Ranking high in a lot of Christians' favourite passages is Romans 8, especially v.18 on.
Even more, v.31-39 — 'we are more than conquerors ... neither death nor life ... nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
And this supremely confident finish comes after heaps of questions: 'the sufferings of this present time', 'bondage to decay', 'the whole creation has been groaning', 'in our weakness'.
The list of dark things in this present time is long, but Paul asserts that 'all things work together for good'. And we find ourselves praying with him, and hoping 'for what we do not see'.
With the writer of Revelations we pray, we sing – 'Come, Lord Jesus, come!'
ALL TOGETHER FOR GOOD is to be the name of the sixth book in the series of songbooks I've helped produce over more than 25 years.
Apart from Romans 8, I'm not sure where the name first came from. It's been around since before the last one came out in 2001, and was one possible name for no.5.
Who knows! But one thing's for sure — it's a name that's open to meanings of various kinds .
We sing the songs together, for the good of the community,
and for those outside the church.
It's a permanent arrangement, not just a passing thing.
Jesus brings all of us, and everything, together. Like it says in Colossians 1 (great chapter!), 'in him all things hold together ... reconciling to himself all things .... by making peace through the blood of his cross.'
All Together - for good!
