Pastor Craig is beginning a new series based on the book of Galatians. The series title is "Free to Live". We will be travelling through the book of Galatians over the next few weeks / months looking at how God has called us to live a life of freedom, and what that freedom looks like. Below are the notes from the service (including the call to worship and responsive reading). Below that is a devotional reading I read from John Piper, taken from his book

Here are two incredibly powerful and fresh songs, both formed from the ideas of us being skeletons in God's presence. Though the songs each have a different focus, the metaphor of both is incredibly powerful, and moving. They are both reminders to me that God wants our honest imperfection rather than our cloaked religiosity...only then can He begin to work...

John Mark McMillan wrote the worship anthem "How he loves" (click here to watch a version of the song). Skeleton Bones is his latest offering. The lyrics are below, so you can worship along with the video.

This song is written by Brian Houston and is available from the difficult to track down album "Hurricane" by the Hudson Taylors (Brian with Noel Richards and Wayne Drain). This is a powerful song, based on this passage in Ezekiel. This song reminds me to take my eyes from what is visible and to ask to see life's situations with eyes of faith:"Where you see bones, I can see the army". May this song bless you. 

Where You See Bones

Verse 1
When the ones you love and trust
Hurt and destroy you
Though you may be discouraged
Certainly don't think of giving up
When you are broken
When you are wounded
Forgive those who persecute you
For it's alright to be broken
And it is no shame to cry
But I do not want you to remain
In that place of brokenness
Even though I am in that place with you
Still I do not want you to stay there

Chorus
Where you see bones
I can see the army
Where you see floods
I can see the shore
Where you see dry winds blow
I see the new life grow
Where you see the clouds in your way
It is the Lord

Verse 2
Like I delivered Moses
Out from the desert place
So I will lead you through
You will see a fire in the night
And a pillar of cloud in the day
And I will go before you
And if you can forgive
Then when your soul is really mended
You will see there is gold pure gold
Real gold of great worth in your life
But I do not want you to remain
In that place of brokenness
Even though I am in that place with you
Still I do not want you to remain there

Bridge
No no no no
I do not want you to remain
In the land of your affliction
No no no
I do not want you to stay there
In the land of your broken dreams
For you see for you see

Chorus
Where you see bones
I can see the army
Where you see floods
I can see the shore
Where you see desert winds blow
I feel the new life grow
Where you see the clouds in your way
It is the Lord


CCLI Song No. 3758870
© 2001 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
Brian Houston
For use solely with the SongSelect Terms of Use.  All rights Reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License No. 108200

It's pretty rare that I walk into my local video store (Gower Video) here in rural Canada and come out with a movie I know nothing about only to find out that it's actually a pretty good movie despite it having flown under the Hollywood radar. It's even rarer that such a flick features such stars as Christopher Walken, Alfred Molina (Diego Rivera in "Frida", Doc Oc in "Spiderman 3") and Naomi Watts (King Kong). Even Jerry Springer makes an appearance! It's even more rare to find out that said movie is filmed entirely on location in Wales. Cue *sigh* of satisfaction as I settle into my seat...

Every now and then I get a desire to watch a British movie. I know they're full of unattractive people with bad teeth. I know they aren't as shiny as their big budget Hollywood counterparts. I know the action scenes and explosions seem somehow sub par. I know all this, and yet I love them! 

I won't bore you with a review. You can read a fair yet favourable one here.

I think there are a couple of reasons why I like this movie, and a couple of cautions:

1. It's filmed in Wales - some of the panoramic shots take me back to my homeland where juxtaposed with the row upon row of mining-era terraced housing in the valleys is the beautiful, wild countryside (see here for an example). 

2. The film is replete with decent Welsh accents. If you want to hear a proper Welsh accent (and mine isn't one, having lived outside of the country for 10 years), watch this movie, see? Alfred Molina and Lee Evans both do decent accents. Brenda Blethyn and Robert Pugh are Welsh anyway. But it's Naomi Watts' accent that blows me away - she sounds fantastic as the over-the-top Welsh trollop. Apparently she's got some Welsh in her ancestry. The big thing about this movie is that everyone seems to be having a great time filming it, even amidst the ever-present Welsh rain.

3. There are some great shots inside Welsh chapels and Welsh churches. The script writer gets bonus points from me for subtly bringing this important part of Welsh heritage to the silver screen, i.e. the difference between 'church' and 'chapel'. Me, I was raised in a chapel. For all you Wesleyans or Methodists, there was an intriguing time in Wales' Christian history when a Methodist, Thomas Charles, led a movement of Welsh Methodists out of the Anglican Church. These people were called the "non-Conformists". To read an interesting BBC article on this era in Wales' history, click here.  So props to this movie for referencing this ever-so-Welsh historicity. 


A couple of cautions:
1. Death is treated in a pretty light hearted manner, and there are some outlandish scenes of over the top funerals, people masquerading as ghosts etc
2. While there are no sex scenes and very little bad language in this movie, Naomi Watts does appear scantily clad in a couple of scenes
3. There is a theme of infidelity running through the movie. While it is not condoned, it is still present. I found it strange that Betty, because she cannot countenance the thought of divorcing her husband (due to her morals), decides to stage an elaborate ruse of death...


A couple of take-aways:
1. Google the history of church and chapel in Wales - the Methodist influence begun by John Wesley, but contextualized for Wales
2. For the sake of the argument, let's place the morality of infidelity aside for a moment. In the movie, Betty had to "die" (i.e. fake her own death) to begin her new life. How many of us are unwilling to die to our loveless marriage to sin to embrace a life of hope with Christ? Part of Betty's reticence to go through with her fake death is that she's afraid of what people will say? What would people say about you if they saw you on fire and in love with Christ, instead of going through the form of relationship?

If nothing else, watch this movie for the BEAUTIFUL Welsh scenery, and then next time you're over visiting London, go left for about 3 hours and spend some time in this wonderful part of the world! Take a closer look at its beauty by clicking here.

At Cornerstone, we are moving towards becoming a community that is living in an atmosphere of prayer, revealing Christ and His love, growing in community and serving others with compassion.

Throughout 2010, we, as Cornerstone Wesleyan Church, are committed to making letting God's kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. Part of the way we can achieve this as a community is through supporting various, Christ-centred ministries throughout the world. Below, you can see the ministries and missionaries we are supporting in 2010. You can give by writing the name of the goal on an envelope and placing it in the offering plate or putting in the box at the back of the sanctuary.

Just as with Abraham, God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to the nations. How is God calling YOU to bless the world?