Still overwhelmed by my experience, I made the call to Peggy.
"WOW! It doesn`t usually happen that way.What doesn`t happen that way?
Getting saved. Usually you go forward at church during an altar call."
An altar call?,going forward at church?,getting saved?.What did all that mean?
God just said to me, He was never going to leave me, and I told Him I didn`t know how to get to Him.I needed to know how and I was ready to hear it.She was going to point me in the right direction.
"Billy, you have to find a church over by where you live that teaches from the Bible"
Little did I understand that He had been drawing me to Himself for a long time.
I can now look back and see all the plowing that had taken place in my life.I can see the faces of the people He used to not only plow and remove the stones and thorns;I can see the faces of the planters, and those that watered until that day when He finally gave the increase and I sprouted forth with new life.A new life that had to be nurtured.I needed nutrition like a new baby who needs it`s mothers milk.I needed to grow and become strong so I could one day eat meat.
God my father knows that, and He was going to put me in a place so He could start feeding me.
He was going to put me in a place where I would grow, and start to understand things about Him
and myself, and you, and where I live, and where you live.My understanding was to be theocentric.He was going to begin to give me a world view as seen through His eyes.He was going to teach me that mankind didn`t just pen words about him.He was going to teach me that the words are from Him, and He used His creatures to pen them,and that is why they have the power to change my life and nourish my soul.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Magnificat
Today a good friend asked me about my favorite type of music. Since I consider myself a musician, I took this question rather seriously and I gave a somewhat suprising answer: carefully crafted, primarily vocal or choral (multi-part) music, though not exclusively, with a tune that clearly honors the text. I also quite like intsrumental music that manages to speak without words. There has been some discussion on this blog about encountering the presence of God. That's the very thing on which I based my answer. My favorite music calls me out from where I'm hiding. Here's the words of a song that fills me with such hope and joy that I can only describe it as being pure worship.
The Magnificat is the title given to Mary's response to the angel Gabriel. Before I give those words, I want to remind you all of her immediate response, before she gave a voiced answer. "Greetings, highly favored one!" the angel said. Mary was terrified! This is her knee-jerk reaction, to question God's favor of her. Sound familiar? This is key for understanding my own sense of God's call to me. Then, the angel said, "Do not be afraid." Ha! It's my understanding that God wants to engage us. The shock often comes when God actually does! The crazy thing here is that Mary actually listened, and was able to accept her charge of bearing Jesus with these words (these are an abridged version from a more contemporary musical setting):
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit exalts in God my savior.
For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness,
and my name will be forever exalted.
For the Mighty God has done great things for me
and his mercy will reach from age to age.
And Holy,
Holy,
Holy is his name.
He has mercy in every generation.
He has revealed his power and his glory.
He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance
and has lifted up the meek and the lowly.
He has come to help his servant Israel,
and he remembers his promise to our fathers.
Holy,
Holy,
Holy is his name.
And Holy,
Holy,
Holy is his name.
I hope you all get to hear this version sometime, as the words alone do not fully encompass the power of its offering. I am so deeply thankful for the gift of song and the ability to express myself by singing because I feel the warmth and joy I experience is a taste of what it must be like to fall before the throne of God. Indeed, Mary was as close to that as she could be, there, in Gabriel's presence. How often, though, do I find myself quite low, afraid of the power of singing those words of truth, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord..."?
This is the importance of Mary's words to me. God regards the lowliness of all people with the coming of his Son, and I believe that, just like Mary, we are met with the same charge if we accept Jesus to be who he says he is. God calls us to bear Jesus Christ to each other and to the world. So, clearly, we are not conceiving and birthing Jesus literally, but when we accept him to be who he says he is, we conceive (believe) in our hearts the incarnation, the life, death, and the resurrection of Jesus so that the power of ALL of those things (let's not forget his life!) are born out of us, to each other. Yes, Mary was special in that she was the one chosen to physically birth Jesus. I feel, however, that we are all as special because we are offered quite the same privilege when Jesus says, "Follow me". Of course, the controversy which accompanied her pregnancy, naturally, follows all who accept this charge. How many folks who read this may say I'm crazy? For heaven's sake, it got Jesus (and many others after him) killed!
I'll take one more turn on this road before I close. I had a friend in college who liked to wear a shirt with a cartoon drawing of Bethlehem, with the star above a certain stable. Out of that spot came a text balloon with the words, "It's a girl!" Two responses to this: (1) I wish I had a shirt that reflected the requisite gender balance in response in the exchange with the angel Gabriel, that showed Joseph (instead of Mary) receiving the angel's greeting, and subsequent charge of physically bearing said daughter to the world; (2) I have absolutely no qualms singing this Magnificat, Mary's song, solo, as a man. I believe it's my song, too, one that I sing as I grow toward a more complete acceptance of its words, for me. I think it just might be that mothers have a deeper (or entirely different) understanding of the sacrifice of bearing new life to the world. Isn't it even more poignant to remember all those women who literally gave up their lives in the birthing of their children! Where would we be without you, mothers? Thanks to Mary and to all our mothers for showing us what it means to lay your lives down for us, in conceiving us, and bearing us to the world.
On that note, Merry Christmas!
The Magnificat is the title given to Mary's response to the angel Gabriel. Before I give those words, I want to remind you all of her immediate response, before she gave a voiced answer. "Greetings, highly favored one!" the angel said. Mary was terrified! This is her knee-jerk reaction, to question God's favor of her. Sound familiar? This is key for understanding my own sense of God's call to me. Then, the angel said, "Do not be afraid." Ha! It's my understanding that God wants to engage us. The shock often comes when God actually does! The crazy thing here is that Mary actually listened, and was able to accept her charge of bearing Jesus with these words (these are an abridged version from a more contemporary musical setting):
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit exalts in God my savior.
For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness,
and my name will be forever exalted.
For the Mighty God has done great things for me
and his mercy will reach from age to age.
And Holy,
Holy,
Holy is his name.
He has mercy in every generation.
He has revealed his power and his glory.
He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance
and has lifted up the meek and the lowly.
He has come to help his servant Israel,
and he remembers his promise to our fathers.
Holy,
Holy,
Holy is his name.
And Holy,
Holy,
Holy is his name.
I hope you all get to hear this version sometime, as the words alone do not fully encompass the power of its offering. I am so deeply thankful for the gift of song and the ability to express myself by singing because I feel the warmth and joy I experience is a taste of what it must be like to fall before the throne of God. Indeed, Mary was as close to that as she could be, there, in Gabriel's presence. How often, though, do I find myself quite low, afraid of the power of singing those words of truth, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord..."?
This is the importance of Mary's words to me. God regards the lowliness of all people with the coming of his Son, and I believe that, just like Mary, we are met with the same charge if we accept Jesus to be who he says he is. God calls us to bear Jesus Christ to each other and to the world. So, clearly, we are not conceiving and birthing Jesus literally, but when we accept him to be who he says he is, we conceive (believe) in our hearts the incarnation, the life, death, and the resurrection of Jesus so that the power of ALL of those things (let's not forget his life!) are born out of us, to each other. Yes, Mary was special in that she was the one chosen to physically birth Jesus. I feel, however, that we are all as special because we are offered quite the same privilege when Jesus says, "Follow me". Of course, the controversy which accompanied her pregnancy, naturally, follows all who accept this charge. How many folks who read this may say I'm crazy? For heaven's sake, it got Jesus (and many others after him) killed!
I'll take one more turn on this road before I close. I had a friend in college who liked to wear a shirt with a cartoon drawing of Bethlehem, with the star above a certain stable. Out of that spot came a text balloon with the words, "It's a girl!" Two responses to this: (1) I wish I had a shirt that reflected the requisite gender balance in response in the exchange with the angel Gabriel, that showed Joseph (instead of Mary) receiving the angel's greeting, and subsequent charge of physically bearing said daughter to the world; (2) I have absolutely no qualms singing this Magnificat, Mary's song, solo, as a man. I believe it's my song, too, one that I sing as I grow toward a more complete acceptance of its words, for me. I think it just might be that mothers have a deeper (or entirely different) understanding of the sacrifice of bearing new life to the world. Isn't it even more poignant to remember all those women who literally gave up their lives in the birthing of their children! Where would we be without you, mothers? Thanks to Mary and to all our mothers for showing us what it means to lay your lives down for us, in conceiving us, and bearing us to the world.
On that note, Merry Christmas!
Praise
This morning I stood with my family before my church family and read what I believe to be a Messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 35. As I read this passage outloud, I experienced, in a profound, moving way, a moment of joy in expectation of true untarnished love. Especially in these words found in Part of verse 9 and verse 10,
"But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
"But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
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