1. God’s Love Endures Forever

(Psalms 100, 106, 107, 117, 118, 136, 138)

“God’s love endures forever” is a central theme weaving through the Psalms. In a lot of the Psalms mentioned above, this phrase is the essential antiphon of a litany remembering God’s faithful actions in the past.

This piece was written as a vibrant (read: rockin’) song of welcome. It’s a Call to Worship that makes it clear that when we gather for worship as an assembly, we are all in the same boat.

Dreams and fears, joys and pain, strength and weakness, gifts and needs. In any of these states at any given moment, we are all welcome in God’s heart. With this song, our little corner of the Body of Christ proclaims that there is no doubt we all belong here. Why? Because of God’s Love that is claiming us, that we will never fully grasp, that we are invited to trust and live in, and that, amazingly, endures forever.

Behind the song
The moment of Gathering in worship is important because it’s where we make clear where we stand with each other and with God, and what we think we’re doing in worship. This song sums it up for me.

This piece was written for a publishing project United Christ of Christ a few years ago. One great gift of the UCC to the wider church is its bold, prophetic word of God’s radical welcome of all people.

Refrain
Oh give thanks, oh give thanks
God’s love endures forever
Oh give thanks, oh give thanks
God’s love endures forever

Verse 1
With our dreams, and our fears
With our joy and our pain
We come, we come

Verse 2
With our strength and our weakness
With our gifts and our needs
We come, we come