No words can do it justice to try and describe to you how blessed we have been by the teaching of the WORD at our new church, Church at Brook Hills. As you know if you have moved, leaving your church is one of the hardest things. You've built a community, a trust, a common bond with people who are like family -- and then to leave them does not feel natural. So don't get me wrong, we will always miss our dear family at our church in Nashville...but it has been a real answer to prayer to see how the Lord has provided a new church family for us in our new city.
This past Sunday we were singing, "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and I just lost it when we got to the part at the end that says: Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ has risen. We are studying Matthew right now and were in Chapter 2 this past week. Verses 10 and 11 have stuck with me all week: "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him" WOW! First off, our pastor pointed out that rejoicing "exceedingly with great joy" is A LOT of joy! The same kind of joy that I want to celebrate His birth this Christmas! Then the next thing he pointed out was that these "high up officials" (known to us as the "wise men") fell down and worshiped this baby! When you kneel before someone, you are saying that I am low and you are high. That's what they were saying to a baby! Not just any baby...the King of KINGS!
Our pastor closed by challenging us to "Joyfully offer your life as a worshiper" and "Passionately spend your life as a witness". There is nothing more that my heart desires this Christmas than these two things. I have not been able to get this off my mind all week. What a blessing to be reminded of the true reason we are celebrating Christmas in the first place. As you read the words to this song, I pray that it will calm your spirit in the same way it did mine as we sang at the top of our lungs on Sunday!!! It has been a blessing to our marriage to be at this church for this time in our lives AND to chew on the teaching from Sunday throughout the week. This week especially, we want to stop and take a moment to publicly thank the Lord for answering our prayers for a church home in Birmingham. We are so very thankful and blessed!
O Come O Come Emmanuel
by Henry Sloane Coffin, John Mason Neale, Thomas Helmore; Arrangement by Codie Gibbons
O come O come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel
O come Thou Rod of Jesse free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of hell Thy people save
And give them victory over the grave
O come Desire of nations bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease
And be Thyself our King of Peace
Rejoice Rejoice
Christ has come
Christ has died
Christ has risen
Rejoice Rejoice
Christ has come
Emmanuel
No words can do it justice to try and describe to you how blessed we have been by the teaching of the WORD at our new church, Church at Brook Hills. As you know if you have moved, leaving your church is one of the hardest things. You've built a community, a trust, a common bond with people who are like family -- and then to leave them does not feel natural. So don't get me wrong, we will always miss our dear family at our church in Nashville...but it has been a real answer to prayer to see how the Lord has provided a new church family for us in our new city.
This past Sunday we were singing, "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and I just lost it when we got to the part at the end that says: Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ has risen. We are studying Matthew right now and were in Chapter 2 this past week. Verses 10 and 11 have stuck with me all week: "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him" WOW! First off, our pastor pointed out that rejoicing "exceedingly with great joy" is A LOT of joy! The same kind of joy that I want to celebrate His birth this Christmas! Then the next thing he pointed out was that these "high up officials" (known to us as the "wise men") fell down and worshiped this baby! When you kneel before someone, you are saying that I am low and you are high. That's what they were saying to a baby! Not just any baby...the King of KINGS!
Our pastor closed by challenging us to "Joyfully offer your life as a worshiper" and "Passionately spend your life as a witness". There is nothing more that my heart desires this Christmas than these two things. I have not been able to get this off my mind all week. What a blessing to be reminded of the true reason we are celebrating Christmas in the first place. As you read the words to this song, I pray that it will calm your spirit in the same way it did mine as we sang at the top of our lungs on Sunday!!! It has been a blessing to our marriage to be at this church for this time in our lives AND to chew on the teaching from Sunday throughout the week. This week especially, we want to stop and take a moment to publicly thank the Lord for answering our prayers for a church home in Birmingham. We are so very thankful and blessed!
O Come O Come Emmanuel
by Henry Sloane Coffin, John Mason Neale, Thomas Helmore; Arrangement by Codie Gibbons
O come O come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel Shall come to thee O Israel O come Thou Rod of Jesse free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny From depths of hell Thy people save And give them victory over the grave O come Desire of nations bind In one the hearts of all mankind Bid Thou our sad divisions cease And be Thyself our King of Peace Rejoice Rejoice Christ has come Christ has died Christ has risen Rejoice Rejoice Christ has come Emmanuel
I didn't know you guys were at BrookHills! We have been visiting and are very interested in hearing more about small groups, etc - would love to know what all you two are plugged into! We both agree it feels like "home" to us and love the way we're challenged at the services there!
ReplyDelete