Thoughts on God’s love and redemption through conscious and Christian hip-hop
This is a piece prepared for Easter Sunday church service, today April 12, 2020. In it I contemplate the love and confidence of Father Son and Spirit in their planning to redeem humanity (did They laugh?), and wonder if there was wavering on the way to the Cross. I look at how far heaven may have seemed as Christ moved closer to death for us. And I celebrate the beauty of the Resurrection, even as we still wait for the fullness of it to be revealed.
"But neither infinite power nor infinite wisdom could bestow godhood upon men. For that there would have to be infinite love as well." Walter Miller Jr., A Canticle For Leibowitz. As of this posting we are under the pandemic. Covid-19 is ultimately an icon of creation post-fall. As we live in the tension and long for redemption, let us take time to mourn with those who mourn over loss and suffering. I believe that that number includes our God.
This is the full worship set from 11/24/2019 which features the previous two spoken words I posted here on March 15th and March 22nd. Set list: I Am Loved, Consider... As If, Canvas and Clay, My God Uses Things to Make Things, Canvas and Clay. Honor to the entire Light leadership team and family for providing the space and opportunity to break new ground in our worship experiences.
This spoken word is about redemption, restoration, and purpose. It sort of picks up where the previous word left off and crescendos in rejoicing over how God sees us and has always seen us. Forget rose tinted lenses, our God sees us through the brilliant blood of the Cross.
We as human beings are highly esteemed by God, and marveled over by angels.
This spoken word reminds us of that again.
This spoken word is all about perspective and grace. We as human beings are highly esteemed by God, and marveled over by angels. We can also become discouraged by circumstances and sell ourselves short, taking on the identity of our situations instead of our adoption. In this spoken word I try to set some perspective by referencing some of the hills and valleys of Frederick Douglass. Then I consider the statistical miracle that you are. This concludes with a call to come to the throne of grace, where we find Christ interceding and waiting to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4 verse 16). I point out that Jesus had days we would not consider worthy of the 'gram. He was betrayed and unfollowed. He was misunderstood and rejected. People wanted to use Him for their own selfish gains. He understands. And He invites us to be in relationship with Him at all times, in our hills and our valleys. It's not about perfection, it's about connection.
Here is the audio from the church service where for the spoken word text in the previous post were part of service. There are clips with the two spoken word excerpts and one full clip of the worship set the spoken word was a part of.
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In my previous post I shared the words to a poem that came to me during our New Year’s service with my church family. I read the poem at church the following Sunday. I will often record the worship portions of service, because our worship team is awesome, and open to the moving of the... Continue Reading →
Festival of Booths 