Awesome Cutlery Family Devotionals

Let me introduce to you the Awesome Cutlery Family Devotionals. We’ve used both the first and second volumes for our morning devotions, and we like to use our resources more than once, so we’ve been through them a couple of times with a different study guide in between. There are 24 devotions in each thin booklet (good for taking away with you).

You can use them whatever time in the day works for you but we find that with our 3 and 5 year old, that doing a devotion over breakfast or as we’re finishing breakfast works best for us. Each devotion has a starting prayer, an introductory icebreaker question, bible passage (NIV version) written out, a small number of questions and a prayer. On every page there is a quote from one or both of Captain Awesomeness or Cutlery Boy (the two silly characters in the Awesome Cutlery duo!) Occasionally there is a brain teaser or challenge too.

The Awesome Cutlery duo currently have two albums available: This is Awesome Cutlery (2016) and All Together Now (2019) and for each devotional, there is a song to listen along to which reinforces the teaching (and is brilliant!). The songs are fun, catchy, and the lyrics are simple enough for the kids to grasp some massively amazing biblical concepts. We’ve really enjoyed doing these together and the girls look forward to the next time we’ll use them for our bible study together. I always try to play the song at the end while we tidy up breakfast (dancing optional!) and sometimes we carry that into our getting dressed time. Or we play it later in the day. These CDs are great for the car too, they worked for the kids from age 3 onwards and are still doing us into the early school years.

I’m hoping we’ll get even more use out of these devotions and CDs over the next couple of years as we learn and deepen our knowledge of God together and get more out of the bible and songs. Now that our oldest can read, she is keen to read the Bible passages or questions herself, and this is brilliant-because I can eat my breakfast or enjoy my cuppa too!

The Awesome Cutlery strap line is ‘Helping families worship Jesus together’ and we can say with a thankful heart that they do help us do that. You can find their resources here at www.awesomecutlery.com

We hope they might be a blessing to you too - Anna

Calvary Hill - Si Knightly

It's time to tune into Si Knightly's debut track Calvary Hill. Hailed as having a "powerful gift of gospel storytelling" by author and theologian Andrew Wilson, and recognised to be in the vein of Shai Linne by UK urban music pioneer Efrem Buckle, new rap artist Si Knightly has cross-cultural appeal.

Calvary Hill is packed with rich lyrical theology, skillfully delivered through thoughtful and creative rhyme schemes. While the emotive narrative provokes deep thought, it also prompts a wonderful sense of hope in the glory of the cross. Here is a pinpoint clear display of some of what took place on that first Good Friday. This song was released earlier this year over Easter time to encourage believers at the time when Christians celebrate the Passion. Si reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ came to the cross to die in our place for our sins. Jesus did this so that we could be forgiven and have a relationship with God.

Si recognises that at times like this, we see so much pain and suffering and death, but when we look to the cross, we see that God is not removed from those things. But actually familiar with those things. In Christ, he experiences suffering and pain and death itself. He goes through all of that because of his great love for us and his desire to save us. Si hopes that this track will speak to those who listen, that it will bring hope as we see how much love God has for this world and you personally.

If you are left wanting more, Si released The Third Day on Easter Sunday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frwmgDJUMk0). In The Third Day, the uplifting melodic rhythm, soulful female vocal and joyful expression of

Christ's victorious resurrection will delight listeners as they consider the wonder of the Easter story. Andrew Wilson comments: "Si Knightly's powerful gift of gospel storytelling is brilliantly complemented by his delivery. Expressing profound Biblical truths through eloquent rhymes, he

has the wonderful ability to engage your mind, heart, soul and musical ear all at once." Efrem Buckle adds: "The musicality of the classically soulful hip-hop stylings are one thing, but I am especially encouraged and excited by his content; clearly heralding a resurgence of UK lyrical theology."

This song is to remind us how Christians worldwide joyfully celebrate Christ's resurrection when Christ was raised from the dead. He wants us to see from the eyewitness accounts that Jesus appeared to Mary then the other disciples and then a further 500 people. He was there in the flesh; he wasn't a ghost; they touched him; they ate with him - he was physically raised from the dead.

This gave his followers eternal hope and indeed gives Christ's followers today that same eternal hope that death is not the end. Death is dead - our greatest enemy is dead! That eternal life beyond the grave is available through Jesus Christ. That Christ is with us now as we journey through life. It gives us hope that we can trust his words. The one who said to a grieving friend "I am the Resurrection and the Life." And then proved it on that first Easter Sunday.

Si grew up in the local area and spent much of his youth in Streatham. He went to Holy Redeemer Church in Streatham, one of our gospel partners. Over the years I've known him I'm grateful for how God has shaped him and kept him in relationship with God.

Si is releasing his third single "None Like Him" featuring Dayper September the 18th - Sim

Ezekiel - Gungor

It’s rare to find Christians songs with the maturity to deal sensitively with themes like this song does. These are salient lyrics taken from the heart-wrenching story of Ezekiel 16. I often hear God painted as either being an emotion-less impersonal vending machine robot who can do anything at the click of a button or as highly emotional, judgemental, angry and powerless to change anything. But here we see a different angle on God’s character. This song opens up the heart of God like the pain a lover feels when their partner is unfaithful. The song captures the raw emotion of the text.

Ezekiel 16 starts with the graphic image of an unwanted child born into a world of pain. Left abandoned in a pool of blood until someone allowed the child to live. As the child grows, a benevolent lover decides to protect this unloved women and covers her shame. He washes her and richly adorns her with jewellery and fine clothes. He made this poor despised woman into a queen with her fame stretching across the globe. But this woman liked the feeling the recognition gave her and decided to use her beauty to become a prostitute. She used the gifts she was given to lure in men. The children she bore with these other men she sacrificed to the idols she created out of her jewels. She slaughtered her children in the same way as she was left for dead as a child. But her true lover, in his great love, took away her land and gave her over to her enemies. She gave herself over to them in prostitution because her desires were insatiable and left her unsatisfied; she even paid for the experience. The true lover gathered together all her men and exposed her before them. They mistreated her once more, so he put an end to her prostitution and saved her. The woman who was supposed to be his bride has acted worse than all those evil around. When she stood before those who are evil around her, it becomes clear that she is worse than them. The lover does an extraordinary thing; he not only welcomes her back, but also forgives his enemies. The lover remembered the promise he had made to her when she was young; he promised to be committed to her. When she sees how he has shown mercy on those around, she will realise the true love he has for her. He will pay the price for her mistakes. He will become despised, rejected, treated as she deserves so her mistakes could be paid for. He will become naked, dirty, have his riches taken from him, be accused and left for dead in a bloody mess for her. For his love for her.

This heartbreaking love story is how God sees his relationship with his people. How he brought them out of slavery, gave them everything. How he honoured them, elevating them to a global reputation. Yet how they walked away from him prostituting themselves to dead gods and passing philosophies. But in his great love, he not only draws his people back to him but also restores his relationship with those who drew his lover away. This came at the enormous cost of him entering time and space and dying for his people - ashamed, naked, bleeding hanging on a cross - forever famous for being weak and despised—a matchless picture of love.

Where do we fit into this? How have we blindly followed the ideas of the world and turned from our first love? Do you need to turn back to the one who loved you?

Double Grammy award-nominated Gungor have shown exceptional finesse in bringing across the complex emotions of this story and setting it to music. They have in recent years received some flack for a number of their statements of theology on Twitter. The first thing to bear in mind is that although the US has many positive things to offer in the area of music and theology, there are some who possess a narrow-minded view of the wider world. This has caused people like Michael Gungor to question their approach to scripture in the light of scientific discoveries and theory - which, as he has said himself, lead him to question his approach to Genesis. It is clear that scientific discoveries pose no threat to the validity of scripture, but if you are in a culture that only sees things a particular way it makes it difficult to see the connection of these realities. There is also the unhelpful embrace of Christianity with Politics which muddies the message of truth. I’m sure we have plenty of other blind spots in our own culture.

It’s also unclear to see when he is purposely controversial to help people think outside their own box or whether he is genuinely exploring answers to the questions he poses. One of the most troubling statements was when he questioned penal substitutionary atonement. The difficulty is that Gungor’s starting point is frustration with the lack of creativity with the Christian music industry and the carbon copying of lyrics which sanitises the image of the cross to the point where it loses its impact. And Gungor is absolutely right in his challenge of that, but unfortunately, he’s chosen the wrong enemy in taking it out on penal substitutionary atonement. Gungor has rightly recognised that the cross is horrific, but the reason for that isn’t because God is violent or vindictive, but because our sin is horrific and God is just. It is our sin which caused Christ to hang on the cross, bloody and naked. God’s people willingly gave themselves over to the flesh, so God’s son willingly gave himself over to have his flesh broken. Theologian Owen Strachan writes a much more in-depth criticism of this misunderstanding of the importance of atonement; he says “Without Christ, we have none of the righteousness of Christ, no redemption by his work, no propitiation of divine wrath, no sonship in the Son, no reconciliation with God, no reconciliation with fellow blood-bought sinners, and no victory over Satan, sin, death, and hell.” In Gungor’s defence, we are in a culture of minimising messages to a simplified, digestible package, thus reducing the full meaning of atonement and the impact to change lives. As he and others challenge our defined perception of atonement, we should strive to understand the broader view of the atonement as displayed in the pages of scripture, but also not reject penal substitutionary atonement because it’s not palatable to modern sensitivities. We shouldn’t tear out the page of penal substitutionary atonement because it is in the DNA of all scripture. However, we should dive into the pool of endless discovery of the other aspects of understanding God’s gospel story.

Much like the resounding cry of Abel’s blood from the ground, Gungor’s own song Ezekiel, is perhaps a message from the past to show us and them our need for atonement. As the story reminds us that God’s heart of compassion, like a faithful lover, is calling us back to him. My prayer is that their own song will help them see God does not delight in violence or the pouring out of blood, but that he is a just God who longs to wash us clean and give us a fresh start because he has paid the price for us.

The song and the passage show that God is profoundly emotional but can also fix things. In English language today, most people think of jealousy as being a negative characteristic, but the Bible talks a fair bit about God being a jealous God. If you are not jealous for the one you love, then you don’t love them. God doesn’t show a petty envy because someone else has outdone them, but expresses the heart of a jealous lover who goes through hell to bring back his bride. For those who have minimised the horror of their own sin and are tempted to atone for themselves, hear the poignant voice of the song “Come back, my love” - Sim

I found you naked

I found you lying there

In blood.

Your mother left you,

Your father threw you out.

Unloved.

I clothed your body

I washed the blood and dirt

From your hair.

I gave you jewellery

I gave you everything

I had.

I gave My heart

My heart, My love

I gave my heart,

My heart, My love

You became like

You were a stunning Bride

The world, they saw you

And how you loved their wives

My Bride

You broke My heart

My heart, My love

You broke My heart

My heart, My love.

You sold your body;

Exposed to all, My love

You slept with Stranger

You gave them everything we had.

Come back, My love

My love, come back.

Come back, My love.

My love, come back.