Soteria Magazine - Worship Beyond Words

soteria

Aug ‘09

soteriamag.co.uk

Lifestyle Worth Living

Freely Given Also inside: Jahaziel & Adrian Plass Interviewed

Sometimes I interview people and I forget what they said almost as soon as the recorder is turned off. That happened with my interview with Jahaziel, it was only when I typed everything out I realised what a powerful story his life is.

So even if you don’t like Christian rap read the story of a life transformed by God! This issue is about worship beyond words, so we’ve taken a look at worship that isn’t just singing on a Sunday. Art, technology, writing, rapping and drama are all included, and there are hundreds of other things we could have included with more room!

However there is bad news, squeezing all that into the magazine has meant that a few other things have had to be left out, including the competition. Don’t worry, we have things that must be given away, but you’ll have to check www.soteriamag.co.uk to find them. There’s also no puzzle page (shock, horror!) instead we have replaced it with a cross-stitch chart so you can have a go at something different. We’ve even included a quick guide to getting started!

Do you like Soteria? Well it’s the start of the summer holidays, which should give you plenty of time to drop us a line and let us know what you would like to see in upcoming issues! Send us e-mail or letter (we like getting post!) to the address in the blue bar.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc www.reverendfun.com

Rob

Soteria is an independent Christian Youth Lifestyle magazine with two aims.

If you are a Christian we want to help you understand the Bible by offering practical everyday Bible guided advice.

If you haven’t made a decision about Jesus, we want you to see what being a Christian is all about!

SUBSCRIPTIONS Soteria is freely available to anyone. If you would like to subscribe to the magazine for yourself, or for a church or youth group then you can now do so writing to the address below, or on our website.

CONTACT Write to: Soteria Magazine 27 Trevenson Road Pool Redruth Cornwall TR15 3PN or e-mail us: editorial@soteriamag.co.uk

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His name is Jahaziel (pronounced Ja-Ha-Zeel), it’s his real name, he changed it 10 years ago by deed poll. It means “Jehovah Sees”. He changed his name to reflect the changes that discovering God had made to his life. He’s one of the UK’s best known Christian rappers, in 2008 his debut album won a MOBO award, his songs have even been used by the Metropolitan Police to fight gun crime. We caught up with him for a little chat...

It’s a sweltering day in central London and on a back street, just off Leicester Square, Jahaziel has just told me about changing his name. I wanted to know what prompted him to even be interested in God in the first place?

“I felt like my life was spiralling out of control. I grew up in a very tense environment at home and it affected my education. I hardly turned up at school, I got kicked out of about four or five schools, and it spilled out from my home life into my school life and I left school with next to no qualifications. What that meant was that I needed to make money, but I had no means to other than crime.

So I was hanging out with guys who were robbing bookies and jewellers and things like that. I started off with petty crimes like muggings and burglaries and then things

got more serious, and as they got more serious I went from carrying ammonia to carrying lead piping, and then a knife.

I always said that I would never carry a gun, I found myself in a position where I had access to a gun. I was in a house with a loaded gun waiting for someone to turn up, and I remember sitting there thinking how did I end up in this position?

I went through a mental checklist of all the things that I said I would never do. I said I would never take hard drugs, a friend of mine was selling cocaine and I was taking it everyday. I said I would never hit a woman and I beat up an ex-girlfriend, all this crazy stuff. I said I would never steal from my family and I ended up stealing from my mum and my life just spiralled downwards!

This was between the ages of 13 and 17, but it all kind

of happened very fast, even by the age of 17 I was going to clubs and pubs where I shouldn’t have even been allowed to get in and I was selling drugs there. So my life was spiralling out of control and I got to the point where I remember looking at the gun and thinking “man I hope he doesn’t turn up.” And when he didn’t I went home, on the way I started crying because I was so grateful that he didn’t turn up. Not only would I have got caught and go to prison, I would have to live with it on my conscience for the rest of my life that I had taken someone’s life.

I just knew my life had to change, but I didn’t know how to change it, and I went home and prayed. I prayed the Lord’s prayer and when I finished I prayed “God if you are real please guide me, show me the way to go.” It was a miracle because no one

really used to phone my house after like 6 or 7 o’clock or my mum would literally put the phone down on them, she didn’t like people phoning the house after a certain time. A friend of mine phoned up, I hadn’t talked to him for ages at like 12 o’clock at night, my mum answered it and called so casually, like; “oh, your friends on the phone”. I had just finished praying, literally that was when my mum called me!

My friend on the phone invited me to church, and I considered that a sign and an answer to prayer and I said ‘yeah, cool’ I’d meet up with him in the morning. I went to church with him in the morning and as soon as I got there I was convicted that God was real, that I was a sinner, that Jesus was real and I needed forgiveness for my sins and that Jesus Christ was the only way for that to be possible and I gave my life to the Lord that day.”

going on’ and I would rap there. I just went to and fro wherever people were asking me to come. The Bible says promotion comes from the Lord and it was literally one thing led to another, I ended up putting an album together, signing with an independent record label, putting an album out, I won a MOBO, it’s been one thing after another really.”

Rap isn’t to everyone’s taste. So I asked if he had ever received any opposition in the churches.

“Not really, to be honest, I think largely what’s happened is that people have appreciated the fact that I am only reiterating what the Scriptures teach, just in a different format. There are some people who probably get a bit of stick from the church because the message is so disguised in a rap so it seems like there is no difference between that and a That’s a powerful story of God’s secular rap. I try and make the power in someone’s life, but how message real clear in what I do did he end up rapping on a stage? and because of that I get a lot of support from churches. Often the “I used to rap before, when I was olders and the youngers can hear in the world. I used to rap garbage what I’m rapping about and receive really, lies about cars I didn’t have, something from it so I don’t really Jahaziel’s MOBO award winning album “Ready To Live” get many problems.” girls I didn’t have, money I didn’t is available now! have, I would just lie about some fantasy lifestyle. So I could always In 2008 Jahaziel picked up a rap, so when I became a Christian I had found MOBO award for best Gospel album, an award something to rap about that was real. he collected wearing a T-Shirt that declared “Jesus Loves Me!” I asked him how it felt to get I could talk about stuff that’s really real, in fact that award. it’s so real that for most people it’s too real for them. They want to pretend that it’s not there.

“Yeah it was cool. It was the first award I’ve won The truth of the matter is that the only thing and it’s always a privilege to be appreciated for that is guaranteed from the day you are born is what it is you do. When I decided to do Gospel the time to die. That’s a harsh truth and a lot of Rap I never thought anyone was going to like people don’t want to face that, they would rather it, because before I was a Christian I wouldn’t ignore that fact, and it’s only at funerals that they have listened to Gospel rap. I wanted to hear would have to consider why. I find it fascinating about partying and that life. So I kind of thought that if the only thing we are guaranteed is a to myself that people might be hostile towards time to die, then surely we need to prepare for the message and whatever, and it’s not even what is to come after the grave? So that’s what been that, it’s like people have just been really I decided to rap about, and one thing led to refreshed by it. I think they see the need for it another. as well because they are seeing the negative results of a lot of that other music. The rise of I would rap at maybe a local church and deaths and stuff and people appreciate the need someone there would say ‘I’ve got this concert for something that’s more positive.”

blog.soteriamag.co.uk ‘Borrowing’ A Good Idea is something that I

do quite regularly when putting the magazine together. You may have noticed the back page of the magazine quite often features a well known advert that has been given a little makeover and a slightly different message. We do this because it looks familiar and it can sometimes be quite funny (although this time it’s fairly serious).

One of the great adverts that is currently doing the rounds is the Compare The Market / Compare the Meerkat comparison website advert.

After years of silly and unconvincing elephants or really cheap cardboard advertising there is finally a good, clever and funny comparison website advert!

These adverts feature Aleksandr Orlov the irate founder of a meerkat dating website “comparethemeerkat.com” complaining about people looking for car insurance at his website. There have been quite a few adverts, but alas I have as yet not found one that will lend itself to be lampooned on the back cover of Soteria!

I am not the only person who has noticed these adverts are popular. If you do a search on Google at the moment for meerkat (and why wouldn’t you?) then what should turn up in the sponsored results on the right hand side?

I am sure Aleksander won’t mind though, he has 493,740 fans on facebook, that’s good advertising!

People scream and shout about a bargain offer. Huge letters scream at us to BOGOF (buy one get one free) or to save 10%. The church has a message that is far more important, whether or not we are in a credit crunch. Do we shout from the rooftops, or take out an advertising campaign to spread the message of the Gospel? Rarely!

So that’s not our decision to take, but what about our facebook, twitter, bebo or other accounts? Perhaps living a life of worship could see us using them to declare God’s love to the world?

C’mon Aleksander has 493,000 fans to spread car insurance to, and he’s not even real!

It’s Sunday morning, and that lie in you have been craving is soooo much more inviting than spending an hour or two in church.

Church does not have to be boring. Being a Christian is not meant to be an endurance test, whereby the heavier you find the service, the more holy you become.

watched, and the only people actively taking part are the puppeteers. Although it is hoped that most people would cheer and clap in the right places!! The use of illusions may seek to put into a visual form an element of the gospel message.

For example, three ropes of different sizes pulled together to make them all the same size, may demonstrate man’s perception and God’s view of sin.

The use of stand up comedy and drama sketches should not be under-estimated. Things that capture attention and put smiles on faces will often make people feel relaxed. Some people do find church difficult and unnatural.

Although a sketch or some humour usually will not carry the gospel message on its own, it can open a door whereby people may be more receptive to hearing, and it can even create a point of reference for later in the program.

The main purpose of introducing ‘performing arts’ into the Church, is to provide a setting for sharing the Good News about Jesus, maybe later in a church service, Or as a direct way of sharing the Gospel message in an alternative format, The great thing with ‘performing arts’ in preference to simply standing is being included. Someone who up and talking. The use of may not excel in public speaking for performing arts if used properly example may be able to use a gift can never replace the gospel in sound engineering, or costume message or the Bible. It is only design, or script writing. Preparing a tool! Performing arts can a presentation should be an act also be used as a precursor of worship to God in its own right Stuart from “Wacky Puppets” from the to collective worship.The use Sunnyhill for the individual, and should bring Community Church in Poole of performing arts is not a members of the church together in necessity for every church service. Trying a positive way. The list of potential roles one to do something you are not called to do, could be involved in is as endless as the needs or something you do not have the skills for presented. From accountancy to wig making, may even have a negative impact. from driving a tour bus to counselling a nervous performer, performing arts encompasses many Generally, performing arts do not provide people with a wide range of gifts and abilities. a means for worship for a congregation, as it is often used as a presentation.

In church, it can be very difficult, if not For example, a puppet show can be inappropriate to attempt to recreate the setting

of a worship concert. Singing hymns several centuries old can be torturous, but playing remember a Christian rock CD may have some people to have heading towards a nervous breakdown. Finding fun! a compromise is key to providing a setting Singing, whereby a church congregation can engage in puppet shows, collective worship. A video projection or dancing onstage, can be used to accompany a carefully selected backstage, … music track. This could also provide a point of whatever …, each reference for a guest speaker, particularly where role should be of equal the dance routine is telling a story. importance, are many and each Another example of resources on member should using music in the the internet for Christians who be equally valued. context of performing want to pursue performing arts Christian performing arts, is the infamous whether in quick drama’s or arts is not only a service church choir. Often as full plays. One of the good to God, but to the people who are stereotyped as a websites we found was www. watching. There should be a real bunch of old biddies sense of achievement, when you , they fools4christ.co.uk coming together provide free sketches and links to have delivered what you have for a cringe worthy other websites that also provide set out to do, and the audience religious sing song, the or congregation appreciate the free resources! value of a choir can performance. be underestimated.

The BBC’s ‘Last Choir Standing’ reality show If you have been asked to, or are demonstrated how people of all ages and considering taking part in Christian backgrounds were able to come together performing arts, you need to consider your and produce world class entertainment in the motives. It is not wrong to want to develop form of a choir. A number of gospel choirs and a particular talent, or learn a new skill, and religious groups performed Christian material, consequently demonstrate it or use it. It and demonstrated their passion for the music, is not wrong to accept praise for a good and often a common expression of their faith. performance either. If your only goal However, particularly in the church, this can is to promote yourself and not serve pose a potential problem, in that there are those God, it would be just as easy to pursue who are taking part that may only be performing another avenue outside of Christian for the sake of the art, taking precedence over performing arts. Serving God in this actively seeking to serve God and present some way is a valid service, and should form of a Christian message. This is a decision bring out the very best in you. So if for the church leadership, and the individual. you are called by God to serve in this way, shine in the art and as a witness In Christian performing arts, it is important to for God!

There

The pulsating heart of any Christian should be their worship. I don’t mean just the hymn-sandwich Sunday morning service, if that’s all your worship is then as a Christian you will find it hard to be satisfied.

Worship should be part of every day life for a Christian. We have the Holy Spirit inside us and one of His jobs is to give glory to Jesus and God, so our nature as Christians should be in tune with this. So what does this mean? Do we walk around continually singing worship songs with our hands in the air, occasionally clapping along to the music in our heads? Well you can, that’s certainly one way of standing out from the crowd!

Worship doesn’t have to be singing and praying, but it should be part of our daily life. One of my favourite Bible verses is found in 1 Cor 10:31 “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” This is a great verse because it includes something specific that I really enjoy doing, eating! It also raises a question, how do you eat, drink or whatever to the glory of God? I suppose that you could say a prayer before a meal to give thanks to God for it.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with doing so! I don’t think that this is what is meant though. The rest of 1 Cor 10 talks about people who are idol worshippers and the differences between them and those who worship Jesus Christ. He talks about the Jews who followed Moses through the Red Sea. While Moses was away speaking with God, they made a Golden Calf and worshipped it, and then ate, drank and

“engaged in Pagan revelry”. Eating and drinking were an important part of the religions of the day. Food was offered to idols and then eaten together, then afterwards sexual shennanigans, amongst other things. Eating and drinking is also important in Christianity, when we eat and drink together it should be a time of friendship and fellowship, not a raucous party ending in an orgy!

So that’s the eating and drinking dealt with, but what about this “whatever you do” bit?

It seems a bit open, surely Paul (the writer of 1 Corinthians) doesn’t really mean in whatever we do we should glorify God? Well, yes, he does, that’s why he says it!

It can be hard to get our brain wrapped around this idea, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!

It’s easy to frighten you and say that God is omnipresent (everywhere at once) or that God is omnipotent (knows everything) and therefore He is always watching you and knows you inside out. However true this may be, it makes God sound like a peeping Tom, or someone who is looking to catch you out when you do something wrong.

God gives us the grace to make mistakes, and He is always prepared to forgive them.

However we must try with the Holy Spirit’s help to not make them. Working on areas of our lives that aren’t right is, in itself, and act of obedience and also an act of worship.

So Sunday morning shouldn’t be seen as our worship for the week, in fact it should kick-start our worship for the rest of the week. If our entire attitude is one that is

positive and worshipful then that’s going to help us go into the week feeling better! If we learn to be obedient to God and make our obedience an act of worship, then it’s no longer obeying a set of rules, it’s worshipping God. When we worship God in our very lives, in everything we do, then people will notice, and if people notice it’s an opportunity to point them to God. The Holy Spirit in us is already trying to work with us and help us give glory to God, unfortunately He faces an obstacle. Us, our old nature struggles with this. There’s a battle going on inside us, perhaps you’ve had thought conversations that mirror those in cartoons where the mini devil sits on one shoulder and a mini-angel sits on the other. That’s a great way of illustrating the battle of our Spirit guided conscience against our own stubborn nature.

This temptation comes in many forms.

Sometimes it can be the temptation to not pay attention when someone else is speaking, particularly in school or church.

It can be the choice to act in a self-serving way with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It could be any one of a number of situations when we need to pay attention to the Holy Spirit of God who lives in us, and not listen to our own self-serving nature!

I slip up with this all the time, and I know where my biggest problem lies. It’s my tongue, it’s always getting me into trouble, although I will admit, it’s quite good at getting me out of it too! I say things that are wrong, rude, mean and I know that I shouldn’t do it.

Sometimes it’s something for a quick laugh and it’s at someone else’s expense.

I can say along with Paul that ”I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” Romans 7:18 - 19 So a sinful nature is not just something that affects you and I, it is something that even affected Paul, a man who wrote a large part of the new testament!

Our act of worship each and every second of the day needs to be choosing God’s way over our own. To live a life worthy of the God who has called us to it. To give glory to God with every breath. This is a tough path to follow and we will stumble, we need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and continue to walk in worship and obedience!

This will lead to a true satisfaction not just in worship but in life because the two are bound together. When worship becomes lifestyle then this is worship beyond words!

We would normally have a puzzle page here, but we decided to encourage you to try something different as an act of worship. It’s not just about singing, or reading the Bible, worship can also involve far greater creativity and learning a new skill. We have included a simple cross-stitch chart for you to follow to make a Jesus / Fish motif. Have a go, it will only cost a couple of pounds for the materials needed, or if you know someone who cross stitches then perhaps they will have aida and threads spare that you can use!

A Quick Guide To X-Stitch!

With your fabric fold it in half vertically, then open it up and fold again horizontally. This will give you a light crease in the centre of your fabric. Most people like to stitch from the centre. The horizontal and vertical centre of our chart are marked with arrows.

Thread your needle with the appropriate colour. Bring your needle through from the back of the fabric leaving a tail of about an inch. DO NOT TIE A KNOT instead on the first 5 or 6 stitches make sure you stitch over the tail, then cut off any excess.

Unsurprisingly cross-stitch uses stitches in a cross pattern! However when doing a series of stitches you can stitch a row of half crosses \ \ \ \ \ and then come back across with the other half ./ / / / / Relax with this, make sure you always stitch the same way and don’t pull the stiches too tight they should be flat You will need: on the surface and not bunch up the fabric.

• = 2 Strands

DMC

Lemon To finish off, again DO NOT TIE A KNOT instead weave your Canary-DK thread through the last few sttiches that you have done and then clip off any remaining thread. Voila, your first masterpeice in Fabric: White Aida, 14 cnt. 100 stitches wide x thread! If you enjoyed that check out the other free patterns on www.christiancrossstitch.com 40 stitches high.

↑ = 2 Strands

307 972

This pattern was designed by Christian Cross Stitch. www.christiancrosstitch.com.

Free Cross Stitch patterns for everyone to share. Reproduced with permission.

To some in church the extent that you can worship with your hands ends at occassionally clapping them together to the rhythm of the song being sung. To other people however that is just the beginning of their world of worship and service.

I have never been a ‘craft’ person, even in Sunday School I always preferred the story. I did enjoy painting when I was a child although normally there was more paint on me than the paper! So I can’t exactly claim to understand those people who love crafts, however I can appreciate them!

Some people can take a few pieces of fabric and turn them into banners, or a quilt, it’s amazing!

Flowers that I place into a vase just look like flowers dumped in a tub, but some people can make the most amazing floral displays that are quite beautiful.

These creative skills can be a hobby for some, however for the Christian they can also be an act of worship. To paint, stitch, draw, arrange flowers, quill, make cards and all other forms of expression can all be done for God’s glory!

You always do the best that you possibly can. You work at it to make yourself better and that takes discipline and commitment.

You may need to invest time and money in creating something but all this can be a sacrifice of giving your best to God. Of course your pieces continue to reflect the effort that you put in, as long as your craft isn’t baking!

They can be used to communicate something of God to those who will see them. People can see the skills that God has given you reflected in your work.

Sometimes it can be a little less subtle. Many times we can include words within the pattern, these words can be used to glorify God, or even tell the viewer something about God. Churches often use banners to do this.

Of course the wonderful thing about handicrafts is that they don’t have to be done alone. There are numerous groups that you can join. Then you have a chance for something really creative. Not just arts and crafts but to live your life the way God wants you to, to be an example and to be a witness!

ON DIgital?

How would Jesus have us convey His message of love to the world in the 21st Century?

One of the most obvious ways to communicate with large numbers of people has got to be technology.

TV is expensive but can reach millions.

Radio has been used for many years by mission organisations to broadcast God’s word.

At least 2 films with a Gospel theme have been box-office successes in the last 10 years.

The Internet allows churches and individuals to share the gospel cheaply and simply.

The really fast, multi-channel, TV market is a rather cut-throat business, who can forget just how quickly another company snatched up the premier football rights after Setanta collapsed? Can Christians today really use this medium, that’s driven by ridiculously over-paid executives for effective glorification of Jesus? Well there are one or two that have given it a good go. In fact there are currently 16 Christian channels broadcasting on the SKY system!

There are further 12 radio channels on SKY as well. Running a TV or radio channel is expensive, but they are freely available to all.

A cheaper method of audio-visual presentation is video and DVD. Many people all over the world have seen films like the “Jesus Video” and Russell Boulter’s “Who Is This Jesus?”.Many people have come to know Jesus, or at least become more interested, after watching these videos. The problem with these videos is they get labelled “alternative” and not “mainstream”.

It takes a brave and respected director to create a film about Jesus and get it right into the public eye. Yet this has happened just a few years back with “The Passion of The Christ” and followed up a couple of years later with the much less scary “The Nativity”. Churches at the time were able to use these films as evangelistic tools in addition to them being box-office hits in their own right. There are also a range of films like “Facing the Giants” that convey a Christian message throughout but haven’t been released in to the UK cinemas. These films are sold predominantly to Christians who can share them with their friends.

Who’s Tube?

If you don’t happen to be a TV Exec, (the

chances are if you are reading this you aren’t) but just an ordinary person with a camcorder it used to be very hard to get your Christian film published. However one important advance has been made in recent years: The Internet and, particularly, YouTube.

The web has been with us since the early nineties; however, it was slow and couldn’t really do much more than display a few lines of text in anything like a satisfactory time. Yet even that did not stop Christians trying to use it even back then for God’s glory.

In the last 15 years however the internet has speeded up to hundreds of times faster. You can now stream full multi-media content, have interactive chats, and so on. Even as much as a few years ago the thought of watching a video stream of a sermon broadcast live from a Church 1,500 miles away was unheard of, yet now the technology is available to do just that.

If you aren’t the sort of person who can do much up front for God, the web has provided a terrific way of evangelising.

Nothing happens on the web by accident, everything has to be planned and built, so you may not be able to preach or play in the church band but you may well be needed by God to build a website for His glory.

A Sound Idea Home music production for the local Christian artist has become a lot easier to achieve in this present time. Although the time and patience it takes to make good recordings and balance a multi-channel recording in a studio are still as tricky as ever, some of the other things around it have gotten a lot easier to achieve thanks to computerisation.

Let’s take arranging a multi-track song; just £50 for the right software and a decent computer you can have a full audio arranger suite. Making the CDs is a simple burn and label process. You can even buy the labels for the CD case pre-cut to save having to do a lot of paper-trimming.

Suddenly making Christian music in a reasonably presentable form is not only possible but for the first time in history it’s affordable.

Convergance Of Christian Technology In recent years we’ve all seen the “consolidation of technology” where one new device has replaced many old ones.

An example of this is the iPhone, one device that is a mobile, music player, film player and games system. The technologies we’ve looked at are ok in themselves, but when we can make them work together we’ll be able to do even better things for God! Sunday Service Many roles in a church on a Sunday are important. The worship leader, the preacher, the musicians but there are people we’ve missed out. In many of today’s churches many of these up-front people we’ve mentioned would be stuck without the sound technicians and projector operators. In fact these people are barely acknowledged and when they are it’s because of a minor mishap which everyone notices! These are important positions, and are just as much worship as the band or the preacher.

Next time the words are late on the projector, or you get feedback from the speakers remember those people are performing their act of worship too, they are serving God (and you) by performing this task. Don’t roll your eyes and tut, instead why not pray for God’s blessing on them?

nearly

The

SACRED Interview with

Adrian Plass How did you come to find that you had a talent for writing in the first place?

Well I wouldn’t recommend it, in fact I was ill, I had a stress illness and one of the therapeutic things that I did was to write, just to take stuff from inside and put it outside.

And because I was kind of loony at the time I did what most Christian writers don’t do, which was tell the truth. It was an enormous release really just to be able to just say the things that were true. Because 25 years ago when I started to write I think the evangelical / charismatic church wasn’t sure what you could laugh at and what you couldn’t and some things seemed more sacred than they should. So there was a lot of confusion, but I was outside that, I was in the middle of a bit of a crack up so I was able to just write it and it was fantastic freedom for me. So that’s how I began.

So what was your first book you wrote at that point?

It was actually a book called “Join The Company”. My wife and I used to be in a TV programme in the South called “Company” which was a group of people talking late at night around a table in a kitchen, which was actually of course a studio. And I wrote a book about, it was a very odd book, it is a very odd book, about my life and about that programme and the people who came onto that programme, they were all very interesting. It didn’t do that well, probably sold 2 or 3000 copies. Then I wrote “Sacred Diary” (of Adrian Plass Aged 37 ½) after it began as a column in family magazine and that took off in a way that I never would have anticipated. Then they republished the first book as “The Growing Up Pains of Adrian Plass” – see what they’re

doing there? And that went on to sell a lot more, but actually it’s been more valuable for people who are struggling because I wrote it while I was struggling and the marks are all there.

Obviously there were sequels to the Sacred Diaries including Leonard Thynn and Andromeda Veal, are there any plans to revive any of these characters?

I never say never about anything it really depends where your mind and your heart are at any given time. If I had an idea and I liked it and it seemed worth pursuing then I probably would bring those characters back to life again, but there has to be…every book I have ever written has to have something that really inspires me and makes me interested, I can’t just think “Oh I’ll do a book about that” I have to have something that burns a little bit inside me to get it going, so if that happened, yeah I’d do another one. I don’t know, maybe Andromeda Veal and Gerald, you never know.

You’ve just written “Looking Good, Being Bad”. What would you say to someone, like me, who found it a little bit offensive in places or difficult to swallow?

If Ananias and Saphira were to write a text book, then this would be that book. It would be a book telling people how to cheat their way through church, how to avoid responsibility, how to never actually really be loving, but to stay a step ahead of everybody else in a rather malicious way. This is the book they would write, so it’s kind of a backwards teaching book if you like and it’s also interestingly more of a secular book than most of my books.

Most Christian literature and music, if you put it like this, it’s been cut into cubes and chewed before it’s given to the masses, because there’s a tradition that you don’t have to digest anything, you get it straight in a nice soft pulpy state. I think this book needs digesting.

Some people find it hilariously funny, others find it troubling because it seems to say and do things that upset you. It’s very difficult in the Christian world, one man’s upset is another mans building.

Have you had that reaction from other people, how do you deal with it normally?

The problem with humour is that you really cannot please everybody. People have come to faith through things in my books that other people have found offensive. I don’t know what you say about that. One of my books was described as “lust provoking trash” by an American, I was very proud of that and I wanted publishers to put it on little stickers on the front of the book, I thought we’d sell a lot more copies if they did. You’re always treading a narrow line, you’re always on the edge. If you want humour to be successful you can’t relax really, you’re always probably going to upset somebody.

What’s the next project?

Well the next book is a book with Jeff Lucas. We’ve been writing to each other and we thought it would be a good idea to publish our letters. If you were offended by this book wait until you see the next one. Not because it is offensive, but because it is truthful and one thing that Christians do find very hard to take is the truth, as soon as the truth creeps in you always have trouble in the church.

Where do you take your inspiration? Is it people you go to church with or have been to church with or are they literally just characters?

Almost all of it comes from me, I make every mistake ever made in the history of Christendom and in fact for anybody who wants to write about Christianity that is the golden rule, write about yourself and you’ll pick up thousands of people with you. If you try and write about other people you get yourself into a lot of trouble. Having said that, like in the Sacred Diary, I don’t think I’m a Flushpool! So some characters in those

books are caricatures, on the whole most of it is me.

Obviously you’re not quite as bad as you are in the Sacred Diaries?

Well I couldn’t be as thick as that!

I mean nobody could, even I can’t be as thick as that. I don’t think he’s a bad character, he’s just a very ordinary character.

Some people have said to me “how comes he says things like ‘Where’s my bloody car?’”

The answer is many Christians say that, either silently or aloud, even if they don’t want to, but there’s a corporate feeling that they don’t, or we don’t, and that bedevils the church.

Many of the people who e-mail me and write to me are in little prisons created by bad teaching and it’s not Jesus like teaching. It’s the teaching you would get from children put in charge of a house when they are frightened.

I guess you had a certain amount of experience or time in the Anglican church, how did you become a Christian yourself?

I grew up as a Catholic, and then was nothing, and then was converted in a fairly solid evangelical way, although I don’t know what conversion means anymore to be honest. I think this break down was really helpful because it kind of deconstructed me and got me going again. It also taught me one profound truth that God is nice. I like God, He’s very pleased to hear that I am sure.

There is a famous statement that God Loves You, he also likes you...

Well if God doesn’t like you then I would rather not go to heaven, I’ll be a frog worshipper! I remember hearing one of these American Low Wave preachers saying that God only loves Jesus in you.

I’m not interested in that and it goes against all the teaching of the Bible, the story of the prodigal son. So much of Jesus teaching shows a very specific care for individuals and it’s the passing on of that grace from us to others that is really our greatest responsibility.

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