Yesterday\u00c2\u00a0 (April 15) I preached at our morning services with the title “Don’t hold on to me” from\u00c2\u00a0 John 20:10-18.\u00c2\u00a0 I talked about Jesus wanting Mary not to cling to him so that the Holy Spirit could come and also that she would let him go and share the resurrection story with others.\u00c2\u00a0 I talked about Mary being told to let go of the known (the resurrected body of Jesus) and to embrace the unknown.\u00c2\u00a0 To let go of the tried, the true, the safe and to set out in faith and in risk.\u00c2\u00a0 I used a song before the sermon and a prayer at the end of the sermon.\u00c2\u00a0 The song is called “Painting Pictures of Egypt” and the prayer is the Prayer of Saint Brendan.\u00c2\u00a0 These 2 things speak to me in profound ways.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope they will speak to you as well.<\/p>\n
Painting Pictures of Egypt by Sara Groves<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to leave here It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about losing faith CHORUS: The past is so tangible BRIDGE: Prayer of Saint Brendan<\/font><\/p>\n Shall I abandon, O King of mysteries, the soft comforts of home?<\/font>Shall I turn my back on my native land,<\/font>and turn my face towards the sea?<\/font>Shall I put myself wholly at your mercy,<\/font><\/p>\n without silver, without a horse,<\/font><\/p>\n without fame, without honour?<\/font><\/p>\n Shall I throw myself wholly upon You,<\/font>without sword and shield, without food and drink,without a bed to lie on?<\/font>Shall I say farewell to my beautiful land, placing myself under Your yoke?<\/font>Shall I pour out my heart to You, confessing my manifold sins and begging forgiveness,<\/font>tears streaming down my cheeks?<\/font><\/p>\n Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the sandy beach,<\/font>a record of my final prayer in my native land?<\/font>Shall I then suffer every kind of wound that the sea can inflict?<\/font>Shall I take my tiny boat across the wide sparkling ocean?<\/font><\/p>\n O King of the Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my own choice upon the sea?<\/font><\/p>\n <\/font>\u00c2\u00a0O Christ, will You help me on the wild waves?<\/font>If you want to know more about Saint Brendan, let me know or do a google search.<\/p>\n Let’s take risks for the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n Ryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday\u00c2\u00a0 (April 15) I preached at our morning services with the title “Don’t hold on to me” from\u00c2\u00a0 John 20:10-18.\u00c2\u00a0 I talked about Jesus wanting Mary not to cling to him so that the Holy Spirit could come and also that she would let him go and share the resurrection story with others.\u00c2\u00a0 I talked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emergentbrethren.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to stay
\nIt feels like pinching to me either way
\nThe places I long for the most
\nAre the places where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been
\nThey are calling after me like a long lost friend <\/font><\/p>\n
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about trust
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about comfortable
\nWhen you move so much
\nThe place I was wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect
\nBut I had found a way to live
\nIt wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t milk or honey
\nBut then neither is this <\/font><\/p>\n
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been painting pictures of Egypt
\nLeaving out what it lacked
\nThe future seems so hard
\nAnd I want to go back
\nBut the places that used to fit me
\nCannot hold the things I”ve learned
\nAnd those roads closed off to me
\nWhile my back was turned<\/p>\n
\nI know it by heart
\nFamiliar things are never easy to discard
\nI was dying for some freedom
\nBut now I hesitate to go
\nCaught between the promise
\nAnd the things I know <\/font><\/p>\n
\nIf it comes too quick
\nI may not recognize it
\nIs that the reason behind all this time and sand?
\nIf it comes too quick
\nI may not appreciate it
\nIs that the reason behind all this time and sand?<\/font><\/p>\n