Hymns: 2015 Memories

I began this series with my Hymns: 1980 Memories post, so this is the 35th in the series 😀.

I’m way too obsessed with the passing of time, but it’s a happy obsession 😀.

Popular worship songs in 2015 included the following:

They sing all these songs in the church that I attend now, but in my church in Tipperary, we used to sing the old hymns. Any modern hymns were pre-2000. I still like the old stuff, but it’s good that 21st Century people are writing new hymns. They might feel a bit modern, but back in Martin Luther’s time, his hymns might have felt modern too. Luther sometimes borrowed melodies from folk songs or popular secular tunes of the 16th century, adapting them for sacred use.

In 2015, I started thinking that it might be time to move on from Tipperary Christian Fellowship and attend a church here in Limerick, which has been my home since I got married back in 1988. But in the end, I stayed until the lockdown in 2020. I remember being involved in a bookstall at the local shopping centre in Tipperary a couple of times each year. It was a very pleasant form of evangelism – nothing pushy about it. I remember a priest coming up and encouraging us. It’s always nice to have warm relationships with the local community. Some of the folk also worked on a Christian show on the local radio.

2015 was the year that my daughters regularly attended Cafe Church at the Limerick Baptist Church. And they eventually persuaded me to join them. It felt a bit strange being the oldest guy in the building. But I was impressed, and I was especially impressed that my daughters enjoyed it. It was also nice to meet so many foreign students etc. In Tipperary, at that time, we didn’t really have many students or immigrants living in the town. The newer music encouraged me to introduce some new songs to Tipperary. But they weren’t really all that new. Most were from the 1990s.

My favourite book of 2015 was James White’s The King James Only Controversy. I don’t know when it was published, but I read it in 2015. Some of the more conservative churches despise modern versions. I can understand them because it can be very confusing jumping around versions and they’re constantly changing. But James White, though a conservative examines the issues and exposes the sillier arguments for using the King James version.

Kinsale Baptist Church was established in 2015. Kinsale is a nice little seaside town in Country Cork. One of my ancestors, a policeman, apprehended an evangelical there back in the late 19th Century who was trying to disrupt a Mass. He probably did it for his own protection.

In the New Heaven and New Earth, things will be wonderful. In this world, some things are wonderful, and some things are awful. But people of all faiths are generally happy to trust in God and to bring children into the world. Why isn’t the present world perfect? Well, you can look at the story of Adam and Eve. Whether or not you take it literally (as I do), the point is that humankind rebelled against God and the nature of the world changed as a result. You might wonder why God even allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve, or why he created a world at all, if there was the slightest possibility that it would go wrong. Most people of faith are happy to accept that God has his reasons. I don’t agree with Stephen Fry, but he was being honest about how he feels. He mentioned the word “theodicity”, which describes the philosophical and theological attempt to reconcile the existence of evil with belief in a benevolent, omnipotent God.

We also spent a week in County Kerry, a delightful place. If you ever come to Ireland, don’t miss Kerry whatever you do.

I remember visiting the Gallerus oratory for the first time since a school tour in 1974.

What else? Ireland won the Six Nations Rugby in Paris. Madonna fell off the stage. We went to see La Traviata in the University of Limerick concert hall. I bought a new computer that still works, but barely. 😀 Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the US election.

Anyway, here are some music, events, and films/TV shows that would have formed the background to 2015. I don’t necessarily endorse all the songs or films 😀.

10 Songs of 2015

• Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
• Love Me Like You Do – Ellie Goulding
• Sugar – Maroon 5
• FourFiveSeconds – Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney
• Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon
• Can’t Feel My Face – The Weeknd
• Blackstar – David Bowie
• Hello – Adele​
• Adventure Of A Lifetime – Coldplay​
• Lazarus – David Bowie

10 Movies or TV Shows of 2015

• Wolf Hall (BBC Series on Thomas Cromwell)
• The Revenant
• Inside Out
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Steve Jobs
• Ant-Man
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Jurassic World
• Paddington
• Spectre

10 News Events from 2015

• Charlie Hebdo Attack (January) – Gunmen stormed the Paris offices of the satirical magazine, killing 12 and sparking global solidarity under the slogan Je Suis Charlie
• Germanwings Plane Crash (March) – A co-pilot deliberately crashed Flight 9525 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people aboard
• Nepal Earthquake (April) – A devastating 7.8 magnitude quake struck Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 and injuring tens of thousands
• Paris Terror Attacks (November) – Coordinated attacks across Paris killed 130 people, including at the Bataclan concert hall, prompting a state of emergency in France
• Syrian Civil War Intensifies – Russia began airstrikes in Syria, shifting the dynamics of the ongoing conflict
• Marriage Equality Referendum (May 22) Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote.
• Berkeley Balcony Collapse (June 16) Six Irish students died and seven were injured when a balcony collapsed during a birthday party in Berkeley, California.
• Cork Plane Crash (February 5) A light aircraft crashed near Cork Airport, killing two people. The incident prompted aviation safety reviews and tributes from the local community
• Conservative Party Wins General Election (May 7) In the UK, David Cameron’s Conservatives won a surprise majority, ending the coalition with the Liberal Democrats and reshaping the political landscape.
• Boko Haram massacre in Nigeria: (Around January 3–4), The extremist group razed the town of Baga, killing over 2,000 people in one of its deadliest attacks 

Some Famous People Who Passed Away in 2015

• Leonard Nimoy – Actor (Star Trek)
• Christopher Lee – Actor (Dracula, LOTR)
• B.B. King – Blues Guitarist
• Terry Pratchett – Fantasy Author (Discworld)
• Ben E. King – Singer (Stand by Me)
• Demis Roussos – Singer
• Steve Strange – Singer
• Jim McCann​ – Irish singer and musician
• Cynthia Lennon – First wife of John Lennon
• Percy Sledge – Singer
• Val Doonican – Singer​
• Omar Sharif – Actor
• Cilla Black – Singer
• Maureen O Hara – Actress
• Natalie Cole – Singer

Then, around 1988, I saw him on TV! I don’t of many other rock stars from Cork, apart from Rory Gallagher. I suppose Microdisney had some minor success in the UK too. The Frank and Walters and The Sultans of Ping are also from Cork. Nowadays, the most famous person from Cork is actor Cillian Murphy. And me of course 😀.