I Believe - e*b week 4

For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt

God
Creator of the Universe
Just and True
Triune and Relational
Savior

The great “We”
No beginning and no end
Sovereign and Holy
Loving and Kind
Spirit [1]

Completely His own category [2]

He created humans in His image
And placed them in a garden
Gave them a choice to love and walk with Him forever
They chose to walk alone
To become less human

But God was not surprised
He set His plan of redemption in motion
Even while the world He created
Became broken and lost

All throughout history
He pointed the way
Through lambs and sacrifices
Covenants and blood
Towards One who was coming
To reign as King and Lord.

This One came: Jesus!
Fully God and fully man
He worked out His purpose
Found His divine vocation
Stayed connected to the Father
Guided by the Spirit [3]

He showed us what it is to be fully human
He lived life fully alive
Only doing what the Father did
Freeing the captives, opening blind eyes
Healing the sick, raising the dead

Teaching
Healing
Relating
Saving
Living
Dying
Living again

And because He lives again
The story is told [4]
How He lived
How He died
How He rose again

His resurrection is the reason we tell the story [5] [6]
The reason we are a new creation
Why we are image-bearers with a purpose
To be agents of God’s renewing-the-earth plan [7]

We are part of His Kingdom
Ever increasing, ever expanding [8]
Putting that which was wrong to right
Restoring brokenness with beauty
Releasing freedom to the captives
Exploring spirituality
Bridging gaps and forming relationships [9]

As we worship and reflect God’s glory in ever increasing brightness
We find our way back to being fully human [10]
Becoming all He’s created us to be
We become intersections of Heaven and earth
A place where the two overlap
And God is made manifest [11]

We are
SubCreators
ImageBearers
CommunityBuilders
SalvificStorytellers [12]

Living in the present
As a people called to the future
Of earth and heaven as one [13]

By the Father
Through the Son
In the Spirit

Amen

1. Dan Wilt, Essentials in Worship Theology, 43.
2. N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 67.
3. ibid, 107-108, 118-119.
4. C.S. Lewis, “Voices on Resurrection and New Creation” (Inside Worship Magazine Master All), 313.
5. Don Williams, “Cross and Resurrection” (iTunes U.)
6. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19.
7. N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 191.
8. Isaiah 9:7.
9. N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 189.
10. ibid, 148.
11. ibid, 132.
12. Dan Wilt, Essentials in Worship Theology, 43.
13. N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York: HarperCollins, 2006),218.