Calvin: sorrow

Repentance will produce confusion, groaning, displeasure with self, but...

...we must remember to exercise restraint, lest sorrow engulf us. For nothing more readily happens to fearful consciences than falling into despair. And also by this strategem, whomever Satan sees overwhelmed by the fear of God he more and more submerges in that deep whirlpool of sorrow that they may never rise again. That fear cannot, indeed, be too great which ends in humility, and does not depart from the hope of pardon. Nevertheless, in accordance with the apostle's injunction the sinner always ought to beware lest, while he worries himself into dissatisfaction weighed down by excessive fear, he become faint.

Institutes , 3.3.15 (Battles p.608-9)

Which also I think fits well with a great passage in 1 Samuel 12:

And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.

#23 Love and Affection

Oooh! It's getting tough now. Too many songs and not enough space. I was going to write a long bit on the song that should have been here today, except it's not available. So instead here's just a short bit on this one.

I like this song. It's by Joan Armatrading. And it's a lot older than you might think! (1976)

Spotify
LastFM

The ones that got away

I keep drawing blanks for online versions of some songs which should be in the list, so I thought I'd post the titles for further exploration to interested parties. Either these tracks are not permitted online, or the artists are not famous enough to be on there:

Seriously Unrehearsed by John Froud
Sleep by Riley Armstrong
Rolling Thunder by A-Ha

Talking about death

From a BBC interview, this is interesting from a pastoral perspective too:

If you're a young person and you're facing death then you will talk about it, as Jade Goody so evidently did, but deaths under 40, the majority of them are road traffic accidents, so there's no talking time and no preparation. Then 40-60, people have life-threatening illnesses and on the whole, they talk. But the overwhelming majority of deaths are older people and I can tell you from my own research that when older people say to their families, 'I want to talk to you about my funeral', which is a way of wanting to talk about death, a typical response is 'Oh, you don't want to talk about that stuff, that's depressing, you'll go on for a long time'. So if we can create opportunities with people who will listen carefully and be non-judgemental, then you can give them a real lift, because as older people face what we call finitude, the coming of the end of life, many of them become very, very anxious and full of guilt and they've got no-one to talk to

Malcolm Johnson, Professor of Gerontology at Bath
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8058047.stm

#22 Goodbye Ordinary

I got this one off of FreeCCM, not having heard of MercyMe before. This is from their 2007 album All That is Within Me.

The song is a bit obvious (ie you don't really have to work at it) but I like the big sound, and the sentiment. And I think, maybe, the last minute or so makes it sound a bit like someone might be a Beatles fan.

Spotify

Calvin: battle of faith

...it is necessary to return to that division of flesh and spirit which we have mentioned elsewhere. It most clearly reveals itself at this point. Therefore the godly heart feels in itself a division because it is partly imbued with sweetness from its recognition of the divine goodness, partly grieves in bitterness from an awareness of its calamity; partly rests upon the promise of the gospel, partly trembles at the evidence of its own iniquity; partly rejoices at the expectation of life, partly shudders at death. This perception arises from imperfection of faith, since in the course of this present life it never goes so well with us that we are wholly cured of the disease of unbelief and entirely filled and possessed by faith. Hence arise those conflicts; when unbelief, which reposes in the remains of the flesh, rises up to attack the faith that has been inwardly conceived.

Institutes 3.2.18 (Battles p.564)

Conjugating life

Evelyn Underhill's famous observation in her little book The Spiritual Life:

"Most people spend their lives trying to conjugate the verbs 'to want,' 'to have' and 'to keep'— craving, clutching, clinging—when all the Spirit wills us to do is to conjugate the verb 'to be.'"

http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2009/mayjun/4.39.html?start=3

Calvin: Faith

For unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts, and we are so inclined to it, that not without hard struggle is each one able to persuade himself of what all confess with the mouth: namely, that God is faithful.

.
Institutes, 3.2.15 (Battles p.560)

#21 Baker Street

OK, I know I'm not going to convince anyone of my cutting edge style with this one but....in terms of perfectly constructed tracks, this gets my vote.

There is of course the sax, which through overuse on adverts etc has become maybe too well known, but it's a great riff (originally planned for guitar, and only accidentally recorded for sax when the guitarist didn't show up). There's the searing guitar solo (best on the album version, rather than the single). But also, it's got an idea: the forlorn seeking for something, the answer so near yet so far.

Anyway, here it is: Spotify LastFM

Kendall: troubles

However, as we have seen, when one set of troubles subside, new ones replace them. You may ask, "Why does God allow this to happen?" Well, I think He has two reasons: First, we grow best when we experience some suffering. Jesus is more real to me in times of pain, but when everything goes smoothly, I coast along, and then God says, "RT, I don't have your attention now, do I?" Second, God allows us to face frequent trials because He does not want us to become too attached to this earth. He wants us to set our sights on our eternal destination.

RT Kendall, A Man After God's Own Heart, p193.

The ironic clock

Every technology has embedded spiritual consequences. The mechanical clock was created by Benedictine monks in the 13th century. It was designed to create more regular prayer intervals to enhance our devotion to God. The mechanical clock also gave birth to the Industrial Revolution and capitalism, because it created measurable, uniform time units to break up your day into. So a technology originally designed to enhance devotion to God also enhanced our devotion to mammon.

Shane Hipps, CT interview 5th May 2009.

#20 Every Breath You Take

Just a quick one as I am not, technically speaking, really here.

Leaving aside it's somewhat sinister overtones (this is Sting we're talking about), I just think this is one of the best crafted, well balanced, and warm sounds ever. It resonates on a deep level (which is why I think the disturbing aspect of the lyrics is often overlooked). One of those great moments.

Every Breath You Take on LastFM