{"id":20414,"date":"2018-10-17T07:35:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T11:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=20414"},"modified":"2018-10-17T15:12:06","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T19:12:06","slug":"worship-wednesday-i-am-broken-at-your-feet-alabaster-rend-collective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=20414","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – I Am Broken at Your Feet – Alabaster – Rend Collective"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: The River Walk<\/a><\/p>\n

Within two days of Jesus’ crucifixion, just hours before, a woman would anoint his body for burial… Here is the strange and glorious account of that event:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a cunning way to arrest Jesus and kill him.\u00a0<\/em><\/span> \u201cNot during the festival,\u201d they said, \u201cso that there won\u2019t be a riot among the people.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

While he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head.<\/span> But some were expressing indignation to one another: \u201cWhy has this perfume been wasted?<\/span> For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.\u201d And they began to scold her.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus replied, \u201cLeave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing<\/span> for me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> You always have the poor<\/span> with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me.<\/span><\/span> She has done what she could; she has anointed my body<\/span> in advance for burial.<\/span><\/span> Truly I tell you,<\/span> wherever the gospel<\/span> is proclaimed in the whole world,<\/span> what she has done will also be told in memory of her.\u201d – <\/span><\/span><\/em>Mark 14:1-9<\/span><\/span><\/a>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Our pastor Cliff Jordan’s sermon<\/a> on Mark 14:1-11 brought this account alive again to us. [Listen to the podcast linked above.]<\/p>\n

The woman who poured out her treasure – possibly all she had in the world – in worshiping the Lord – was no stranger to him. She was Mary<\/a>, sister to Lazarus and Martha – friend and follower of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by the disciples at his host’s table, Jesus was enjoying the company of these men so close to him. Mary entered the room without ceremony and straightaway broke open an alabaster jar containing this expensive perfume. [That jar was like her security – equivalent to a year’s wages in that day – “compared to her love for Jesus, it was nothing”, <\/em>Cliff preached.]<\/p>\n

She would pour that extravagant oil over his head. She then took the dripping oil into her hands and rubbed it on his feet. Drying off the excess with her own hair. The men in the room took loud exception at what they considered her frivolous act…but not Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave her alone.<\/strong> Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing<\/span> for me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> You always have the poor<\/span> with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me.<\/span><\/span> She has done what she could; she has anointed my body<\/span> in advance for burial.<\/span><\/span><\/strong> Truly I tell you,<\/span> wherever the gospel<\/span> is proclaimed in the whole world,<\/span> <\/strong>what she has done will also be told in memory of her<\/strong>.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Two days later, Jesus would give his all on a cross. Beaten and bloody he would die…for us…holding nothing back. It was a Friday, and Passover. By the time his body was released to be buried, his followers had to rush, because of the late hour, laying his body in the tomb, wrapped but without anointing oils.<\/p>\n

No worries. In the quiet of that Passover evening, Jesus’ body, caked with blood mixed with his sweat, the fragrance of Mary’s love offering must have remained…must have sweetened the stench of his death. He gave his all for us…she gave her all for him.<\/p>\n

“Love is a laid-down life.” (Elisabeth Elliot<\/a>) – We experience that in Jesus, those of us who know him. We see that in Mary.<\/p>\n

Pastor Cliff asked the questions: “What is my alabaster jar? Where do we place our security? What can’t we imagine life without?”<\/p>\n

I can’t imagine life without Jesus and knowing his love and his great gift of salvation. Everything else pales.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

From our years living in Egypt, we have kept two small alabaster votives. The light they emit is both enthralling and beautiful…so like the act of Mary’s giving all she had to her beloved Jesus.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Worship<\/a> with me to Rend Collective<\/a>‘s Alabaster<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I am broken at Your feet
\nLike an alabaster jar
\nEvery piece of who I am
\nLaid before Your majesty<\/p>\n

I will bow my life
\nAt Your feet, at Your feet
\nMy lips, so lost for words
\nWill kiss Your feet, kiss Your feet
\nYeah<\/p>\n

Oh, the gravity of You<\/strong>
\n Draws my soul unto its knees<\/strong>
\n I will never be the same, no<\/strong>
\n I am lost and found in You<\/strong><\/p>\n

And I will bow my life
\nAt Your feet, at Your feet
\nMy lips, so lost for words
\nWill kiss Your feet, kiss Your feet<\/p>\n

Oh, I will bow my life
\nAt Your feet, at Your feet
\nMy lips, so lost for words
\nWill kiss Your feet, kiss Your feet.*<\/p>\n

* Lyrics to Alabaster<\/em> by Rend Collective<\/a><\/p>\n

The AlabasterJar<\/em> – The River Walk<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Alabaster Box<\/em> – Cece Winans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: The River Walk Within two days of Jesus’ crucifixion, just hours before, a woman would anoint his body for burial… Here is the strange and glorious account of that event: \u00a0It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – I Am Broken at Your Feet – Alabaster – Rend Collective<\/span> →<\/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":[926,1618,1180,183,910,2556,33,18,1179,5130,795,432,610,1,47,946],"tags":[6558,644,1322,6555,2576,1025,469,1835,3069,385,2021,473,6557,6556,49,360],"class_list":["post-20414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attending-or-focus","category-courage","category-crucifixion","category-culture-religion","category-gospel","category-grief-and-loss","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-lamb-of-god","category-legacy","category-love-2","category-music","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-uncategorized","category-wednesday-worship","category-worship","tag-anointing","tag-broken","tag-brokenness","tag-cece-winans","tag-cliff-jordan","tag-crucifixion","tag-death","tag-jesus","tag-legacy","tag-mary","tag-movement-church","tag-rend-collective","tag-the-alabaster-jar","tag-the-river-walk","tag-worship","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-5jg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20414","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=20414"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20457,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20414\/revisions\/20457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}