Good day faithful Jesus followers of the National Lutheran Secretariat Board.
I’ve been thinking of that word – “Hallelujah” a lot since I was in New Orleans with 34,000 Lutheran youth from all over the country. Rachel Kurtz sang the song “Hallelujah” as the closing piece at The Super Dome on Friday night and I wanted to share the video of that with you. You can’t get the “real” experience of being in the Dome that night, but I think it will give you a sense of what we experienced in just one six minute song.
As I was watching this video the other day for the thousandth time since New Orleans, I was preparing a devotion based on Philippians 1:21, which says… “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” And I thought, “Hallelujah!” Jesus is my life!
What does that mean? Well, for me if means that everything that happens in life—all the pain and agony, all the joy and happiness, all the loss and gain, all the good and bad—everything is for a purpose. Hallelujah! It all has a rhyme and reason. Sometimes we are able to see it clearly, other times we catch but a glimpse from the periphery, and still there are times where we don’t see it all. Hallelujah!
Yet it’s there, that one singular reason, that one great hope beyond hope: we are nothing and he is everything. Through it all, Jesus is my life. Hallelujah!
St. Paul’s words echo in my mind and heart. Yes, to die is gain, but to live is Christ. This should be the cry of our hearts as we live each day. One moment our family brings us happiness, the next stress…but I press on. Hallelujah! One moment our jobs are secure, the next we’re laid off…Christ Jesus has made me his own. Hallelujah! One moment our health is great, the next the doctor has bad news…straining forward for what’s ahead. Hallelujah! One moment we’re surrounded by friends, the next we’re left alone…I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call. Hallelujah!
Every moment. Every day. No matter what. Jesus is my life. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
OK, here’s the video – enjoy!
The Rev. John C. Bradford
Pastor, Christ the King Lutheran Church
10550 Georgetown Pike
Great Falls, VA 22066
Love God, love people – nothing else matters.
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
