Exploring a church that is close to 100 years old today was awesome!
It was not just the beauty. It was the knowledge that hundreds … thousands … had worshipped God in that place.
It was quiet, but for a few moments, it was as if I could hear those many voices together singing praises. Time was no barrier. Death was no barrier. Heaven and earth were joined in one voice.
Jesus prayed for that to be true … God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. He prayed for those who were with Him in The Garden of Gethsemane, but He also prayed for us.
He intended for us to be one in Him, past, present and future. This is what Jesus said.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
John 17:20-23
We are the ones who believed because of their message. Jesus speaks to us today through the testimonies of those who went before us.
They simply told the stories of their lives and how Jesus walked the earth again and again through each one of them. And the message was passed on and amplified through generations that followed.
We are each a part of a grand and glorious larger story that God Himself is revealing, one chapter at a time.
We are very excited to be a part of a new video project to record the stories of how God continued to work through the lives of those who came after Jesus.
I wish we could hear the stories of each person who has worshipped in the church. But today, for just a few moments, I heard their voices as one unified Voice of God.
As we contemplate the video project, I pray as Jesus asked. I pray not only for all who will be involved now, but also for those who will believe because of their message.
“Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
John 17:23
Here is the link to a song that says it well.
