Judy Nelson: Remembering the Story

I should post something about Easter, since tomorrow is Maundy Thursday and then we have Good Friday, time in the tomb and hell, and finally Resurrection Day. I have not been faithful to meditate on the account again this year. (I’m in James--The MESSAGE version--I downloaded from iTunes listening on my drive to work.)

But I need to remember the story, revisit the moments, meet with my Savior in His suffering, wait with the women, and rejoice in the end of death. I need to tell myself this story again, so I can find my own place again. Without His story, I feel unanchored, alone and even angry. There’s so much hurt between people, so much brokenness, so much death--the “Melchezedek moments” aside (thanks for that, Linc.).

I listened to Andrew Peterson’s “High Noon” today. His lyrics always help me find my bearings again by remembering God’s big story. The chorus goes:
“So long you wages of sin/Go on, don’t you come back again/I’ve been raised and redeemed/You’ve lost all your steam/to the Victor of the battle.”

One verse I especially like says: “The demons they danced in the darkness when that last ragged breath left His lungs/They reveled and howled at the war that they thought they had won/But then in the dark of the grave, the stone rolled away, in the still of the dawn on the greatest of Days. . . Jesus took in that breath and shattered all death with His life.”

Yes, all death is shattered by the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus’, if we find ourselves in His story. By grace, we live with Him and He in us. We suffer and break, but it is not the end of the story. The greatest of days has come and gone, and we stand in the winner’s circle because of Jesus’ victory. If you’re broken and alone, discouraged or angry, hold on, my friend, Sunday is coming.

What song or lyric helps you “preach the gospel to yourself”?

Comments

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I'm always moved by the second verse of "Hallelujah, What a Savior!": Guilty vile and helpless we / Spotless Lamb of God was He / Full atonement can it be?/ Hallelujah, what a Savior. The amazement in the words challenges me to realize that I have nothing to boast in and everything to thank God for.