Monday, December 18, 2006
Track 09: Unashamed - Starfield
Exams are done. I finished last Tuesday at 1:45 pm. Days since have been filled with late nights, sleeping in, birthdays, cake, baking cookies, gift-wrapping and various other Christmassy things. I've been working a lot, and I'll be working a lot next week, but I put my resignation in at Reitmans on Saturday, so as of 5pm on Dec. 30th I am no longer a slave to retail!
Last night we had a potluck dinner at church. There were so many people there that the gym doors had to be opened and tables flowed into the sanctuary. People were smiling and chatting and there were beautiful decorations on the tables and around the gym. Joanne had taped a piece of paper to everyone's back, and the idea was to go around and write something uplifting on people's paper so at the end of the night you could read nice things about you. As I sat there watching our church filled with people and laughter and love, I got really overwhelmed. Sometimes I get so caught up in what's wrong with our church that I forget about what's right. I sat for a short while in prayer, thanking God for not forgetting us even when we forget him, and thanking him that he's not done with Mount Pearl Citadel yet.
After the potluck was a time of Lessons and Carols in the sanctuary. That was beautiful too. There were so many times that I was completely overwhelmed with the Christmas story that I had to hold back tears. Rochelle, who's pregnant, sang "Breath of Heaven: Mary's Song", and while she was singing I kept picturing myself as Mary. Imagine, a girl, probably younger than me, suddenly finding out she's pregant with God's Son. And she's still a virgin. Just thinking about that took my breath away. How confusing, how overwhemling, how scary that must have been! And then I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that God put himself on earth in human form. In human form. He came to earth in such an unholy way: hay, animals, dirty, messy. He came as a baby, the smallest and most weak form of a human. And I was thinking about how horrible humans are sometimes, and what ugly and mean things we do to each other and to ourselves, and I was so humbled that God came down to be one of us, to live the life that we live, to feel what we do, so he could know what it's like first hand. How awesome is that?
How awesome is that?
Last night we had a potluck dinner at church. There were so many people there that the gym doors had to be opened and tables flowed into the sanctuary. People were smiling and chatting and there were beautiful decorations on the tables and around the gym. Joanne had taped a piece of paper to everyone's back, and the idea was to go around and write something uplifting on people's paper so at the end of the night you could read nice things about you. As I sat there watching our church filled with people and laughter and love, I got really overwhelmed. Sometimes I get so caught up in what's wrong with our church that I forget about what's right. I sat for a short while in prayer, thanking God for not forgetting us even when we forget him, and thanking him that he's not done with Mount Pearl Citadel yet.
After the potluck was a time of Lessons and Carols in the sanctuary. That was beautiful too. There were so many times that I was completely overwhelmed with the Christmas story that I had to hold back tears. Rochelle, who's pregnant, sang "Breath of Heaven: Mary's Song", and while she was singing I kept picturing myself as Mary. Imagine, a girl, probably younger than me, suddenly finding out she's pregant with God's Son. And she's still a virgin. Just thinking about that took my breath away. How confusing, how overwhemling, how scary that must have been! And then I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that God put himself on earth in human form. In human form. He came to earth in such an unholy way: hay, animals, dirty, messy. He came as a baby, the smallest and most weak form of a human. And I was thinking about how horrible humans are sometimes, and what ugly and mean things we do to each other and to ourselves, and I was so humbled that God came down to be one of us, to live the life that we live, to feel what we do, so he could know what it's like first hand. How awesome is that?
How awesome is that?
You came down from Heaven's heights
To greet me face to face
And I know I'm weak
I know I'm unworthy to call upon your name
But because of Your grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed
To greet me face to face
And I know I'm weak
I know I'm unworthy to call upon your name
But because of Your grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed
# posted by Jillian : 8:46 AM
