We Will Run

This year we are going to try something new in planning our services. Currently, for most services, our worship leaders plan the journey of a worship set with prayerful consideration of a focus or theme, taking into account the current sermon series and other things going in church life. We will continue to plan services this way, but we are also going to start periodically planning services that specifically focus on remembering and responding to the whole story of the gospel. Traditionally this follows the pattern: God is holy, we are sinners, Jesus saves us from our sin, and Jesus sends us on a mission. On Sunday we are going to follow this pattern and introduce a new song, “We Will Run” by Gungor, to go along with an aspect of the gospel that many times does not get as much emphasis, repentance.

We often hear much about God’s grace and all that he has done for us, but it is important to remember that God’s kindness toward us is meant to lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4). When Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, he instructs the crowd that the way to respond to the message about Jesus is to “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). Repentance basically means turning away from sin and towards God. It is not a one time thing but should be continual. Martin Luther indicated this in the first of his Ninety-Five Theses, “the entire life of believers should be repentance.”

“We Will Run” is a song of repentance. The lyrics guide us in confessing we are sinners, praying for God to purify and change us, and declaring our intention to continually turn away from sin and to Him. The song is pretty straight forward and uses language from some of the good repentance passages in the Bible in Psalm 51:7-12 and Luke 18:13. As you listen to the song, pay attention to the lyrics and try to identify with them. We will sing this song on Sunday in responding to the part of the story of the gospel that we are sinners. Hopefully this song will be useful in helping you live a life of repentance as Luther instructed.