Monday, December 29, 2008

written recently

Merry Christmas everyone!! Warning: tangent post…:)

“But it’s true, kingdoms and crowns
The God who came down to find you
It’s true, angels on high
Sing through the night, Hallelujah”

-It’s True by Sara Groves

What a strange Christmas, but what an amazing message that still hasn’t changed. This Christmas, stripped of most traditions and sentiment and familiar routines made the good news oh-so-crystal clear...

…this God of the stars and Mediterranean Sea and Swiss Alps and every amazing wonder of the world who broke through heaven’s floor to live a rough life, to be poor and weak and lowly and DIE because he knew it was the only way to come to our level, to have a true honest relationship with us, to wipe away this heavy, guilt-ridden debt that I carry and rip the curtain from top to bottom so that I, John the murderer or Mary the prostitute or Katie Joy, so entrenched in sin, could come fearlessly to the throne of my God and call him Father, dear Father….and be welcomed with opened arms.

“So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into his family- calling him ‘Father, dear Father.’” Romans 8

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Luke 4

“O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
Yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees and hear the angels’ voices
Singing O night divine

Truly he taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother
And in his name all oppression will cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise his holy name
O Christ the Lord, praise his name forever
His power and glory proclaim

O Lord, when you came to the earth
O my soul, my soul felt its worth
O my soul, my soul felt a thrill of hope
The weary world rejoices
Yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees and hear the angels’ voices
Singing O night divine, O this holy night…”

Such good news :) That it’s true….that this God of kingdoms and crowns came down to find us.

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