Were you singing along with the wonderful hymn Shirley just played for us?  If you don’t know it,  Here’s the first verse:

When morning gilds the sky, our hearts awaking cry: May Jesus Christ be praised! in all our work and prayer we ask his loving care: May Jesus Christ be praised!

Which bring us right to today’s Response: Christ makes all things new!

When I think about – “All things new” I think of

The first night in a new house,

A wedding

A parallel universe!

I think of seeing a new sight –   A volcano or a glacier perhaps!

And I think of deep prayer or meditation – The kind that makes everything brighter when you open your eyes. I also think of things we don’t want to take for granted.

Friendships

Reconciliation

Child-like awe

The way the sun shines through our stained glass…

And I am ever so aware of the creator of newness

As we respond together: Christ makes all things new!

 

Our theme of unconditional giving has me thinking about my expectations.

I realize that even as I do things like giving without consciously thinking of a return –I have subliminal benefit-analysis going on. You may have heard me say that everything we do is about priorities.  I do many things without needing a response – but which of those are really unconditional?  For me unconditional is a big word.  Like promise.  Unconditional implies without fail” —  “impossible to disappoint”   —  Unconditional giving focuses on the gift rather than the giver. It makes the whole thing about what the gift can do in the future, not about what the giver has done by giving.

Unconditional giving has a “gift that keeps on giving” quality.

Unconditional love is like that –

Right now Faith Church is poised for    Increased ministry. Unconditional ministry,  Our gifts and our Christ-centered approach holds a promise!

Let’s consider the impact our ministries can have once released from our grip.  And let us respond together:             Christ makes all things new!

 

Free and new

Even after we stumble or fall, we can acknowledge the pain and move on –

Even after a disappointment or setback, we can be blessed. Peter started over – receiving “water without cost from the spring of the water of life. “

Fresh and new.   [a song, a dawn, a flower, a mystery, a miracle.]

Loved.

Forgiven.

Renewed.

Promised.

Our next hymn will tell us — Something God alone can see.  

And so we respond: Christ makes all things new!

 

*Hymn of Praise: #707      “Hymn of Promise”

Lida’s favorite          

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;

In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!

In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

 

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;

There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.

From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

 

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;

In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,

In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.