Yesterday I went to pick up L at Camp Garaywa. That in itself is not unusual. Every year for the past 9 years, I've gone to pick up girls from camp, even when none of them were mine! This is the first year I got just one and didn't get her in a church van.
I got to Camp Garaywa just in time for the closing assembly. I got to hear the Girls In Action song and the motto and the pledge and the scripture verse. There was a PowerPoint of photos of the girls doing camp stuff. Then the different groups got up to show us what they worked on this week. The singing group performed Steven Curtis Chapman's "Dive." The drama groups each gave us a skit. The puppets performed a song, the title of which I can't recall, but I knew it very well. Then L's group got up to show us the song they learned to sign this week. It was Chris Rice's "Untitled Hymn."
Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!
Now your burden's lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!
And like a newborn baby
Don't be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall...so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!
Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!
O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can't contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!
And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!
I have loved this song since the first time I heard it. A few years ago it took on new meaning for me. My high school buddy who was also my college roommate passed away. This song was sung at her funeral and I understood every word.
When I heard the words to this song again yesterday, and saw those beautiful girls saying the words in sign language, I suddenly had something that I had been missing lately ... worship. It's something that I guess I take for granted. I go to church every Sunday (morning and night) and every Wednesday night. I sing with our praise band. But do I worship? Not every time. But when I don't have the chance to share the worship of my church family, I feel it. I feel the vacuum that it leaves behind. I want it. I need it. It's the way God made each and every one of us.
So true... worship isn't an event. It is a way of life.
ReplyDeleteWere you the one who sang it at the funeral?
ReplyDeleteNot at her funeral, but I did sing it in church a few weeks later. It was one of those things that I felt I HAD to do. It was played at Sr. Mr. H's funeral, too, earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteThis was sang at my friends funeral also (one I wrote about in my blog). Chris Rice is a wonderful story teller with his music. To me, at times, the song service can be more meaningful and worshipful than the sermon.
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