Teach Me Ever to Adore Thee

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Acts 9:1-20 and John 21:15-19

  (preparing for Worship 4-14-13)

In the lessons for this Sunday, so much is going on.  Saul is actively pursuing those who follow the Way, seeking to arrest them, breathing threats and murder against those who follow Jesus.  This is how he has grown since the day when he held the cloaks of those who actively killed Stephen, stoning him for his faith in Jesus.

And then there is Peter who is disconnected enough (even after the resurrection) that he returns to Galilee and start fishing again.  Some of the disciples join and follow him.  Is there really any hope for the church?  Two of the “great ones” of the church seem to have nothing in them that is of God.  Is it not like the great hymn says, are we not really prone to wander and stay from the God we love?

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love…”

(“Come Thou Font of Every BlessingLBW #499 vs 3)
{click on the link above to hear a nice version
 of this verse  by Lindsy  Morton & Joseph Schlegel}

How is it then that any good can come about in our lives if we are so prone to wonder?  Well, this is the miracle and power of Easter again:  We are not left to our own wondering and our own devices.  God continues to come.  Jesus continues to call.  Peter is again inspired to love the lambs of Jesus and Paul is turned around and inspired to become a follower of Jesus too.  This Easter living is quite a miracle – and completely dependant of God’s ongoing activity.

Listen again to all three verses of this great hymn,

Come Thou Font of Every Blessing

Pastor Mitch

1      Come, thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,
        tune my heart to sing thy grace;
        streams of mercy, never ceasing,
        call for songs of loudest praise.
        While the hope of endless glory
        fills my heart with joy and love,
        teach me ever to adore thee;
        may I still thy goodness prove.
 
2      Here I raise my Ebenezer*:
        “Hither by thy help I’ve come”;
        and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
        safely to arrive at home.
        Jesus sought me when a stranger,
        wand’ring from the fold of God;
        he, to rescue me from danger,
        interposed his precious blood.
 
3      Oh, to grace how great a debtor
        daily I’m constrained to be;
        let that grace now like a fetter
        bind my wand’ring heart to thee.
        Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
        prone to leave the God I love.
        Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it;
        seal it for thy courts above.
  
* Stones piled high in memory of a great encounter or significant experience that has changed us and made us who we are today.

Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790, alt.