One of my outlets for creativity
– in addition to sewing when I can
or stapling streamers to themselves –
is making playlists.
I like to bring an order
to what seems chaotic
even if I’m then only one
who totally understands this order.
But being who I am,
I like to do that collaboratively, too.
This Easter I asked people on Twitter
what they would be listening to on repeat.
Explicitly Christian music or otherwise
how would they be singing “Alleluia”
throughout the Great Fifty Days.
I got answers!
One of them was a modern hymn
written by Matt Boswell, Michael Bleecker,
and Matt Papa.
“Come behold the wondrous mystery
In the dawning of the King
He the theme of heaven’s praises
Robed in frail humanity
In our longing, in our darkness
Now the light of life has come
Look to Christ, who condescended
Took on flesh to ransom us,”
it begins.
As it works through Jesus’
ministry, life, death, and resurrection
the hymn concludes,
“Come behold the wondrous mystery
Slain by death the God of life
But no grave could e’er restrain Him
Praise the Lord; He is alive!
What a foretaste of deliverance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when he comes.”
This will probably be
one of my top songs of the year
on my Spotify Wrapped.
“Come behold the wondrous mystery
Slain by death the God of life
But no grave could e’er restrain Him
Praise the Lord; He is alive!
What a foretaste of deliverance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when he comes.”
This is Paul’s invitation to the people of Athens
as he preaches to them about Jesus.
“As I went through the city
and looked carefully at the objects of your worship,
I found among them an altar with the inscription,
‘To an unknown god.’
What therefore you worship as unknown,
this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world
and everything in it,
he who is Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in shrines made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands,
as though he needed anything,
since he himself gives to all mortals
life and breath and all things…
While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance,
now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day
on which he will have the world judged in righteousness
by a man whom he has appointed,
and of this he has given assurance to all
by raising him from the dead.”
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Last week I said,
“Jesus’ being the way
is not being the access point,
a directive to turn or burn.
Rather through Jesus,
because of Jesus –
we have the truths of God
and through those truths
we have life abundant.”
As Paul has had a dramatic conversion experience,
he goes to the people of Greece
and tells them essentially the same thing.
“This God you know is there –
but you do not know –
is the One True God.
This God has given us all that we have.
Whatever is true,
whatever is noble,
whatever is right,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable
these things come from this God.
This God who gives us all good things
is asking us
to change our lives and ways
to live into loving one another.
To show God’s goodness
and worth for evaluating our deeds
God has given us both the author and perfecter
of our faith.
And God has raised him,
Jesus his anointed, the Christ
from the dead.”
God’s goodness
made known to us in Jesus
is what inspired St. Gregory of Nyssa to write
“O you, who are beyond all –
This is the only thing that we can sing about you.
What hymn, what language could express you?
No word can express ion.
Can the mind find anything to cling to?
For you exceed all intelligence.
You stand alone, inexpressible.
All that is said, come from you…
All that is, prays to you.
Towards you, all beings,
Reflecting on your Universe,
Lift up a hymn of silence.”
As Paul reflected to the Athenians
and St. Gregory reflected to those
with whom he ministered
all that is prays to God.
All that is good
is made good through Jesus the resurrected Christ.
Hitting mailboxes this week
are 6,600 postcards inviting people
to come behold this wondrous mystery
on Pentecost.
Alex is making brisket
and I’m bringing Costco potato salad.
I hope you’ll email me
with what you can and will bring.
Sharing the good news
the abundant-life-giving news
that Christ is risen from the dead
trampling down death by death
and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life
is the work God has given us to do.
I asked people on Twitter
how they would be singing alleluia
during the Great Fifty Days.
How have you been?
Can you share that resurrection song
and this resurrection life
with someone?
If Paul can preach to the Athenians
using an altar dedicated “to an unknown God”
surely we can invite someone to church!
“Come behold the wondrous mystery
Slain by death the God of life
But no grave could e’er restrain Him
Praise the Lord; He is alive!
What a foretaste of deliverance
How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected
As we will be when he comes.”