Advent Revolution

I want revolution. I want a revolutionary heart. I want a revolutionary love. I have been shown and have accepted a revolutionary love. I have a revolutionary spirit that lives in me. I want a revolutionary mind and a revolutionary strength to take a God-given vision and see it through to fruition. I want a revolutionary song and a revolutionary resolve to stand and sing it.  So Sunday I was able sing with my whole heart in the midst of God’s revolution at Vintage21 Church. It was not perfect and I’m glad it was not. “…for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:10). But the songs and the worship lifted me up and over. Over my worries, over my fears, over my doubts, over my confusion, over my brokenness, over my needs, over my blessings, over my pride, over my own circumstances and it held me there long enough to get a glimpse that my Savior has come. Truly, He has come to deliver me from this all. All the songs spoke to me but “Joy To the World” was the song that caught me by surprise. A song that I have sung since I can remember. The verse that struck me the most was the third verse.  I had never sang it before and if I had it just never registered.  I kept looking down at the words every service while singing and thought “this writer is coming from a place of deep pain and brokenness.” Here are the lyrics to the 3rd verse:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

This is revolutionary.  The curse of my brokenness and my characters flaws that I have carried my whole life are broken. I have a Savior that I can give it all to. I suppose that is why it felt so fitting to add the refrain of the simple lyric “Joy to the World” at the end of the song. I wanted us to sing it until it settled into our hearts, minds and spirit. Until we believed together as a body of believers. I believe it did and thank God for His joy.

- Thad