Mercy & Grace – 40 Days with the Music of Amy Grant

Day 13 – Wednesday after 2nd Sunday of Lent

These Reflections which take the music of Amy Grant as their theme, were originally published in Lent 2015.  They are being republished during June and July 2020 as a way of deepening our faith during the Covid19 pandemic which is affecting the whole world
(Please pray for Amy as she in convalescence after open heart surgery over Easter.)

 

To Read:  

From the Scriptures:

¹⁶ Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
¹⁷Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!’    (Ruth 1.16-17)

 

From Amy Grant:                                “Beautiful Music”

Once my life had no direction
I was lost as could be
I was caught in a whirlpool
Spinning around in misery
I needed a friend
You took me in and
You touched my heart
With your song of love
You gave me a brand new start

Now there’s beautiful music
Flowin’ all through me
Just like You said
Angels singing, joy bells ringing
Inside my head
Since you came inside me
Now I am lost inside Your love

You gave me just enough
To make me hunger for more of You
Now I am hooked on Your lovin’
And I don’t want to break loose
With my heart in my hand
I’m Yours to command
Do what You want me to
Just never let me go
Lord I am so in love with You

Now there’s beautiful music…

 

To Listen:

To Reflect:

I am typing this immediately after our parish’s annual ‘Marriage Feast’.   Each year about this time we invite all the couples who will be married in our church during the year (usually about 25 couples) for a free meal in the Parish Hall.  During the meal we do a little bit of business as to the details of ‘The Big Day’, and in-between the courses of food give them snippets from our marriage preparation book to talk about amongst themselves.

It is a fun relaxing evening that puts the couples at ease and helps them see that we are really excited that they have chosen to be married in church and that we think marriage is good for our common life together.

Tonight’s group of couples struck me as being particularly, well, love-struck.

There were many tender glances at each other, some gentle caring touches, and (something which Lesley-Anne and I try to practice) much holding of hands.  To put it simply they were lost in their love for each other, and so had ‘found’ in the other that for which each had been looking.

Amy has, even in the difficult years of her career as a Gospel singer, always put her love for ‘Him’ at the centre of her life never being embarrassed to sing of this – would that more Christians would admit to Jesus being their ‘Lover’!  Last week we looked at her song ‘First Love’ (why not listen to it again later on?) today she describes the love that Jesus brings to her as the antidote for the ‘lostness’ she felt when her life had no direction.  Paradoxically, it is in the moment she has been found by Jesus that she owns up to be ‘lost inside His love’!

But for her, as for our engaged couples tonight, Jesus’ kind of ‘lostness’ means that everything fits and we can only rejoice in the ‘Beautiful Music’ that is the prelude to the wedding banquet that is yet to be in Paradise.

Did you notice that Amy’s concern in the first verse was that her life had no direction and so she was lost; however know that she is lost in His love she still does not know where she is going!  ‘I’m Yours to command, Do what You want me to’ she sings; she does not care in what direction she is going anymore so long as she is doing His will, going His way and His hands hold her freely offered heart.

Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God. 

We will, God willing, spend eternity as the Bride of Christ and all of our hopes and fears, darkness and dreams will be lost inside His love.  Why then, I ask myself, am I so hesitant to let go of the parts of my life where I am lost, out of control and without direction?  If being ‘lost’ in my wilfulness is my chief possession then I am a poor, poor person indeed.

If we are going to be lost, it is better to be ‘lost in His love’ rather than be lost in misery.  Give your heart to Him again today.

 

To Do:

Read the words of the Marriage Service.

To Pray:

Eternal God.
The light of the minds that know you,
The joy of the hearts that love you,
And the strength of the wills that serve you:
Grant us so to know you that we may truly love you,
So to love you that we may truly serve you
Whose service is perfect freedom
Amen.                                      After Augustine of Hippo in Pilgrim

 

If you are interested in the book we give to couples preparing for marriage you may find out more about it here:

http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/books/9780715142417/growing-together

Acknowledgements:
All of the music on the video clips from YouTube is © Amy Grant.  If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings.  A full discography and other information about Amy can be found on her website http://www.amygrant.com
Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Prayers from Pilgrim are copyright © 2015 Stephen Cottrell, Steven Croft, Robert Atwell and Paula Gooder.