What is a Christian Artist?

I’m a double major in the visual arts and a leader in the art community on my campus so I jumped at the opportunity to join other artists for five days to explore our opportunities and challenges as art students who follow Jesus. I was curious about how my peers integrate their art and their faith. Here is what they had to say at the recent StoneWorks Arts Leadership Training Conference (SALT).

I travelled to Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi to attend SALT, expecting to learn more about God’s calling on my life as an artist. I was excited to meet other people who were passionate about ministering to their campuses and communities through their artwork. I wasn’t disappointed!
It was so inspiring and refreshing to see Christian artists from across the country come together. We represented many different visual and performing arts disciplines and we were all encouraged and empowered to offer our gifts in service to God.

During the conference, speaker Dr. Colin Harbinson talked about what it means to be a Christian artist and the obstacles, or “stones,” we commonly face. Three areas of struggle for many Christian artists are issues related to the church, or the artist personally, or within the culture at large. He emphasized the need to remove these “stones” so that we can be free to live up to our identity as artists. He is the International Director of Stoneworks, a global arts initiative.
I asked some of the art students at SALT about their thoughts on what it means to be artists and Christians on campus and in the world. Here are some of their responses:

What does it mean to you to be a Christian artist?
Meg, a senior at Southern Illinois University, understands the difference between the terms “Christian artist” and “Christian art.” “Someone at SALT said that the word “Christian” is not an adjective; it’s a noun. “Christian” doesn’t describe the art, it’s just art made by someone who loves Christ. I think that’s a really simple way to look at it.”
“I’ve always seen creative expression as one of the greatest gifts God has given us as human beings; we have this ability to express ourselves that is purely from God,” said Grace, a sophomore at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). “There’s no real separation there, to be an artist, to be a Christian, to be a follower of God — it’s all a form of worship and connection with him on a really deep spiritual level. Even if you don’t make explicitly “Christian art,” being a Christian means that your values and your beliefs will come out in what you produce.”
See Grace’s video where she shares her thoughts on art as a form of worship:
Worshipping God as an art student from StudentSoul on Vimeo.

Stephanie, a senior at MICA, believes that being a Christian artist is a way she can bring hope to people in the fine arts community. “I think that the fine arts world is often an unhappy place and the joy that I have as a Christian comes through my art. I choose to be an artist because the arts don’t give answers; they pose questions — and that’s the most effective way to do ministry,” Stephanie said. “People don’t want to be told what is right; they want to come to it on their own. I think the Holy Spirit uses the arts to do that.”

What difficulties do you face as a Christian artist on your campus?
“The hardest thing to overcome as a Christian in an arts school is the preconceived idea of what a Christian is,” said Stephanie. “When people find out I’m a Christian, they say “I’ve never met a Christian who accepts me.” I think that just meeting people where they are is the most important challenge that we as Christians have to take on.”
“Because my campus is, in some respects, hostile towards Christianity, it is difficult to practice an art form that you know is God-given in an environment where people don’t see it that way. Christianity is so steeped in the history of art that it’s hard to be in an artistic setting and not talk about Christianity. It is fertile ground for discussing questions people have about the history of the church,” said Grace. “What’s important for me now is to display my faith through my actions and my art for people on my campus who aren’t receptive to my words.”

What impact did SALT have on you personally?
“I’ve been learning just how intricately the artistic side of me connects with my faith and how to express what I know about God and how I feel about God through my art,” said Meg. “I have this really strong sense of possibility and calling on my life. I’m excited about stepping into that and living it out. I feel released and free, as if God is saying, Don’t be afraid or hesitant; just jump into it and see what I’ll do.

“SALT reaffirmed in me the fact that I am a leader in the arts. It sparked a fire in me to share everything I’ve learned, like a reinvigorated commission” said Stephanie. “Through this conference, I sense God telling me that this is what he wants me to do and what he’s enabled me to do, so I must go do it. I think that the message of Christ’s love communicated through the beauty of the arts is something that I am able to take into the world now.”
Dick Ryan, InterVarsity’s Director of Arts Ministries, summarized the SALT conference by saying, “We’re trying to create a way for people to become high-quality, productive artists and, at the same time, to become high-quality, productive Christians. This happens in an authentic community with others where there is a safe place for honest discussions about life, God, and the arts. This is what we want our students to be doing when they go back to their campuses.”
—by Angela Schram

Conflict with GOD

If there is indeed some truth to the Illuminati conspiracy, the Illuminati are nothing but pawns in the hands of Satan, tools to be manipulated in his conflict with God. 

The fate of the Illuminati will be the same as the fate of their lord, Satan/Lucifer, who will be cast into the lake of fire, to be tormented day and night, forever and ever (Revelation 20:10). 

In John 16:33 Jesus declared, 

"In this world you will have trouble. 
But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

For Christians, all we need to understand about the Illuminati conspiracy is summarized in the words of 1 John 4:4, 

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

From Faith to Faith

by Daniel Kirk

What makes us Christians? What defines us as a people?
“I believe in God the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only begotten son, our Lord…”

That’s one way of doing it. We are articulate what we believe. In an upward gesture, we define ourselves by a common set of postures toward God, Jesus, and Spirit.
What makes us who we are, what saves us, is our faith.

But, as I’ve argued here before, we need to be careful how we identify ourselves. We need to exercise care because how we define who we are will determine what we think faithful action looks like.

Ethics and identity are inseparable.

I’ve been arguing for some time that we need to reconstrue our identity and our ethics in narrative terms. We need to loosen our grip on statements of faith, and move toward more fully living into the story of the narrative of the faithful Christ.
It strikes me that what I’m arguing for is a wholesale transformation of our way of understanding Christian faith that corresponds to a shift in the way many Paul scholars are reading the phrase, “the faith of Christ” (πίστις χριστοῦ).

This phrase can be read one of two ways.

1. Christ can be seen as the object of faith (thus the phrase “objective genitive” as the Greek construction). This would mean, “[our] faith in Christ.”
2. Christ can be seen as the subject of faith (thus the phrase “subjective genitive” as the Greek construction). This would mean, “Christ’s faithfulness.”

At bottom, what is Paul after? By what are we justified in the sight of God? Is it our faith in Jesus? Or is it Jesus’ faithfulness in going to death on the cross?
The idea that we’re justified by our own faith in Christ is part of a larger way of construing Christian identity in terms of believing the right things about God.
When Richard Hays renewed the argument for the subjective genitive (“Christ’s faithfulness”) reading of Paul, the subtitle of his work was this: “The narrative substructure of Galatians 3:1-4:11.”

The point is not simply that we translate a phrase in one particular way. The larger point is that this translation reflects a deeper structure in Pauline theology.
Paul is a narrative theologian. He tells the saving story of Jesus. And he invites his congregations into it.

It might be that Hays was onto something even larger than his own initial project caught sight of (or, at least, articulated): by decentering our faithful response, the faithfulness of God in Christ can return to center stage. We can being to creatively reimagine what it means to be the faithful people of God, not as those who believe a certain list in a shared statement of belief, but those who are active participants in the saving story of the crucified Christ.

Not only might we make room for a storied theology, we might make room for a storied identity that gives rise to a faithful, storied ethic.

Evangelism VS Social Concern ??

Black Evangelicals, White Evangelicals, and Franklin Graham's Repentance

When Franklin Graham expressed doubts about President Obama’s Christian faith during an interview on Morning Joe last week, it reminded me of an uncomfortable dinner I had in the late ‘90s.

I sat down for a pleasant meal in the home of two great friends — one of them a white evangelical faith leader deeply committed to social justice. Well into the evening’s conversation — when we’d dropped all our pretenses and our exchanges moved well past mealtime niceties — one friend asked me something that caught me entirely off guard.
“Do you think Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian?” he said.
I was dumbstruck. I had never heard anyone actually ask that question before.
“Yes,” I replied. “What would make you doubt that?”
As he explained, it became clear: My friend wasn’t sure whether Dr. King was a Christian because King’s Christianity didn’t look like my friend’s Christianity.
Dr. King valued justice. My friend valued justice.

King professed personal faith in Jesus. My friend professed personal faith in Jesus.
And yet my friend still was hung up about King’s faith because, to his eye, King didn’t seem interested in “evangelism” as my friend defined it — i.e. the practice of calling sinners into personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross is payment for our sins.

Twentieth-century white evangelical understanding of the Gospel guided (and in many ways defined) my friend’s Christian walk. Therein lies the disconnect between his Christian faith and Dr. King’s.
According to sociologists Michael Emerson and Christian Smith (authors of Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America), only one thing separates white and black evangelicals, but it makes all the difference in the world: Vastly different experiences of structural and systemic oppression.

Black evangelicals have a long history of interaction with oppressive systems and structures. When African Americans read the Bible, they see the more than 2,000 passages of scripture about God’s hatred for poverty and oppression. They see God’s desire for systems and structures to be blessings to all of humanity — not a curse to some and a blessing for others.
And they see Jesus’ own declaration that he had come to preach good news to the poor, which, by the way, is decidedly not a reference to the “spiritually impoverished.” Jesus meant that he had come to preach good news (of liberation, freedom, and new life) to people trapped in material poverty.

White evangelicals generally do not experience such systemic oppression. According to Emerson and Smith, most white evangelicals don’t prioritize or even see the thousands of references in the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament about structural and systemic injustice.

Accordingly, the Gospel — and by extension their evangelism — is about only one thing: Personal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for their sins, and a personal relationship with him.
Black evangelicals also have personal faith that Jesus’ death paid for their sins, but their Gospel doesn’t end with personal (and individual) salvation. For Dr. King and Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rev. John Perkins and Nelson Mandela and for hundreds of thousands of Black Christians around the world and for me, the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were for the redemption of both individual souls and the redemption of whole societies.

Franklin Graham’s father, Dr. Billy Graham, didn’t always understand this, either. The elder Graham’s revivals began as segregated affairs, but the Supreme Court’s desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) agitated his conscience and he quickly course corrected. From that point on, Billy Graham never again held a segregated revival.

What’s more, in 1957 Dr. Graham invited Dr. King, to share his pulpit for a 16-week revival in New York City.
For Billy Graham, Martin King was a Christian.
In the last decade or so, a new generation of white evangelicals — such as my friends Shane Claiborne, Kelly Moltzen, Josh Harper, and others — have intentionally displaced themselves, moving into impoverished communities of color in order to gain the experience their parents and grandparents lacked. As a result, their white evangelical eyes are open.
They see those 2,000 scriptures about poverty and injustice. And this new generation of white evangelicals is committed to fight systemic and structural justice because of the Gospel.

So, it grieved me to hear Franklin Graham’s doubt-filled commentary on President Obama’s faith.
Obama has described in his own words (and quite publicly) how he has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, how as a young community organizer in Chicago in the late ‘80s he walked down the aisle of a church during an altar call to make a public profession of that faith — a practice developed by one of the greatest American evangelists of all time, Charles Finney.

The president has clearly professed his belief that Jesus died on the cross as payment for his sins. And Obama repeatedly invokes the words of Jesus that guide his world view: “Just as you did to the least of these, you did to me.” (Matthew 25:40)
For a moment, Franklin Graham’s cynicism tested my own faith. I wondered if he had any idea that, when he questioned the president’s faith, it felt as if he were questioning my faith.

I wanted to know if the transformational power of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is powerful enough to save our souls also could open Franklin’s eyes and soften his heart to the world and experience of his black brothers and sisters.
Repentance is sweet, not only for the sinner, but also for the world. It reminds us all of what is right; what is good; what is true. Franklin Graham apologized for his comments and repented this week.
This public discussion is now a lesson for us all. I have an abiding hope that, just maybe, the power of Jesus’ resurrection is powerful enough even to save the church.

Written by Lisa Sharon Harper is the Director of Mobilizing at Sojourners. She is also co-author of Left, Right and Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics and author of Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican ... or Democrat.

26: Beyond my Understanding

Mazmur 103:15, 16 

“Adapun manusia, hari-harinya seperti rumput, seperti bunga di padang demikianlah ia berbunga; apabila angin melintasinya, maka tidak ada lagi ia, dan tempatnya tidak mengenalnya lagi.”

Mengingat Nats ini memberikan peringatan mendalam, mengenai hari-hari hidup yang sudah saya lalui. Sepertinya kesempatan menjadi dan berbuat yang terbaik hanya hari ini. Sangat takut melewatinya tanpa Tuhan. Perlu memastikan hari ini apa yang saya lakukan berkenan di hati-Nya. Sekaligus membuka refleksi Ulang Tahun ke-26 ini.

Bunga rumput muncul sebentar saja, dan akan menghilang. Waktu yang sebentar itu, telah berkurang setahun tepat pada hari ini. Dan di hadapan saya terbentang beberapa keputusan besar yang dimulai dari sebuah langkah awal yang besar. Sejak tahun lalu berpikir, mendoakan dan menimbang segalanya. Bahkan sampai saat mempersiapkan kepindahan ke Denpasar, masih terus berdoa dan bertanya:

Siapkah dengan segala kemungkinan terburuk yang 'mungkin' terjadi? 

Mengapa harus memulai sesuatu dari nol, sesuatu yang belum tentu ada hasilnya, di tanah asing? Ini kan mimpi yang menjadi kenyataan, jangan sia-siakan kesempatan album rohani ini! Bodoh, siap-siap menyesal kalau meninggalkan Surabaya..

Apakah ini jalan terbaik yang harus ditempuh?? Pikir mudah apa mendapatkan komunitas rohani yang saling mendukung seperti yang kamu miliki di sini!! Kehidupan yang lebih plural dan pergaulan yang hedonis. 

Apakah ini waktu yang tepat? Bagaimana kalau ini keputusan besar yang fatal?? Awas terjerumus secara perlahan-lahan ke dalam cara hidup yang tidak benar dan justru kehilangan Tuhan di sana.
Bagaimana kalau digosipkan yang tidak benar, bukankah tidak menjadi kesaksian.. 
Bagaimana kalau sampai pada akhirnya keluarga tidak mendukung dengan berbagai alasan, apakah tetap mau dipaksakan..??

Pertanyaaan dan pernyataan ini senantiasa mengantui saya dan membuat semua konfirmasi-konfirmasi kecil yang menguatkan saya menjadi tidak berarti karena ketakutan itu selalu saja datang mengganggu saya. 

Hanya karena saya tidak mengerti (kurang cukup alasan) mengapa harus pindah ke Denpasar, saya tidak berhak menentukan bahwa Tuhan mungkin keliru dengan memberikan kekuatan-kekuatan kecil yang menjawab segala pertanyaan untuk memantapkan langkah saya menuju Denpasar. Saya sangat menyadari petunjuk-petunjuk itu datang dari-Nya, Akan tetapi, bila saya mulai mempertimbangkan pro dan kontra, kemudian perdebatan masuk ke dalam pikiran, maka yang saya temui adalah pertimbangan-pertimbangan yang sama sekali tidak menunjukkan unsur pribadi Allah (Iman, Pengharapan, Kasih, Kebenaran).

Misi Hidup VS Pasangan Hidup

Saya berada di dalam dua sisi yang berbeda tipis. Ada gagasan-gagasan tentang pergumulan ini yang tidak sesuai dengan hukum idealisme yang selama ini saya bangun lewat berbagai pengetahuan dan dogma yang saya terima. Yang paling utama adalah gagasan saya tentang pasangan hidup. Bahwa saya seharusnya digerakkan oleh misi hidup bukan pasangan hidup. Pasangan hidup itu pelengkap, yang utama adalah misi hidup. Dan sama sekali tidak mengijinkan kemungkinan pasangan hidup itu termasuk dalam misi hidup yang saya perjuangkan. Saking begitu kentalnya, saya membutuhkan hampir setahun untuk benar-benar memutuskan hal ini.

Tuhan.. Saya tidak tahu apa yang harus saya lakukan di Denpasar.. Yang  pasti yang harus saya lakukan adalah bekerja, terlibat dalam pelayanan, dan mengembangkan talenta bernyanyi..

Namun, pikiran saya tidak mengijinkan agar rencana di atas dapat ditrima sebagai pendukung kepindahan saya. Dan akhirnya, waktu untuk memilih itu mendesak dan harus di tentukan. Tak dapat ditunda lagi. Kontrak rekaman album rohani atau pindah ke Denpasar? Masing-masing dengan konsekuensi jangka panjang yang mengikat. Bertambah getir-lah hati saya.

Diam dalam keheningan dan tetap tekun latihan menyanyi, tetap bekerja, tetap berdoa, tetap mempertanyakan. Waktu-waktu di atas angkutan umum (angkot) menuju latihan menyanyi adalah waktu yang tepat untuk merasa bimbang dan berdoa. Melihat semua frame kehidupan yang berlalu di sisi kanan kiri jalan. Menanti dengan sabar kapan jemputan teman tiba sambil trus merasakan bahwa Dia hadir dalam segala kejadian sederhana dalam segenap kehidupan saya. Dan perenungan terhadap pertanyaan sederhana muncul di dalam kediaman yang paling hening..

Pelajaran Iman dari Petrus

Iman bukan pengertian intelektual. Iman adalah janji sukarela untuk tetap setia kepada Pribadi Yesus. Iman adalah dasar dari segala sesuatu yang kita harapkan dan bukti dari segala sesuatu yang tidak kita lihat. Walaupun saya tidak dapat melihat jalan yang terbentang di depan. Kisah Petrus dan murid-murid di atas perahu yang dilanda gelombang. Ketika ketakutan melanda karena angin sakal itu, sosok Yesus muncul di atas air.

Petrus melihat Yesus. Ia mengenal Yesus dan tak ada keraguan bahwa itu adalah Tuhan-nya yang senantiasa bersamanya setiap hari. Ia yakin ia berjalan menuju Tuhan-Nya walalupun langkah yang akan diambilnya terlihat 'tidak masuk akal'. What?? Berjalan di atas air?? Orang percaya yang bertanggung jawab adalah orang percaya yang berani masuk dan menghadapi tantangan seperti ini. Murid-murid yang lain, tetap berada di dalam perahu dan semakin takut. 

“Berjalan di atas air” bukan berarti lari dari persoalan dan ingin mencari posisi yang lebih aman. Sebab tatkala Petrus berjalan di atas air anginnya masih ada. Resikonya adalah, kalau di tengah perjalanan itu ia lengah, maka ia akan kalah.“ Matius 14:30 mencatat bahwa Petrrus tenggelam justru bukan pada saat berada di perahu dengan angin sakal itu, tetapi karena tiupan angin setelah keluar dari perahu. Ia tidak memusatkan perhatiannya pada Tuhan Yesus, maka ia harus bertanggung jawab terhadap apa yang dilakukannya. Ia tenggelam.  

Diam di atas perahu seperti murid-murid yang lain ATAU berjalan di atas air seperti yang dilakukan Petrus adalah pilihan iman. Yang salah adalah ketakutan itu. Dan dengan gamblangnya, suara hati saya menjawab pertanyaan saya. Pilihan untuk menerima kontrak rekaman album dan pindah ke Denpasar adalah pilihan iman. Dengan penyataan khusus yang terus menjawab ketakutan saya dan menyertakanNya dalam proses berpikir/menimbang semua kesempatan dan konsekuensi, saya semakin diperdamaikan dengan semua konflik dalam diri. Saya siap menghadapi dan bertanggung jawab di dalam Iman atas keputusan saya. Semuanya dapat saya hadapi, bahkan segala kemungkinan terburuk, dapat di jalani dengan kekuatan penyertaanNya yang slalu terbukti dan tidak pernah gagal. Pertanyaan  reflektif yang jujur yang diungkapkan oleh orang-orang yang mengasihi bahkan sampai ejekan/sindiran/penyepelehan orang lain atas pergumulan saya justru telah memurnikan sgalanya.
Dan saya semakin yakin, jika hidup saya selaras dengan kehendak-Nya, maka meski saya tidak tahu apa yang akan terjadi, saya pasti memiliki naluri tentang arah yang benar. Dengan keberanian dan kepercayaan diri, saya dapat terus maju. Tanpa takut tersesat, saya  tahu bahwa setelah melalui badai dan ketidakpastian, saya akan tiba di tempat yang benar. 

Mengarahkan Pandangan, Menetapkan Langkah
  

Sebuah keputusan yang tepat bukan dinilai pada saat ini, melainkan akan diuji oleh sang waktu. Membahas pro dan kontra, saya lebih mengutamakan menjelaskan pergumulan keputusan ini kepada orang yang bertanya secara langsung, teman-teman terdekat, keluarga. Saya berusaha membuat mereka mengerti dengan penjelasan sederhana dan terbaik yang bisa saya berikan. Namun ternyata, seberapa baiknya berusaha menjaga kelakukan, sikap dan kata kita untuk slalu bersih tak dapat mengagalkan pernyataan dan komentar negatif orang lain. Dan sejenak saya kembali frustasi dengan konsekuensi ini. Namun, ayat ini kembali menguatkan saya.

Akuilah DIa dalam segala laku-mu, maka Ia akan meluruskan jalan-mu - Amsal 3:6

Serasa berada di satu titik petualangan baru yang mendebarkan. Dengan mengabdikan diri pada Tuhan, berjalan bersama-Nya, mengakui-Nya dan karya kebesaranNya akan membuat saya mantap. Apapun itu, konsekuensi apapun itu, semua ada dalam kedaulatan-Nya. Siapapun bertanggungjawab dengan pilihan-nya kepada Tuhan. Selama Ia beserta-ku, saya + TUHAN adalah mayoritas. Kehadiran-Nya.. Pengertian-Nya.. Pimpinan-Nya cukup untuk mengantar saya mengalami petualangan-petualangan iman lainnya.

Ulang Tahun yang Berbeda 

Saya mengikuti sebuah Persekutuan Doa di malam tanggal 28 Maret. Diberikan kesempatan untuk bersaksi lewat pujian. Saya memilih lagu berjudul 'Karya Terbesar' yang mengungkapkan betapa bersyukurnya saya atas Karya Terbesar Tuhan yang dilakukan dalam hidup saya. Kemudian, didoakan oleh pembawa Firman. Satu kalimat yang keluar dari mulut pembawa Firman tersebut kepada saya:

Maya.. Tetap menjaga hati supaya rendah hati.. Teruslah memuji kebesaran Tuhan.. 

Terus bernyanyi.. Dimanapun kamu berada kamu akan dipakai Tuhan..

Kata Ibu Laura (pemilik rumah tempat persekutuan), rasanya persekutuan hari ini memang disiapkan Tuhan untuk Ulang Tahun-nya Maya, karena ia biasanya hanya menyajikan makanan ringan seperti kue dan gorengan. Namun pada hari ini, ia memasak mie goreng spesial  + cap cay dan kami bersama-sama menikmati makanan super lezat itu.

Sambil menikmati makanan itu, saya rasanya ingin menangis. Menangis karena bahagia berada di tengah orang baru namun merasa hangat dengan kasih Tuhan. Menangis karena sedih harus berdebat dengan keluarga mengenai masalah kepindahan ke Denpasar.

Teman..

Ulang Tahun kali ini memang berbeda. Tuhan mengajarkan sesuatu yang baru. Saya seperti anak burung Rajawali yang sedang dibawa ke langit yang tinggi, dilepaskan, dan dibiarkan untuk belajar terbang. Hanya keyakinan pada-Nya, bahwa Ia akan menangkap saya bila saya tak kuat mengepakkan sayap. Menangkap saya dengan pasti, tak meleset dan kembali mengajarkan saya bagaimana bisa terbang tinggi. Saya tahu pelajaran ini penting agar saya bisa hidup. Hidup di alam yang seharusnya menjadi dunia saya.

Mazmur 90:12

“Ajarlah kami menghitung hari-hari kami sedemikian, 

hingga kami beroleh hati yang bijaksana.” 

Takkan Habis Kasih-Mu pada-ku

Tiada yang seperti Engkau

KasihMu mengubah hidupku

KuasaMu tak berkesudahan

Nyata di dalam hidupku

Tiada yang seperti Engkau

KuasaMu mengubah hidupku

KasihMu tak berkesudahan

Nyata di dalam hidupku

Takkan habis kasihMu bagiku

Mengalir di sepanjang hidupku

Tak berubah setiaMu padaku

Selamanya Kau ku sembah

Warming Up (Endless Love)

And I
I want to share
All my love with you
No one else will do...

And your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes
They tell me how much you care
Ooh yes, you will always be
My endless love

Father, We Commit To You Our Lives

God before us, God beside
God within us abide
God in heave and in this place
Father we commit to you this day.

God in pleasure, God in paint
God will ever remain
God in gladness and God in strife
Father we commit to you our lives.

For we know, that you are faithful
Through the stillness and the storm
For you’ve been with us from the start
Father we commit to you our hearts.

The Power of Your Love

Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That i have found in You
And Lord I have come to know
The weakenesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love

Reff:

Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side
And as I wait
I will rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love

From This Moment

(I do swear that I'll always be there. I'd give anything
and everything and I will always care. Through weakness
and strength, happiness and sorrow, for better, for worse,
I will love you with every beat of my heart.)

From this moment life has begun
From this moment you are the one
Right beside you is where I belong
From this moment on

From this moment I have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love I'd give my last breath
From this moment on

I give my hand to you with all my heart
Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start