Worship Notes

Forgiveness.  Forgiveness is powerful.  Forgiveness is life giving and life changing.  The power of forgiveness seems to show itself most powerfully in interactions with children.  When a child misbehaves or tells a lie, our job as adults is to acknowledge the bad behavior and to respond to it – it’s called discipline.  When a child faces the realization that they’ve done something wrong, something that disappoints us as adults, you can often see the look of devastation on their face.  As adults, we assign and enact discipline, desiring them to respond with an understanding of their mistake and a recognition of what they did wrong.  And then, we often find that it’s good for us to remind the child that we still love them and ultimately forgive them. 

Have you ever seen their demeanor change instantly at those words – “I still love you, always will, and I forgive you.”?  A sense of relief floods their little face.  It’s the assurance that we, as parents or adults, love them so much that we will always be there for them to guide, correct, encourage, and forgive.  It mirrors God’s love response to us when we sin – discipline, repentance, forgiveness, acceptance. 

In worship, we often sing, say, and study words that help us understand God’s love and forgiveness and the price that was paid for it:

Death could not hold You, the veil tore before You
You silence the boast of sin and grace
The heavens are roaring, the praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again

So, when we sing of God’s victory over sin and death, how He gave up His Son, how He restored our relationship with Him, how He tore the veil and allows us to enter into His presence, may our voices roar with the praise of His glory.  May our faces and souls be flooded with that sense of relief that we have been forgiven and that our heavenly Father will always be there to guide, correct, encourage, and forgive.

Chris

Don’t know one of the songs we’re singing?  Check them out here:

Praise Him!  Praise Him!
https://youtu.be/FfBqZktPvME?si=KcULAEECZ8JGunFB

What a Beautiful Name
https://youtu.be/r5L6QlAH3L4?si=ua3Xsp3gwlGG7R_L 

In Christ Alone
https://youtu.be/m_063OI38RQ?si=5Ex8iiVAAjukeHMv