![\"Phatfish\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/06\/1.jpg\")
In yesterday\u2019s segment Nathan and I discussed the importance of theology in worship songs<\/a>. Today we move on to talk a little about the event we were both attending and his thoughts on being a reformed charismatic.<\/p>\nAdrian Nathan Adrian Nathan Adrian Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian Nathan<\/span> Adrian Nathan Adrian Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian Nathan<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Nathan Adrian What was I going on about? I\u2019m losing it. It\u2019s been too long. Oh, yes\u2014the songs! One particular song, and we must finish soon. But there\u2019s one particular song from your more bandy ones that really, I think, expresses that whole kind of Holy Spirit Nathan
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>We\u2019re here at this New Word Alive event, and obviously have heard all sorts of teaching from some of these big names like John Piper, Don Carson, and others. I don\u2019t know how much of it you\u2019ve been able to get into with everything else you\u2019re doing. Have you been in many of the sessions?<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Yeah. I\u2019ve gone to all of Don Carson\u2019s morning Bible readings so far, which I think have just been astounding\u2014really, really good. Don\u2019t ask me anything about it, but . . .<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>No, no. I suppose what I was thinking\u2014what I was going to ask you actually\u2014when you come here from the context in Brighton, a lot of people think of charismatics as being kind of airheads. Are you coming here and thinking this is just totally alien to what we\u2019re used to, or are you thinking, \u201cYeah, We\u2019re learning stuff, but this is very consistent with our heart and where we\u2019re at?\u201d Where we\u2019re from?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Yeah, I think theologically it feels very much in sync with where we\u2019re at. I think in terms of people\u2019s expressions of worship, I think it does feel a lot more conservative to what we\u2019re used to.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/06\/2.jpg\")
So, yeah, I think I would love for, in some ways, to be able to bring some fresh expression to the worship in a place like this. And Stuart\u2019s the ideal guy for leading worship. Because of the songs that he writes, people warm to him very quickly, but he can also push things out a little bit and take people further on. That\u2019s probably the biggest thing really\u2014just how people express their worship. Obviously, people can express it in different ways, but there are some pretty strong words in the Psalms about exhorting us to praise and knowing a little bit about how the Hebrew people would have done that, with a lot of body movements and a lot of excitement. Obviously cultures are different, but I think there\u2019s something in praising in a very kind of vocal and \u201cfull of energy\u201d way that just seems right to me.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Yeah, I guess so as well. I mean, the thing I\u2019m feeling is that the people here are really deeply in love with Jesus, but maybe they express it in a slightly different way. Were you picking that up as well in the worship? I really felt like, in your gig for example, as the gig went on you could see that people were warming up and getting into it, and actually in their hearts, they were really really enjoying it.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I think so. We certainly feel very at home here. The feel of the site proved great.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>There\u2019s no one swinging from the rafters yet, is there?<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>No. That\u2019s right, that\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Was it not \u201cswinging from the chandeliers?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Yeah, yeah. No, there\u2019s none of that! (Laughter) But, yeah, we don\u2019t feel at odds with anyone here, so it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>It\u2019s actually really exciting to see in this event a marrying of the charismatics like us\u2014nutters like you and me\u2014and people who are not really from that background at all. To see everybody here together, respecting each other in that way, is quite cool.<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s wonderful. Yeah, very good, very good.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/06\/9.jpg\")
Just a little bit about the whole charismatic thing. You seem to be quite unusual, to some people anyway. I mean, I\u2019ve grown up with it and it\u2019s quite normal for me, I guess, but this notion that we want to marry reformed theology with a sort of vibrant experience of the Holy Spirit. Do you want to talk more about what that means to you as an individual and to the band?<\/p>\n
Sure. Again, I think that Terry Virgo\u2019s distinctive really is that he is reformed theology, but very charismatic. I know that\u2019s what people always say about him. And in a sense, it\u2019s Terry\u2019s church, and groups of churches that I\u2019ve grown up with. So, in some ways you only begin to learn what you are by hearing other people say it. \u201cOh, right. That\u2019s what we are! I thought we were just getting on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>It\u2019s a bit like if you were color blind, isn\u2019t it, and you\u2019ve never seen color. And then one day something happens and you can see color. And you\u2019d say, \u201cOh, right! So that\u2019s what it is!\u201d Or the other way around. If you lost color and people started saying, \u201cHang on a minute . . . \u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, for sure. It\u2019s just what we have known, really. But we\u2019ve seen a lot of diverse expressions of Christianity in our travels over our time, and been very comfortable with people who are even more nutterish than we are. We enjoy that from time-to-time and then . . .<\/p>\n
You go both ways. Sometimes they\u2019re more nutty and sometimes they\u2019re less nutty.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. The whole spectrum of nuttiness where we fit. But, yeah, I think certainly seeing Terry\u2019s passion for the Spirit, and for the gifts of the Spirit, and for charismatic worship, coupled with not a kind of flakiness in our theology, and not a kind of looseness with that, I think, is wonderful. I wouldn\u2019t want to be anywhere else.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>I think there\u2019s one of your sort of more \u201cbandy\u201d songs, if you like, rather than worshipy songs, but I\u2019m not sure where that distinction always lies. I\u2019m not a musician at all. I\u2019m just not quite sure. I used to play the guitar a little bit, but I never got . . . . It\u2019s funny. I got to the stage where I knew all the chords, but I never could quite learn how to do the rhythm properly. I mean, I could do it in theory, but . . . And I was like\u2014something\u2019s got to give. So, in fact, it was really when I got married. My wife was like, \u201cAdrian, this is very loud and not very helpful.\u201d So I stopped practicing. But anyway, I just have no rhythm, you see. (Laughter)<\/p>\n
\nthing\u2014it is that song called \u201cHoly Spirit.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Yeah, yeah, yeah . . .<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/06\/Guaranteed.jpg\")
<\/a>It\u2019s Guaranteed<\/em>.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/bp1.blogger.com\/_g4bvjPSC0jc\/SFCjBdm6GBI\/AAAAAAAAABM\/xL03liu_ICQ\/s320\/_DSC1031.JPG\")
Yeah, I think it\u2019s a great song because it has that refrain at the end\u2014\u201cFill me up each day, Fill me each hour, Fill me with your love, Fill me with your power\u201d\u2014so something kind of simple and \u201cCome Holy Spirity,\u201d but the whole rest of the song is really talking about who the Holy Spirit is, what he does. It just goes into more depth. It\u2019s kind of something I think might challenge us because we don\u2019t sing that much about the Holy Spirit, and we kind of sometimes don\u2019t really know that much about him. So he just had a real heart to write a song which was a bit more comprehensive. Actually, Matt Redman, listened to it once (I was in the car with him) and he said, \u201cI think that\u2019s the most comprehensive song on the Holy Spirit I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d And I think it is quite unique in that way. You\u2019re not allowed to say \u2018quite unique\u2019 are you, so it IS unique. (Laughter) We did it at the concert here the other night. I was really keen to do it because I had some friends here who are kind of less charismatic. A friend of mine said to me, \u201cAfter hearing that, it was like, it was not that any things have changed necessarily, but it\u2019s like I can\u2019t argue with any of the stuff that\u2019s being said there. It\u2019s just truth.\u201d And then, again, the response at the end for us\u2014\u201cfill us up.\u201d We need more of the Holy Spirit. So, yeah, it\u2019s great. I think it\u2019s a very important song, actually.<\/p>\n