Sunday

I'm sick. I didn't sleep well last night--started in the recliner, went to bed, went back to the recliner and ended up back in bed. Since I was scheduled to play the keyboard this morning, I went to church even though I really didn't feel like it or want to.

The sermon title was Marital Strife based on Esther 1. Todd put the blame on King Xerxes for alcohol abuse, anger, and abdication. Xerxes abdicated his responsibility for the problems by pawning off on the wise men what to do and making a law that wives had to honor their husbands. He of course went to Ephesians 5, but for one of the first times I can remember the emphasis was on husbands love your wives as Christ love the church and not on wives be submissive. As a single woman, I appreciated that.

However that wasn't the best part of the service that needed to be posted.

The two pastors' wives sang In Christ Alone as a duet. It was worth making the effort to be there.

"In Christ Alone"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001
Kingsway Thankyou Music

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.