I think I’ve identified the trickiest thing about trying to learn the violin as a competant pianist. Reading the basic notes is simple – there’s only one line compared to reading multiple lines for the piano. Playing all notes on just four strings takes a bit of practise, but is achievable – whilst both hands are in use, they are working together to produce one note most of the time! Shifting isn’t too tricky, it’s no different from taking your hands completely on the piano keyboard and landing an octave higher, you even get to keep your finger on the string and slide to the new position.

A slightly tricky thing to learn was the extra musical notation I have to keep track of. It took a while to get used to the up and down bow markings, but it eventually sunk in.

The most difficult part is the slurring! On the piano, you read slurs for phrasing purposes. On the violin, they actually have technical meaning – you are supposed to play slurred notes in one bow movement! If I could just embed the significance of this into my mind when reading the music, I’d be OK! For some reason though, I find it difficult to take note of them…

As Jesus travelled around Judaea, he met all kinds of people, many who became followers. Those who followed weren’t all respectable people though.

Amongst those was Matthew the publican (civil servant), more specifically a tax collector, a man despised by many of his fellow Jews because he worked for the occupying Imperial Roman powers.

By leaving his booth that he might dine with Jesus, Matthew was putting himself last, as he would deprive himself of income.

Jesus was happy to accept him though, to forgive him his sins and to dine with him. The Jewish establishment of the day, the Pharisees, were astounded that Jesus would eat with such ‘sinners’, without realising that they themselves were sinners instead being self-righteous.

Jesus responded by saying that he had come to save sinners. Indeed his disciples would be comprised of a tax collector who worked for the Romans, and a freedom fighting Zealot – both who were changed by Jesus’ power and who would consider themselves brothers.

How often do we think that someone is beyond saving? Yet, Jesus will save who he will save, and no one is beyond his power. Regardless of their ideology, culture, ethnicity or even attitude.

Had an interesting game of Diplomacy this evening, with five other seasoned players and one newbie. Alas, the newbie had drawn Russia, and I’d not picked Germany or Italy, which was a good start.
The game progressed with England and France allying, and Turkey and Austria-Hungary allying. It became clear that any country not in one of the two main alliances was doomed to be carved up, as England and France carved up Germany, Austria-Hungary took out Italy and Turkey poked Russia in the southern ribs.
Alas, an oversight on my part meant I forgot to build a unit when I could and left Brest open to English incursion, leading to the downfall of France and an eventual victory for England.

Went walking on the North Downs today with some other bods from church. We started off at Newlands Corner, walked down to Shere and then back up again. Usually, I wouldn’t have had a problem keeping up, but I think I’m still in recovery as I am now rather knackered! A good opportunity to see the wonders of creation and get some fresh air though!

Q: Which is the seventh commandment?
A: The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Q: What is required in the seventh commandment?
A: The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own, and our neighbour’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behaviour.

Q: What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
A: The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.

(Questions LXX, LXXI and LXXII from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.)

I do seem to be going through a lot of pieces on the violin these days. It might be worth getting pieces from the library to learn than to buy books, but unfortunately my local library is a bit small. Currently learning the Rondeau from Purcell’s Abdelazar which is really rather cool. (You’ll probably more familiar with it’s use as the theme to Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.) Also trying to learn the Neapolitan Song from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, which might be cool as well, but it’s rather difficult!

Well, the Monday night football with my work colleagues is coming to an end. I’ll miss the regular opportunity for exercise, as well as the exposure to danger – mostly from harsh language, but occassionally from the odd heavy tackle! Saying that, it has improved my fitness and stamina, which should hopefully be sustained with the football I play on a Saturday now.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 Jn 1:5

God is holy and just, he can be trusted in all things for there is nothing in him which is deceitful. It is this holiness which makes heaven, heaven, and this same holiness which makes hell, hell. For those who trust Jesus Christ to take away their sin will be able to stand in that holiness and enjoy it, but those who cling to their sin will find that same holiness causes them pain and suffering.

If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth…If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 Jn 1:6,8

If we have put out faith in Jesus Christ, the Spirit will work in us and cause up to become more like Christ. We will live more and more according to the word of God and will avoid that which is contrary to the word of God more and more. This is not to say that if we put our faith in Jesus Christ that we will be sinless in this life. Our old sinful nature still contends with the Spirit within us.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin…If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 Jn 1:7,9

Yet, if we have faith in Jesus Christ, he will cleanse us from all sin that we might be spotless in the presence of God. We will want to be around those who have also trusted in Christ, and when we sin, which we shall surely do this side of death, if we honest about them before God and others, he will deal with them.

Well, after a week of feeling a little rough, I decided against travelling half-way across the country and back again in one day. Instead, Sarah had twigged I wouldn’t be doing anything so asked if I wanted to go to a talk by Paul Taylor from Answers in Genesis at Hatfield Evangelical Baptist Church. Whilst I’m not a supreme fan of the AIG lot (ask me, and I might explain), I’m certainly no evolutionist, so I thought it would be interesting to find out what’s new on the creation/evolution debate. I came away with very little new information. This isn’t to say the exisiting information was bad – I just knew it already. I knew that evolution relied on a few suppositions, such as a very old earth (approximately 4.6 billion years old) and a necessity for a lot of beneficial genetic mutation, which a lot of the evidence didn’t support.

I did away with something new though. There has been found to be carbon-14 in coal. Now, according to evolutionary theory, coal was formed millions of years ago from dead plant material in mangrove swamps. However, carbon-14 has a very short half-life (relatively speaking) and only takes about 50,000 years to complete decay to carbon-12. The significance of this is that for carbon-14 to exist in this coal, it has to be less than 50,000 years old. The coal cannot be millions of years old. There you go.

Anyway, after two talks, we headed back to Sarah’s and sat around and chatted until we realised the time. A nice relaxing and slightly educational end to the week.

Well, was feeling well enough to go back to work today. In a way it’s a shame, as for the days I was semi-ill, I stayed in bed, nice and snug and watched DVDs like To Kill a Mockingbird and the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice.

Not sure I could keep myself occupied for too long with DVDs though – I’d soon run out of good films to watch. It’s rather pleasant being able to do things without too much pain and discomfort as well.

Does God care? It can be so easy to look around us, to see natural disasters and not so natural disasters happening all around us, and conclude that if God is there at all, he doesn’t really care.

We only need to read the accounts of the happenings of first century Roman Palestine to realise the aforementioned conclusion might be wrong.

In a stable, in Bethlehem, a baby was born. This baby was foretold in prophecies reaching back to the beginning of creation itself. This baby would be the descended from Adam and also be the incarnation of God the Son. This would be the God-man. Somehow, the infinite would be contracted to the finite.

This baby would grow up to be a man, that God would walk amongst us. He would suffer as every other man, he would hunger, thirst and grow weary. He would know loneliness and rejection. Yet, he would go through something which no other man could do. He didn’t come to earth just to live a perfect sinless life and tell us how to live, nor did he come just to find out what it would be like.

The first sin of mankind caused all men to be born sinners. That, before a righteous and holy God, they deserved everlasting punishment. Yet God in his grace loved mankind so much, that he sent his Son to become a man, live on earth and then die a substitutionary and sacrificial death. God the Son would take on punishment due to sinners, God the Son would present himself as a perfect sacrifice for sin, that sinners might be made eternally right with God. Jesus Christ did everything necessary for our justification, making it available to all who put their faith in him.

Does God care? He cared enough to allow his eternal Son to die in our place, that we might not suffer eternal punishment, but have everlasting life with him.

Woke up yesterday morning with the notable feeling of fever – raging temperature and very damp bedsheets! Decided it would be best to stay in bed, given I didn’t have much of a choice about it – I don’t think I would’ve got out of bed and down to work even if I wanted to. Today is a lot better though, as I now feel well enough to fill in this blog.

Of course, it could be a lot worse – at least I’m not fighting for my life.

Well, I’m learning scales and arpeggios on the violin at rather a pace, would be nice if my general proficiency was as rapid. Saying that, played some pieces I’d learnt a while ago and even though I hadn’t practised them in ages, I was able to play them a lot better than when I learnt them! Something must be sinking in. 🙂

I once had a whim and I had to obey it
To buy a French Horn in a second hand shop;
I polished it up and I started to play it
In spite of the neighbours who begged me to stop.

To sound my horn, I had to develop my embouchure;
I found my horn was a bit of a devil to play.
So artfully wound, to give you a sound
A beautiful sound so rich and round.

Oh, the hours I had to spend, before I mastered it in the end.

But that was yesterday and just today I looked in the usual place
There was the case but the horn itself was missing.

Oh, where could it have gone? Haven’t you – hasn’t anyone seen my horn?
Oh where could it have gone?
What a blow! Now I know, I’m unable to play my Allegro.

Who swiped my horn? I’ll bet you a quid, somebody did,
Knowing I’d found a concerto and wanted to play it,
Afraid of my talent for playing the horn.
Whoever it is I can certainly say it,
He’ll probably wish he had never been born.

I’ve lost my horn – I know I was using it yesterday.
I’ve lost my horn, lost my horn, found my horn…gone.
There’s not much chance of getting it back though I’d willingly pay a reward.

I know some hearty folk whose party jokes pretending to hunt with the Quorn ,
Gone away! Gone away! Was it one of them took it away?
Will you kindly return my horn? Where is the devil who pinched that horn?
I shall tell the police I want my French Horn back.

I miss its music more and more and more.
Without the horn I’m feeling sad and so forlorn.

I found a concerto, I wanted to play it
Displaying my talent for playing the horn.
But early today to my utter dismay it has totally vanished away.
I practised my horn and intended to play it but somebody took it away.
I practised the horn and was longing to play it but somebody took it away.

My neighbour’s asleep in his bed.
I’ll soon make him wish he were dead.
I’ll take up the tuba instead!
Wah, Wah!

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

Of all the ten commandments, the fourth commandment is the one which God devotes the most time explaining.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Ex 20:8-11

From the beginning of time, God made this ordinance, not just for his people, but for the benefit of all. The first man was given a place to live, a job to do, a command to keep, a wife to love and a day to keep apart from the rest of the week. We are to work for a living, but in doing so, we must set aside one day out of the week for rest and giving it to God.

This command is repeated in the moral law given by God on Mount Sinai, not just as a law to be kept by his people, but as a guideline on how to live a life which is best for us. This is what is best for us, for if we try to work 24×7, we will eventually do ourselves some damage.

Jesus himself says none of the law has been abolished. For he himself fulfils the requirements of the ceremonial law – the law which makes atonement between God and man, and the moral law is left untouched to show us our sinful state, our need of a saviour and the way to lead a godly life. This is not to say we must put this commandment above all others, for we must put God first and seek to save and preserve life, but we should also seek to avoid unnecessary work and work creation.

It becomes apparent in the New Testament, that after the resurrection, the followers of Jesus Christ would meet on the first day of the week. Meeting weekly on the day of his resurrection and subsequent appearances singled out Sunday as a day of worship and of rest.

As we live in a society which is slowly discarding regard for the fourth commandment, it becomes ever more important that we highlight its importance in the vitality of society. To set aside one day out of seven as a day of rest and worship is a commandment given by God, for our benefit, and we and our society will surely suffer without it.