Song Sheets & Sermon

For the Beauty of the Earth

1 For the beauty of the earth,

for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies,

Refrain:

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise

this, our hymn of grateful praise.

2 For the wonder of each hour

of the day and of the night,

hill and vale and tree and flower,

sun and moon and stars of light, 

Refrain:

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise

this, our hymn of grateful praise.

3 For the joy of human love,

brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth, and friends above,

for all gentle thoughts and mild, 

Refrain:

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise

this, our hymn of grateful praise.

4 For yourself, best gift divine,

to the world so freely given,

agent of God's grand design:

peace on earth and joy in heaven. 

Refrain:

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise

this, our hymn of grateful praise.

All Things Bright & Beautiful

Chorus

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

Verse 1

Each little flower that opens

Each little bird that sings

He made their glowing colours

He made their tiny wings

Chorus

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

Verse 2

The purple-headed mountain

The river running by

The sunset and the morning

That brightens up the sky

Chorus

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

Verse 3

The cold wind in the winter

The pleasant summer sun

The ripe fruits in the garden

He made them every one

Chorus

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

Verse 4

He gave us eyes to see them

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty

Who has made all things well

Chorus

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

“Across the Lands”

Verse 1

You're the Word of God the Father

From before the world began

Ev'ry star and ev'ry planet

Has been fashioned by Your hand

All creation holds together

By the power of Your voice

Let the skies declare Your glory

Let the land and seas rejoice

Chorus

You're the author of creation

You're the Lord of ev'ry man

And Your cry of love rings out

Across the lands

Verse 2

Yet You left the gaze of angels

Came to seek and save the lost

And exchanged the joy of heaven

For the anguish of a cross

With a prayer You fed the hungry

With a word You stilled the sea

Yet how silently You suffered

That the guilty may go free

Chorus

You're the author of creation

You're the Lord of ev'ry man

And Your cry of love rings out

Across the lands

Verse 3

With a shout You rose victorious

Wresting victory from the grave

And ascended into heaven

Leading captives in Your wake

Now You stand before the Father

Interceding for Your own

From each tribe and tongue and nation

You are leading sinners home

Chorus

You're the author of creation

You're the Lord of ev'ry man

And Your cry of love rings out

Across the lands

“In the Garden”

1 I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the roses;

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses.

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

2 He speaks, and the sound of His voice

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing;

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

3 I'd stay in the garden with Him

Though the night around me be falling;

But He bids me go - through the voice of woe,

His voice to me is calling.

Refrain:

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other has ever known.

I Am Not My Own

Verse 1

The one who made the heavens made my heart and soul

Before I drew a breath I was loved and known

I am His creation the Maker's masterpiece

And all that He designs will be done in me

Verse 2

My body is a temple of the Living God

I'll worship in this house that His blood has bought

As I bear His image O may I not profane

The holiness I hold in this earthly frame

Chorus

I belong to the Lord O I am not my own

I belong to the Lord I am not my own

I will honor Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord I am not my own

Verse 3

And if He has redeemed me I am not my own

The measure of my worth is His love alone

He declares my standing and He declares my state

So I will know myself by the name He gave

Chorus

I belong to the Lord O I am not my own

I belong to the Lord I am not my own

I will honor Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord I am not my own

Verse 4

I am not my own and now my heart is free

O Maker come and make what You will of me

There is nothing broken that You can not repair

So Lord I leave my life in Your loving care

Chorus

I belong to the Lord O I am not my own

I belong to the Lord I am not my own

I will honor Him for this I know

I belong to the Lord I am not my own

This is My Father’s World

1 This is my Father’s world,

and to my listening ears

all nature sings, and round me rings

the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world;

I rest me in the thought

of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

his hand the wonders wrought.

2 This is my Father’s world;

the birds their carols raise;

the morning light, the lily white,

declare their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world;

he shines in all that’s fair.

In the rustling grass I hear him pass;

he speaks to me everywhere.

3 This is my Father’s world;

oh, let me not forget

that, though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the Ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world;

why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King, let the heavens ring!

God reigns; let the earth be glad.

Ebenezer CRC - March 8, 2026

Adam Veenstra

SCRIPTURE READING

SERMON INTRO SLIDE I invite you to turn to page 1651 in the Bibles in front of you, to John chapter 4. This morning we will be reading the story of Jesus interacting with a Samaritan woman at a well - it’s a story that we’ve read a few times before here at Ebenezer, and this morning our focus is on Jesus as the sole provider for all of our needs.

So I invite you to follow along with me, starting at verse 4:

4 Now Jesus had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you am he.”

MESSAGE

Part One - Context

SLIDE 1  The suggested colour for this week’s message arguably isn’t much of a colour at all: it’s black.

It’s meant to be simple and basic.

Because arguably this story is about the basics of what we value and what we need: the baseline for God’s people, captured in this one interaction.

SLIDE 2 Verse 4 tells us that Jesus had to go through Samaria.

The Greek wording could also be translated as “it was necessary”.

On a practical level, this was a shorter route to get where he was going.

But Jesus isn’t exactly known for taking shortcuts.

What seems more necessary, is that he has lives to change.

Starting with this woman’s: what was necessary, what he had to do, was demonstrate what it means for Christ to provide all the basic needs of our lives.

SLIDE 3 This woman’s story is very specific.

And perhaps compared to some of our life stories it might seem pretty dramatic.

We’re told that she has five previous husbands, and is currently living with yet another man.

She might be someone who is bad at marriage, and doesn’t give it the effort or respect it deserves.

Or she might be a victim in these relationships, and a system that wouldn’t have placed a high value on her as a woman.

Or she might be somewhere in between - maybe life just didn’t work out the way she thought it would.

So, like many others before and after her, she has been left wanting more.

And needing more.

Last week we talked about how God’s grace in Jesus Christ is nuanced: this woman has wants and needs that are specific to her situation.

But however specific, that grace is not reserved, or inconsistent.

New Testament professor Miguel Echerarria writes that “Jesus’ work is not for any particular people, but for the entire world.”

SLIDE 4 What Christ offers her, he offers us.
What’s spoken here for this woman is for so many others before and after her who have been left wanting more.

And needing more.

He offers himself. The living water, and the only source of fulfillment for all of our wants and needs.

Scripture assures us that God so loved the world - so loved us - that he gave Jesus Christ, that whomever believes in him shall not perish  but have eternal life.

Will have living water, and never thirst.

All because of his love for the world.

All because of his love for you.

That love is what makes him the sole, incomparable source of our provisions.

SLIDE 5 In the 15th century, Catholic canon Thomas A. Kempis composed the “Imitation of Christ”, writing that “Nothing is more gentle than love, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing more pleasant, nothing more complete, nothing better in heaven or on earth because love is born of God and cannot rest other than in God.”
Nothing is more complete. Nothing is more necessary. Nothing more fulfilling.

If we did have to distill Christ down, pinpoint one detail from the kaleidoscope or disco ball, perhaps it would be love.

It is from love that God provides through Christ.

His love is everlasting; his provision is everlasting.

SLIDE 6 Every week when we gather for worship, the songs that we sing together are intentional. They’re a means to profess specific truths that we believe together - to put that language on each of our lips, and then declare it together as a church family.

Today, we intentionally professed our faith in that love and provision, trusting that he is faithful and will meet all of our true needs.

SLIDE 7 “Faithful he has been, faithful he will be”
SLIDE 8 “He is my provider, covenant protector”

SLIDE 9 “Hold me with your powerful hand”
SLIDE 10 “Strong deliverer”
SLIDE 11 “From whom all blessings flow”

We sing these lines because we trust and believe what we read time and time again in Scripture: that out of his love for us, God will provide for his people, always.

It’s something we reflected on together in the opening devotions of our elders meeting last week.

Dick read a portion of Matthew 6 for us, in which Jesus tells his people, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

SLIDE 12 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”

I understand that it is hypocritical for me to say these words: I say them as much for my own benefit as yours.

SLIDE 13 One of the simplest but hardest aspects of the Christian faith is indeed trusting that the Father knows what we need, and that he will provide.

All the basics, and then some.

We could never begin to imagine all that he has planned for us.

SLIDE 14 The season of Lent is the ultimate recognition and celebration that the Father knows what we need, and does indeed provide. For now, and for all eternity.

Our thirst is quenched by the living water of Jesus Christ - of his grace, which ensures our salvation, that we will never thirst, but indeed have eternal life.

That when we accept Christ as our Saviour, we recognize that by his death on the cross, all of our sins are forgiven, and the things we have done or haven’t done aren’t held against us.

And that by his resurrection, all of our true needs are fulfilled, forever.

What he offers to this woman at the well, he offers to all of his people.

He is the true, and sole, source of all that we could ever want or need.

Part Two - Mission & Application

Having our needs provided for is one of the first things we ever experience in our lives.

We are all born helpless, and provision from others is vital for us to survive.

We require the basics of food, water, and rest to be given to us.

But hopefully - usually, ideally - they are given out of love.

And that love ensures that we will not just survive, but ultimately thrive.

The love of Christ ensures that our basic needs are met.

But also that we will thrive - today, and for eternal life.

It’s a fair assessment that the woman in our passage was surviving, but perhaps not much more.

SLIDE 15 And so Jesus offers her far more than what the world had so far.

Because he loves her, and wants more for her.

SLIDE 16 Because already centuries earlier God promised his people that he has plans for them: plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them hope and a future. 

More than the basics - more than they could ever imagine.

SLIDE 17 According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are 30 articles that people are entitled to as human rights. Everything from standards of living and medical care, to freedom and equality.

These rights are about more than just simple survival and existence, more than just food and water.

But about living water. Thriving. 

The Canadian Human Rights Commission stresses that nobody gives you these rights, but that you are born with them.

But we can also see in our sinful world that even some of the basics aren’t always provided.

Christ has provided us with eternal life by his sacrifice on the cross - an indescribable act of grace that we commemorate at Lent and Easter.

That provision of grace, then, enables us to be agents of his provision for others.

To help fulfill one another’s rights and wants and needs.

SLIDE 18 I think we’ve shared this story before about a man who is out on the water and discovers a hole in his boat, and he prays for help as his boat starts to sink.

Another boat comes along and offers rescue, but he declines, saying that he is waiting for the Lord to help him.

Then another boat comes along and offers the same thing, and his response is the same.

It happens several times - someone comes along trying to help, but he is adamant that the Lord is going to help him.

SLIDE 19 To be honest I’ve never heard how the story ends, but we can make a pretty good guess.

A couple weeks ago we referenced the temptation to test God.

This is an inadvertent way of doing that.

We want the divine miracle of the transfiguration.

Sometimes Jesus shows up more ordinarily.

Sometimes Jesus shows up and provides through the people around you.

Christ is not going to solve the problem of food insecurity by magically manifesting a meal on someone’s front porch.

He is going to equip a neighbour to make it.

That provision is no less powerful, no less miraculous, no less from Christ.

SLIDE 20 The book of James reminds us that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down to us from the Father.

But it can come down in a lot of different ways.

Because there are practical limitations to being in relationship with a Saviour who is not physically present.

So Christ equips and commissions us to be his hands and feet - to love and serve one another as he would.

To be a means of his provision.

Conclusion

SLIDE 21 The famous prayer of St. Francis of Assisi asks for God to “make me an channel of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.

Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth.

Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope.

Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.”

Where there is want, and need, let me provide.

That is our call as followers of Jesus: to be his hands and feet for creation.

To be the means and channel of all of his provisions - be the means and channel of his love.

In this season in particular, may each of us recognize what Christ has promised and provided for us, and take opportunities to demonstrate the power of his promises by providing for the world.

So as we go, we go with another promise from the book of Jeremiah. Will you please rise, however you are able, in body or in spirit, to receive it:

““Hear the word of the Lord, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’ For the Lord will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.”

Ebenezer CRC - March 15, 2026

Adam Veenstra

SCRIPTURE READING

SERMON INTRO SLIDE I invite you to turn to page 1664 in the Bibles in front of you, to John chapter 9, where we find the story of Jesus giving sight to a blind man. It is a powerful miracle for this man’s life, but also a powerful metaphor for what Christ does in all of our lives. So I invite you to follow along with me starting at verse 1:

 5 As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8 His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded.

11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

MESSAGE

Part One - Context

I would imagine that the majority of people in this room are familiar with The Wizard of Oz. Even if it’s not a movie you enjoy, it’s a film most people at least respect because of its cultural significance.

SLIDE 1  One of the standout moments in terms of both technology and storytelling is the moment when Dorothy steps out of the sepia tones of her farmhouse into the Technicolor dreamworld of Oz.

Suddenly everything is the same, but different.

SLIDE 2 There is a new perspective, and a new way of looking at the world - in colour.

That new perspective is at the heart of Jesus’ declaration in this passage that he is the light of the world.

This is a powerful moment of transformation in this one man’s life, which represents a powerful transformation for all of our lives. Everything is the same, but different.

There is a new perspective, and a new way of looking at the world - in colour.

SLIDE 3 Giving sight to someone who is blind was predicted in the Old Testament book of Isaiah as a Messianic activity - something by which people could know that Jesus is the Saviour they have been waiting for.

And with this miracle he is also stepping into another very particular part of the culture of that day.

SLIDE 4 With our 2026 lenses, there could easily be some underlying ableism in the way that we talk about this story, or even if we understand the meaning of those passages from Isaiah literally.

Because there is a temptation - and perhaps a default - to consider this man’s blindness as something that needs healing and fixing.

And, objectively speaking as someone who can see, I myself would be tempted to say that it’s probably “better”, or at least easier, to see than not to see in life.
But someone pointed out to me a few years ago that while someone without sight might miss seeing a sunset or a great painting, that’s not the only sense by which we can experience creation or great art.

So perhaps blindness is not what needs fixing and healing in our world or in Scripture.

Instead, what needs fixing and healing - what needs redemption - are the challenges that come along with it.

In the 1st century, those challenges were many.

This was not a world that had accommodations like guide dogs or beeping crosswalks.

SLIDE 5 And there was a strong sentiment, and even rabbinic principle from the religious leaders, which suggested that any disability might be the result of one’s actions, or one’s family’s actions.

It was believed by some that even unborn babies could commit sin for which a physical or mental disability would be a punishment.

Let’s be clear - this is nonsense. Nonsense.

Disability itself is not something that needs healing or fixing or redemption.

Instead it is the challenges that come along with disability that need healing and fixing and redemption.

But this is the world and the cultural context that Jesus was speaking into.

SLIDE 6 This is how he was nuancing his grace for this man - saving him from the cultural implications of blindness.

And we see that his main message is not that sight is better than blindness, but that he comes to transform our lives, and give us all new sight.
SLIDE 7 Because he is the light of the world.

SLIDE 8 In Ephesians  in the New Testament, Paul writes that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

This passage and its subsequent verses are often used as a blessing in churches.

So that we can be reminded of the perspective - the new sight - we are meant to have in Christ:

that there is hope in the world - there is hope for the world! -

SLIDE 9 that we can see things through a new lens, with all the beauty and colour and life of Christ.

Bible scholar W.D. Davies has described our human perspective as being in Adam or in Christ.

In Adam, we have a limited perspective that’s rooted in sin and cynicism. At best it is indifferent about the world, at worst it condemns it. Life is grey, and lacks hope.

In Christ, though, we can see the world in colour. We have hope for it, and work to redeem it, because it is God’s creation, wholly and dearly loved.

That is the purpose of this miracle.

Yes, it allows this man to see, but it allows others to truly see him. Not as beggar, but just as a man. A person who is wholly and dearly loved.

SLIDE 10 In a story about someone gaining the ability to see, Jesus’ declaration that he is the light of the world does cast a different light on it.

Light in and of itself isn’t just something we see.

Light, of course, allows us to see.

SLIDE 11 It gives us perspective on the world that we don’t have in the dark.

It makes the world visible, beautiful, and colourful.

Like stepping from sepia tones into Technicolor.

SLIDE 12 Jesus is the light of the world; he is the light for the world.

So that we can see him in everything; so that we can have his perspective on everything.

Part Two - Mission & Application

SLIDE 13 This week is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day, and in the prayer of St. Patrick it says:
“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.”

It says that we arise through the strength that comes from the creator of creation.

The one who is present and active everywhere, in all that we do.

That is the perspective we are meant to have. Seeing the colour of Christ in all spheres of life.

Seeing all spheres of life as he does.

As we heard in a sermon series earlier this winter, he is inescapable. And that is good news for creation.

SLIDE 14 That is the goal of the work of redemption. That is shalom - the Hebrew concept of peace, wholeness, and fulfillment that this world was first created with.

All things working for their intended purpose, for God’s good.

SLIDE 15 That’s the enlightenment, and the perspective, that we are meant to have as followers of Christ.

That is the new sight that he gives us - the ability to see him at work, everywhere.

I am old enough that we had a black & white TV until I was probably about 6 or so.
Our TV was a tiny little thing with bunny ears and a dial on the side.

We actually had a VCR before we got a colour TV, with one videotape.

So when we finally got a colour TV, that tape was the first thing my mom let us watch in colour.

And I remember shouting “green!” as soon as that FBI warning came on the opening screen, as if I’d never seen colour before.

It was the same movie, but now we were seeing it as it was meant to be seen.

With new sight.

Everything was the same, but different.

Christ transforms us for beauty and colour and life.

And we will see the world new, as if we’ve never properly seen it before.

We’ll see it as it was meant to be seen.

We’ll see it as he does.

A couple weeks ago we quoted painter Henri Matisse, who said that “look for an exterior light to illuminate them internally, whereas the artist or the poetry possesses an interior light which transforms objects to make a new world of them”, which is a “reflection of divinity”.

SLIDE 16 Here, Christ says “I am the light of the world.”
SLIDE 17 In Matthew 5:14, he says “You are the light of th world.”
An exterior light to illuminate us; an interior light that transforms.

We are called to take our source of light and illuminate the world as he does.

So that the world sees all the beauty and colour of Christ with them, before them, and behind them.

Present and alive and at work in all things.

A perspective in Adam is easy. A perspective in sin is easy. There is plenty of evidence that the world can be a dull, grey, difficult place.

So a perspective in Christ can seem harder. Hope and colour can seem harder.

And yes, we need to be realistic about the state of our world - we can’t transform and redeem something if we don’t first acknowledge that it needs redeeming.

But we don’t paint everything with a black brush.

SLIDE 18 Christ is in everything. And his creation is wholly and dearly loved.  We need to see everything that way. With colour and potential and hope.

I use this example from writer C.S. Lewis probably once a year, that it would be incredible if we could all look at creation as if it were already completely fully restored and redeemed. It would be incredible if we could start seeing creation through our Father’s eyes: see its full potential as a reflection of him.

Our kids.

Our seniors.

Our neighbours.

See them all with the beauty and colour God created them to have.

See them all with the perspective of Christ.

How would that change the way we think? How would that change the way we talk and behave?
That transformation is possible when we see things illuminated by the light of the world.

The grace of Jesus Christ will inevitably change our perspective.

So that we want to join in his work of redemption and help illuminate and redeem those things with him.

That is the thrust of Reformed thinking - that all things belong to God, that all of creation reflects his goodness in some way, and all things are to be reconciled back to him.

We know that redemption is so needed in our world.

That light needs to be shone in so many different places.

That’s why it’s tempting to see the world as being so grey.

But that’s why Christ has called us into his mission.

As his followers we need to illuminate where he is present and at work.

And we join in that work, so that the world doesn’t lose hope, but begins to see in colour again!

It’s a given fact by now that social media can be a cesspool of negativity and a complete waste of time.

But I believe it can actually be a source of some of that hope and colour.

SLIDE 19 Because while you’re doomscrolling through terrible news and rage bait, you might also see a little kid give their grandpa the baseball of their very first home run.

You might see a white neighbour ask a Muslim neighbour for help tying a headscarf for a wedding she has to go to, and a new connection is forged.

You might see a little boy admit to a drill instructor that he wants him to be his Dad, because “I have no Daddy!”

If you’re not seeing these things, then you need to adjust your algorithm.

I’ll send you some links.

SLIDE 20 The point is that there is a bright side to life!

There is a way to see all the beauty and life and colour of the world!
And it’s important that we do. Because all these little examples of beauty and colour can add up.

They can slowly start to restore our faith in the world, in each other, and in a God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ever ask or imagine!

The doctrine of sin and total depravity only means that the total is depraved - the whole - not that everything is depraved totally.

And depravity is never more powerful than God’s grace.

It’s all a matter of perspective, and the lens through which we see the world.

After the mud and spit we witness and experience in life there is clarity and beauty and colour!

Conclusion

At the end of The Wizard of Oz, after having her Technicolor adventure, Dorthy returns to her sepia-toned home.

SLIDE 21 And she famously declares that she’s finally learned that “there’s no place like home.”
It was the same home, and family and friends, but maybe not as they were meant to be seen.

She has a new perspective, a new light to see it all with.

Everything is the same, but different.

That new perspective is the sight that Christ gives to each of us.

So I hope that as we go from this place, each of us can continue to see the world, and see each other, with all the Technicolor beauty that Christ has created us with.