Thursday, March 15, 2007

Prodigal Grace

For any of you out there who follow the lectionary on Sunday mornings, the Gospel reading this Sunday is the parable of the prodigal son. As someone who in many, many ways has lived out this parable, it's a very meaningful piece of scripture for me.

And I've got the perfect song for it.

You know, how when the son's on his way back, his father spots him at a distance and starts running out to meet him?

Well, this Sunday, sandwiched between the Gospel reading and the sermon, our pastor will sing (and I will accompany) the Phillips, Craig and Dean song Mercy Came Running.

So with the Gospel reading...and the song, the congregation's going to get to hear the Gospel proclaimed twice in a row...and then yet again in the sermon...and then yet again in the Hymn of the Day after the sermon--Amazing Grace.

Think we'll be driving the point home enough?

For those who are unfamiliar with Mercy Came Running, here's the words:

Once there was a holy place
Evidence of God's embrace
And I can almost see Mercy's face
Pressed against the veil
Looking down with longing eyes
Mercy must have realized
That once His blood was sacrificed
Freedom would prevail
And as the sky grew dark
And the earth began to shake
With Justice no longer in the way

Chorus: Mercy came running
Like a prisoner set free
Past all my failures to the point of my need
When the sin that I carried
Was all I could see
And when I could not reach mercy
Mercy came running to me

Once there was a broken heart
Way too human from the start
And all the years left it torn apart
Hopeless and afraid
Walls I never meant to build
Left this prisoner unfulfilled
Freedom called but even still
It seemed so far away
I was bound by the chains
From the wages of my sin
Just when I felt like giving in


Repeat Chorus

Sometimes I still feel so far
So far from where I really should be
He gently calls to my heart
Just to remind me...

Repeat Chorus

May mercy come running to you,
LH

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