Alive Again

The highlight moment of Easter morning for me was the opening of our 9:30 worship service. We used an awesome video by Igniter Media.

Instead of the audio track on the video our band played a live version of  Matt Maher’s Christ is Risen.  Just as on Thursday night the lyrics overwhelmed me:

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake, come awake

Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead

We are one with Him again

Come awake, come awake

Come and rise up from the grave

 I am reminded again of how blessed I am to serve with a group of musicians who love Jesus more than they do worship.  That love lifts music into worship and made this Easter come alive! 

In the Night

At last night’s Life of Christ our team closed with Andrew Peterson’s In The Night followed by Be Still My Soul with readings from Matthew’s version of the Garden of Gethsemane and ending with:

…may Your will be done….

There’s a verse in Peterson’s song (and all the lyrics and the video are below) that goes like this:

I remember how they scorned the son of Mary


He was gentle as a lamb,

gentle as a lamb


He was beaten, he was crucified, and buried


And in the night, my hope was gone



My part was to give a few last words and then blow out the last candle.  Inspired by that verse I had thought through exactly what I wanted to say:

And then after He prayed

He was betrayed and arrested and denied

He was beaten and ridiculed and spat upon

And the next day they nailed Him to a cross

Where He hung in shame and humiliation

And from noon until three there was darkness across the land

But even in the darkness hope lived on

Until Jesus cried out:

Eloi, Eloi,

Lama sabahthani!

And gave up His spirit and our Hope was gone

(at which point I blew out the last candle)

That’s what I planned to say – and mostly what I said – but when I got to “they nailed Him to a cross” the weight and the reality of it all (that we’d been building toward all evening) got to me and I could barely get the words out.

I drove home (and I’ve spent a good bit of this Good Friday) thinking about the reality of it all.  So often I am consumed with white papers and staffing strategies and budgets and all the “stuff” of ministry.  It’s easy to lose that which is of first importance:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried [and] that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…

1 Corinthians 15: 3 - 4

On this Good Friday – in the midst of white papers and budgets and staffing strategies I am reminded again of what is of first importance.

The rulers of earth could not control Him


They did not take his life

He laid it down


All the chains of death could never hope to hold Him


So in the night my hope lives on



In the night my Hope lives on.

I am weary with the pain of Jacob's wrestling


In the darkness with the Fear,

in the darkness with the Fear


But he met the morning wounded with a blessing


So in the night my hope lives on



When Elisha woke surrounded by the forces


Of the enemies of God,

the enemies of God


He saw the hills aflame with angels on their horses


So in the night my hope lives on



I see the slave that toils beneath the yoke unyielding


And I can hear the captive groan,

hear the captive groan


For some hand to stay the whip his foe is wielding


Still in the night my hope lives on



I see the armies of the enemy approaching


And the people driven, trembling, to the shore


But a doorway through the waters now is opening


So in the night my hope lives on



Like the son who thought he'd gone beyond forgiveness,


Too ashamed to lift his head

but if he could lift his head


He would see his father running from a distance


In the night my hope lives on



I can see the crowd of men retreating


As he stands between the woman and their stones


And if mercy in his holy heart is beating


Then in the night my hope lives on



I remember how they scorned the son of Mary


He was gentle as a lamb,

gentle as a lamb


He was beaten, he was crucified, and buried


And in the night, my hope was gone



But the rulers of earth could not control Him


They did not take his life

He laid it down


All the chains of death could never hope to hold Him


So in the night my hope lives on



I can see the Son of Man descending


And the sword He swings is brighter than the dawn


And the gates of Hell will never stand against Him


So in the night my hope lives on.