Thanksgiving has only just ended and that wonderful season of Advent is upon us. It thus occurred to me that one of my recent thoughts was particularly appropriate to this weekend.
Sometimes when I pray I find myself thinking about how I am thinking about God. Too often God can seem abstract. He is glorious, powerful, creator of the universe, more beautiful than anything we can imagine, loving, just, magnificent, holy... and I could go on forever like this. He created the very time and space that we, in our finitude, inhabit. He does not have a brain (that thing we rely on to make sense of the world) yet he is infinite in wisdom and understanding. All of this is too much for me to comprehend when I pray "Our Father..."
Yet - God did not intend for us to worship him in abstraction. He revealed himself to us in a way that we could comprehend:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Driving by myself for several hours last year I listened all the way through my Jars of Clay CD, and found that this song, the last one resonated with me. I listened to it multiple times. How incomprehensible and wonderful and humbling is his mercy and grace in the face of our brokenness and pride!
If you want to listen to this song, hit play on the YouTube video and scroll down to see the lyrics.
"Worlds Apart"
I am the only one to blame for this Somehow it all ends up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride I flew too high and like Icarus I collide With a world I try so hard to leave behind To rid myself of all but love to give and die
To turn away and not become Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves more deeply than the oceans, more abundant than the tears Of a world embracing every heartache
Can I be the one to sacrifice Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow
Take my world apart I am on my knees Take my world apart Broken on my knees
All said and done I stand alone Amongst remains of a life I should not own It takes all I am to believe In the mercy that covers me
Did you really have to die for me? All I am for all you are Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart
So I pray Take my world apart I am on my knees Take my world apart Broken on my knees on my knees
I look beyond the empty cross forgetting what my life has cost and wipe away the crimson stains and dull the nails that still remain More and more I need you now, I owe you more each passing hour the battle between grace and pride I gave up not so long ago So steal my heart and take the pain and wash my feet and cleanse my pride take the selfish, take the weak, and all the things I cannot hide take my beauty, take my tears the sin-soaked heart and make it yours take my world all apart take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise speak the words I can't deny watch the world I used to love fall to dust and thrown away I look beyond the empty cross forgetting what my life has cost and wipe away the crimson stains and dull the nails that still remain take my beauty, take my tears the sin-soaked heart and make me yours and all the things I cannot hide take the beauty, take my tears take my world apart, take my world apart I pray, I pray, I pray take my world apart
Caravaggio, Adoration of the Shepherds
