“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) In the original harmony of Holy, Holy, Holy, the parts start close together and move to spread out over the words “Holy, Holy, Holy”—the bass goes down, the soprano goes up, and the middle parts keep it constantly moving. To know God as Holy Trinity is to move into the fullness and motion of life. God is not a static ‘being’ or ‘idea’. He is “Blessed Trinity”—dynamic as three persons; active in his mercy and might, generosity and justice. He continually breathes out life. Because of all this, we praise him - and this old hymn is a wonderful way to praise God. Haber’s...
As we approach Easter this year, there is a deep sense of collective exhaustion. The last two years have been trying and tiring and, at least for me, spiritually draining. Gospel truths have felt dampened by the continual storm of the pandemic, sometimes pouring, sometimes only sprinkling, but always there. There has been an influx of new secular and christian music addressing the state of the world - lamentations, chorus’s of hope and perseverance, reflections and prayers. These songs have soothed and comforted us as the brokenness of the world has become ever more apparent. Yet, this Easter, I wonder if our eyes need to be turned away from the world and ourselves and back to our great Saviour and...
“My Hope Is Built” is an archetypal gospel hymn, written by Edward Mote in 1834, which draws consistently on this picture of Christ as our rock. It describes him as the only solid and unchanging hope for our souls.
I spend an embarrassing amount of time thinking about cooking. It was baking that first hooked me when I was a kid – the endless, delicious things that could be created by the simple act of creaming butter and folding flour. It was like magic. At first it was the sweet stuff, but as I grew into an adult the necessity of putting meals on the table introduced me to the wonders of savoury cooking. Now I can’t help but daydream and plan and sometimes even obsess over the new and interesting creations I can spin with a pan and a spatula. (Unfortunately the effort is all but lost on my happy-with-cheese-on-toast husband and only-eats-white-food three year old – I...
In the last year, we have felt the loss of simple things we might have once taken for granted—whether sitting in our favourite coffee shop, having friends over for dinner, or taking an overseas holiday. But what has surprised many are the feelings of grief over not being able to sing with others in church. From my experience, singing can often feature fairly low down the list of what is important in personal and corporate faith. I’m not at all saying we don’t enjoy the music in our church services. It’s just that, in the conservative evangelical world, the focus is generally on the ‘greater gifts’. However, a regular frustration I have observed on social media over the past year...
