"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!", the series!
There was no Christmas or New Year breaks for bloggers! And so to a new series, "inspired" by
thinking around all things web'y here at NMBC. Our site's part of the AV stuff that goes on and it
struck us that the bible was full of audio and visual special effects too: claps of thunder, the sun
standing still, seas parting, bushes burning…or not!, talking donkeys and detached finger writing on
walls! Audio/visual extraordinaire – usually to the astonishment of the people involved! And so our
new series is called: "You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!"
Our bloggers' word count? Well, after our "You tell us why 119" was met with a wall of silence we
thought we'd just explain this word count straight up. 101's the limit - Revelation 10:1 being the last
reference to one of God's great AV SFXs: the rainbow. 10:1 or 101 it was then.
Thanks to Glen, Ken, Wayne, Willie and Keith for their contributions – here's the series:
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #1 - all pretty 'armless?
Belshazzar's party was in full swing when all of sudden the fingers of a human hand appeared and
started to write strange words on the wall and the proceedings crashed to a halt. And Belshazzar was
so divorced from reality that when Daniel eventually revealed the meaning of the message, he
insisted on giving him a gold chain. Bizarre. A bit like giving your wallet to the guy next to you as the
'plane's about to crash. But, like Belshazzar, each of us is accountable and we will be "weighed on
the scales". The question is: will we be found wanting? (WH)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #2 - "holy smoke!"
This incident's a piece of audio-visual perfection. God uses words and pictures to communicate with
Moses. First, cue the video, a burning bush catches Moses's eye. Why? Because although it's really
burning…..it isn't being burned up! "What's this?" thinks Moses, "some trick of the light - some
magical deception?" Moses is intrigued and draws closer. Then, cue the audio - God speaks - "take
off your shoes - you're on holy ground." God seems to know exactly how to communicate with us not just through printed words on a page - but through all of our senses. Are we receptive? (KM)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #3 - talking donkey
Walking down the road and like a scene out of Shrek or Madagascar, you see this talking donkey.
Laughable, weird, cool or what…..a talking donkey! But the donkey wasn't daft. God caused it to talk
to warn Balaam regarding his unwillingness to listen. Interesting isn't it how Mary rode to Bethlehem
and then Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Often the "out of the ordinary" things are the things
that God uses for his purposes and sometimes we're so dumb (like donkeys!), we miss them. So let's
keep our eyes, and our ears, open, spiritually, for "talking donkeys" in 2008! (GC)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #4 - a whale of a time!
Picture him inside, slopping around in seaweed and juices, fishing for a match. Jonah took a good
look at his life and got his act together and began to pray. He was really sorry and feeling sick; in fact
the fish was the only other thing which felt sicker. With all that praying and singing the fish spewed
him out. Jonah then changed course and headed for Ninevah. Jonah got his act together in the
digestive system of an enormous fish and God changed his life. He put his spiritual life on fire and he
can do the same for us! (WC)
www.newtonmearnsbaptist.org.uk
© NMBC 2008
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #5 - holy smoke! (part two)
Isaiah has a vision - and not just a wee one. He sees God - and with the vision comes an AV
spectacular - angels, smoke, doorposts and thresholds shake, an altar with burning coals and even a
set of tongs so's the angel can take hot coals from the fire. Hey Isaiah - d'you think God's trying to get
your attention? Well, you guessed it - he is! He's looking for someone to "go for him". God still wants
to partner with ordinary people like you and me - anyone in fact who'll say - "here am I, send me".
(KM)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #6 - tongues of fire
The disciples're dazed, confused. Jesus's alive again - that's for sure - but what next? They're told to
wait until what Jesus promised happens. They're all there, together in an upstairs room, waiting and
praying. Then it comes - a rushing sound - like the sound of wind - and then something that looks like
tongues of flame comes down and rests on each one. God's saying, make no mistake - something
significant's going down. He sends his spirit to live in the disciples - he still sends his spirit to live in
us today - will you let him in? (KM)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #7 - rainbows
"Red and yellow, and blue and green, purple and orange and pink". Everyone's sung this, and we've
all seen rainbows. But it's not quite right. We've changed it to "fit" better. Think about it: the colours
aren't right, and their order's wrong. What did indigo and violet do to get replaced by purple and pink?
Did orange fall out with red and yellow to get moved? So what about the real thing: the bible
bookends - the rainbow messages of Genesis and Revelation. "God is love and'll save everyone".
Biblical truth, or changed by us 'cos we think it "fits" better? (KY)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #8 - weather control
We used to think the Russians were coming! "Two Tribes go to War" at #1 and we thought they
could! And amongst 1980's scare stories, one was that the Russki's had a machine to create bad
weather! We believed it! Forget King Canute wave-power, think Brezhnev rain-power! But of course,
the Commies couldn't control the weather. Jesus could tho'…..and did. His calming a storm's a great
NT AV moment! And here's our lesson - and apologies for plagiarism! Those with him? Right place;
right time; with the right person - yet their circumstances still got pretty frightening,…..until they get
Jesus involved. (KY)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #9 - I can't see you!
Reading the blog on "rainbows" I was reminded of the darkness that hit Egypt. This wasn't just any
ordinary darkness but supernatural. It was an intense darkness and the Hebrew translates it as
"darkness of darkness" to indicate that there was something very odd about it. Even odder is that the
Israelites had light! The ninth plague hit Egypt for three days and gripped them with so much fear,
that they remained glued to their places wherever they stood or sat. Never ending darkness face
countless unless they're introduced to the Light of the World, and not just for three days! (WC)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #10 - who put the lights out?
There's probably lots of ways to blog. Here's a first for me: sit down and start typing without planning,
and see what happens. Amazing biblical AV events? What immediately springs to mind? For me, it's
the world being plunged into complete darkness as Jesus dies. What did people think? Not the guys
at the cross, but those hundreds, thousands, of miles away. It was the world in darkness, not just
those in Post Code JS1. One man's experience; local event; global effect. And three days later?
Resurrection. And another global effect - but more than AV - light, and new life! (KY)
www.newtonmearnsbaptist.org.uk
© NMBC 2008
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #11 - smoking firepot and blazing torch
Even as a member of the victorious team in the 1978 Dundee & District Sunday School Bible Quiz
competition, [my winning answer, that sunk Rattray Street Baptist, was "charity"], I'll confess to having
no idea when God made his point with a smoking firepot and blazing torch moving unaided between
sliced animal carcasses. You don't either? That's a relief. The answer: when God made his
covenant with Abram. What that point was, though, I've no idea! But Abram knew: the message was
personal. Unchanged, God's still calling people individually today - look and listen and you'll find his
message for you. (KY)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #12 - still small voice
Amid the bible's high-profile, high-drama AV events, sits this low-decibel incident. Elijah's in a
mountain cave fearing for his life when God says "Hey, what're you doing hiding?" God tells him to go
out on the mountain because his Spirit's about to pass by. Along comes a mighty wind - it batters the
mountain but God's not in it. Then comes an earthquake - but God's not there either. Then fire - still
no sign of God. Finally Elijah hears a still small voice - and he encounters God. Today God may still
speak in a small voice - we listening? (KM)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #13 - opening act
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, so as far as visuals go, this one's pretty
spectacular - a universe created out of nothing (well actually out of something - from God) but you
know what I mean. And the sound effects? Well, the audio to accompany the visual is spectacular
also - but not in an ear-splitting, deafening explosion kind-of-a-way - but rather in a calm, controlled,
majestic kind-of-a-way. The audio track that runs with this video is simple and beautiful - it contains
just the voice of God: "Let there be light." God's word's still beautiful. (KM)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #14 - one for the road!
Got AV skills like mine? If so, at some point you'll have connected up a device - DVD player, PC,
whatever; pushed the green button, sat down and waited for it to work. Does it work glitch-free? Not
in my experience. Usually it's sound and no vision, or pictures with no audio. Reminds me of Paul on
the Damascus road - dazzlingly bright light then Jesus speaks - but what about Paul's companions?
They see the blinding light but don't pick up the audio - they're confused. When our connection to
God's sorted we get surround sound and cinemascope in synchronicity. (KM)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #15 - need a refill?
What do you do when the wine runs out? Mary (Jesus's mother) came to him and says, "Son we've
got a problem here and we need your help - we're running out of wine". Jesus then takes the six
water jars (approx. 120-180 gallons) and changes them into wine. By the way that's well over 1,000
bottles of good table wine. Can you imagine it? Jesus provides more than our needs! He comes
alongside this couple in their time of need, even though they probably didn't know him and was willing
to help. He'll come alongside us too if we ask. (WC)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #16 - "thunderbolts and lightning"
Don't know what you got up to at Hogmanay. Unbelievably, I ended up as backing vocals to a middleaged karaoke singer attempting Bohemian Rhapsody! Now forget kissing Granny under the mistletoe
a week earlier - I'm telling you - any fiftysomething crooner thinking they're Freddie Mercury: now
that's scary! But there we were: "Thunderbolt and lightning - very, very frightening…". Then other
day I'm reading about the Israelites at Sinai: God meeting his people, and speaking. The result?
Let's just say the Israelites could've sung that line as the pyrotechnics started! And whilst Queen
might be gone, our King's still rockin'! (KY)
www.newtonmearnsbaptist.org.uk
© NMBC 2008
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #17 - "how d'you like your steak?"
"Move over David Blain!", "Houdini? Who's he??" Look out, the main man's in town. Or, more
accurately, up a mountain! Who? None other than Mr E-li-jah - fire-starter extraordinaire! But, of
course, when his incendiary moment occurred at Mount Carmel, Elijah wasn't the fire-starter at all God was, demonstrating his power. At best Elijah was Arsonist's Assistant, Grade 1. And the people
who were there knew it. They knew what they'd seen was of God, not man. And it's the same today when you encounter God, don't look for human answers: bow down and worship like the Carmel
crowd! (KY)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #18 - nothing doing…
Sometimes writing blogs I use online bibles, type in a keyword and see what pops up. Is this the 21st
Century equivalent of what we were told not to do as nipper - but did anyway: opening bibles
randomly, sticking fingers in and reading selected verses! Yikes, probably is! Anyway, looking for
great AV moments I typed in "spectacular" and, d'you know, it appears only once: Herod wanted
Jesus to "do something spectacular". Jesus, court jester. But Jesus wouldn't "perform" and Herod
loses interest. What do I see in Jesus? A party's life and soul or imparting life to my soul? (KY)
"You must be 'AVing a laugh mate!" #19 - who needs a "V" sign!
"Mrs so-and-so's boy's dating that TV presenter!" "Aye, right, I'll believe it when I see it!!" Audio's
often not enough, is it? Visual's needed to convince us. Just hearing something's happened particularly something amazing - won't do. Quoting Jerry Maguire: "Show me the money!" - talk
wasn't enough. And this principle's never better exemplified than when we tell people about Jesus
and they say "OK, show me". What do we do? "Right,…well,…ehm, you see,…hum,…haw." But
WWJD? Exactly what he did when Thomas demanded "V" with "A" - telling him to "stop doubting and
believe!" What "V" sign're you waiting for? (KY)
www.newtonmearnsbaptist.org.uk
© NMBC 2008