Without

Without Risk, Life is nothing.

Without Life, Risk is nothing.

Without Love, neither is anything.

James, Jesus' half brother said "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do" (James 2)

You can't expect anyone to believe what you say about God unless they can see it. What you show other people through the way you live therefore must be real, authentic. This means showing the good and bad. The easy and hard. That's risky.

Any yet there's no point in taking life risks unless what can be gained is worth it.

Love makes it worth it. Yahweh makes it worth it.

Worship Confessional: 13/04/08

This was a bit of a risky one for me. We were looking at the spiritual gift of Tongues (and by definition, Interpretation.) The service leader and I wanted to leave the service open to whatever God was up to, so we did. We were looking at Tongue's purpose: to proclaim God's character and to express the inexpressible.

I was keen to make sure the band really caught as much of the church as possible so we could learn together, so I planned something a little different (risk #1.) Inspired by a friend, I wrote a little TAG for us to sing. Using the words from Emma "God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good" added a simple riff and used it to knit three other songs together. I really wanted to get people moving. We have so much to be thankful for as a church, I really want to make it possible for the whole church to really shout it out.

After the preach, I had several 'mini-sets' ready depending on where the service went. It meant the band had to really watch out for what God was up to. There was no 'Plan B' (risk #2) and they really did a great job.

We tried out 'I Am Chosen - Tim Hughes/Martin Smith'. I've had to shift the key somewhat (!) )risk #3) to make it singable, but it seemed to go well. Tim Hughes always writes songs I can't sing, but Martin Smith should know better...

It was a bit of a risk, but I have to say God showed up and made it worth it!