So I stumbled upon this site in meandering across the internet. Its a jewel for people of artists interests similar to mine, I hope you can enjoy it.
The premise is simple. A couple small companies put their band promotion and film backgrounds together with an idea for catching truly authentic and original performances from both well known bands and little known performers. Operating out of London, they contact acts when they come to town and catch up with them for a couple minutes, just long enough to grab one of London's signature black cabs and tape a live single song performance in the back of a cab. There are some pretty big acts as well as some up and coming new-names. I thuroughly enjoy them, hope some of you do as well!
http://www.blackcabsessions.com/sessions.php

Exodus 24:3-8
3Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”4And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.5And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.6And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar.7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”8And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
This is Israel only months out of Egypt. They're still fresh from that existence, it is all they have ever known, and they have no national identity. So, in the chapters previous, God has listed out some rules for this people of His, so that they may live in a way that reflects the way that He thinks.
Some of these rules seem really really basic and pretty obvious to us. Ex. don't spread a false report, or if someone borrows something and breaks it, they have to pay it back,. Some are a little strange, we don't really understand what they meant to the people or exactly what they are pointing to about the character of God. Ex. some of the rules about slaves come across pretty strangely in a world trying to make equality of all men stick as a universal social norm.
So after spending relentless hours in preparing to meet the Lord and conveying His messages, Moses brings these things before the people and requires them to officially "sign" the covenent in a manner of speaking. The people join in one voice agreeing to God's terms, an "I do" on their half of the relationship. Then Moses takes the blood from the sacrifice and throws half on the alter, to God, and throws the other half on the people.
Moses throws a bowl of blood on the people.
I really enjoy this part. I think its because of the countless numbers of church-goers who would be shocked and angered by having a huge basin of blood thrown across them at church.
"Well that was just totally unnecessary!" they would all mutter under their breath.
Its funny how easily people would be upset by this, completely overlooking the significance. The Bible says nothing about the people being indignant, although I think this could have been a pretty hilarious event to watch if it wasn't so serious. Its sad to ever make a statement like this, but God would probably never be able to get away with a stunt like this with most modern Christians.
Think of all the amazing implications involved though. These people were not just agreeing to some list of rules. It wasn't just a promise not to cheat buisness partners or treat neighbors better. This was a serious event, something died for this agreement to be made. And the people were linked physically by this blood with God, symbolically through His alter. But here's the thing that really stuck with me so greatly. The people were wearing the covenent.
This blood was closer to them than their clothes.
It didn't just affect their lives. It wasn't just a part of everthing they did.

They were physically coated in the covenant.

So yeah, Oswald has alot of good insights. Its pretty interesting to think that this was a statement made roughly a century ago. Wow.

"This is a day when practical work is overemphasized, and the saints who are bringing every project into captivity are criticized and told that they are not in earnest for God or for souls. True earnestness is found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that is born of undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not bringing every project into captivity, but are doing work for God at the instigation of their own human nature which has not been spiritualized by determined discipline."

I know there can only be more truth to this in our culture today than there was in Chambers' day. This is only the tip of the iceberg in talking about the tangent issue of negative social standards invading the Christian life unacknowledged. Leaving that for another discussion, it is quite obvious that this issue is something that invades the personal life as well as church settings.

Although there is alot to look to in culture with makes this easier to disregard or overlook as normal, in reality it is an aspect of sin nature rather than a socially bred ill.

Social standards don't create problems, they just decide whether they are tolerable and in extreme cases, noticed at all.

In our churches and other ministries it becomes obvious that there are definitely ministries which have been started and run without God's instigation. There are also those which started out well and, through leadership changes or daily grind, have lost whatever vision and focus they were designed with. Men think too quickly and start ministry without realizing they are too fallen to know what is right. Instead of walking into Christ more, they try to build Him a worthy empire from what they know.

It is also easy to see in my own personal walk this truth is very evident. Some ministries are sometimes borderline, hard to discern as to where their focus, leadership, and trust lies. This is never true with my heart. I was talking to a friend, and came to the conclusion that I am definitely a "big picture person," one who loves to think about great huge things and how awesome things could develop, but dreads thinking about day to day processes. It is easy for me to look back and think of a million schemes , often with the goal of God's glory, if sometimes only a secondary factor. In fact, I can't really think past those things when they are on my mind. What else have I focused on?

Certainly not often have I been one to sit in silence and worship who God is without any plan to follow. Its pretty easy to look past the simple way of waiting on the will of the Lord, pursuing His heart rather than looking for a cool idea.

Psa 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What a verse, to think that it is abused and worn out on the lips of those often using it to express the opposite of its meaning! It joins a multitude of others in the ranks of the recited foundation for personal oppinions. These verses are used to explain how obviously individual opinions are made crystal clear through the contorting of contexts.

We overlook the great depth within this verse, when held in its true context. Delighting in God is no little task. This is not a "be a good person and God will reward" you kind of verse. This is not even a "know God and He will make you want the right things" kind of verse. Delighting in God is to be as close as fallenly possible to allignment with His Heart, without any action taken. This verse follows.
Psa 37:5
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

This goes against any idea that we will get what we want.

Not we get to act. He will act.

He will act on His own agenda. So we simply trust. That sounds alot like waiting until something outside ourselves creates change. And Self is foiled again.

But we are men of action! This was a revolutionary idea, one which would create good change in problem areas! We're totally in the wrong place, something of this world, which is probably not a bad thing. Let us sit and simply soak in Christ, and see what happens. Easier said than done. So, to comfort us on this path, may we take a look at a closing word by Chambers, one much more straightforward in wording than we usually find Him.

"We are apt to forget that a man is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation; he is committed to Jesus Christ's view of God, of the world, of sin and of the devil, and this will mean that he must recognize the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of his mind."

Here is an amazing band called by the name The Oaks. While there is no out right statement that I have come across explaining any specifics of faith, the actions, attitudes, and statements confirmed on their website most definitely lend to some easy imagining of deeper roots. Thats a pretty awesome accidental pun. But common, with a song called "The Two Calls (Of Dietrich Bonheoffer)," can you really go on denying the likelyhood of their basis? Plus the music is indie roots-meets-imternational with a jam back beat that keeps coming back. Read the band's story while you listen to their tracks!

WWW.THEOAKSBAND.COM