Joy and the Christian life

When an explosion crippled the Apollo 13 spacecraft, there was only one way for the crew to find enough power to get home- they would have to slingshot around the moon. In order to get home, they would have to travel farther from earth than any human being had ever gone before.

Joy is like that. On the pilgrimage of the Christian life, joy is only attainable insofar as we are willing to stare into the darkness and pain in our lives. But when we stare into that darkness, we get a surprise- there is someone out there with us. And this person, Jesus, is transforming our darkness and pain into something beautiful. Something joyous. Check out our full sermon on Psalm 126 below!

Psalm 126: Joy

Rev. Soren Kornegay

Prayer: An Explosion of Dissatisfaction

Every road trip starts with an explosion- gas hits the starter, and a little bomb goes off in your engine. But thats not the only kind of explosion; the energy to move anywhere is begun by an explosion (however small) of dissatisfaction about where you are.

The psalms of ascent follow the rules of the road trip. They begin with an explosion. But the destination of the journey is radically different. The journey ends in Jerusalem, at the presence of God. Listen to the sermon below:

Psalm 120- A Prayer of Dissatisfaction

Rev. Soren Kornegay

Psalms and Advent

Doctrine instructs the mind. Instructions guide the hands. But music gets into the heart, the soul. Kant calls music “the quickening art” because it restores life to us. It makes us who were were supposed to be.

As God prepares us for advent, he uses a hymnbook to do it. Psalm 85 is meant to be sung, so that the longing for righteousness and peace to kiss can get into your soul.

The King is coming.

Songs For When Things Don't Change

God promises that, though we have abandoned him, he will not abandon us. That he will not leave us. That he will be faithful to us, and that through his presence among us, his kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. And even though in Jesus Christ this kingdom has already come, it is at the same time not yet here. The darkness is (still) passing away. The songs we will sing this week reflect the tension of life as humans in a time when Jesus' kingdom is both already and not yet here.

Provided to YouTube by TuneCore How Long? · BiFrost Arts Lamentations: Simple Songs of Lament and Hope, Vol. 1 ℗ 2016 Gospel Song Records Released on: 2016-11-04 Auto-generated by YouTube.

Matthew Smith's acoustic rendition of this classic hymn. Listen to All I Owe: http://matthewsmith.bandcamp.com/album/all-i-owe

Bifrost Arts' "How Long" is a meditation on Psalm 13. The Psalmist uses the absence of the kingdom not as a reason to doubt the existence of God, but instead to throw himself deeper into relationship with God. So he repeats the title phrase as a longing question to God: How long will you turn your face away?

As Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing suggests, Jesus is already the source of every blessing, and we put up monuments ("Ebenezer") to that goodness.

Because sometimes, in this life, it is hard to remember.