Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. —Isaiah 49:15-16a
O Divine Lover,
How relentless You are
in drawing our attention to Your devotion to us:
You embody Yourself in planets and worlds,
in creatures and beauty
and You fill our lives with colour and with joy.
You decant Your desire for us
into the hearts of our friends and families
and touch us through their comfort and their compassion.
Yours is a subversive, uncontainable love, O Beloved.
It finds us even when we try to hide;
It reaches us, though all the world
would seek to build walls against it.
And it has invaded our hearts,
softening them and igniting love for You in us.
We praise You for this love.
And we bring the love-token of our worship in return.
John is a liturgist with 40 years of experience in a wide variety of church, community, and musical settings. He created and edits the website Sacredise which provides ‘theologically deep and experientially inspiring’ worship resources and training for progressive churches. As a minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, John was worship director for three National Conferences and was the chief liturgist for the dedication of the new Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary in 2010. Since 2019 John has devoted his time to helping churches navigate the new and growing reality of online worship and community while also founding and coordinating EvoFaith.com—a new evolution of online spiritual community.
Divine Lover: https://sacredise.com/divine-lover/
