Luke 2:8-14 "Gloria in Excelsis Deo!"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us

that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian,

checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

that you're really struggling with. So God bless. Father, you know that some of us here are maybe

dealing with a lot of shame. And Father, you know why they're feeling that, but there are many here

probably feeling a great deal of shame. And we give you thanks and praise, Father, that your Word speaks

to us, the real me, the real each of these people, the real them. And it speaks realistically, and it

speaks, Father, with compassion and mercy and hope. And so I ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would

continue to fall with gentle but penetrating power, so that we might know that you are our Father in

Heaven, that Jesus is the Savior who loves us and wants us to be His, and that you speak to us tender

words of love and encouragement and hope. And so, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would bring the

truths of this Word into your hearts, the hearts of everyone here. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

I don't just read nerdy political and cultural op-ed pieces. I read the newspaper. I read all sorts of

things in it. And this week, just the other day, I read part of an interview, maybe all of the

interview, at least as it was published, with one of the voice actresses, the main star, voice actress

star for the huge hit movie, the K-pop Demon Hunters. And the person who played Rumi, her name is Arden Cho.

I don't know if I've pronounced that correctly. She gave an interview.

And one of the things which was really interesting about the interview, lots of things were interesting,

but one of the things that was interesting is that she said that hopefully this movie would

hopefully really help people who feel unseen. And she implied that she herself felt unseen to be seen.

That that's one of the benefits of this movie, that those who are unseen like her can be seen.

And especially for young women who are of Asian descent, and in particular, because she's Korean,

for Korean young women and girls to actually feel seen. And I thought, wow, like,

I mean, here she is being interviewed, and I'm reading about it. And I'm not saying this is a put down.

I don't take, sorry, if I said anything to imply that, I am not saying that whatsoever. What I am saying is this.

It is a very common human problem of not feeling that you're seen.

Of going through your day and your week and your month and your years and your decade feeling completely and utterly unseen.

And she gave voice to that very, I think, very well and very articulately.

And so that the Bible text that we're going to look at today has some very profound and helpful and hopeful things to say about that phenomenon.

For those of us who feel unseen.

And feeling unseen often goes along with another experience that people struggle with.

And that's the feeling of shame.

That often we feel a deep sense of shame.

And that means that there's something fundamentally wrong with us.

There's something, it's not that we do wrong things, but that there's something that we're wrong.

It's not that we do some types of things that break relationships, but that we're broken.

It's not just that we do some things occasionally that push people away, but there's something fundamentally about us that pushes us away.

Where makes us, makes the me, the you, unseen.

And we feel deep shame around that.

And this Bible text that we're going to look at actually has some very profound and helpful things for those of us struggling with feeling seen.

And struggling, or maybe not struggling because you've just surrendered to feeling shame.

You've just accepted that you will be unseen and feel shame for the rest of your life.

There's a very profound good news in this text that we're going to look at.

Today.

So if you take out your Bibles, we're going to be looking at Luke chapter 2, verses 8 to 14.

Luke 2:8–14

Luke chapter 2, verses 8 to 14.

Luke 2:8–14

And just as you sort of turn to that, what we're doing is during this season of Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas,

we're looking at four songs of the Savior in the Gospel of Luke.

Two of the songs of the Savior are before his birth, and two of the songs of the Savior are after his birth.

So we looked at Mary's song, the Magnificat.

Then we looked at Zechariah's song, the Benedictus.

Today we look at the Gloria in Excelsis, which is the song the angels sang after the birth of Jesus.

And then next Sunday we'll look at the Nunc Dimittis, which is the song or the poetry that Simeon prayed over the baby Jesus when he came into the temple.

And so in the flow of this, and on Christmas Eve, by the way, we'll look at the text that goes just before this, the actual account of the birth of Jesus.

But this takes place just after the birth of Jesus that same evening.

So here's what happens, and it goes like this.

And in the same region, it's about a kilometer or two away.

So in the same region, probably a couple kilometers away, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

Now, just pause here.

This is a very shocking development, and it's because it's so familiar to Christians that we've lost the sense of shock.

So the first thing about that, first thing to maybe get your mind around it, and I'm a guy, so I can say this.

But when you're thinking of the shepherds, okay, they probably weren't writing love poetry or working on their Hebrew grammar or praying.

Think working class guys out in the bush with no women.

Young working class guys out in the bush with no women.

Now, for married people, I hope I didn't introduce an awkward question from your wife as to what it might have been like when you were a young man in the bush with no women spending time.

But as I said, it probably wasn't writing poetry.

They probably weren't sharing their feelings.

They were being young guys out in the bush.

And maybe even some little guys acting like young guys out in the field away from women from several days.

And so they're doing whatever young guys would do in that type of situation.

And all of a sudden, an angel shows up.

And you can see all sorts of reasons why they might be filled with fear.

They might be wondering what the angel just overheard, amongst other things, or what they witnessed before they noticed it.

They would have noticed the angel right away.

But one of the things about that, then, is if you think about it,

most of us probably, if we were giving God advice as to who the angel should show up to for this important announcement,

would not have picked these guys.

In fact, if anything, we might have said,

God, go to their wives and girlfriends and daughters and sisters, not them.

They're way more worthy.

But we wouldn't have picked these guys out in the field.

But the angel picks them.

And right off the bat, you're seeing more and more aspects of how this is a profoundly biblical and Christian story.

And so there's this big, big shock.

And one of the things, by the way, when you see here, look at that verse 9 again.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.

The word glory here can also be translated as majesty.

If you think of some coronation scene, and it's just really done very, very well.

And just this sense of majesty.

I don't know how to describe it other than just say the word.

But it also would include the word beauty.

So they see, in a sense, this beauty and this glory that is, in a sense, always with God, connected to God.

And one of the things that's shocking about this,

if all of us have probably seen really stunning sunsets,

in really stunning vistas.

And if you think then of what these shepherds are seeing, they're seeing something way more than that.

But they're also seeing uncreated light.

Uncreated light.

We only live in it.

We've only seen created light.

They're seeing uncreated light.

Uncreated radiance that comes right from the uncreated God.

And they see it.

And, um...

And it's just...

It's just glory.

That's all they can say.

It's just a very, very simple word.

Now, if this is all that happened to them,

we would never have heard about the story.

Like, you can be guaranteed that they probably would have been...

had people buy them cheap wine for years to come to hear the story.

But nobody...

None of us would have heard it.

Why we've heard the story is not only the context, but what happens next.

It's the message that comes to them.

And that takes place...

Start looking at verse 10.

And in verse 10 it says,

And the angel said to them,

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy

that will be for all the people.

Now, one of the things about this is that it is good news for all the people.

It's encouraging us to talk and tell...

When we hear the good news in a moment,

that we're to tell this good news to all people.

We aren't to say,

This person is way too bad, way too wicked,

so we won't tell them this news.

We aren't to say,

This person is too completely given over to fentanyl

that we won't tell them this news.

We aren't to say,

This person is so high in the government,

or so wealthy,

or so powerful that we won't tell them this news.

This is news for all people.

Years ago,

I guess maybe not that long,

years ago,

there was a woman who came to this church

who, believe it or not,

she was the fashion advisor

to three prime minister's wives.

So she would meet with the wife of the prime minister

privately in their residence,

and she would help the prime minister's wife

pick out the clothes

that she would be wearing for upcoming events.

And they'd talk about fabrics and designers

and colors and accessories

and all of that type of stuff.

And she was a very bold woman.

She always also told the woman about Jesus.

And that's really what all of us should be like.

Not to be intimidated

by either somebody's goodness,

their evil,

their power,

their wealth,

but to be willing to tell people about Jesus,

the good news.

And that's what the all people means here.

And the other thing here,

which is really important for us to notice,

is that the,

look again at verse 10,

it says,

And the angel said to them,

Fear not, for behold,

I bring you good news.

That's the word gospel.

I bring you good news.

And I can't say it enough

because it's something which we Christians

keep falling into,

that we have good news for the world.

We don't have good rules.

We don't have good advice.

We don't have good examples per se.

We don't have good rituals.

We don't have good things like this.

It's all news.

We get to share this most wonderful news

in the world with human beings.

And it's news which is to be shared

because God wants people to hear.

And God wants people to hear this news

and want to say yes to it.

Please include me.

Please take me

to be part of what this good news is all about.

So what is the news?

Well, that's what happens

that we begin to hear in verse 11.

Verse 11,

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David

a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Unto you for,

this is the,

why is the news good?

Unto you is born this day

in the city of David

a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Now, this is the first time

that these three momentous terms

all appear together

and talking about the exact same person.

So it's not saying

that Mary had triplets.

One is Savior,

one is Christ,

and one is Lord.

No, there's just one baby.

But this one baby

is,

it can be described

as the Savior.

In fact,

in,

in,

in the original language

there's no definite article there

so it should literally be translated.

It,

it doesn't,

it's not grammatical English.

It should literally be translated

for unto you is born

this day

in the city of David

Savior.

Savior is born.

And this Savior

is the Messiah

and this Savior

is God Himself.

The word translated here

is Lord

should be understood

as referring to God Himself.

and so Savior means

that for all of the longings

that human beings have had

that we,

that they would be delivered,

that things would be made right,

the one who we long for

was born in Bethlehem

on this night.

Christ is the word Messiah.

It's,

it's really even more deeply connected

to the longings of the human heart,

the longing of the promises of God

and of things being made right

with human beings

and with God

and things just being made right

and all of those promises

that,

that,

that there will be good

and all of these promises

are captured in this term Messiah

and the Savior

and the Messiah

was born that evening

and the Lord

is born that evening.

God Himself

has entered into His creation

and,

and that's

who this baby is.

This baby

has come

to bring the promises

of God

to completion

and fulfillment

and to make you

right with Him

and it is God

Himself

who is doing this

in the person of His Son

and it just happened

a couple of kilometers away.

Now,

there's lots of big ideas

which I've just said

and that's why

this next bit

is really important

or we won't understand them.

Look at what it says

in verse 12

and this will be

a sign for you.

You will find,

so how are you going,

the implication is

the shepherd should go

and this will be

a sign for you.

You will find a baby

wrapped in swaddling cloths

and lying in a manger.

In other words,

the implication is

you should go

and when you go,

don't look for the best house.

In fact,

don't look for a house at all.

Look for an animal shelter

and when you look

for an animal shelter

because there will be

lots of animal shelters,

look for the animal shelter

because there will only be one.

There will only be

one animal shelter

in Bethlehem

where there's a baby

lying in an animal's

feeding trough.

You have to go,

huh?

Huh?

So,

there's several things

about this

which are really important.

You see,

the thing is

our minds tend to go

in certain directions.

So,

you hear,

you know,

all this thing I said

about the mighty deliverer

that delivers from

all the different things,

you know,

whether it's,

you know,

any type of enemy,

whether enemies

in external world,

demonic enemies,

whether it's,

you know,

enemies of sickness

or disease

or,

you know,

or sin,

all of that.

There's huge,

huge ideas.

Thank you.

This person

who's going to be born

last week

in Zechariah's song

is described as God

raising up a horn

of salvation.

And I said,

in that,

what you need to think of

is you need to think of

a really big elephant

and its tusks

or a rhinoceros

with its horn

or a huge bull

with its horns

or a huge bull moose

with its horns.

And that's this image.

Okay?

And so you have

all of these things

and our minds

will move in certain

types of directions

when we hear this,

but it's not just

these songs of the Savior

are introducing Jesus

but they're not just,

you don't just take them,

the rest of the story

fleshes out

what on earth that means.

And so you hear

these wonderful titles

and it is a baby

in a feeding trough

in an animal shelter

in Nowheresville.

When you're thinking of,

and so that's the second thing,

you know,

about this.

It's in a sense

it's inviting you to see

as you go through

the whole gospel,

it's inviting you to say,

oh, okay,

well that's what

the Savior's like.

Oh, like he's going to be born,

that's really cool.

Like, that's really cool.

Like the Savior's going to,

is in a feeding trough.

Oh, like, that's really cool.

Like the Savior

casts out demons.

Oh, like,

oh, that's really cool.

Like the Savior feeds people.

Oh, that's really cool.

Like the Savior

and God himself.

This is what God is like.

The real God is like

that he's, you know,

even when there's some,

you know,

woman who's led

a completely and utterly

disreputable life

and nobody likes her

and everybody hates her

and he talks to her

and welcomes her.

That's what God's like.

That's what the Savior's like.

Oh, and that's what

the Savior's like.

That's really cool.

The Savior is like,

is Jesus,

is dying on the cross.

That's what,

you need the story

to fill in the words.

Otherwise,

we'll go in all of these

different directions.

And you see,

that's why this story

is such a profoundly

Christian story.

You would never see

a story like this

in the Quran

or the Hadiths.

On one level,

Allah doesn't even

really like people.

Do you know that

the Quran teaches

that everybody who dies

goes to hell?

Truth.

Everybody who dies

in the Quran,

everybody who dies

goes to hell.

And then Allah

picks some people

out of hell

to go to his heaven.

Allah doesn't even

speak directly

to Muhammad.

Allah speaks

to an angel.

There's always

intermediaries.

It is,

in a sense,

an offensive idea

to think that Allah

would be

in a feeding trough.

It is a denial

of his glory

and his majesty.

And if you think

about our friends,

maybe not at the

very folk level

of Hinduism and Buddhism,

but at the more

philosophical levels

of Hinduism and Buddhism,

a story of God himself,

of the Savior himself

coming and being born

is not a story

that they would tell

because the whole hope

of Hinduism and Buddhism

at a higher level

is that you will

undertake these exercises

so that you will

no longer be born.

That's the hope,

that you will

no longer be born.

And so this is a story

telling you the exact

wrong stuff.

And in paganism,

while the gods,

if they come,

they're going to come

as fully,

full, big men

and women

and do all sorts

of types of things

and maybe they'll be

hidden for a bit,

but it's not the way

they would tell the story.

And of course,

in secular world,

you know,

we would automatically

think that if things

like this were going

to happen,

it should be somebody

more powerful,

more important,

more connected,

more prestige,

more followers,

all of that type of thing.

This is a profoundly

Christian and Jewish story.

The Old Testament,

what our Jewish friends

call the Tanakh,

we call the Old Testament,

is filled with

David is the youngest son,

not the oldest son.

It's filled with this surprise

and it culminates

in how God is going to save

in a profoundly Christian story

that's only Christian

and that even in our culture,

when we resonate

with stories like this,

whether our culture

realizes or not,

it is breathing

in the air

of Christianity.

And it's also,

of course,

touching us

at a point

of our deep longings

and yearnings,

that God would take

the lowly.

God would take

the lowly.

Now we come

to the actual song,

right?

They say,

verse 12,

and this will be

a sign for you.

This will be

a sign for you.

You will find

a baby wrapped

in swaddling clothes

lying in a manger.

And suddenly,

there was with the angel

a multitude

of the heavenly host

praising God

and saying,

just before I say that,

this is more

an in-house thing

for those who have

been Anglicans

for a long time,

or Roman Catholics

and Lutherans.

If you see a lot

of liturgies

that have been written

since the 70s

up until today,

a lot of liturgies

get rid of the phrase

the Lord God of hosts.

And you know why

they get rid of that phrase?

Because hosts

means angel armies.

And so the people

writing the liturgies

think it's too militaristic

and imperialistic,

and so they get rid of it

even though it's

in the Bible.

And just they gong

the word,

because they don't like

something that

might imply armies.

But that's when it says here,

and suddenly verse 13

was with the angel,

the heavenly host.

That means angel armies.

Angel armies

praising God

and saying,

glory to God

in the highest

and on earth

peace among those

with whom he is pleased.

Or quite literally,

glory to God

in the highest

and on earth

peace among those

men and women

of his good pleasure.

That's what it's saying.

That's the song.

Glory to God

in the highest

and on earth

peace among

those men

and women

who are of

his good pleasure.

And the word glory

here means that

we're to brag about God,

we're to talk about God,

we're to be unashamed

about the triune God,

we are to hope

in the triune God,

we are to extol him,

we are to adore him,

we are to praise him,

and we are to do it

with our minds

and with our lips

and with our time

and our body.

And for those of you

who are very creative

with dance,

with plays,

with poetry,

with music,

and no matter

how much we praise

the triune God,

he is still even more,

even more.

You read the Narnia Chronicles,

I just finished

listening to them

on audio,

the Ottawa Public Library,

seven fantastic versions

of the Narnia Chronicles.

If you haven't read them,

take them out of the library,

listen to them in order,

and further up

and further in,

further up and further in,

we'll never exhaust

the glory of God.

And that's what it's saying here.

And peace,

it's not referring to wars,

it's not referring to emotions.

How do you understand that?

Well, you understand that

by reading the rest of the story.

By reading the rest of the story.

The rest of the story

tells you what this peace means,

and it means peace with God.

It means peace with your creator.

It means peace with the one

who will save,

can save you.

It means peace with the one

who will be the final judge about you.

It means peace with goodness itself,

justice itself,

mercy itself,

beauty itself,

love itself.

It means peace with God,

given as a gift.

And it's a type of

an ontological type of thing.

For those of you who are here

and you've been considering

the Christian faith,

there comes a point in time

to be a Christian

is not to kiss your mind goodbye.

It's not you think

and you reason,

but at some point in time

you need to just say,

God, you know,

I think I know enough

and I realize right now

that there's a part of me

in my flesh

that will always want to know

a little bit more,

think a little bit more,

try to answer a little bit more

of the questions,

but there comes a point in time

when you just say,

I'm in.

I'm yours.

Take me.

You know,

that's why,

are you born again?

That's what this peace with God is.

You're born again.

You're born again.

And you're made right with God.

You have peace with God.

And there's a really interesting interview

that I just saw

with the guy

who's a really good friend

with a guy,

he has an important podcast

called The Diary of the CEO.

He's a guy worth

tens and tens of millions of dollars.

His name is Andrew Scott Logan.

He lives in Dubai.

Young,

good-looking,

creative entrepreneur

who just became a Christian

within the last year and a half or two.

And he became a Christian

in the most surprising way

because he became a Christian

not because his life

was in the pits,

but because he was

unbelievably successful.

And he came to start

to say to himself,

is that all there is?

Is that all there is?

And he ends up giving his life to Christ.

And one of the things

which he says

is really interesting

in the interview

is that he said

on one hand

he had a profound sense of peace

that comes from being at peace with God.

But he also said,

honestly,

to Glenn,

the interviewer,

it's actually harder

being a Christian

than it was being a non-Christian.

And Glenn says,

well,

why is that?

He said,

well,

on one hand,

there's peace,

but on the other hand,

I mean,

God convicts me

that I shouldn't do certain things

or that I have to apologize

or,

or,

you know,

maybe I should be doing

something different in my life.

And there's this constant

sense of unsettling,

but all of this unsettling

just creates this deeper type

of harmony with God

because that's partially

what this,

this is,

is being talked about.

The Peace is a harmony with God,

a balance with God.

And even the fact that this peace

is talking about harmony,

that's so,

that's so wonderful

because,

you know,

when you have harmony,

you have harmony,

you have a,

you know,

you have a male voice

and a female voice

and you have different,

you have different baritones

and basses

and you have all these different,

all coming together

and it's not a monotonous sound.

It's not a,

it's not just the sound

of crashing and banging

and like dump trucks

doing things

and jackhammers.

It's,

it's music,

it's beautiful,

it flows,

it's active

and it brings together

these things

which would be discordant

all by themselves

and brought together

to sound like a harmony

and that's what God wants

to give to human beings

and what he's doing

through the birth of his son

that moment,

that,

that,

that night

in Bethlehem.

Now I said I would talk

about being seen and unseen

and I need to do that

with my last few minutes

which are here.

Let's look at the text again,

glory to God in the highest,

and on peace,

and on earth peace

among those

with whom he is pleased

or literally,

glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace

among those

men and women

of his good pleasure.

Now this is an idea

that lots of people

find scary.

It's the doctrine

of election.

It's the doctrine

that God chooses you

before you choose him

and there's lots

of Christians.

I for a long time

didn't like the idea.

I resisted it

even though it's

all the way through

the Bible

and,

but that's what it's saying

and of course

the fear is

that when you hear that,

those of you

who are here

and you hear that

and you say,

well George,

now that explains

why I'm not a Christian.

You finally explained it.

All my life

I'm not getting chosen.

I don't get the jobs.

I don't get the promotions.

You know,

I don't get the kids.

I don't get the goodies.

I don't get all

these types of things.

I'm unseen

and nobody cares about me

and George,

if I was completely honest

with you,

one of my great fears

is that I will get

to a certain age

and I will spend

my entire life alone

because I am unseen

and this is just

another example.

Nobody sees me.

God's not going to see me

and all I have to say

is that is two things.

First of all,

God is not the mean girls

because in the mean girls,

you have the mean girls

show up to a group

of six people

to just invite two

of the six

in front of the other four

so the other four

are completely

and utterly humiliated.

That plays me

to the second thing.

You just heard this?

That means he's calling you.

I just read it to you.

You just heard the invitation.

He's calling you.

You're not unseen.

And look at the way

he describes being seen.

It's so interesting

in this particular text.

It describes,

what does it say again?

And on earth,

peace,

that's harmony

or peace with God,

harmony with God

among those men

and women

of his good pleasure.

For those of us

who are dealing with shame,

God looks right

into the very center of you

and he describes

that he wants you

to be his

and he describes you

as the woman

or the man

of his good pleasure.

I mean,

for those of you

who struggle with shame,

you should take this

out of his good pleasure

he called me

and put it up

beside the mirror.

I don't recommend tattoos.

I'm not against them either.

You're going to get a tattoo?

Put it on the inside

of your arm.

I am a woman

of his good pleasure.

I'm a man

of his good pleasure.

That's what the gospel is.

He wants you to say yes

to Jesus

because he has pleasure

in you

and he wants you

to know his glory

and his love

and his splendor

and his pleasure.

And even this thing here again

in terms of you

and you know,

you think,

there's something wrong with me.

Isn't that the whole idea here

of peace

and his harmony?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

You know,

John Ortberg,

the book was only,

was all right,

but the title's spectacular, right?

Everyone is normal

until you get to know them.

Then you realize

you're actually pretty weird.

But this isn't saying

God's goal

is to make everybody vanilla,

make you all the same.

No, no, no.

God's going to take

those quirkiness,

those really weird things,

those broken pieces

and he's going to start

to heal them together

and he makes

this beautiful harmony

out of you

and your uniqueness

and you are a person

of his good pleasure.

And then the final thing

to take from it

is you get a vision of heaven.

Oh my,

what is heaven going to be like?

Glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace

to those men and women

of his good pleasure

and it's being sung

by the angel armies

and it's being heard

by shepherds in the field

and you get this vision of heaven

that this news of harmony

that even now

throughout the entire planet,

whether we were in the Congo

or whether we are in Singapore

or in Taiwan

or Nigeria

or Manhattan

or Venezuela

or Colombia,

there are people

who are singing

God's praises today

and we are all one

redeemed humanity

in Christ

and our future

is to be in harmony

with angels

and archangels

and all the company

of heaven

and we will behold

the uncreated light,

the beauty

and the glory

of the triune God

and we will sing

his glory

and we will be filled

with joy.

that is your future

in Christ.

Not because I say it

but because this says it.

Give your life to Christ

if you haven't

and if you struggle

with being unseen

and maybe you are unseen

by everybody

but God sees you

and he sees you

as his person

of good pleasure.

That's what he's calling you to.

Let's stand

and close in prayer.

Good grief,

what else can I say?

People who know me,

I'm actually very shy

and not very demonstrative.

I didn't,

somebody was just telling me

that speakers choreograph

this stuff

and I said,

no, I don't choreograph anything.

I never know actually

how I'm going to bring it across

when I start speaking

but I just,

that was how I had to say that today

because it's so glorious.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Father,

if there are any here

who have not yet given

their lives to Jesus,

may you help them right now

to call out to you

and say,

Father,

this good news,

I want it to be for me.

Take me,

take me.

I desire to submit to you

to be in this harmony

and peace with you

and Father,

for all of us

who at different times

struggle with being unseen

and all of us struggle

at different times

with shame,

Father,

we ask that you bring

this good news of Jesus

deep into our hearts

that this might be

the story that forms us.

This might be the story

that we stand on.

This might be the story

by which we filter,

that with which we hear.

This might be the story

by which we see the future.

This might be the story

by which we see other people

and that even how we see

our communities

and our culture

and what we desire to do,

that they might all know

the glory of God.

We ask,

Father,

in your mercy

that you would bring this story

deep into our hearts

and form us.

We ask this in the name of Jesus

and all God's people said,

Amen.

Amen.