Religious Songs

Hey,


This Sunday I helped out at Kidzone in my church, so I am writing this post just to share the songs that were sang during the service.

Songs:

Today is the day 

Nothing holding me back

Build my life

Hope you enjoy these songs

Please comment below





Amy x

The Greatest Showman

Hey everyone,

I hope you have all had a wonderful week and enjoying your start to the new year. My February started with me spending time with my family which involved celebrating my grandad’s life as well as going to the cinema to watch ‘The greatest showman’.

 Warning! Contain spoilers

 This film’s opening was portrayed like the opening of a performance. It gave the feeling of going to see a musical show live and not a movie on the screen. The title of this movie was demonstrated through the first song which was in the opening scene, as the song is called the greatest showman.

I feel that this show is about people from different worlds can fall in love which is demonstrated through the 2 pairs in this movie. P.T. Barnum who was poor fell in love with a rich man’s daughter, Charity and later on got married and have two beautiful twin children. The other pair that were from different worlds are Philip and Anne, again Philip is from a rich family but he falls in love with a trapeze artist, Anne. I feel that the theme of this movie is about people from different worlds and cultures coming together to entertain people and bring joy to everyone around them. I also feel that the key message of this film is that it doesn’t matter what differences we have we are all human and we are equal.

This film has many songs that I love and am going to discuss them. . .

‘The other side’

This song is about making a deal and breaking out of the stereotypical life you have, as this is the scene where Phillip who is rich makes a deal with P.T. Barnum to join his show which costs him his inheritance. I feel that to properly enjoy this song you first have to watch the scene as it is one of those songs that you have to watch and experience to properly like it.

‘A million dream’

How this song is portrayed is lovely as it presents P.T. Barnum and his wife Charity growing up together until the present time where they now have 2 daughters who also sing along in the song. This song is about following your dreams and to never stop no matter how long it takes as well as that it doesn’t matter what other people think.

‘Come Alive’

This song enforces what I feel is the key message of the show which is to not be ashamed of who you are. I feel that this song is also about changing societies ideals by opening your eyes and seeing the world as it is and not how it appears to be.

‘This is me’ and ‘Rewrite the Stars’

Both of these songs have a similar message so I thought I would discuss them together. The message they share is that it doesn’t matter what people think. However, ‘This is me’ is saying I don’t care what you say because I am who I am and I will stay true to myself, whereas ‘Rewrite the Stars’ is about not letting society define you and that it doesn’t matter what they say as long as you have the one you love with you, which is demonstrated well by Anne and Phillip.

‘From Now on’

This song is a promise from P.T. Barnum about not turning into the man he was who got caught up in the fame and thought that was the most important thing, but remember who he did it for. This song is about returning home to his family as that it is them who he did everything for. I feel that the main message of this song is that family is the most important thing.

Another element to this film that I enjoyed was that it ended the same way it started with him performing the song 'The Greatest Showman' but this time it wasn't a dream and he had friends that were like a second family surrounding him. You could say it was a dream come true.

Thank you for reading

Hope you enjoyed it
Please use the contact box or comment below

Amy x

Ballet: Cinderella

Hey,

On Thursday I went to the Plymouth Royal Theatre to watch the Matthew Bourne Ballet: Cinderella with my cousin Maria.  Warning! This post will include small spoilers so read at your own risk if you are going to watch the performance.

This ballet told the story of Cinderella in the setting of the 1940’s while the blitz was taking place. I like this as it gave a unique style to the traditional story of Cinderella. In this storyline Cinderella has 2 step sisters and 2 step brothers and her father is not away on business but has been injured while serving his country in the war.

The scene that follows the introductory scene is where the rest of the family receive letters from their partners that are coming home from fighting in the war, but Cinderella doesn’t get a letter. Later their partners come to the house and the party starts which is portrayed by them dancing as couples and enjoying themselves. Meanwhile, Cinderella is looking after a pilot who has a head injury and had turned up at her doorstep, however when he was found by the stepmother he was tossed out. This led to Cinderella leaving to find her solider which happened while the rest of the family went out to go to a dance. The following scene was about Cinderella and her solider trying to find each other but they kept running into obstacles such as the police telling them that they are not meant to be on the street as it is curfew and some wild dogs.

The clear imagery of Cinderella that I believe is Cinderella leaving her shoe for the prince to find or in this case the pilot, was portrayed well by keeping the fundamentals of the Cinderella story, but creating a unique twist to the traditional story. As this unique Cinderella story was set during the blitz, she lost her shoe when she was the only survivor of a bomb raid and the shoe was left behind, for the pilot to find, when she was taken to the hospital. Afterwards, the pilot went looking through the underground for his love, meeting the escorts but not understanding what was happening so he got into a fight. They finally met in the hospital where the pilot was being treated for PSD by being given electronic shocks. At the end, Cinderella and her pilot left on the train once she had said goodbye to her father, stepbrothers and stepsisters, who had become friendly after the stepmother went to prison for trying to kill Cinderella in the hospital, by suffocating her with a pillow.

A way that this ballet differs from the traditional story of Cinderella is with the character, the fairy godmother because in this performance she is portrayed as an angel, who was male. I feel that this was a risky move but it paid off as I believe that the male angel fitted better into Matthew Bourne’s unique style of Cinderella than a female angel would have.

This ballet was amazing and took you along a magical journey of romance, even when there is fighting around you, which I feel connotes the view at no matter what is happening in your life there is an opportunity to find love you just have to see it. However, I would say that in areas of this ballet it became a bit confusing for the audience. For example, when Cinderella fell unconscious after the bombing, she dreamed of going to ‘Cafe le Paris’ where she met her solider and the danced all night until the clock struck midnight and she had to leave, but it wasn’t clear that this was a dream and you could only see so at the end of the ballet when looking back at what you had watched.

I was also disappointed in the genre of this ballet as after reading the programme I found that only 1 performer had trained at a ballet school and this was demonstrated as there wasn’t much traditional ballet happening. I feel that if there was some point work in the dream scene that it would have greatly improved and become even more magical and created the feeling of being transported there.

That being said, both myself and my cousin, Maria enjoyed this performance including the glass of white wine we had in the first interval. This is a great performance to see with friends and family and although I wouldn’t define it as a traditional ballet I would recommend this performance.

Thanks for reading

Please you the contact box or comment below

Amy x

Spirit of Truth

Hello,

This post focuses around the quote ‘Spirit of truth’ from the Bible. I feel that this quote and it’s meaning is demonstrated well in the song ‘Voice of Truth’ by Casting Crowns.

John 14:15 – 21

“If you love me, keep my commands and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth. The World cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Throughout the Bible there are many examples of following this teaching and raising to that faith. Some of these examples were when Lazarus came back from the dead, or when Jesus fed five thousand people with only five loafs of bread and three fishes, and when Jesus walked on water. It takes a lot of faith to have observed all these miracles to then to be told that their teacher is leaving and that you have to take his place in delivering the news of the Father, God to the people. This is like the star player of a game taking you to the win and then turns around and says ‘I am leaving’. However, Jesus did not leave us alone as it says in John 14 “I will not leave you as orphans”. He gave you someone who would never leave you just like he would never leave us, he sent down the Holy Spirit who will be with you and live in you.

This is demonstrated in Acts 2:1-4

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. The saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Jesus’ love is given those who trust and obey but he will love you no matter what. For example, if you have children you will love them no matter what but there is something beautiful about an obedient child. Well so I am told, I personally don’t have any children.

Romans 5:1-2

“Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

We have peace with God and we are welcome to join the family of God. We have many things to worry about in our life such as money, children, illness, work, and more, but do you think Jesus worried about anything? No, he was at peace and as said in Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in ever situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” So don’t worry about anything and put your worries to Jesus and trust in him.

The Holy Spirit is given to those who Trust, Love, Ask and Obey God. An imagery of this is a car as we are like a car because we need to be refilled with the Holy Spirit like a car needing to be refilled with gas.

Songs

Nothing Holding Me Back

Chains cannot keep you from loving Jesus.

You are Good 

Devotion

This is a new song to myself and the church which I feel is about giving yourself to Jesus.

All hail King Jesus

This is also a new song to me that I feel is about God’s love changing us.

My Troubled Soul

I feel that this song is about how chains cannot hold you back and about casting your worries to the Lord.

Thank you for reading,

Please use the contact box or comment below

Amy x

Kids Zone

Hey everyone,

I am sorry that it has been a while since my last post but I have been busy on my university course which is primary teaching, however I also haven’t had time to write a post because my grandad recently passed away so I have been spending time with my family and both organising and attending his funeral.

I have started volunteering at Kids Zone in Blue Zone which is for children of primary school age. This is the kids club for my church which is Plymouth Christian Centre. I got given a T- shirt and I volunteer for 2 weeks and then have 4 weeks off to attend the service and then repeat.

John 14:6

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The order of this group is to first allow the children to play with a variety of equipment before they join together to sing some songs in worship such as ‘Our God is a Great Big God’. The children would then sit at tables for a drink and biscuit before they sit down together on the floor while an adult reads a story to them and then ask them questions and discuss the story. This week the story was ‘Noah’. We would then finish with a song before playing with toys while waiting for the parents to collect them.

I really enjoyed myself looking after and playing Lego with the children.

Thank you for reading,

Please use the contact box or comment below

Amy x