You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.
Psalm 65:12, Book of Common Prayer
In her book Untamed Hospitality, Elizabeth Newman states, “God wants to be thanked, not, certainly, because God needs our thanksgiving but rather because God desires our communion. In offering our thanks, we are freed to acknowledge our lives as gifts rather than as our own, often empty or fragmented, creations.” She goes on to write, “There is never a time when we can sit back and say, ‘Ahh, now my life is mine.’ Such a way of thinking distorts . . . the nature of God, whose superabundant giving never ceases because it lies at the heart of God’s triune identity. The well never runs dry.” (Elizabeth Newman, Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers [Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2007], 38, 170)
I am truly thankful that the self-giving love, mercy, justice, righteousness, truth and loving-kindness of our Lord are truly never, ever exhausted. And, by His infinite grace and mercy, God calls us to participate with him in the ministry of reconciliation and the restoration of the entire created order.
Even in the face of trying economic times, job losses, sicknesses, war and worldwide political turmoil, we nonetheless give thanks for the abundant provision, protection and presence of our good and gracious Father. As Brennan Manning writes, we “. . . whisper a doxology in darkness.”
We at the Institute for Worship Studies are so thankful for the Lord’s bountiful blessings during this past year, and for your support of our crucial mission of real spiritual transformation through worship renewal.
Thanks be to God!
Annual Report Now Available
Please take a moment to read our 2010-2011 Annual Report. You will find it to be an enjoyable and interesting read. Join us in thanking all who have made this year an unprecedented success!
Your prayerful and sacrificial generosity toward the Lord’s work through the ongoing ministry of IWS is absolutely vital to the mission of worship renewal. We not only appreciate your participation, we depend on it! Thank you for your partnership with IWS.
The Lord be with you,
James R. Hart, President