Words for Reflection

God is not only the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers.  The pain and fallenness of humanity have entered into His heart.  Through the prism of my tears I have seen a suffering God.

It is said of God that no one can behold His face and live.  I always thought this meant that no one could see His splendor and live.  A friend said perhaps it meant that no one could see His sorrow and live.  Or perhaps His sorrow is splendor. 

And great mystery: to redeem our brokenness and lovelessness, the God who suffers with us did not strike some mighty blow of power but sent His beloved Son to suffer like us, through His suffering to redeem us from suffering and evil.

Instead of explaining our suffering God shares it.

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Lament for a Son

 

Order of Worship, March 31 2013

Grace Presbyterian Church



Those who celebrate the mighty resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, have an awesome responsibility. When we say, "Alleluia! Christ is risen," we are saying that Jesus is Lord of the world, and that the present would-be lords of the world are not.  When we sing, in the old hymn, that "Judah's Lion burst his chains, and crushed the serpent's head," are we ready to put that victory into practice?...Are we ready to speak up for the truth of the gospel over the dinner table, and in the coffee bar, and in the council chamber?  Let's make no bones about it: if Easter isn't good news, then there is no good news.  But if it is--if it is true that Jesus Christ is risen indeed--then Easer day, and the Easter message, is the true sun which, when it rises, puts all other suns to shame.

N.T. Wright, For All God's Worth

God did not abolish the fact of evil: He transformed it.  He did not stop the crucifixion: He rose from the dead.

Dorothy Sayers, Letters to a Diminished Church

Order of Worship, April 8 2007

Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New Orleans