Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet...

Browsing around the Guardian website a few days ago, I found a contribution from David Bowie in which he lists the things he's listening to on his iPod. Being the good fan of the Thin White Duke that I am, I plugged the playlist into Spotify and had a listen to his selection. All very interesting, but the thing that really grabbed me was the final track - Gavin Bryars' "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet".

For those of you who don't have Spotify (sorry guys - I don't have any invites), let me talk you through this track. It's basically a recording of a tramp singing a few lines from the song of the title, looped over and over for the duration... which is 25 minutes. He starts out unaccompanied, and by the time we reach the end of the song, he is accompanied by a full orchestra. This accompaniment, of course builds with beautiful subtlety over the course of the piece, so at times we barely notice it building.

The effect is something quite hypnotic - soothing, and yet a little frustrating. And when I gave it enough time, I found it quite meditative. Here's an excerpt from the rationale, from the composer's website:

"... I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping."

Inevitably, this track has been around for years, without ever entering my field of awareness. But now it has, I can't shake it. Apparently, the the reason it's only (!) 25 minutes long is simply due to the limitations of tape... there's an hour long version that was recorded in the 90s with Tom Waits joining in the singing towards the end! I'm trying to get my hands on a copy...

Engaging with young people...

When I was, myself, a young person, I spent a lot of time fretting about how to 'Engage' with young people. How to make the gospel 'Relevant' and 'Accessible' and appeal to a 'Secular' generation. I expended a not inconsiderable amount of time developing youth services and youth clubs and youth bible studies. It often felt like heaving a snowball at a warm, teflon-covered piece of wall.

I now work in a school, where we occasionally try to develop events and activities for young people - not in a Christian way, just in a kind of social responsibility way. But the buzzwords are still 'inclusion' and 'outreach' and 'relevance'. And we still often meet with only a limited amount of success. Last year, we provided a free DJ workshop, and encouraged 14/15/16 year old boys to come and have a go at mixing and scratching under the experienced eye of a professional DJ. Three Students turned up. I concluded that sometimes, the snow just won't stick.

So, I was uncertain of what the reaction would be when my colleague decided to host a semi-religious candle-lighting ceremony during the lunch break of a busy last day before half term. She had spotted that a number of students had recently had bereavements, and wanted to do something to acknowledge them. I was dubious of how much interest there would be, but went along to 'show my support'...

I needn't have worried. Students crammed into the mobile classroom to have an opportunity to light a candle in memory of someone, and listen to a short poem and Bible verse. There were tears, and a genuine sense of community and spirituality. It was deeply moving, and clearly quite valuable for most of those involved. I found myself standing there, not just 'showing my support', but taking part in, and benefiting from the short ceremony.

'Secular Generation'? Young people are deeply aware of things of the spirit. Often deeply in need of greater engagement with things of God. We should not be trying to drag them in. We should be meeting their needs. That's how we show our support.