This week, we continued our Unstuck series as we looked at how to be a blessing to our families. From the story of Joseph and his sons, Pastor Joe looked at how to communicate the blessing to our families–especially to our children. It was a great challenge to increase our awareness of how we're blessing our families.
Here are our songs from this weekend:
"In Tenderness" [W. Spencer Walton, Adoniram J. Gordon, Nate Garvey, Citizens & Saints]
"I Stand Amazed" [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
"Good, Good Father" [Pat Barrett, Anthony Brown -Housefires II]
"Man of Sorrows (In My Place)" [Philip Paul Bliss, Bill Horn]
"Rejoice" [Dustin Kensrue, Stuart Townend]
We had a great weekend of worship together. We centered our singing around the image of God as our good and loving Father, whose love is unconditional, and who sought us out even when we were far away, and who adopted us as His own sons and daughters by His grace. His love for us is the perfect example of how we ought to love one another, and be a blessing to one another, in our familes. The image of God as our Father is one that has always been especially moving to me. My earthly dad has always been abundantly clear that he loves me and is proud of me, so I have never had a difficult time picturing or feeling this kind of love from God. However, it never gets old to me to think that God has adopted me as a son. It is ridiculously beautiful and overwhelming to me that He has made me His own!
"In Tenderness," "I Stand Amazed," and "Man of Sorrows (In My Place)" all looked at the love and grace of God as demonstrated in Jesus' atoning sacrifice for us. "Good, Good Father" is a new song that sings of the truth of who God is as our Father, and who we are because we are His children. The simple but profound chorus sings, "You're a good, good Father/ It's who You are... / And I'm loved by You/ It's who I am..." Letting the truth of those two statements sink into our hearts is weighty and transformative. We concluded our services with Kensrue's "Rejoice," which calls us to rejoice because we are the beloved children of God, and because He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is our faithful Father, and I am His adopted son. And that is a beautiful thing.
In the Son,
Bill