a tumbleweed of thoughts...
My mind is so filled with thoughts tonight. Just lots of ideas, stumbling through my mind. So it will probably take several posts to sort them all out... but I want to do my best!
This first post is sort of dedicated to TJ. Well, it's actually for all of you - you know who you are! but it made me think of TJ. A few days ago I went on a "shopping spree" and bought a couple of Christian music CDs. I haven't bought new CDs in a long time! But I had heard some songs on the radio, and I wanted the CDs... you know how it goes. Mark Schultz has been one of my favorite artists for a long time - once, a few years ago, one of his songs changed my life and gave me the courage to take a step I needed to take. I'd heard a song of his on the radio and I knew I wanted to get his new album.
This post relates back to my post of a week or so ago, when I wrote about my observations about humankind and Christianity. Frankly, in my lifetime, I've been pretty disappointed by the church (speaking in general terms). There have been a LOT of "Christians", many in places of authority (such as pastors and Bible study leaders), no less! who have been extremely judgemental towards me. It's like that Casting Crowns lyric goes - "Jesus paid much too high a price/for us to pick and choose who should come/and we are the body of Christ". As a church we (and I'm accepting some of the guilt here, I'm as imperfectly sinful as the next person) have no business judging other people. And how many people are frightened away from the church because they are not welcomed by the church or because they are hurt too deeply by the very church that should be their refuge?
But I digress. A few days ago I bought the album "Broken and Beautiful" by Mark Schultz. As I read the lyrics to the title track, I was struck by how analogous it was to that post. I'm not exactly sure why. But maybe this song tells us how the church SHOULD be. The chorus sings, "Come as you are/surrender your heart/broken and beautiful". Who among us has not come before God broken? and yet isn't that when God sees us at our most beautiful?
Suddenly this reminds me of my favorite Bible passage, 2 Corinthians 12. Paul writes, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (vv. 9-10) When I am weak, that is when I most need Christ, and that is when Christ can most gloriously shine through me.
Anyway, I won't delay you any longer. Here are the lyrics to Mark Schultz's "Broken and Beautiful". Be blessed!
There’s a businessman
There’s a widowed wife
There’s a smiling face with a shattered life
There’s a teenage girl with a choice to make
It’s crowded here in church today
And the preacher says as the sermon ends
Please close your eyes and bow your heads
Is there anyone in need of prayer
Jesus wants to meet you here
‘Cause we all fall short
We all have sinned
But when you let
God’s Grace break in…
(Chorus)
It’s beautiful
Beautiful
Come as you are
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful
Well he’d never been to church before
But he came today as a last resort
His world was crashing in
And he was suffocating in his sin
But tears ran down
As hope rushed in
He closed his eyes
Raised his hands
Worshiping the God who can
Bring him back to life again
(Chorus)
Cause there’s nothing more beautiful to God
Than when his sons and daughters come
Broken
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
(Chorus)
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
(Come as you are)
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
(Come as you are)
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful
This first post is sort of dedicated to TJ. Well, it's actually for all of you - you know who you are! but it made me think of TJ. A few days ago I went on a "shopping spree" and bought a couple of Christian music CDs. I haven't bought new CDs in a long time! But I had heard some songs on the radio, and I wanted the CDs... you know how it goes. Mark Schultz has been one of my favorite artists for a long time - once, a few years ago, one of his songs changed my life and gave me the courage to take a step I needed to take. I'd heard a song of his on the radio and I knew I wanted to get his new album.
This post relates back to my post of a week or so ago, when I wrote about my observations about humankind and Christianity. Frankly, in my lifetime, I've been pretty disappointed by the church (speaking in general terms). There have been a LOT of "Christians", many in places of authority (such as pastors and Bible study leaders), no less! who have been extremely judgemental towards me. It's like that Casting Crowns lyric goes - "Jesus paid much too high a price/for us to pick and choose who should come/and we are the body of Christ". As a church we (and I'm accepting some of the guilt here, I'm as imperfectly sinful as the next person) have no business judging other people. And how many people are frightened away from the church because they are not welcomed by the church or because they are hurt too deeply by the very church that should be their refuge?
But I digress. A few days ago I bought the album "Broken and Beautiful" by Mark Schultz. As I read the lyrics to the title track, I was struck by how analogous it was to that post. I'm not exactly sure why. But maybe this song tells us how the church SHOULD be. The chorus sings, "Come as you are/surrender your heart/broken and beautiful". Who among us has not come before God broken? and yet isn't that when God sees us at our most beautiful?
Suddenly this reminds me of my favorite Bible passage, 2 Corinthians 12. Paul writes, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (vv. 9-10) When I am weak, that is when I most need Christ, and that is when Christ can most gloriously shine through me.
Anyway, I won't delay you any longer. Here are the lyrics to Mark Schultz's "Broken and Beautiful". Be blessed!
There’s a businessman
There’s a widowed wife
There’s a smiling face with a shattered life
There’s a teenage girl with a choice to make
It’s crowded here in church today
And the preacher says as the sermon ends
Please close your eyes and bow your heads
Is there anyone in need of prayer
Jesus wants to meet you here
‘Cause we all fall short
We all have sinned
But when you let
God’s Grace break in…
(Chorus)
It’s beautiful
Beautiful
Come as you are
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful
Well he’d never been to church before
But he came today as a last resort
His world was crashing in
And he was suffocating in his sin
But tears ran down
As hope rushed in
He closed his eyes
Raised his hands
Worshiping the God who can
Bring him back to life again
(Chorus)
Cause there’s nothing more beautiful to God
Than when his sons and daughters come
Broken
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
(Chorus)
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
(Come as you are)
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful
Alleluia
Alleluia
Come as you are
(Come as you are)
Surrender your heart
Broken and beautiful
posted by Tidy Bowl at
7:49 PM
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