We’re all familiar with the ‘Christmas story’, but do you know the story behind the story?
In the book of Ruth we find a story that rings true with life as we know it: a story of sadness and tears, but a story where hope is found in the darkest of places. And in this story we hear of another baby born under Bethlehem skies, where the mind-blowing kindness of God shines bright for all to see.
And this story is one into which we’re all invited!
If you’d like to join us as we journey through the book of Ruth this Advent, you can sign-up for our daily Advent devotionalhere.
By the way, if you’re subscribed to receive a weekly update from this blog, youwill still need to sign up to receive the daily Advent devotional. It’s a separate mailing list and won’t be published as blog posts, just emails.
Each morning from Monday 2nd December, a short Bible reflection from the book of Ruth will land in your inbox (apart from Sundays, which you can treat as a catch-up!).
Back in April 2017, I interviewed Dan Adams & Gareth Loh, aka Awesome Cutlery, about their new album ‘This is Awesome Cutlery’. Awesome Cutlery aim to produce fun music that helps families worship Jesus together. The chaps kindly took the time to give us the lowdown on life since then and shared the vision behind their new record, ‘All Together Now’, due out in December.
– Congratulations on the second album guys! It’s now been three years since the release of ‘This is Awesome Cutlery’. My impression is that the first album was really well received! What have been some of your reflections on the past three years?
Dan: When we recorded the first album, we just had some songs for our families and churches. We didn’t know what to expect, but thought the songs might be useful to others, so we asked God to use it to encourage families to talk about Jesus and worship him. It’s been overwhelming to hear from parents about conversations they’ve had on the back of a particular song or sketch. Others have said they really started doing family devotional times because of the booklet we brought out. What a joy!
Gareth: Looking back, we had a bit of soul-searching before starting the album in earnest – were we qualified? Were we allowed to do it? Would people think we were arrogant for trying? I’m glad God helped us find the right entrepreneurial approach of seeing the need and trying to meet it, but doing so with constant feedback along the way. We would have stopped if Christians we trusted told us, ‘Nice try, but music ministry isn’t for you’!
Dan” It’s still slightly strange to arrive at a Christian event and be approached by an enthusiastic parent who wants to share something of how the album has blessed their family. Each of those conversations is an opportunity to thank God for his faithfulness in answering prayer and his grace in using failures like us!
– Good stuff! Now, second albums are notoriously tricky! Was making All Together Now difficult?
Gareth: The thing that made it hardest was a sense of expectation. The first time, we didn’t know if anyone would listen – in fact, we only had 100 CDs printed the first run because we were worried about having garages full of unwanted copies! Knowing that this time quite a lot of people were likely to pick it up meant that we worked even harder on the songs, trying to fine-tune lyrics and melodies. As part of that, we were able to have a bigger budget, which means the album sounds a lot bigger than the first.
Dan: On the first album, G and I hardly spent any time in the same room writing together. All the songs were written by one of us then emailed across for feedback or suggestions. This time round we spent much more time together, and most of the songs are co-written. Sometimes we would meet for a day to write songs and come away with nothing useful. Other times, it really clicked and songs came very quickly. We’ve learnt much more about each other’s strengths and how we work together. I can come up with a lyric and melody idea and know that G will be much better at figuring out what chords should go with it.
Gareth: And likewise, Dan is great on coming up with a singable, catchy melody. I’ve very thankful to God for a team-mate on the project who is hugely gifted, and for the way that makes Awesome Cutlery better than the sum of its parts.
– Beautiful! Glad to hear it! So tell us, what are the super heroes up to this time?
Gareth: Still being pretty underwhelming! The hardest thing Captain Awesomeness tries to tackle is laying the table.
Dan: Just like the first album, the hero sketches fit around the songs. The album doesn’t really have a story-arc. It was more a matter of writing as many songs as we could, choosing the best ones, and then working out which ones would benefit from being introduced by a sketch.
Gareth: We’ve heard lots of parents say the sketches have helped children listen to the album, and also talk about discipleship issues together. It’s been fun aiming to continue that with these characters, whose relationship has definitely developed over time. Cutlery Boy especially really understands the Captain now, and that was nice to bring out in one or two of the sketches.
– What would you say have been your aims with this second album?
Dan: Our big prayer is that it might play a small part in God’s hands of raising up a generation who have a biblical worldview. A child’s worldview is being built all the time, based on what they see and hear. We hope that these songs and sketches will help children (and parents!) see themselves and the world the way God does. This is a tool that parents can add to their toolkits as they seek to teach their children how to see the world.
Gareth: Beyond that goal, and generally wanting to encourage singing together, there isn’t an overall theme for the album. We chose songs by things we got excited about ourselves. A few things I studied at Bible college – Union with Christ, and God’s plan & timing – ended up as tracks on the album. It was great to share those things with my own children as I was writing, and we hope that others will benefit in a similar way.
– Is there anything in particular we can be looking out for?
Dan: One song we’re really excited about is ‘Who I am’, which is a response to the pressure children are under to work out their own identity. I remember being at a school assembly and watching a group of children passionately singing a song from ‘The Greatest Showman’ – it contained glimmers of truth but ultimately gave them a self-centred way of understanding themselves. We wanted to write something that put God’s design for us in its true, positive light, and that helps us to celebrate the joy of being made in God’s image.
Gareth: There’s also a song called ‘We Are The Church’ which people have already enjoyed at some of our live shows. It’s got an anthemic feel, all about how huge church is – part of God’s masterplan of bringing all things under Christ. We hope churches might pick it up if they don’t have much like that in their repertoire.
– How might families and churches use the album?
Dan: One thing we want to do for ourselves is fill family times together with thinking about God, working at getting to know him better together. Sometimes it’s as simple as listening to music on a car journey. One reason we invested so much in the production quality is so that it’s not painful to parents to listen multiple times over!
Gareth: Repetition is really powerful with children, it’s the way we learn when we are younger, so stick with it. It doesn’t take long for them to absorb the words better than you know them. You can also have fun with it – for example, one song says that God does AND doesn’t have a birthday, so a parent could easily say ‘What I’ve learned from that song is that God definitely doesn’t have a birthday.’ Children love correcting mistakes (don’t we all!?), and the conversation can go from there.
Dan: As for churches, we worked hard to make some of the songs really suited to singing congregationally. Along with that, we’ve been able to get sheet music and singalong videos done professionally, which we’re making available for free at www.awesomecutlery.com. Please visit and help yourselves!
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You can pre-order All Together Now from 10ofthose here, ahead of it’s 4th December scheduled release!
It’s becoming increasingly common for churches to have ‘Blue Christmas’ services or events in the run-up to Christmas Day. But as important as these evidently are, I wonder if their popularity helps us to see that actually we should ensure every carol service should include a ‘minor key’.
Finding Hope on the The Longest Night
Not to be confused with the Elvis Presley song, the ‘Blue Christmas’ idea is born out of a recognition that for many of us the ‘enforced cheer’ often associated with the Christmas season either feels out of sync with our everyday experiences of life this past year, or that it evokes painful memories of loved ones now no longer with us.
Sometimes such events are run on the 21st December, i.e. the longest night of the year. For example, we’re hoping to run a town-wide service on that evening, entitled ‘Blue Christmas: Finding Hope on the Longest Night’.
Typically the events will include the opportunity to express grief and pain, as well as a chance to explore how the Christian story offers hope amidst darkness. One service I read about included the opportunity for each participant to bring an unlit candle to a crib, symbolising the darkness each individual carries, and the opportunity was given later in the service for each person to then light their candle. There will often be carols chosen that emphasise this ‘minor key’, such as O Come O Come Emmanuel or In the Bleak Midwinter, as well as Bible readings like Isaiah 9:2-7 and Luke 2:1-5.
Unwrapping the Real Christmas
But reflecting on this has underlined for me that actually every carol service would do well to acknowledge this ‘blue’ mood that many particularly feel at this time of year. The last thing we want is for people to feel they have to ‘fake it’, and that their grief and pain has to be left at the door.
After all, isn’t that the whole point of Christmas anyway?
Our Saviour wasn’t born to a world that was perfectly wrapped with a tag and a bow. Read the familiar lines slowly and you see that the Christmas story is full of people who you could say were feeling ‘blue’. People far from home. People living in darkness and facing political unrest. People consumed by childlessness and feeling the grim shadow of death upon their lives.
And though there is rejoicing at the birth of this baby, though there is ‘good news of great joy for all people’, though – as the carol puts it – “meek souls will receive him still”, we remain “in this world of sin,” a world ravaged by tragedy and living in trauma.
‘Sadness Kept Present, But Met With Hope’
So why would we not acknowledge this in all of our Christmas events and services? This isn’t about being a Grinch and stealing Christmas, or a Scrooge and saying ‘humbug’ to any festive fun.
But won’t our preaching and leading and drawing people together be all the more compelling and authentic when we acknowledge the ‘minor key’ of Christmas?
Maybe just a well-placed line in our welcome or as we begin our talk? A personal recognition of the darkness we will all have felt in some measure this past year? A simple noting how our Christmas readings and carols are wired with this recognition – and therefore that the Bible rings true with life as we know it?
Isn’t that the true beauty of Christmas. As someone put it, that ‘sadness can be kept present, but met with hope’.
If you want an example of articulating this ‘mood’ and presenting the gospel in a way that connects with it, check out Glen Scrivener’s brilliant video from a few years back, ‘Christmas in Dark Places’.
Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and church-planting. I’m based in Barrow in South Cumbria, England, where my family & I are part of Grace Church Barrow.
