Flourish post #4 - NFC, NFA, WT***

Time for explanation about the stuff I presented at a conference a couple of weeks ago - and in the blog posts below.

If you answered the questions in the posts here and here, you'll know your scores on two tests: Need for Cognition and Need for Affect. These tests were developed by psychologists and are used fairly extensively, particularly among advertising psychologists.

I'm interested in these tests because they help us understand why we like what we like.

Need for Cognition measures the extent to which we seek out and enjoy cognitive stimulation. It is not a measure of intelligence. It's a measure of cognitive motivation. Very clever people can score low on NFC. High NFCers, though, do tend to acquire more knowledge over time.

Here are some characteristics of people with high NFC:

 - have high intrinsic motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavors

- use central path (information, reasoning, logic) to persuasion, rather than peripheral paths to persuasion (short cuts - do I like the way speaker looks, sounds...) 

- unstressed by cognitive tasks

- base judgements and beliefs on empirical information and rational considerations

- more likely to be curious

- more likely to desire new experiences that stimulate thinking

- perceive social issues to be personally relevant or involving

- desire to maximise information gain

- more likely to be open to ideas, actions, feelings and values.

- Tend to have high verbal intelligence but NFC is not related to abstract reasoning ability.

- tend to be low in neuroticism, low in external locus of control and low in social anxiety.

- much better long and short term  ad recall than low nfc

- uses attitude moderation - see shades of grey

- in team work situations, are much less likely to 'loaf'

Here are some characteristics of people with low NFC:

- much lower motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavours

- use peripheral paths to persuasion

- anxiety levels measurably increase if confronted with a task they perceive to be intellectually challenging

- use social comparison clues in decision/opinion making

- value factors such as attractiveness and popularity in one’s identity,

- tendency to ignore, distort, avoid new information

- preference for order and predictability

- decisiveness 'this is just how it is.'

- tendency towards dogmatism

- find comfort in the familiar and predictable.

There is no gender difference with NFC.

Need for Affect, similarly, measures the extent to which people seek out and enjoy emotional stimulation. NFC has been highly researched and used extensively for the last 30 years. NFA is still in the development stage, but here's what's been established so far.

Need for Affect is a different thing to NFC. They are not opposites. You can be high in one and low in the other, you can be high in both, you can be low in both.

Here are a few characteristics of high NFAers.

- high NFA people are influenced by mood. For example, put them in a good mood (through a sunny day, a warm room etc) and they are much more able to be persuaded to do or buy or think something. Not so with low NFAers.

- high NFAers experience narrative transportation to a much greater extent that low NFAers. They get drawn into a story. This can be used very effectively to persuade them of something.

- high NFAers are more open to feel emotion, so have lower trigger levels for things that will make them feel something.

- Women tend to have a higher NFA than men. 

Our NFC and NFA are pretty much stable. There is no point judging each other on this or trying to change each other. We are what we are. It isn't a sin thing. 

It's about how we naturally process information. You can consider your NFC and NFA scores together and find out what kind of processor you are.

NFC - greater than 107 = high nfc. Less than 107 = low nfc

NFA - greater than 85 = high nfa. Less than 85 = low nfa

Low NFC, Low NFA = passive processor

Low NFC, High NFA = feeling processor

High NFC, High NFA = combination processor

High NFC, Low NFA = thinking processor

Now, I find all of this fascinating, but it's particularly interesting when you use it to think about music in church. Thoughts on that will come in another post.

What kind of processor are you?

My Heart Delights, version 3 billion.

Last chance for comments, guys. It gets recorded soon - probably this week. 

My heart delights

My heart delights
that Christ would leave his throne,
and come to earth
to claim us as his own.
God from eternity
shared our humanity!
Our God in flesh adorned
A child was born!
Jesus, Lord through all the ages
God from God and light from light
Came from heaven, brought salvation
Be alone my heart’s delight

My heart delights
that God would give himself
He sought no power, 

no honor and no wealth.
What love is this? What grace!

He suffered in my place!
He walked the road for me

To Calvary.

My heart delights
That I can live for him
And serve the one
Who freed me from my sin
Oh Spirit, light your fire!
Make him my one desire!
Burn through the coldest night
My heart’s delight.

sar 2012

Sorry for the silence

There will be a big post soon with what's going on.

trying to finalise a song

My Heart Delights. Remember it? I think 2 lines have survived. We are up to tune 30 and lyric version 563.

I'd rather be listening to Green Day.

Joel's birthday cake.

What do you think?

Flourish workshop 3: NFA

Please answer these questions with a number from 1-9.

1.Very Strongly Disagree

2. Strongly Disagree

3. Disagree

4. Mildly Disagree

5. Neither Agree nor Disagree

6. Mildly Agree

7. Agree

8. Strongly Agree

9. Very Strongly Agree

NFA 

1. I am good at empathizing with other people’s problems. ____

2. I make decisions with my heart. ____

3. I often get too emotionally involved. ___

4. I appreciate opportunities to discover my true feelings. ____

5. I like being around sensitive people. ___ 

6. My feelings reflect who I am. ____

7. I am a feeling person. ____

8. I am more a “feeler” than a “thinker”. ____

9. When I recall a situation, I usually recall the emotional aspects of the situations. ____

10. I prefer a task that is emotional and important to a task that is intellectual and important. ____

11. Feeling comes naturally to me. ____

12. I enjoy trying to explain my feelings-even if it’s only to myself. ____

13. Emotion excites me. ____

Add up the numbers to get your

NFA Score :  ______

I'll tell you what all of this is about in another post.

Flourish 2 - NFC

A questionnaire.

Please answer these questions with a number from 1-9.

1.Very Strongly Disagree

2. Strongly Disagree

3. Disagree

4. Mildly Disagree

5. Neither Agree nor Disagree

6. Mildly Agree

7. Agree

8. Strongly Agree

9. Very Strongly Agree

Write down your answer for these 18 questions. Scoring key below.

1. I would prefer complex to simple problems. ____

2. I like to have the responsibility of handling a situation that requires a lot of thinking. ____

3. Thinking is not my idea of fun.* ___

4. I would rather do something that requires little thought than something that is sure to challenge my thinking abilities.* ____

5. I try to anticipate and avoid situations where there is likely a chance I will have to think in depth about something.* ___

6. I find satisfaction in deliberating hard and for long hours. ____

7. I only think as hard as I have to.* ___

8. I like tasks that require little thought once I’ve learned them.* ____

9. The idea of relying on thought to make my way to the top appeals to me. ____

10. I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems. ____

11. Learning new ways to think doesn’t excite me very much.* ____

12. I prefer my life to be filled with puzzles that I must solve. ____

13. The notion of thinking abstractly is appealing to me. ____

14. I would prefer a task that is intellectual, difficult, and important to one that is somewhat important but does not require much thought. ____

15. I feel relief rather than satisfaction after completing a task that required a lot of mental effort.* ____

16. It’s enough for me that something gets the job done; I don’t care how or why it works.* ____

17. I usually end up deliberating about issues even when they do not affect me personally. ____

18. I prefer to think about small, daily projects to long-term ones.* ____

Scoring.

9 of these items - those with an **asterix** - are reverse scored. You need to adjust your answers. If you had 1, change it to 9. If you had 9, change it to 1. If you had 2, change it to 8. Similarly with 3 and 7, and 4 and 6. Leave your 5s as 5s.

Now add up your answers. And write down you score.

NFC Score : ________

Flourish workshop 1: Hosanna

Listen to this song.

What do you think? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Tell me in the comments.

Flourish workshop done.

It was heaps of fun.

I'm going to run it again, right here for you, blog friends.

Read the posts in order for best result.

And please comment.

Four hour long staff meeting...

We had a lady come in to do a Myers-Briggs assessment on us all.

All good fun. Four hours of being self obsessed.

No surprises. Very clear ENTP.

It was fun seeing what everyone else was.

But tell me, introverts, when you are standing by yourself at a work social thing, trying to hide behind your glass, do you want me to come and talk to you? The woman leading the session said that you are probably happy by yourself and you'd prefer to be left alone. True?

50 shades.

I'm not reading it, but I have been looking at a very funny chapter by chapter review. I've read about 10 chapters of the review, which is about as much as my godliness can take, so I'm stopping now. But I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on the writing style, the characters, the plot line and the issues it raises.

Five thoughts on FSOG so far.
1. This is really similar to Mills and Boon, except with poorer writing and kinkier sex. Nothing to see here guys.
2. This is FanFic. So, so much is stolen from Twilight.
3. Although problematic, the BDSM thing isn't the biggest issue for me*. Bigger, I think, is the nature of the relationship. He wants to control every aspect of her life - her clothes, her finances, her food, her friends, her diary, her facial expressions... This is sick, stalker guy behaviour. Why do readers find it desirable? But I guess that there is precedence for this in popular music. What's creepy in real life is romantic when the Police sing it (Every breath you take I'll be watching you...)
4. She isn't allowed to look him in the face without permission. Who made him god? (Or does he think he's an ancient Persian king?)
5. The picture it paints of female sexuality is warped. For our heroine, sexual desire does not exist apart from him. She never felt a twinge of anything till he came along. At age 22. Huh? But this is not unusual in female fiction - Twilight, some Mills and Boon etc feature it. It makes it so that the guy owns the girl's sexuality which is yuck.

My very biggest worry is that aspects of #3, #4 and #5 might be attractive to the people on the far right of complementarianism.

* But maybe it would be if I read on.

50 Shades of Grey

Quite a fuss about it.

Anyone want to admit to having read it?

Veronica Mars - Series 1

6 discs. I just watched it in 5 days - which is pretty good going, considering that I appeared to be living a normal life. "It's okay kids. I don't mind that we've arrived early for tennis today. You go and hit the ball while you're waiting for your lesson. I'll sit here in the car. Look! I've bought my computer..."

It's fabulous television. Anyone else seen it?

Is series 2 as good?

Stuart Townend is coming to Brisbane.

I spammed half our state with this email last night.

_________________________________________________________________

In Christ Alone 

Stuart Townend and Emu Music in Brisbane!

Dear Pastors and Christian friends,

I am writing to invite you and your congregations to hear world renowned modern hymn writer, Stuart Townend, perform at the Old Museum (Gregory Tce, Bowen Hills) on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. 

This is a rare opportunity to be encouraged by one of the most influential church musicians of our time. His songs, particularly How Deep The Father’s Love for Us and In Christ Alone, have taught, moved and inspired Christians across the denominations. Stuart will lead us in singing the gospel together and give us insights into his most popular songs.

As someone who loves to hear the gospel proclaimed in song, I feel that this is an opportunity not to be missed. The Old Museum Concert Hall has a strict 500 seat capacity so we advise that you book quickly to avoid disappointment. 

Event - In Christ Alone With Stuart Townend & EMU music

Date - Wednesday 17th October

Time - 7PM

Venue - The Old Museum, 460 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills

Cost - $27 each or $24 for groups of 10+

Bookings can be made online at twistconference.com

I have attached a brochure to this email. Feel free to print it out or forward it on to anyone who you think might be interested. More information about this event and about our Sydney and Melbourne concerts are available at twistconference.com. Registrations are now open.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions.

In Christ,

Simone

Emu Music

ps. Want a sample of Stuart Townend performing live? Listen here or here!

Andy Gullahorn sings "Workin' Man"

Gary suggested I watch this. Everyone should. It's hilarious.

songwriting with year 6....

Blow Up The Pokies was the song of the week. Needed it to balance out Adele.

Good fun talking through the issues with the kids. More group therapy.

They have now all started writing their own songs.

One group's song begins with the line 'Life is a journey'

Next week I think we'll need an anti-cliche lesson.

Flourish conference. Wanna come?

Friends.

These last few months I've been pre-occupied reading up on stuff for my workshop at Flourish conference Sydney 27-28th July. I'm excited about what I've come up with.

The advertising world has put considerable resources into researching what makes us tick. They have developed scales to measure how likely we are to be moved by different things - be it facts or emotions or recommendations or associations. In my Flourish worksop, I'll be using advertising research to talk about preferences in church music and why it is that a song can appeal to one person but not the next - and what we should do about it.

If you are interested, I'd love for you to come.

Details can be found here.  I'm doing my seminar twice - Friday afternoon 3-5, and Saturday morning 10.15-12.45. There's heaps of other stuff on as well.


Simone

tax return could mean new viola soon!

I've never felt such motivation to get it in.

(Not that I have any intention of filling in the form myself!)

Viola update - one term in.

Still playing out of tune.

Still producing a sub-optimal tone

Still fudging alto clef.

Still loving it.

I'm have an excellent teacher who is very encouraging and motivating. Despite the bad sounds (which, apparently, are normal) I feel like I'm making progress. My aim is to be able to play in a community orchestra in a few years. Hanging out to buy my own viola - hopefully in the next couple of months. Perhaps the one in the picture!

neuropsych appointment #1

Joel had his first neuropsych appointment today. Next week we go back for a pile of tests.

Thanks for the advice a couple of months ago.

This is a really good way forward. Wish we had done it years ago.

Adele fest at work this week

I'm having fun teaching songwriting to my six year 6 and 7 classes.

This week we listened to Adele's Set Fire To The Rain, analysed the structure (verses, choruses etc) and talked about what makes it a great song.

Out of that came a discussion about what our songs could be about. Previously, many kids had been saying they'd write songs about random nouns - a flower, a koala, a rainbow...  Here's my rule: The only people who want to hear a song about a koala (or flower, or whale, or teapot) are those under five. For the rest of us, songs need to be about people and, more particularly, about emotions. A song might seem to be about a sunrise, but it's actually about the euphoric rush I get from beauty. It may talk about an empty street, but it's actually about loneliness. The song a ten year old boy thinks is about Minecraft is actually about obsession or fear or anger (when another player griefs) or elation.

We also talked about back-stories: the situation that inspires the song. You don't have to spell it out to the listener, just use it yourself to get into the particular emotion. Adele seems to only have one back-story: I was with this guy and then we broke up and it sucks. But she takes it slightly different places in each song:
Rolling in the Deep - I was with this guy and we broke up and it sucks and I feel frustrated and disappointed because it could have been so good.
Someone like you - I was with this guy and we broke up and it sucks and I'm sad because you've moved on when I haven't.
Set Fire to the Rain - I was with this guy and we broke up and it sucks and I'm sad and angry about it.


Good times. With one class it kind of went into a group therapy session with kids telling me their own backstories of loneliness or rejection. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. Hoping for a few snippets or originality mixed in with the lyrical cliches!

on funerals.

Ever noticed how everyone always says good things about a funeral? It was lovely. It was a beautiful service.

Andrew gets more positive feedback from funerals he conducts than from anything else he does at church.

I've often wondered why this is.

Having taken part in a couple of family funerals in recent weeks, here are my thoughts.

1. People give good feedback about funerals because once they are done they are done. No one eagerly anticipates a funeral. The death part is horrible. The days post-death, organising the funeral, are stressy and tense. But we're so glad once the funeral is over! The relief that we got through it makes us enjoy it in retrospect.

2. People say good things about funerals because if the service is conducted 'well', death is put back in a box and buried. We don't have to think about it so much anymore.

3. People say good things about funerals because it feels good to cry and laugh with others. This is one of those rare situations where it's okay to be emotional. You can let it out. For those away from the centre of the loss (i.e.. those for whom the loss if sad, but not tragic), post funeral you can feel slightly high on the hormones released.

Thoughts?

"I know that 99% of you won't repost this, but I know the 1% of you who will."

I am in the 99%.

I don't care what your cause is. It's not that I don't love aunties, sisters, brothers, daughters, friends, whoever... It's not that I'm not sympathetic towards those with bowel cancer, autism, or herpes.

It's just that I will not repost this guilt inducing, sentimental tripe.

Facebook likes are cheap.

If you care about cancer research, donate some money.

If you love your aunty, send her a card.

If you friend is in pain, go visit her and take a lasagne.

But enough with the Facebook chain letters.

Back At Work

Next time I have a grand idea like writing a musical with eleven year olds, could someone please kick me?

It would be much much much much much much more efficient to do it myself. I'm trying very hard to not too obviously edit their work, but...

Need to mould what they have written into a performable show.

Funeral Prayer

Dear Father God,

We thank you for the life of George.

Thank you for the loving family that he was born into. Thank you for sustaining them through the difficult years after his father died. Thank you for the lessons that you taught George about hard work and making do during the difficult years of the depression. Thanks for providing him with a loving wife in Millie, who bought him joy for so many years. Thank you for bringing him home safely after his time of service in the second world war, for blessing him with nine children, for gifting him to be a faithful, kind and loving father and then grandfather, and then great grandfather. We thank you for his sense of humour, his thoughtfulness, and for the long life that you gave him. Most of all we thank you for your love for him and for his faith in you, that found expression in his trustful commitment to his duties, his selfless love for Millie and his family, and his years of service to those outside his family - greeting people at the door of church, putting a seat outside his house so people could sit and rest after walking up the hill, driving the ‘oldies’ around - from Kirra-Haven - even when he himself was well over 70 himself, and for keeping an interest in others right up until the end of his life.

We pray for Ma in her grief. Please comfort her with the knowledge that she will see George again in the new world that God is making, where there will be no more tears or sadness, no more goodbyes and no more growing old and frail. Please help us all to hope in you at this time and prepare ourselves in this life for the one that is to come.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

3-2=1

Pop died today. I need to write it. To keep on saying it. 101 years is such a long time - and yet, still a flash.

We got the news - I was with my sister in Rockhampton - and I had to leave very soon afterwards to pick Andrew up from the airport and keep driving north.

Silly time to have planned a holiday.

Andrew got into the car and I started looking at the clock. Just one hour ago and he was still breathing! He was close to us still - just a few minutes away! But time keeps moving. It's night now. We're 500kms further north and he's 8 hours further away. And getting swept further back into the past. What does it matter if he lived for more than a century? Time is a rip.

Please pray for my grandmother. After a marriage of 75 years, she is alone.

Three months ago I had 3 living grandparents. Now I'm down to one.

George Hohl. 1911-2012.

My 101 year old grandfather is very ill.

Holiday plans may be about to change.

car trip sound track

I'm looking for stuff to listen to. All up, we'll be doing 40 hours of driving in the next 11 days + extra because of roadwork.

Buying more music today. Suggestions?

Don't assume any suggestion is too old or too obvious. Forty hours is a lot.

thoughts on music etc

My thoughts on music, gender, styles etc. are coming along nicely. Don't want to post too much here in case I spoil things for the three people coming to the conference.

I have 2 hours for my seminar. How does this sound? Does it sound like something you'd like to come to?

Hour 1: Music and personality theory
Doing a personality test and marking it (15 minutes) (need to do this before I explain any more - otherwise will get skewed results)
The song choice dilemma
The nfc, nfe theory
Application to music at church
The song quadrant
Classifying songs - activity
Choosing songs for church

Hour 2: Four practical tips for giving a song broader appeal
Hands on - people will play/lead/introduce/sing a couple of songs. We'll try to make them sound good and have wider/different appeal.

Feeling Melancholy

Yesterday I drove up the mountain to Toowoomba. Today I drove back down.

I listened to Tim Freedman most of the time in the car.

Didn't want the trips to end.

A Fantastic Day.

1. I got Joel's WISC scores back. He no longer has a learning disability! Amazing! His lowest results jumped significantly - Processing speed went from the 16th percentile (3.5 years ago) to the 42nd percentile now (almost normal!). Working memory went from the 42nd percentile to the 91st percentile!!!! His highest - verbal comprehension - went from the 98th percentile to the 97.7th! These numbers aren't meant to move much so we're not sure what's going on... but we're happy. These new numbers have made me rethink our spelling strategy for the future. My current theory is that Joel can't spell because he was taught all the spelling rules at a stage when he wasn't able to learn them (he couldn't even read then. At all.) Now he is in a position to learn so I need to go back to year 2 and teach him the basics.

2. My classroom got lovely ash coloured blinds fitted. They look great.

3. I did 3 hours of supply during which time I made a lovely necklace, played dominoes, watched Mao's Last Dancer, and had a nice morning tea.

4. At midnight I worked out some stuff about congregational music and personality that I've been thinking about for the last couple of months. I've found some psych research that gives the perfect approach to think about it and language to talk about it - preferences etc. I want to write it up properly... You'll hear more.

5. Just had lunch out with Andrew.

6. About to go and buy holiday reading books for the kids.

7. My parents-in-law are coming over for dinner.

8. Holidays start this afternoon!

Yay!

Hope you are all having good days too.

More blog silence.

I feel like I haven't written an interesting post for about 12 months. Thinking about lots of stuff, much of which can't be shared - though I'd love to.

Yesterday was recorder concert day for my year 4s. I set my classroom up with a stage area and chairs and sent invites to parents. Each kid had to play a song from one of their books - they got to choose how hard a piece to play. I accompanied them on piano. Out of 100+ kids, I only had about 10 Lucy Lockets and a handful of Hot Cross Buns. Some kids played really impressive stuff. Only one child refused to play (but he refuses to do most things). Only one other couldn't play her song. It was all pretty bearable and each concert was over within half an hour. A great way of getting kids to practice. Last week I was despairing over them.

Today, my junior choir (year 2-3, plus a couple of brilliant year ones) performed the Gingerbread Man mini-musical. It was fun. They were great. The thing about working with primary aged kids (particularly at my school) is that they'll do stuff. No nerves or embarrassment issues to work through. It's cool because I say it is. Standing up in front of 400 people with a microphone and singing a solo is just what you do.

I have the best job.

Hopefully blog on something else soon.

sing anything audio

I wrote this with my year 7s last week - each class did a verse. Recorded it up with a student at lunch time today. It's slow and boring but her voice is pretty in spots.


What do you think?





My year 6s had their turn today. Their song has grunt. Here are the lyrics:


Bacon

1. Ev’ry day I’m wakin’

To the greasy smell of bacon

Ev’ry second waitin’

For a slice of scrumptious bacon

Chorus:

Bacon, Bacon

The taste can’t be mistaken

Bacon, Bacon

I love it, I’m not fakin’

2. I like it when it’s hot

Still oinking on the plate

Eat it all yourself

Or share it with a mate

3. Cook it up with eggs

Add tomato sauce

A food fit for the gods

Eat with no remorse

Bridge:

Bacon, Bacon

It’s even got a minecraft mod

Church Song Preferences - Help me out?

Before you read any further - think up your top 5 church songs. Write them down so you don't forget.

Have you done that?

Good.

Read on.

_______________________________

classifying congregational songs: creedal vs devotional


I'm trying to work out some robust ways to classify congregational songs. Not in order to dis or ditch... Just trying to understand better how they work and ultimately see if people have patterns of preference.

Here are two categories: Creedal and Devotional. Most hymns and contemporary church songs fit clearly into one category or the other. With a couple of songs, different verses work differently.

Creedal Songs primarily state truth. God's people are singing stuff about God. They may use either first person singular or first person plural pronouns (I, Me, My, Us, We, Our) but they always refer to God in third person terms: God, Jesus, the King, Him etc. because they are singing about God rather than directly to God. At best, a creedal song will be a powerful statement of the gospel that moves us and calls us to trust in and live for Jesus. At worst, a creedal song will feel like a stilted setting of the New Bible Dictionary.

Devotional Songs differ from creedal songs in that they are sung directly to God. They refer to God as 'you'. Devotional songs may be prayers, songs of response (stating how the singer feels about God) or aspiration (saying what the singer is going to do for God) or they may be songs that state truth about God - but declare it to God rather than to others. They tend to follow the form of the current day love song. At best, a devotional song will be a moving response to the gospel. At worst, it will be as wet and shallow as 1D.

Hymns fit into both categories. Creedal hymns include And Can It Be, Jesus the Name High Over All, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, My Song Is Love Unknown, Before the Throne of God Above, and When I Survey (except possibly v2). Devotional Hymns include Be Thou My Vision, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, and How Great Thou Art.

On the chart below I've categorised the top 20 or so CCLI songs.

Song	Song Classification
How Great Is Our God	Creedal. Song leader will often turn the bridge devotional ‘You’re the name above all names...”
In Christ Alone	Creedal.
Mighty To Save	First verse and chorus possibly creedal, second verse devotional.
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)	Creedal.
How Deep The Father's Love For Us	Creedal.
Blessed Be Your Name	Devotional - Prayer.
Here I Am To Worship	Devotional.
Shout To The Lord	Devotional.
For All You've Done	Devotional.
Lord I Lift Your Name On High	Devotional.
Hosanna	Devotional.
The Power Of Your Love	Devotional.
Indescribable	Devotional.
This Is Our God	Devotional.
Desert Song	??
Open The Eyes Of My Heart	Devotional - Prayer.
What The Lord Has Done In Me	Creedal.
My Redeemer Lives	Creedal. Bridge devotional.
Shine Jesus Shine	Devotional.
Happy Day	Devotional.
There Is A Redeemer	Verse creedal, Chorus devotional.
The Stand	Devotional.

You get the idea. So...

1. Go back to your top 5 songs. How many are creedal? How many are devotional?

2. Generally, do you prefer one type over another?

3. Try to remember what you sang in church on Sunday. What was the balance?

Contraceptive fail.

Not us.

Some friends.

Got me thinking, though. It could happen. I think I'd be excited if it did. (In an Oh my! Life and finances are about to get a lot more complicated kind of a way!)

TMI?

Ephesians 4 and Psalm 68 (take two)

 I'll hit 'Publish' after I've written the content this time!

'Don't try this at home' is sometimes good advice when looking at Paul's use of the OT. Of course what Paul says is right because he's inspired and all. But let's face it, his application of many passages is... well... imaginative.

I've always been stumped by Paul's use of Psalm 68 in Ephesians 4. The context is a discussion on Christian unity - particularly between Jews and Gentiles:

⁵  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says,

“ When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is Himself also He who ascendedfar above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)¹¹ And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹²  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ...

The quote comes from Psalm 68. Psalm 68 is a Davidic psalm with a strong us and them thing happening. God will protect, provide prosperity, and carry the burdens of his people. His enemies however, will perish, melt like wax, get smashed up etc. Half way through, there's a picture of a victorious king marching home with a pile of captives from whom he receives treasures - tributes. Everyone gives him gifts - even those who hate him.

You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives;

You have received gifts among men,

This is the verse that Paul quotes. Notice the difference? David says 'He received gifts.' Paul says 'He gave gifts.' Kinda different.

Here's a theory. Paul knew what the original said and (at least some) of his readers would have too. He wasn't trying to deceive. He changed it intentionally to highlight the difference between then and now. Post cross, it's no longer an us vs them situation. Christ's ascension as victorious king is good news for the nations! They don't need to resentfully pay taxes to this new ruler. He makes them his own people, breaks down the walls of hostility between them and others in his kingdom. He showers themwith gifts!

What do you think?