{"id":18803,"date":"2018-09-19T22:12:44","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T02:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=18803"},"modified":"2018-09-20T07:25:39","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T11:25:39","slug":"worship-wednesday-we-are-blessed-to-bless-a-world-in-pieces-andy-flannagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=18803","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday &#8211; We Are Blessed, to Bless a World in Pieces &#8211; Andy Flannagan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Blog-Blessed-to-be-a-blessing-Inspirational-Bible-Verses.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20225\" src=\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Blog-Blessed-to-be-a-blessing-Inspirational-Bible-Verses.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Blog-Blessed-to-be-a-blessing-Inspirational-Bible-Verses.jpg 800w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Blog-Blessed-to-be-a-blessing-Inspirational-Bible-Verses-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Blog-Blessed-to-be-a-blessing-Inspirational-Bible-Verses-768x513.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/bibleverses2u.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/bible-verses-about-blessings-blessings.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bible Verses 2 U<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em> \u201cAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.\u201d &#8211;<\/em> God to Abraham &#8211;\u00a0 <a class=\"rtBibleRef\" href=\"https:\/\/biblia.com\/bible\/esv\/Gen%2012.2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-reference=\"Gen 12.2\" data-version=\"esv\" data-purpose=\"bible-reference\">Genesis 12:2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We are so blessed. Even those who don&#8217;t believe God is will use the expression of being blessed. I wonder, &#8220;by whom&#8221; and &#8220;why?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We are blessed to be a blessing. From the beginning of time when God instructed His first man and woman. Especially to childless Abraham who would receive that promise in faith&#8230;blessed to be a blessing.<\/p>\n<p>From a young British friend&#8217;s Facebook page sometime ago, I was introduced to songwriter <a href=\"https:\/\/andyflan.com\/bio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Andy Flannagan<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theblogofkevin.wordpress.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reverend Kevin Lewis<\/a>. They both love Jesus and sing and write about blessing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>They both cheer us on to shake off the weight of self-interest and reach out to a broken world&#8230;that those desperate for love will find it in the same Savior we know&#8230;and show by our love that He loves them, also.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"We are Blessed - Andy Flannagan feat. Tearfund friends and partners\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cd72zi3i2XY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;[We need to] come out of Mor<strong>al Supe<\/strong>riority Cas<strong>tle, cro<\/strong>ss over the stagnant moat of separation and meet <strong>the kingdom of God where justice and mercy meet<\/strong>, where the <strong>never-en<\/strong>ding stream is full of justice a<strong>nd good<\/strong>ness; where people are messed up and broken and dirty like o<strong>ld cra<\/strong>cked pots that leak and feel pretty useless and that, that is where we are and where we are a part of t<strong>he re<\/strong>pairing and restoring and tra<strong>nsform<\/strong>ing of the world. It is a pla<strong>ce of tens<\/strong>ion. It is a place of unres<strong>olved h<\/strong>urt.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>No-one said that where justice and mercy meet was a comfortable place.<\/strong>&#8221; &#8211; <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/theblogofkevin.wordpress.com\/tag\/we-are-blessed-bring-heaven-to-earth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kevin Lewis<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fxx8FoTUyFk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Worship<\/a> with me.<\/p>\n<p>Bring heaven to earth, Lord<br \/>\nBring peace where there\u2019s fear<br \/>\nBring life where there\u2019s death, Lord<br \/>\nBring joy in these tears<br \/>\nBring love where there\u2019s lust, Lord<br \/>\nBring hope where there\u2019s pain<br \/>\nBring rest where there\u2019s chaos<br \/>\nBring faith where there\u2019s fame<\/p>\n<p>You invite us to partner with you<br \/>\nTo see your kingdom come<\/p>\n<p><em>We are blessed, to bless a world in pieces<\/em><br \/>\n<em>We are loved, to love where love is not<\/em><br \/>\n<em>We are changed, to be the change you promised<\/em><br \/>\n<em>We are freed, to be your hands, O God<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Bring home to the homeless<br \/>\nBring keys to the chained<br \/>\nBring worth to the purchased<br \/>\nAnd touch to the shamed<br \/>\nBring flesh from your word, Lord<br \/>\nBring truth where there\u2019s spin<br \/>\nBring risk where\u2019s there safety<br \/>\nAnd grace where there\u2019s sin<\/p>\n<p>In the broken, we shall see restored<br \/>\nThe image of our King<\/p>\n<p><em>We are blessed\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lord we cry out to you<br \/>\nChange the atmosphere<br \/>\nBreathe new life in all who gather here<\/p>\n<p><em>We are blessed\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Bring justice to profit<br \/>\nBring patience to growth<br \/>\nBring wisdom to progress<br \/>\nPlant trees on this road<br \/>\nBring freedom from debt, Lord<br \/>\nAn end to excess<br \/>\nBring closer your kingdom<br \/>\nBy quiet success<\/p>\n<p>May we grow in the knowledge of you<br \/>\nThrough every heart and face<\/p>\n<p><em>We are blessed\u2026<\/em>*<\/p>\n<p>Postscript: Andy Flannagan, in a town meeting with London mayor Sadiq Khan, at a local church, talked (in this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aau9__ZGJRc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a> clip) about what we as Christians do well. He closed with <strong>&#8220;The harder thing is to go back to the <a href=\"http:\/\/faith.nd.edu\/s\/1210\/faith\/interior.aspx?sid=1210&amp;gid=609&amp;pgid=33100\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jericho Road<\/a> to work out how to stop anybody else getting mugged.&#8221;\u00a0(<a href=\"http:\/\/faith.nd.edu\/s\/1210\/faith\/social.aspx?sid=1210&amp;gid=609&amp;pgid=33029&amp;cid=65159&amp;ecid=65159&amp;crid=0&amp;calpgid=9441&amp;calcid=21894\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Luke 10:35-37<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>*<a href=\"https:\/\/andyflan.com\/songs\/the-collection\/we-are-blessed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lyrics to <em>We Are Blessed<\/em> &#8211; Songwriter: Andy Flannagan<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andyflan.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Andy Flannagan Website<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"474\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We&#39;re getting excited because the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CiPolInfluenceTour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CiPolInfluenceTour<\/a> is starting in just 2 months! Have you booked your tickets yet? If you need a little extra <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MondayMotivation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MondayMotivation<\/a>, here&#39;s Andy Flannagan, Exec Director <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CiPolitics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CiPolitics<\/a> telling you some more about the tour and why you should come along! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DUdtprVX1k\">pic.twitter.com\/DUdtprVX1k<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Christians in politics (@CiPolitics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CiPolitics\/status\/1039167118938386432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 10, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/blessed-to-be-a-blessing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Blessed to Be a Blessing<\/em> &#8211; Mike Pettengill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo Credit: Bible Verses 2 U \u201cAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.\u201d &#8211; God to Abraham &#8211;\u00a0 Genesis 12:2 We are so blessed. Even those who don&#8217;t believe God is will use the expression of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=18803\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Worship Wednesday &#8211; We Are Blessed, to Bless a World in Pieces &#8211; Andy Flannagan<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[799,2126,2340,439,50,910,903,1267,33,1262,5130,263,795,2611,1348,432,761,1456,47,203,946],"tags":[6488,447,362,1835,2468,6487,211,999,6490,368,6489,2777,49],"class_list":["post-18803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-2","category-community","category-displaced-peoples","category-go","category-god","category-gospel","category-grace","category-healing","category-inspired","category-kindness-of-strangers","category-legacy","category-lives-full-of-god","category-love-2","category-love-your-neighbor","category-marginalized-people","category-music","category-redeeming-restoring","category-steadfast-love","category-wednesday-worship","category-word-of-god","category-worship","tag-andy-flannagan","tag-blessed-to-be-a-blessing","tag-comfort","tag-jesus","tag-justice","tag-kevin-lewis","tag-love","tag-mercy","tag-mike-pettengill","tag-suffering","tag-we-are-blessed","tag-wednesday-worship","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-4Th","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18803"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20233,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18803\/revisions\/20233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}