Daily Worship

More, a lot more

Albert Bogle April 16, 2017 0 0

Philippians 3:7-14

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, 14 I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

Easter morning is all about a new understanding of life itself. We are invited to discover that dust can take on a new kind of glory. The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives our personal history a new meaning. The past has been redeemed and the future, our future, is being remade. We must no longer live in fear. Trouble will come, disappointments will be encountered and anxiety will rise in our hearts. Our minds will still be filled from time to time with days of worry and frustration. 

 

But one thing we know to be true - we are being called to “live in Christ”, to allow the power of the resurrection to begin to turn our mindset from fear to love, from doubt to faith, from defeat to hope. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, ‘If anyone is in Christ they become a new creation.’ The real meaning of the creation story is  - We are more, a lot more, than dust. 

 

 

Lord Jesus

We worship You

Death has not defeated You

The grave could not hold You in silence

Your breath, Your voice, Your word, 

Is reshaping creation

Redeeming history

 

Reset our minds - speak our names also

Meet us today as You once met Mary

Speak into our lives and hearts

Redeem our life stories

Bring about our resurrections to new life and new beginnings

Remove from our minds all that is unworthy to which we cling

Remove from our hearts redundant relationships that still haunt and debilitate us

Remove tired habits that control and manipulate us 

The fruitless longings that make us weary

Resurrect within us a new longing

To live for peace

To walk with Joy

And to speak with love

Bring your new creation into our lives

Roll our stone away

Amen