The Healer of the Broken

God of Mercy, we need you now,
Hold us up with Your power,
Holy Spirit, comfort us,
As we cry to You.

Let Your grieving children come,
To Your glory and be filled,
With peace, peace,
That passes understanding.

You're the Healer of the broken,
You're the Healer of the broken,
You're the Healer of the broken,
So we'll rest in You.

God of Hope, we trust in You,
Rescue us, O Christ,
Let the wounded ones arise,
And shout Your praise.

How long, how wide,
And how high,
Is the deep, deep Love of Jesus?

You've rescued us, and redeemed us,
With the blood of Your Son,
You have called us to be Your people,
So hold us up, hold us up,
Hold us up with You Love.

Ephesians 3

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I wrote this the other day as I was preparing for a service in which our church will dedicate a child that passed away earlier this year. The God of creation has shown His power mightily in our congregation over the past year. He has corrected actions, healed hurts, reconciled relationships, given guidance and provided in ways we could never have imagined. We have seen first hand that the Lord's promises are true. Still, we must pray for peace in the midst of things we cannot understand. I love verse 21 of Ephesians 3: "to Him be the glory in the church..." Lord we pray this in our generation!

Grace and Peace,
Joel

P.S. You can listen to a scratch recording of this at http://www.myspace.com/joelwinters

Forgiven So We Can Forgive

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

John 8 gives us the account of Jesus encountering the adulterous woman and her accusers. They were ready to condemn her to death. They stood with stones raised. Jesus, as He does for us, stood in her defense. He said, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." The teachers and Pharisees began to walk away. Jesus asked her if anyone had remained to condemn her. He was there, He knew no one had, but He wanted her to say it out loud. "No one," she said. "Then neither do I," He said.

I think that it is significant that Jesus wanted the woman to say for herself that no one had stayed. There is power in our open confession. We should not hesitate to confess the truth to the Father of Truth. Even when the truth of our confession requires the owning of our sin. It always seems easy to confess God's goodness. It is not so easy to confess our sin.

Understanding that we all are sinners, saved by grace through faith, it is important for us to confess corporately our desperate need for God's mercy. Jesus, by His redemptive work on the cross has become the Lord of our shame. He has taken it from us in His mercy. Our God, Yahweh, is both merciful and just. This is a paradox by human standards. It would seem unjust to show mercy to a criminal. God in His goodness poured out His justice on His Son in order to pour out His mercy on us. Without this we would be sinners in the hands of a just God, deserving only of His wrath.

"Man of Sorrows," what a name for the Son of God who came; ruined sinners to reclaim, Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Ephesians 1:7 says "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." Just as we know how to love because of God's love for us, so we know how to forgive because we have been forgiven. For there is no good in us except that which is the Spirit of Almighty God.

Luke 7:36-50 tells the story of another adulterous woman. This one anointed Jesus' feet with perfume, washed them with her tears, dried them with her hair. The Pharisee was angry. "Don't you know what kind of a woman this is?" he said. Jesus then showed how she had done naught but worship and love Him since she walked into the room for she had been forgiven of much sin. If the Pharisee had only realized that he too had much sin to be forgiven of, perhaps his response would have been similar to the woman's. Is our response that of those forgiven of much? Do we love as people who have been loved much? Do we forgive as those who have been forgiven of much? Do we worship as children forgiven of much?

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison; for the sin in our hearts and heads, for the poison on our lips and the blood on our hands. Have mercy on us, O God of our Salvation.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

Will

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

What is God's will? How do we do His will? If God is all-powerful, won't His will be done regardless of our actions? In worship, it is God's will that His people worship Him faithfully, honoring His name as holy, being the Kingdom, worshiping in Spirit and in Truth, singing New Songs, singing Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, worshiping the Lord with gladness, worshiping Him with loud cymbals and stringed instruments, with trumpets, with our voices, with our whole beings (with run-on sentences).

Most of all, it is God's will that we worship Him with our lives; "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12) This may be the clearest instruction of how to worship in all the Scriptures. Worship of the Almighty is more than a song. Again I say to you that our lives are demanded to be faithful worshipers as citizens of God's Kingdom.

How can we worship with a song if we do not first worship with our lives?

God's Will? John 6:38-40 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Christ is quite clear as to what His Father's will was for Him. If we are to be conformed to Jesus' image and in being conformed, exalt the Father as He did, then our worship should (and will) point others to the Way of salvation through Christ Jesus. This is a natural occurrence that we do not have to force when we worship faithfully. This is because faithful worship lifts high the Name of Jesus and the Truth of His life of love.

Until every knee bows, let us not be silent. And if the rocks cry out, let us sing even still! Amen and amen.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

Once Upon A Time

Growing Pains: Just a couple of years ago (when I was much younger:) I had a strong opinion about my calling for ministry. I felt strongly that I was not supposed to work in a local church. In fact, I believed my only connection to the local church would be one of support from the church, without me doing anything in return (other than attaching my ever so prestigious name to it). I'm sure many of my motives were pure and honest. I know many of them weren't. Its hard to get famous leading worship in the same congregation each week. The Preceptor sat and waited patiently, for years really, for me to 'grow up' (my own words). Thinking about ME two years ago makes me scared of what I'll think of the current ME two years from now.

Conversion: Before I married I took a position as a worship leader in a part-time capacity at a church. I married during my time there. My wonderful wife and I spent a lot of time frustrated with "church." Things just didn't gel. It was supposed to be glorious. It was meager at best for our paradigm. But subtly a shift took place inside of me. I started to lose my thinking of how church is 'supposed' to look. The global Church became more important to me. I started to see the local church as part of the global Church. All Creatures Of Our God And King, Lift Up Your Vioce And With Us Sing. What I've found is that the more I care for the global Church, the more important the local church is to me. The Body is made up of many members: great and small.

God-Sized: I get tired of these hook-phrases. Some friends of mine and I were on our way back to the Rock from Hot Springs after driving to a church, only to find that the worship event we were supposed to lead in had been canceled. All of our gear was in the back of a Ford f-150 pickup, no tarp, it was rainy. We were thrilled to say the least. Out on I-30, between Malvern and Benton we were passed and splashed by a huge RV pulling a large trailer. The trailer and RV had matching flashy paint jobs with some fancy, new-wave Christian symbolism (definitely not against symbolism, just let me finish the story). The text on the side of the RV read: "Doing God-Sized Things." As you may imagine this started a bit of a discussion in the cab of the truck. The rain kept coming. The gear was fine when we got home though. Thanks be to God.

• A water jug
• Five loaves, two fishes
• Gideon's army
• David, before he was king
• Moses'/God's rod
• Thorns and nails
• Pierced flesh
• "Let the little children come unto me..."
• A young virgin
• A carpenter
• Saul/Paul
• A cross of wood
• The early church
• St. Patrick
• Lottie Moon
• St. Francis
• Zacheous
• A heart, willing to worship in obedience

I am having to learn to lay aside what I think is God-sized, and learn that in God's Kingdom, and in God's hands, the weak are made strong through His power and for His purpose.

Grace and Peace,

joel

O lux

This evening I attended a Ouachita Singers concert in Arkadelphia, AR. I had a lot on my mind as I made the one hour drive from Maumelle to Arkadelphia. I was torn inside with disappointment, joy, anxiousness, conviction (that from the Spirit), and my lunch from the Chinese buffet. I'm learning to never ask the Lord to teach me patience. It's too unnerving.

After arrival, greetings, introductions, secret cringes and tears, I sat down with a dear friend to enjoy the concert. During the first half these words kept appearing and re-appearing: O lux. The first song, O lux beatissima, is one that I sang when I was in Singers. I had forgotten it until the first note. Then I was lost in it. O Light most blessed, fill the inmost heart of all Thy faithful. Without Your grace, there is nothing in us, nothing that is not harmful. "Nothing that is not harmful." I thought about all that is in me, and that which has come from me, that is nothing but harmful. Blessed be the Light that gives us grace. I recieved the Father's grace tonight.

The only song on the program that wasn't performed is called, O nata lux. I really wanted to hear it. Here's why;

O born Light of light, Jesus redeemer of the world, mercifully deem worthy and accept the praises and prayers of Your supplicants. Thou who once deigned to be clothed in flesh for the sake of the lost ones, grant us to be made members of Your Holy Body.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for the Lost Ones.

grace and peace,
joel