I want to start with what some of you will find really annoying. Even its creators have called it the ‘Most Annoying Thing in the World’.

[Crazy Frog video]

If you don’t recognise it, this is the latest craze to take the nation by storm. You may have seen the advert on TV for a mobile phone ringtone which uses an animation of a frog on his imaginary moped being chased by a sinister looking aggressor on a jet powered bike. You may even be one of the several million people who have downloaded it already. After just a couple of weeks it is the most successful ringtone in the world and has been made into a number 1 hit with that remix version of the Beverley Hills Cops theme tune, which we have just heard a sample of. Some people love it and others just want to punch the frog’s lights out.

The sound was originally made 8 years ago by a then 17 year old Swedish boy who recorded himself one day imitating his friends’ souped-up mopeds. He had a talent for mimicking the sound of their two-stroke engines. That got posted on a webpage and through the power of the internet got picked up by a ringtone company. Daniel Malmedahl’s bit of fun is now a nice little earner for him.

Making strange sounds pay has a noble history. Last summer we made a brief trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and heard Nancy Cartwright talk about her life as a 10 year old boy. Nancy Cartwright is the voice of Bart Simpson and at school she used to drive her teachers’ nuts by making the sound of a dripping tap in lessons and they could never pin down where it came from. That talent has made her a small fortune as a voice-over artist. So there is a moral for parents of strangely talented children, you never know where it will end.

The Crazy Frog is of course just the latest brain rest. It follows on the heals of Mr Blobby, the Hamster Dance internet cartoons a few years ago and so many others. As a brain rest, when everyone has had enough, it will be thrown away and the next thing will take its place.

We all need brain rests. They provide a healthy distraction from whatever pressures threaten to overwhelm us. That frog is after all being chased by an aggressor so perhaps we can see his cheery ‘ding dingings’ as us running away from whatever looms. Or maybe we are the aggressor out to blow up this pesky overgrown tadpole. I suspect the former given that the frog is the hero of the piece.

Brain rests, though, are precisely that, a rest and not real life itself. Problems come when we try to treat them as if they are real life itself or more to the point don’t recognise them as just a rest.

I wonder if there are times when we treat our faith as a brain rest; something to “ding ding” our way through the pressures? Before we reject this notion as being offensive, stop for a moment and think carefully. I bet there is no one in this church this morning who has not at some time done this because we all do. Brain rests are important. Sometimes we need sanctuary from the pressures and need a safe place to allow the overload to be sorted out. When that happens it usually means that we are not particularly receptive to changes taking place there. We have come for sanctuary and don’t want our comfort zone rocking.

Sociologists are beginning to say that many people approach churches now in the same way that they approach something like a bowls club. It is a place they can have their needs to belong and unwind met. Spirituality can sometimes look more like relaxation therapy than a power for living. Youth Services can be just a junior section of the ‘bowls club’ mentality if we are not careful. So this is not restricted to just one age group by any means.

The brain rest shows us a real need, so the spiritual equivalent also points out a real need; a need for rest and sanctuary. But it is also a real need to know when we are treating our faith as a brain rest and not real life. We need to realise what is going on. Any faith that only fulfils the brain rest is being sold short, massively short; it has so much more to offer. As a brain rest, like the Crazy Frog, it can be thrown away as soon as we are tired of it and it is certainly not something anyone would care enough about to die for or make major sacrifices to ensure that it was kept alive. It doesn’t have any staying power. A brain rest is also not something that we would allow to affect the rest of our lives, and our faith should.

Both of our readings this morning had important things to say to this. They highlighted that faith in Jesus Christ is for real life and takes us into the heart of that life, it is not merely a rest from it. In them we can see any desire for the rest, or relief from stress, being taken and new life being breathed into it so that we are sent on our way to live refreshed and revitalised.

In our first reading (Romans 4:13-end) Paul drew on the story of Abraham from the Old Testament. He pointed out that Abraham was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised (v21). That is not a brain rest; that is faith that God is in control and moves us on. Any notion of rest is to recover in order to re-engage with the struggle, so that struggle needs to be present to be worked on.

The offer of new life was brought sharply into focus in our Gospel reading (Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26) with Jesus bringing the little girl back to life. He also breathed new life into Matthew being called from the tax booth and into those just called the ‘other sinners’ whom he joined for dinner.

So our faith is not supposed to be a brain rest; quite the contrary we are to bring the whole of our lives to it and allow it to change us. When we do treat it as a brain rest we need the self-awareness to realise this and the honesty to admit it. The God of Abraham and Matthew, of the little girl and all the sinners at the dinner table, is able to do far more than we can imagine; he is able to fulfil his promises and that is far more than just a momentary diversion or rest.

Next time you hear this ringtone or see the advert, smile and enjoy it. It makes me smile every time I see it. Then use it to be thankful that you have a faith that is far more than a mere brain rest; it is life itself.

© Ian Black 2005

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