Worshipped last night with Brian Doerksen, friends and more than a thousand fellow Christians on Schiphol-Rijk.
Brian lead us through God's progressive revelation of himself.
- through creation - Brian first encountered God, not in church, but in the forests and mountains of his native Vancouver,
- through the difficulties of life, it is ok to lament, it is ok to come before God just as we are with our pain and brokenness,
- to celebration - to being sons and daughters of the Father, sons and daughters are forever, once we are a child of God that cannot be undone,
- we can rest in His care,
- and we prepare for our part in the battle.
So this was the Body of Christ in celebration on a Saturday evening, crammed into a huge church (by NL standards), built among the offices of high-tech companies on the edge of Schiphol's runways (seems like a miracle in itself). It was glorious. What made it glorious:
- the words of the songs were carefully written to be consonant with the Word of God,
- the music, singers, band, choir, sound production were all great,
- Brian explained that the musicians were there, not because they were excellent musicians (which they were), but because they were even greater Christians, he was blessed and privileged to work with them,
- they worshipped, we worshipped, God smiled. He not only loves us, He likes us, and when we celebrate Him in the midst of this land where most do not even acknowledge His existence, He makes His presence known among us, our hearts are warmed, our faith and confidence are built, deep within we know He is God and we are His children and we can and will stand against the hordes of hell.