{"id":27008,"date":"2020-12-23T09:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T14:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=27008"},"modified":"2020-12-23T09:28:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T14:28:15","slug":"worship-wednesday-the-hope-of-christmas-matthew-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=27008","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – The Hope of Christmas – Matthew West"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Harriet Long, Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span>Out of the depths I call to you, Lord<\/span>!<\/span>
\nLord, listen to my voice;<\/span> let your ears be attentive to my cry for help.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I wait for the Lord<\/span>; I wait <\/span>and put my hope in his word.<\/span>
\nI wait for the Lord <\/span>more than watchmen for the morning\u2014<\/span>
\nmore than watchmen for the morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Israel, put your hope in the Lord<\/span>. <\/span>For there is faithful love with the Lord<\/span>, <\/span>and with him is redemption in abundance.<\/span> – Psalm 130:1-2, 5-7<\/a><\/p>\n

Writer Ann Voskamp<\/a> talks about Advent and the healing hope we have in Christ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“I thought I lost hope when life tore a hole in my back pocket of my heart, and my creased and worn-out hope fell out when the bottom of things fell out \u2014 you know: <\/em>when the door clicked close\u00a0for the last time. \u00a0When that email landed and kicked hard right in the gut.\u00a0 When the doctor shook his head slow and the room kinda spun, when too many mattering things felt impossibly wrecked, and it\u2019s your life that can feel sorta totaled, and how do you keep going on hoping \u2014 when it\u2019s the important parts of your life that are write offs?<\/em><\/p>\n

But who knew that folded and creased Hope<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>unfolds into wings?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Turns out:\u00a0You can think you\u2019ve lost hope, or you can try to shield yourself from it, abandon it, mock it, guard against it or try to trash it.<\/em><\/p>\n

But hope is a rising thing and flies to you.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

No matter where you are \u2014 in the unknown and unfamiliar \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Hope is like a homing pigeon that knows how to find its way back home to you. <\/strong><\/em>Because Hope has an inner map and will always wing its way back to you.” – <\/em>Ann Voskamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Hard to Keep Hoping? The Secret to Finding a Way Forward<\/em> – Ann Voskamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Worship<\/a> with me, considering the truth of singer songwriter Matthew West’s The Hope of Christmas<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Take me back to eight years old
\nThe little church on a dead-end road
\nWith a candle flicker in one hand and dad’s hand in the other
\nTake me back to Silent Night
\nMy heart was full and the world was right
\nCause right now the world looks nothing like those innocent Decembers
\nThese days peace on earth is hard to find
\nAnd I need you to remind me one more time<\/p>\n

You’re still the hope of Christmas
\nYou’re still the light when the world looks dark
\nYou’re still the hope of Christmas
\nAnd You’re still the hope of my heart<\/p>\n

Watch the snowflakes falling down
\nLike a blanket on this town
\nFor a moment we can hardly see the pain this year has brought us
\nMay the sick find healing’s touch
\nMay hatred’s fight be won with love
\nAnd may every heart make room for you the One who came to save us<\/p>\n

You’re still the hope of Christmas
\nYou’re still the light when the world looks dark
\nYou’re still the hope of Christmas
\nAnd You’re still the hope of my heart<\/p>\n

I bowed my head to pray tonight
\nFelt my little girl by my side
\nShe slipped her tiny hand in mine
\nAnd we both talked to You
\nAnd it took me back to eight years old
\nMy daddy’s hand and a story told
\nAbout Heaven’s love in a manger low
\nAnd a promise that’s still true<\/p>\n

You’re still the hope of Christmas
\nYou’re still the light when the world looks dark
\nYou’re still the hope of Christmas
\nAnd You’re still the hope of my heart*<\/p>\n

“Put your hope in the Lord<\/span>. <\/span>For there is faithful love with the Lord<\/span>, <\/span>and with him is redemption in abundance.” – Psalm 130:7<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

*Lyrics to The Hope of Christmas<\/em> – Songwriter: Matthew West<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Harriet Long, Facebook Out of the depths I call to you, Lord! Lord, listen to my voice; let your ears be attentive to my cry for help. I wait for the Lord; I wait and put my hope in his word. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning\u2014 more … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – The Hope of Christmas – Matthew West<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[810,926,690,813,4343,2307,794,147,3208,50,5221,903,1435,825,109,18,5130,317,795,432,31,433,887,1456,610,32,47,946],"tags":[2449,1346,1846,8484,7,1836,677,1835,211,448,648,8866,49,360],"class_list":["post-27008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-good-gifts","category-attending-or-focus","category-babies-children","category-christmas","category-daughters-and-sons","category-emotions","category-faithfulness","category-family-2","category-finishing-strong","category-god","category-god-the-father","category-grace","category-growing-up","category-holidays","category-home-2","category-jesus","category-legacy","category-lessons-learned","category-love-2","category-music","category-parenting","category-pray","category-remembering","category-steadfast-love","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-walk-with-god","category-wednesday-worship","category-worship","tag-advent","tag-ann-voskamp","tag-christmas","tag-covid","tag-family","tag-god","tag-hope","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-matthew-west","tag-prayer","tag-the-hope-of-christmas","tag-worship","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-71C","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27008","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=27008"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27021,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27008\/revisions\/27021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}