One of our recent graduates, Stef Taylor, wrote a poem about the year. Her talent to sum it all up in such a creative way will blow your mind!
Jesus loves me this I know
For the bible tells me so
We are broken; we are bruised, with our flesh we fight
And yes we remain precious in his sight.
For years we’ve sung along
And for years we’ve asked
Is there more to these verses
Is there anything we’ve masked?
This year could be marked as a search for the missing lyrics of that song
An entire eight months shoveling through his verses that have been breathed out all along.
As we stand before you today you’ll asked us what we learned
A theologian’s answer we will initially yearn
For.
However the simplicity of the song is what makes it so Graceful
So if you’ll allow us the blessing we would love to share how he is able:
God- we meet in the garden, And He chooses intimacy with man
Loving imperfect humans has always been a part of his sovereign plan.
With a beautiful meeting there comes a tragic fall
A bitter taste of sin will forever scar
Humanity.
We are and they were
Fallen.
But with every fall there is a rise
With every scar you can realize
Healing.
So God being so rich in his mercy
Chooses a nation
And calls them his own.
To a Hebrew people he makes himself known.
And just like us
Israel bows and then they boast
Worshipping idols and then making the most
Of themselves.
In their inconsistency He remained forever faithful.
Manna falling from heaven, with held together sandals they were able
To keep walking
And so they did.
Into a four hundred year inhale where only silence spoke of him
But with an exhale we hear a tangible amazing grace
Unto you a child is born, there is a savior in this place.
Jesus, Emmanuel, God himself has come
With a heartbeat like ours, His divinity not undone.
As a baby is born, silence is broken
Prophecy fulfilled, God has spoken.
He is here.
He walked.
He taught.
He loved.
And was mocked.
All the way to a cross on a hill
Carrying the weight of our sin forever he would seal
Shut death.
As sin is strangled and takes its last conquering breath
Dark stops breathing
And the grave loses its concealing power.
Jesus in his
Rises
And lives
And within his life he gives us
Life.
This I am convinced is the rhythm of that childhood song,
The lyrics that are etched throughout all eternity long.
We came this year not just to expand our minds but to engrave this on our hearts
Not to stop our lives for a year but to start
The rest of this story.
The backdrop is simply this within these perfect rhythms of grace
We have tasted heartache, pain, and have many times ached
Begged and pleaded for less
Asking Jesus if we could just finish this test.
We showed up with baggage that was far beyond visible
Attached to our hearts, our past trying to be divisible
Of our futures.
Leaders, yes, graduates, yes, anything on our own, no.
So we enter a wrestling match with society when they say so.
If we strive to please men we are no longer bondservants of him
The only one worthy of worship, the one leading us from within.
And within that is this:
Today is not a picture of our success
But redemption is the painting
God willing to mold us and continually shaping
Us,
An imperfect people,
To look more like His Son.
With that image
We will run and
We will go
Where we will spend this side of glory making his name known
Abiding in His Truth, in Himself, and resting in being his own.
Our prayer is that as he becomes greater we become less,
That we are never exalted but only his name is blessed.
We are not striving to be only career driven adults
But Scripture-seeking disciples that are fixed on the cross.
So as we sit before you today this is the song we sing
The anthem we pray throughout the nations will ring
Jesus loves us this we know
For the word he has breathed out
Has taught us so.
