Format

Compact discs, tape cassettes, VHS, photos you can actually hold. They are almost historical relics. Would anyone under 18 even recognise a tape cassette or know what a mini-disc looks like?

I remember buying a certain CD when I was 20, almost two decades ago. It was a fantastic dance compilation and I played it incessantly. And then the internet came along, streaming music became ‘a thing’, we had iTunes and Spotify and Youtube and countless ways to listen to music without having the physical object. CDs became irrelevant, who needs CDs when everything is in ‘the cloud’?

So I gave that CD away, that amazing dance compilation, amongst many dance CDs I gave away to charity stores only for it to be sold for 50p.

Recently I was yearning to hear certain songs, certain dance songs. Were they on ‘the cloud’ or available to download? No, of course not.

So almost 15 years after giving away that CD I had to go back out to a specialist record store and buy it again… (for more than 50p!) and buy a CD player… and I wish I hadn’t waited so long.

But isn’t that like our topsy-turvy relationship with God?

Let us pray…

Holy Parent, you know us so well, that we are irrational humans who are amazed by something one day but then toss it away like trash the next. We change our minds so frequently about what is trendy, what is cool, whats is modern. We struggle to settle on what we need and be clear about what is important to us.

Help each of us to sift through the trends and fashions and enjoy them for what they are; encourage us to spend more time on focusing on what really matters, that true content; love, grace, compassion, empathy and inclusion.

Holy Spirit, I bought CDs, loved them, then felt i didn’t need them so gave them away… only to learn I needed them once more. Holy Spirit we apologise for when our relationship with you is like this. So often we turn to you in our hour of need, full of prayer, promising our discipleship, petitioning you with all our hearts. And then something new and sparkly comes along and we forget you.

Years may pass before we come back to you. You are always there, still waiting, available to each of us.

We pray that you pour your spirit upon us, fill us with an unending passion for you. Let our connection with you becomes the baseline to our daily song, the song that all else rests upon, the music against all else is measured.

Jesus, bring events and people in to our lives that help us to connect with you daily, through good times and bad, always praising you.

For that person toying with the idea of going back and reconnecting to what they knew was good in the past, reconnecting to you, Lord Jesus; let them not wait another year, another month, another day. May they say yes to you now.

Vinyl, cassette, CD, the cloud, mini disc. It doesn’t matter; if the music is good, its good!

Each of us and everyone we meet is seeking the right format to hear your voice oh God. May we uplift and embolden them rather than tell them they got the wrong format. Help us to encourage everyone we meet to hear your music, give us the courage and insight to carry with us your message in as many different format as this world needs.

Amen!