Blessed Sunday!

It was RED day at Advent. Red because it was Reformation Day and red because there was a blood drive. I was reminded as I drove to church of the prayer I always prayed over Casey each time he received a blood transfusion. I would pray for the healing blood of Christ to flow along with the life-giving blood being pumped through his veins. Someone sacrificed their own blood for the healing of another. Jesus sacrificed all of His blood for the healing of the world. I can’t give all of my blood and save the world, but I can give some of my blood and help some others live longer.

Zephaniah 3: 17 “The Lord your God is with you…God will take great delight in you…and rejoice over you with singing!”

Last week our organist Carol lost her husband. He has been ill for a while and went to be with God on last Sunday afternoon. The memorial service for Bob was this afternoon. Bob, like Carol, loved music and especially loved to sing. He was a member of several local singing organizations. This verse was printed on the front of the bulletin and the remembrance folder. How totally appropriate for Bob and as you can imagine, a very appropriate verse for Casey. Casey loved to sing. And interestingly enough, a year ago today we attended another memorial service at Advent, for it was a year ago today that we held Casey’s Celebration of Life Service. The services were vastly different with one exception, in both of the services, Christ crucified and the promise of the resurrection was affirmed in the lives of these two servants of God.

As I sat in the service and read this verse, the first part of this verse sort of illuminated itself on the page. “The Lord your God is with you.” That has to be the most amazing and profound sentence I have ever read! It does not say The Lord of hosts, the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Elijah, or even the Lord of the Rings (sorry, it just slipped out - LOL), it says, The Lord your God is with you!” God, Himself, claims us as His own. He is our God. Not just collectively the God of the Church, but the God of Gaylene, Bruce, Geni, Travis, Carol, Nichole…the list goes on forever.

Then not only does He claim us as His own and says He is with us, then He says, “I will take great delight in you.” Okay, let us think about this. The God of all creation, who threw the stars in the sky, who caused the mountains to rise from the earth, who created man from the dust and breathed life, His Spirit, into each of us, takes delight in us. We who are sinful, argumentative, willful, have-our-own-way children, and yet this God takes delight in us.

And finally, because He loves us so much that He chose to die and rise again so that we can always on this earth and beyond this earthly life live with Him. Then, in His heart of hearts, God expresses His joy and rejoices over us with singing. Can you imagine what the singing voice of God must sound like? I was witness to 200 Kairos brothers in white singing “We are One in the Spirit” from within a prison and it had a sound as if the angel choir had descended and the voices were lifted to heaven. I was witness to the singing voice of God as a 24 year old young man receiving chemotherapy sang “All to Jesus I Surrender”. And I can only imagine the voices of father and son singing “Breathe” inside a sanctuary just a few days before the death of the son must sound like the voice of God.

Our vision of God is so limited, but there are times He allows us here on earth to catch just a glimpse of what it will be like when we see Him face to face and hear His voice. Maybe it happens more than we are aware. Maybe we just need to stop and listen because, as the scripture says, “The Lord, your God, is with you!

Take joy in the journey, wear a sweater and listen for the voice of God. Love you all so very much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

PS Please continue to keep the Kocher family in your prayers as they begin to heal over their loss. I have learned that you never get over the loss of someone you love more than life itself, but by the healing grace of a suffering, compassionate God and the prayers of the family of God, you do get through the time of hurt and sorrow. Thanks, gc