Day of Praise

Thur, 02/18/16, "Day of Praise"

Colossians 1:17 - "And [Christ Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

So worship had just started one Sunday, as it always does, with the Confession of Sin. I was in the narthex because it was Youth Sunday. Being in the narthex, I found it very hard to focus on God's word because of all the distractions: churning coffee, shuffling late comers, clicking candle lighters, and more.

It was like life--a world full of noises and things that both distract from God's word and that also lead to fragmentation of spirit and brokenness in life.

But then the Youth did this awesome sermon where they had eight rectangular tiles spread on the floor. The "preacher" would pick up a tile, and then a brief story testimony from a person's broken, fragmented, hurting life played through the sound system. The preacher then handed the tile representing the broken life story to another youth who placed the tile in a container. Then they repeated that with another tile and a different broken story seven times.

After the eighth story, the 2nd youth picked up the container of tiles and showed it to everyone. Together, the tiles, representing broken lives, formed a beautiful cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross of Jesus, broken lives are held together and healed, forming a beautiful picture of life together in Jesus.

It's a beautiful testimony to the truth in Colossians 1:17, "And [Christ Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Indeed, in Jesus, all things hold together.

Give him your brokenness. Listen to others' brokenness. And discover how Jesus holds together and blesses those who do.

Praise God!