1 My song is love unknown, my Savior’s love to me. Love to the loveless shown, that they might lovely be. Oh, who am I that for my sake, oh, who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh and die?
2 He came from heaven’s throne salvation to bestow; but they refused, and none the longed-for Christ would know. This is my friend, my friend indeed, this is my friend, my friend indeed, who at my need, his life did spend.
3 Sometimes they crowd his way and his sweet praises sing, resounding all the day hosannas to their King. Then, “Crucify!” is all their breath, then, “Crucify!” is all their breath, and for his death they thirst and cry.
4 Why, what has my Lord done to cause this rage and spite? He made the lame to run and gave the blind their sight. What injuries, yet these are why, what injuries, yet these are why the Lord Most High so cruelly dies.
5 With angry shouts they have my dear Lord done away; a murderer they save, the Prince of Life they slay. Yet willingly, he bears the shame, yet willingly, he bears the shame, that through his name all might be free.
6 Here might I stay and sing of him my soul adores: never was love, dear King, never was grief like yours. This is my friend in whose sweet praise, this is my friend in whose sweet praise I all my days would gladly spend.
Oh, Lord, please break my heart as my body is broken, that I might see the gift of your Salvation. May I recognize my frailty as an opportunity to show ways I might run though lame, might see though blind, might be free though bound. Let me see the willingness of the Prince of Life to set aside his throne, take on the frailty of human life, and willingly allow Himself to be broken so I might be free. Let me find the freedom beyond my pain in praise. I would gladly spend all my days lost in wonder and praise. Amen.
Godmade leather clothing for Adam and his wife
and dressed them.
Godsaid, “The Man has become like one of us,
capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should
reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever?
Never—this cannot happen!”
SoGodexpelled them from the Garden of Eden and
sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and
stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the
path to the Tree-of-Life. (Genesis 3 21-24)
Listen,God! Please,
pay attention! Can you make sense of these ramblings, my groans and cries? King-God, I need your help. Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend. (Psalm 5:1-3 MSG)
I’m tired of all this—so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights On the flood of my tears. My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears. The sockets of my eyes are
black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope. (Psalm 6:6-7) MSG
God’s business is putting things right; he loves
getting the lines straight, Setting us straight. Once we’re
standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye. (Psalm 11:7) MSG
Godmade my
life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. When I got my act together, he gave me a fresh start. Now I’m alert toGod’s ways; I don’t take God for
granted. Every day I review the ways he
works; I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I’m watching my
step. Godrewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.
(Psalm 18:16-24 MSG)
We were created to glorify God. That is all. Just that. We turn away from our calling. From Eden until today, we get
distracted. We look the other way. We get wrapped up in ourselves, in what we
think we need.
God is always there, providing
covering and safety. We lay out our messes, and God somehow for some reason puts things straight. Because, that is
just what God does.
Pay
attention, don’t miss his mercy, the way he works. God rewrites the text of our
lives. He likes to make things straight. Moreover,
all he asks, when we get our act together, is that we glorify – honor,
praise, worship – turn the lights on, and shine our phone light on Him so others will know how to get a fresh start.
Pain
takes over my body, my life, my brain. From head
to toe, my pain is so intense, I often forget the reason I am here. I am
bent and broken; my limbic system is skewed. I found, somewhere along the way,
that if I pay attention to how God works, I discover all I need to set aside
the pain for praise.
All I need is to set out the pieces of my life, messed up as it is, and God will
rewrite it. Then I do have reason to glorify my God. Where did I leave my phone?
Peterson,
Eugene H. The Message (MSG).
Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.
January 12, 2013
Psalm 98, 99, 100, 104
Isaiah 66:1-2, 22-23; 61:1-9
Revelation 3:14-22
Galatians 3:23-29; 4:4-7
John 9:1-12, 35-38
God created order from chaos. God maintains that peace. There are, however, those who would choose chaos. Those who seek to disrupt the perfection of God’s creative work.
Do we disrupt the goodness of God’s creative work by trying to limit the meaning of "church" as the place where we gather to worship? Do we get too proud of the buildings we fabricate and maintain? God is less concerned with where we worship, than that we be respectful and contrite in spirit. That we seek to create order from chaos. That we become a part of the perfection of God's creative work.
Do we blind ourselves by not attending to all the nudges given to us by the Holy Spirit to see those who need encouragement and steadfast love? Do we live spiritually blinded by our confusion with other races, classes, and genders? That blindness is blindness to the presence of God’s Son.
Do we forget Christ is the essence of the law and has already satisfied the law’s demands? Do we get so legalistic that we forget Christ’s commandment to love one another? Do we get so caught up in our own lives, our own pain that our faith becomes lukewarm? Do we get not only blind, but deaf? Jesus is knocking at the door. He cannot enter unless we hear his voice, open the door and see.
Set a feast, a spread of time, love, steadfastness. O sing to the Lord a new song. Praise God, for He is righteous. Praise the Son, for he has taken away the sin of the world. Praise the Holy Spirit, for our God-breathed life and the God-breathed Word. Praise the three-in-one, the triune God, for power and mystery, for order and peace, for steadfast love and holiness, for righteousness and forgiveness, for the ability to see and hear.
Etymology: Medieval Latin doxologia, from
Late Greek, from Greek doxa glory, opinion (from dokein to seem
good, seem, think) + -logia -logy -- more at DECENT
1 aobsolete: praise
to the Deity : thanksgiving for divine protection b: an
utterance expressing pleasure in or thanksgiving for some event or occurrence
2: a commonly short hymn
or formula expressing praise to God and usually designed to be sung, chanted,
or said by the choir or the congregation; especially: one used
in Christian worship
Citation format for this entry:
"doxology."
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged.
Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (11 Jan. 2013).
Somehow I find this disturbing. I have always somehow trusted Webster. But this time I beg to disagree. Can praise to the Deity - to God - be obsolete?
I somehow believe my father when he told me "On Iwo Jima we discovered just how much of ourselves we could bury in half-dug fox holes. No, there were no atheists in fox holes." I'd say there was probably a doxology or two in the "Praise God" and "Thank You, Jesus" he heard as those who survived a strafing from Japanese fighter planes brushed the sand out of their hair.
I know from reading Facebook posts and walking into the luggage carousel area in the Atlanta airport watching as soldiers in desert patterned uniforms greeted their wives and children. I know there were songs of praise when, on November 11, fathers came into classrooms, surprising their sons and daughters.
No I believe doxologies are not obsolete. "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
Doxology
Uploaded on Jul 14, 2009
Song by, Phil Driscoll.Help us reach the World with the Truth! Donate $1 Now: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=YPQD... Come join us every Friday night for the Anointing Service featuring great songs like this to bring us into the Presence of the Lord where there is healing, deliverance and refreshing joy. Visit our website for more info www.trueministrieschurch.org....
Gateway Worship- New Doxology, led by Thomas Miller
Uploaded on Apr 20, 2011
Wake Up the World delivers an engaging mix of modern worship anthems, exciting songs of praise and deep intimate moments of worship in an experience that is sure to impact the body of Christ. The CD includes 14 powerful and transforming worship songs including "Real," "God of My Days" and "When I Speak Your Name." Purchase your copy of "Wake Up The World" CD and DVD at your local Christian Retailer, iTunes or gatewayworship.com.
The John Wesley Study Bible, New Revised Standard
Version, Abingdon Press, 2009
Psalm 117: Universal Call
to Worship.
“A Hallel (praise Psalm) calling all people to praise
God for God’s faithfulness.”
v.2 “For great is his steadfast love toward us, and
the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!”
Psalm 118: A Song of
Victory.
“An antiphonal (call and response) Hallel in which
an individual comes to the temple to give thanks for deliverance.”
v.1 “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his
steadfast love endures forever!”
v.22 “ The stone that the builders rejected has
become the chief cornerstone.”
v.24 “This is the day the Lord has made; let us
rejoice and be glad in it.”
v.26 “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of
the Lord.”
v.29 “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his
steadfast love endures forever!”
Psalm 112: Blessings of
the Righteous
“An alphabetic acrostic [song] … describing the
blessings of a righteous life.”
“The righteous take on the attributes of God, their
families thrive; they treat all people equitably; they are strong and
confident; and they care for the poor.”
Psalm 113: God the Helper
of the Needy
“The first of six songs called the ‘Egyptian Hallel’
… because of their association with the Jewish Passover meal.”
“A call to praise God in all times and in all
places.”
Isaiah 59:15-21: Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished
“The Lord states the unalterable commitment to the
covenant he has made with Israel through all generations. Chapter 59 moves
between two extremes. Leading up to today’s verses is a virtual vocabulary list
of covenant disobedience, (bloody hands, lies, wickedness, corrupt courts,
violence, evil, oppression, revolt) contrasted with the ways of God’s covenant
that are ignored (peace, righteousness, justice, salvation, uprightness,
truth).
“God will judge the covenant breakers by God’s own
arm and clothed in righteousness and salvation (cf. Ephesians 6:14-17 Putting
on the Whole Armor of God), but God will also redeem those who turn from
transgression.”
Revelation 2:8-17: The Messages to the Churches at Smyrna and Pergamom
“The ‘crown of life’ (cf. Ephesians 6:14-17) is an
eschatological reward for those who stand faithful in the face of blasphemy and
persecution that come from the hand of the Devil himself. Jesus the faithful
‘faithful witness’ describes the martyr Antipas as ‘my witness, my faithful
one,’ revealing that one’s faithful witness to Jesus could very well require
the same sacrifice [by other believers].
v.16 “Repent then, if not I will come to you soon
and make war against them with the sword of my mouth.” (cf. Ephesians 6:14-17)
John 4: 46-54: Jesus Heals an
Official’s Son
“Another sign that “emphasizes the universality of
Jesus’s mission and the nature of authentic faith. … Authentic faith is, most
importantly, trusting the word of Jesus. The sign – the child’s recovery – does
not cause but confirms the Gentile’s faith in Jesus; it expresses Jesus’s
gracious gift of both physical and spiritual life.”
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