There would've been tongues of fire but for the rain.

Last weekend was Pentecost Sunday - and the weather was a little different from last year. The wild bit came in the form of an impromptu kite-flying - whilst we tried to put up the gazebos in the somewhat windy Loughshore park. But we got them tied down eventually! The band arrived - eventually - and we played! Your fingers do get terribly sore playing in a cold wind - not that it much affected my lead guitarist - I looked round for him, only to see his feet hanging out of the van that we were mixing from - hardly rock and roll eh? But it sounded great, and we only really got badly rained on in the last song. well done Pete for making us sound good - and well done to wee Billy for actually getting the BBQ lit! And thankyou to my wee bro - for him, the second gig of the day, with a third one still to go later that evening.

It's the holidays...

...and boy am I glad they've finally arrived. Not that it has been a terribly awful couple of months, just that it has been tiring! So what news since my last post in February? As the children's song that my boys love says, "Our God is a great BIG God, and He holds us in His hands!"
First of all, I had a wonderful couple of gigs with the guys in the band. (I will post pics at some stage) We played Meghaberry Elim and Pentecost at the Loughshore, both of which were amazing. Thanks to Tim for playing bass - it sounded brilliant, and I hope we can get him to play with us again. Thanks also to Pete for doing a brilliant job with sound at the loughshore - we really rocked the place!
Then, I'd applied for a new job - still in the same place - different function...and I got it! 2nd August - the transfer date - approaches quickly. Two things then to give thanks for - 1, that I have been fortunate to work with a fantastic bunch of people these past years in Master Scheduling, and 2, for the chance to do a new thing, that I have been really interested in since my MSc.
I ended up in the plush surroundings of a lovely big house in Helens Bay, doing a leadership course with work. Now I have to say, I go to this things looking for what Ican disagree with - I thik it stems from a series of talks a lot of years ago, about the New Age Movement, and how it tries to infiltrate such management courses! However - whata brilliant course. It turns out that the facilitators are both sound Christian guys, and their organisation's ethos is built on Christian principles - how exciting it was to think that every manager in Bombardier (everybody does this course) is being taught Christian principles for doing business. One of teh big quotes used was that of Ghandi - "be the change you wish to see in the world." And these guys are - they're not just talking about taking your faith into work - they are actually building it in to what they do - not an add-on, but the very foundation of their ordinary work - so thank you Brian and Nick - and thank you God for "another way".

Went to Summer Madness last Sunday at the King's Hall in Belfast...I guess I find it hard not to be citical when I listen to other people playing - so (with Margaret's encouragement) I consiously decided to go and just be. It was a good day - no stewards got in the way to tell me how to park...nobody told me off for being in the wrong place...I drank coffee in the Edwards' caravan, in the Christian Aid tent, and in the Tearfund tent...I met one of my new managers, who was on the prayer team...it was a good day. I suppose though, what I'm looking for is worship I can get my teeth into - do you know what I mean? Bluetree were playing in the evening worship, and they opened up with a couple of brilliant songs - maybe because I knew them! After that though, they went all new on me - didn't know the songs (and it wasn't just because I'm older - other people didn't know them either!) that got me wondering...are the people who hang on to old hymns and worship styles the same way I'll be (or am becoming) about the music/style of worshipthat I like. Had they in an earlier time been longing for their hymns and songs to be accepted as the norm? Do we all hold out for the worship we want? Have we held out too long for change...so long in fact, that when it does change it skips an era/style/model of worship. And if it does, what generation will give in and let their own particular likings go? Or maybe, like we try to do in CoGS, we can incorporate something of all styles/likings - without it all just becoming luke-warm.
I wonder what I would criticse myself for if North ever played Madness?

The last great revelation this month was that one of my old youth leaders (is that what he was - it never really had a title?) has written a book about growing up in West Belfast...it's called Paperboy by Tony MaCaulay - and it is brilliant...the only pacifist Paperboy in West Belfast. Get your hands on a copy, and see that there's more to 1970s West Belfast than you might have thought!

And now the wild life, for tomorrow we'll be on a boat to Scotland, and then the next day we'll be in France, sailing, walking, swimming, drinking Breton cider, eating tasty crepes, and generally soaking up abundant life.

Come on Ireland

So Saturday approaches...I have my new Irish Rugby Shirt (it arrived in the post yesterday), the Guiness is in the fridge, and the friends have been invited to our front room for 4pm on Saturday! The thing is, much as I would love to sing Ireland's call, even I can't find a tenuous link that would allow me to use it in the worship set on Sunday!

Hello 2010...

SO, here it is...the first post of this new decade! Worship First...had an amazing couple of gigs with the band at the end of January in St. Patrick's. The most worrying bit was that Ross the super guitarist ended up in hospital, leaving us a player down and me in a bit of a panic. Needn't have worried though...an ex-Blue Tree Axe-man stepped in (having just played a set with his current crew) and lit up the sound. Opened with Sweet Home Alabama (Cowboy hat and all), a bit of Chasing Cars, and then lots of worship, including The Splendour of the King...which has a nice break into a gentle version of U2's ONE. Great night - followed the night after with a super dinner, and more playing...

Big thanks to Bekah for singing with us as well. We all had a blast. Bishop Ken spoke, and we played a bit more. (The volume was a bit lower on Saturday night than it was on Friday on account of the major increase in the average age.) Thankyou St. Patrick's for having us...thankyou Colin for the invite.

And what about the wild life...well, not too wild, but I did see two amazing films inside the last couple of months. First up was Sherlock Holmes WHAT A MOVIE...if there had been another showing after the one me and Mrs McC went to, i think we'd have gone in for another watch...it was that good! The second was last saturday night, when the lovely (driving) Sarah offered her babysitting services! "Invictus" opened my eyes to the statesman that Nelson Mandela was and is...what a brilliant movie - you could feel the tension in the film. I think my favourite bit is where 4 white guys arrive to join Mandela's protection team...and the black guys are a bit put out (which you can understand given the white guys had probably been responsible for keeping them down in the very near past). When the head of the protection team sees that Mandela himself has signed the papers, he goes to complain...coming away again with Mandela's words ringing round the cinema..."if reconciliation is going to work in this country, it has to start here, with us" (or words to that effect!). Morgan Freeman really deserves an Oscar for that one!

And on the outdoor front...my boys have new bikes! And we spent a super weekend back in Bryansford, with lots of cycling, lots of walking, and some more night nav over Luke's Mountain, and back through Tollymore. The stars were amazing. You can't help but think of Indescribable, uncontainable, You placed the stars in the sky, and You know them by name...

My colleagues in work have now decided that I'll organise a walk up Donard in aid of Action Cancer, in May..so when you see a big crowd of not-very-fit-looking people heading upwards beside the Glen River, you'll know who it is. (And no girls, high-heels are not classed as suitable footwear!)

The start of February also saw a return to the blackbox for a second sampling of Ikon. (We did try to join the online event in January, but it didn't all go according to plan. February's LexIkon was a great wee thought provoking night. (You do need to be able to get past the widely varied range of people types who not only come to, but play a role in Ikon). If you think you can do that - come sometime...I particularly like the bit where you can order another beer from the bar! Traditional Church it ain't, but God is in the house!

And Snow - we've had more snow in the past few months than I remember in the last 5 years. It is lovely at first, but it's just FREEZING now - roll on spring, and sunshine, and BBQs.

So what's next? Dunamis on 6th March - I really must organise a practice, eh guys? Our friends Ali and Mark go back to Nepal soon, so it's farwell to them on Sunday night. (Did somebody say something about there being big mountains in Nepal? - What a fortunate series of events - perhaps!) I have a backlog of assignments for the Local Preachers Course (I am working on them, honest) and I got to speak (and sing, and play, and lead) in my mum and dad's church last Sunday night..not sure that they all got the Blacke Eyed Peas "Where is the love?", but nobody shouted "heretic" or anything like it, so I must have done something right.

June 5th will find me in Ward Park, with my lovely wife (and a few other people) listening to Snow Patrol - looking forward to that!

So lent is upon us - a time in my view, not to give up, but to take up...and wether you give up or take up, do it so that it brings you back to that heart of worship, and let the music and the clutter and the distractions fade, so that you can be what He wants you to be. Worship last Sunday was inspiring. As I choose songs on Saturday, Icouldn't get the words of "Draw me close to you" out of my head...partcularly in thinking about lent. "You're all I want, you're all I've ever needed" I think this wil be my soundtrack for lent - along with the Invictus 9000 days!

We are going to rock at Easter!

Wilder Worship

So here we are in the last month, of the first decade of the third millenium anno Domini. It seems no time at all since I was standing with my lovely wife at the big fish in Belfast, with a couple of close friends and a bottle of bubbly - watching the fireworks explode in the sky above the waterfront hall. Now, 10 years, 2 children, another church, several guitars, a couple of cars and many other things later, here we are ready to enter a new decade. I wonder what this one has in store for us all? But what of November? I had a wild night (quite literally) in the Mournes, navigating through the darkness (and rain and wind - and when I say rain, I mean rain...100s of pounds worth of outdoor gear and I was still absolutely soaking by the end of it) of Tollymore and Luke's mountain. Hopefully there'll be lots more adventures like this in the new decade. Speaking of adventures as well, I managed to get to Ikon in the Blackbox last night. Talk about alternative church! It was alternative alright, but not in any sense that you can fit it into a particular "box". It was different certainly, but challenging, thought provoking, relaxed (I mean what other "church" could you go to that has a break at half time so you can get more drinks in!), exiting, liberal and conservative - all in the same hour and something that it slips by in. The theme was ADVENTure (it's nearly Christmas don't you know) - an adventure that begins...and ends...with worship. The folks at Ikon pointed me towards The Advent Conspiracy - check out the website, and then:

WORSHIP FULLY

SPEND LESS

GIVE MORE

LOVE ALL

Happy Christmas. Come...with the shepherds...and the wise men...and the angels...and worship...the baby...the Christ...the King!

October was a bit wilder...

SO what can I say of last month? For September not having been too wild, October has been pretty good in terms of a wild life. There was the gig at Dunamis early on in the month, which was a blast - thanks to all the guys who played. Worship for the rest of the month has been harder...one of God's saints on earth was taken to be with Him...and we miss her and will go on missing her. Carole was, to say the least, amazing - and the number of lives that she touched, the smiles she brought to the people who encountered her, in her all-too-short 26 years on this earth - are testimony to that.


So worship in church since that dreadful night at the start of the month has been a bit like wading through mud. We don't really have a lot of songs that allow us to cry out and lament to God; that allow us to express our worship when things are bad. "Blessed be your name" is great in it's sentiment, but it's too hard for me to sing in the midst of this time. John Bell's translation of a traditional Mexican lament "We belong to God" has been gently meaningful. And so we keep on going, "weeping with those who weep, and mourning with those who mourn" for we love them all dearly. And it was a privilege and an honour to lead worship at Carole's funeral.


I haven't wanted to put any of this into words until now, I suppose maybe because putting it in words makes it real and absolute. But I can't not mention it ,for the impact on me, on everyone who knows Carole and her family, has been enormous.


So we go on, taking small steps forward, as we get to "carry each other" as Bono so beautifully phrased it...


One small step for us was a weekend in Bryansford - right at the foot of the beloved Mournes, and we even got to walk in them - three times!

A long wander through Tollymore (made all the longer because the stepping stones were under the rain that fell the night previous) was a great start to a Sunday. And a great finish to the same Sunday was Mrs McC dropping me off at Trassey track - in the pitch darkness, from where I made my way, into and through the darkness, across the hills at the back of Tollymore, and then through the forest and back to the cosyness of the holiday house. I should say, the open ground was great, mainly because my mind was fully occupied with navigation. Once on the familiar tracks of the forest however, the old mind had more free capacity for playing tricks, as the trees made strange noises in the wind, and set the heart beating, it felt, almost out of my chest! Glad to see the lights of Bryansford. Monday, and daylight, saw our intrepid explorers leading mum and dad up Hen mountain, with lots of climbing of rocks to be had. A great weekend all in all. And the night time walking has other people interested - so we'll go again this month and try to scare a bigger group out of their wits!

September ain't so wild...

So here we are, heading towards the middle of September, and it all feels a bit wick...and that's not just me! However, last Saturday was good - a trip to the folk museum, which for once was really good, and not bunged with people (even if PWC did have their family day on). Even got a ride on a horse and cart (or horses and cart to be precise - a wild life eh?). After that we saw the biggest aeroplane in the world as it flew over the city airport. Mrs McC tried to be excited for me, but it really was impressive as far as I was concerned.

SUnday worship was great...first evening service in a while, so that was good...despite a little bit of lethargy before leaving the house...amazing freedom in worship in CoGS. This Saturday night is small-worship chez nous. A chance to chill out with a glass of the fruit of the vine, and the mellow tones of an acoustic guitar and hopefully an acoustic bass!

The end of the month will let me into the beloved Mournes, which I feel like I haven't seen never mind been in, in a very long time. Meelmore crying out to be climbed, but we'll see how my unconditioned legs hold out...great coffee in Meelmore lodge. So roll on the end of the month, til we get through the blues of children going back to school, homeworks, dark mornings, dark evenings...even this will pass.

So I hold on to something Alan shared with us on Sunday evening..."Bidden or not bidden, God is present." Which is a good job really, 'cause even when we don't realise it, what would we do without Him holding us, and making us holy in His sight.