Now the silence
Now the peace
Now the empty hands uplifted
Now the kneeling
Now the plea
Now the Father's arms in welcome
Now the hearing
Now the pow'r
Now the vessel brimmed for pouring
Now the body
Now the blood
Now the joyful celebration
Now the wedding
Now the songs
Now the heart forgiven leaping
Now the Spirit's visitation
Now the Son's epiphany
Now the Father's blessing
Now
Now
Now
In this one simple verse Jaroslav Vajda sums up an hour on Sunday morning. He begins with our approach to God: "Now the empty hands uplifted." We can bring nothing to God. All we have and who we are is a result of God's grace in our lives. "Now the kneeling/Now the plea" is our confession of sin, a confession that does not go for naught. "Now the Father's arms in welcome" is reminiscent of Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. No matter how wasteful the son was, the father welcomed him with opened arms, a joyful heart, and a fatted calf when the son eventually returned home. Even so our heavenly Father welcomes us back after the wastes in our lives.
The word proclaimed is summed up with "Now the hearing/Now the pow'r." The Gospel creates and strengthens faith. Silently, silently God works in our hearts through his Word. The power may not seem significant, but it is a power that raises the dead to life, gives new life to downtrodden people, and made 11 fearful disciples bold proclaimers of the Kingdom. This Word also creates faith and life in stone cold hearts and can create and nurture faith even in babies.
The communion with our Lord is expressed in "Now the body/Now the blood/Now the joyful celebration." Our Lord becomes one with us in a most intimate way-the body he gave and the blood he shed on Calvary becomes one with us as our sins are forgiven in a personal manner! How God does this we cannot explain, but His Word says this is so.
After this we leave in joy. Vajda uses imagery of the joy of our forgiveness and our status as children of God: wedding, songs, leaping. Have you ever seen anyone sad at a wedding? I have DJ'ed a number of weddings and I have yet to see anyone at a reception who was depressed. Rather, people dance to music they wouldn't normally even listen to. Songs are a symptom of joy, not sadness. There is a saying: "I have a song in my heart." And how many people are leaping when they are sad? Leaping for joy means you have joy.
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