Author Archives: commaandco

About commaandco

Poet and blogger at www.commaand.co encouraging personal creativity and linking arts and life

John Piper: One third of the Bible is Poetry

John Piper on why one third of the bible is poetry; also a link to his sermon on George Herbert Continue reading

Posted in Contemplation, Creativity | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fashion Design from faith

Hong Kong designers who design from a heavenly perspective, from faith, featured in “The Still Point” response to T S Eliot’s “4 Quartets” poetry Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Street Pastor, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Not relevance but resonance

Mark Oakley’s speaks about the links between faith and poetry and his book “The splash of Faith: Believing in Poetry” Continue reading

Posted in Effective Church, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Lord’s Prayer in Glaswegian

The Lord’s Prayer in Scots by Jamie Stuart Continue reading

Posted in Prayer, Prayer & Intercession | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hope

“We live in a world that doesn’t have very much hope right now and if you get a glimpse – a glimmer – of something to actually give hope and to actually transform the human heart and communities and the … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Video | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mercy!

I just came across a very old song, written by John Newton, set to new music by Jamie Barnes of Sojourn Community Church.  The lyrics are very powerful still in the 21st century, although written 230 years ago. John Newton is … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Atheists don’t have no songs”

Steve Martin: “Religious people have such beautiful music and art, and atheists really have nothing…… until now.”   This is a lovely list song – lyrics made up of a list of categories – in this case, faiths.  Sung with … Continue reading

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reconnecting: microphones and liturgy

Is there a special prayer to prepare to use microphones, when speaking in church?  Malcolm Guite, in his column “Poet’s Corner” in “The Church Times” considers this very point.  He comes up with some playful verses: For putting the rechargeable … Continue reading

Posted in Contemplation, Service | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Patience, waiting

One of the first listed characteristics of love in the famous list in 1 Corinthians 13 is patience: “Love is patient….” God is Love – therefore we can expect that he is patient.  Understanding that is helpful. Unfortunately, some Christians, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Old to new

Worship – for those who love the rich wordings of old hymns, but who want to use 21st century music styles to engage a modern audience, there are some exciting new arrangements which combine both.  For example, one old and … Continue reading

Posted in Music, Worship | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment