be there.

Thanks too... to Gary and the youth group from Hamilton who were in the neighbourhood. Thanks for being part of the gathering.

All in... another great night. Last word of thanks goes to Lucy who is a top notch organiser and number one responsible person... and I am glad she is part of this.

Here's to the next one in August.

((deep)) -- tonight's team thought...

The following is my thought for the ((deep)) team...

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I am presently rereading Shaine Clalborne’s “The Irresistible Revolution” and this jumped out at me...

“...few things have more transformative power than people and stories.

...The things that transform us, especially us “Post-Moderns” are people and experiences. Political ideologies and religious doctrines just aren’t very compelling, even if they’re true. And stories disarm us. They make us laugh and cry. Its hard to disagree with a story, much less split a church or kill people over one. And certainly no one hurts others with the passion of those who do it in the name of God, and its usually over ideologies and doctrines, not stories. Besides people seem to loosen up after a good story. I think that’s why Jesus told so many stories - stories about ordinary first-century Mediterranean life, stories of widows and orphans, debts and wages, workers and landlords, courts and banquets.”

((deep)) is about storytelling. Its about opinions. Its about who I say Jesus is... either as the guest speaker or as one participant coming alongside another. Its about the power of personal experience... in the here and now experience... what God is doing right here... right now.

The Salvation Army has a great tradition for testimonies... and tonight, in a way, we are having a testimony meeting. An open mic and a sense of the spirit working... and I, for one, can’t wait.

We read in Matthew 13:10-17 (The Message) the following...

The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?"

He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again:

Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing.
Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing.
The people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won't have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
so they won't have to look,
so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them.

"But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.”

Stories don’t just loosen people up... but prepare the way... just as a farmer prepares the her soil... stories prepare the ground for the seed that is God’s good news for the poor.

Tonight... we are storytellers... we have our own unique experiences that are valued. Please use them. Don’t rely on doctrine or a sales pitch - that’s done and gone... tonight is about stories... Let’s release the transformative power that God has given each and everyone of us for His benefit.

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((deep)) tonight... from 7pm...
@ Salvation Army - City Centre Corps... 1 Houldsworth Street... Glasgow

This is WAY cool :: the latest Indiana Jones film

Just in from taking Olly and the girls to see the latest Indiana Jones film :: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull :: and all I can say is... go see it! Its awesome. Intelligent... heartwarming... exciting... visually stunning and just plain ol' fashioned good fun!

I wasn't let down... and neither were my family who all thoroughly enjoyed it. Check it out.

New Tunes :: DJ Walkman : Milk Und Herring (Sutemosmix1)

One of my fave netlabels :: Sutemos :: have released their first mix... its from their head honcho DJ Walkman and its looks fab - haven't heard it yet but the blurb speaks to me...

DJ Walkman is one of the most active persons on the Lithuanian electronic scene. He is mostly known for being founder and runner of this gorgeous web site and net label (sutemos.net that is). He is also a host of Sutemos Live gig series. By breaking stereotypes of one-day projects Sutemos web site has become a symbol of idm and minimal music not only in Lithuania but also abroad. Our releases are warmly met in Japan, USA and Western Europe../

../The idea behind Milk Und Herring is really simple and well reflected in its title - to connect things that seem to be inconsistent from the first glance. And to do this as good as possible. because there is nothing worse than a monotonic mix that makes the listener die out of boredom.

Can't wait to dig in. Check it out.

Happy Birthday Dayna!!!

Our wee girl, Dayna, is 9 years old today... and we can't quite believe it. To celebrate we bought her an iPod shuffle and filled it with the kind of cool music 9 year olds listen to like Mika... Brooke Fraser... and A-HA.

Happy Birthday Dayna... I hope you have a lovely day!?!

Testing...

...the blog editor in Flock and liking it. (Although it doesn't recognise my labels)

Blogged with the Flock Browser

This is cool :: Irn Bru's new advert

Makes sense if you are Scottish. Thanks to Laura for the heads up. Sweet!

This is cool :: Radiohead - not for profit

Huge thanks to Darrin for the heads up on the fantastic Radiohead - not for profit website. Basically its a place where you can download bootleg recordings of Radiohead gigs. Here's the skinny ::

this site is for radiohead fans who enjoy their music and like to listen to them live. You won't find any albums or official releases, just live tracks of their performance for your pleasure. Please, do not buy any bootlegs (audio or video) from anyone.

Works for me... although I am not sure what the band will think of this.

Personally I think it is a very pro-fans kind of thing. I don't buy bootlegs... the quality isn't always that great... and I see this as a great way to kill the market for bootlegs - give them away.

Thing is... this is very much an add-on... an extra... the icing on the cake! I will not stop listening to the Radiohead albums I have bought... nor will it ever stop me from going to see them live (I haven't seen them live yet... but intend to someday).

This doesn't devalue their music... but makes it more valuable. It provides new takes on familiar songs... distills the temporary excitement of the unfamiliar... encapsulates the very essence of the live experience, even though it is still the lousy second to actually being there.

What devalues music is artists like Sir Paul McCartney giving away his album "Memory Almost Full" for free in "the Mail on Sunday" (thanks Rob) - you could argue he is giving back... but is he really? Its a platinum seller already. This is just a gimmick to create a buzz... and in doing so... his music is relegated to the status of "free" in the minds of everyone who hears of the promotion.

If you want to encourage people to value your music then make good music... and build a good reputation with your fan base. Celebrate the fans you have instead of always chasing the new. Give them something for free, sure, but give them something they will treasure... something different or something unique. Not the same album that they have already paid for!

Let's face it... the Mail on Sunday buying demographic will seriously overlap the McCartney fan base demographic... afterall ::

it's no surprise that Britain's number one artist should choose the nation's favourite Sunday newspaper, the Mail On Sunday, to give away his latest platinum-selling album, Memory Almost Full.

Bands like Radiohead with their webcast on Hogmanay, their doomed free gig at Rough Trade, fab concerts for BBC Radio and their approval for Amplive's remixes; and Nine Inch Nails with their direct distribution and free content (The Slip - their latest totally free album is fab) are doing far more to encourage fan loyalty and the appreciation of their music than the record companies ever could. The irony is that neither of them have a record company. Hmmm...

This is cool :: "Children" by Robert Miles

I love this track... reminds me of good times around '96 - '97. Beautiful.

Thinking out loud :: Hebrews 10: 24-25

Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Hebrews 10: 22-25 [The Message]

I am meditating on these words from Paul's letter to the Hebrews. I will post my thoughts later... but I thought I would reach out to the Nanolog Community to ask for your views/ opinions/ ideas on this.