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Constellations by Ellie Holcomb

Gary Ware

August 25, 2020

Constellations is a new single from Ellie Holcomb.
This is a lyric video.

How many miles does my soul have to drive
Before Love can collide with the mess in my life
That’s not hard for you
That’s not hard for you

Cause You see through spectrums of color and light
But I’m losing my way and I’m losing my mind
I can’t see the truth
Help me see the truth

Out here in the dark
Underneath a canopy of stars
Constellations falling from Your heart
Tell me that I’m not alone, cause honestly I’m so alone, So promise me I’m not alone

When I felt the light of the moon on my face
The Memory of sun that’d been shining for days
You’ve already been in this desolate place
You’ve already been here and You’ve made a way
Pinpricks of glory strung out across the sky
Memories of darkness undone by the light
Reminding me you are right here by my side
You’re here by my side
You’re here by my side

Following Jesus Is Not Following A Sentimental Memory Of Someone We Hardly Know; It Is Being Led By The Risen Lord Who Really Is Present Among Us (via Henri Nouwen)

Gary Ware

no comments

August 25, 2020

There is always the temptation for a disciple of Jesus to frame our life from the perspective ‘If only Jesus were here,’ or ‘How do Jesus’ teaching and actions from two thousand years ago guide my responses to contemporary situations.’
Both these ways of thinking are deficient for the truth is that Jesus tells us that he is with us right now, and that he leads us in the way which we should go.

From Henri Nouwen:

Following Jesus does not must mean following Jesus who lived two thousand years ago. Some of say, “I wish I could have lived then. It is too bad that it was two thousand years ago and I have to imagine Jesus. I have to fantasise about this man who live so long ago, whom I have never met. I will use my memory to follow this man, this Jesus of Nazareth. I will try to do what he told us to do then and apply it to our times now.
But following Jesus means much more than following the memory of someone. It is more than following someone we imagine, someone we dream about, someone we try to evoke with our imagination. Following Jesus means following the Risen Lord. Following Jesus means following the Lord who is the Lord of history, the Lord who is with us now and here, at this moment. It is not a sentimental memory. It is not a pious feeling about someone we hardly know. No. It is being guided by the One who is with us here and now. It is being led by the One who really is present among us as the Lord, who rose from the dead and became the Lord who embraces all people, in all times, and is therefore the Lord of the now, the present, the here.

Henri Nouwen, Following Jesus, SPCK, 2019, pgs 109-110.

MGPC Worship Livestreams August 23, 2020

Gary Ware

no comments

August 24, 2020

Here are yesterday’s services from Mount Gambier Presbyterian.
Our COVID Marshall was on duty yesterday, which at least resulted in people giving him plenty of space. The personal habits of life-times take time to change, and the habits associated with a group activity in a personal space take time to adjust to as well. We’re presently singing with the congregation seated, but its hard not to invite people to stand when introducing a song. Fortunately it’s easy to laugh at ourselves while taking the matter as seriously as it needs to be.

In our morning service Mark’s Gospel takes the time to indirectly show us how Jesus set the model for his disciples to follow, and how when we try to establish our own way of behaving it just doesn’t hold up. It’s Jesus or nothing.

Sunday evening, Jeremiah 28 provides the account of what happens when a prophet comes and brings exactly the false message that God warned his people about in Jeremiah 27. A prophet named Hananiah decides to take on Jeremiah in a title fight over who is the true prophet. Hananiah (and the rest of us) find out that he was really in a fight with God, which he loses in definitive fashion. In that loss, however, are the presences of God’s gracious care toward his own.