Before it was all over, that Wednesday took shape by doing an old school Liturgy, the Rite of Eucharist from the Common Book of Prayer, with modern worship songs, communion, and a 12 minute spoken word sermon. It was an amazing night of pushing through the monotony of routine and entering the Throne Room of God in worshipping with my brothers and sisters in InterVarsity.
Below is the full text of the spoken word poem I gave. I call it "The Throne Room."
Seth Hedman 2/2/14
Bear with me for just a second.
close your eyes, go ahead.
Now imagine a time before time, a time before seconds
Hard, isn’t it?
When in eternity the infinite love of the trinity was in perfect unity, none second.
Now open em.
If there’s one thing that still bugs me about God it’s why He exists at all.
But that’s nonsensical cus He was and is and is to come
“I am what I am” He exists. Period. That’s all.
Eternal, all-loving, all-powerful, and Holy
Infinitely wise, assigning your life’s place and time
Your country, your hair, your race, your eyes.
But then despite God’s perfect self-satisfying Glory and tho He needs nothing,
He creates
He makes spiritual beings: angels and elders, cherubim and seraphim.
Purely for the purpose of glorifying and worshipping Him.
Then He makes the physical universe, heavens and earth.
As angels ooh and ahh at every Planet, fish, and molecule of dirt.
Did you know if light travels around the Earth in 1 second, seven times
How insane is a universe 64 billion light years wide? Cus Glory, that’s why.
Truly the Heavens declare the Glory of God
for this purpose they pour forth speech day and night.
But then He does something different.
He makes something physical and spiritual, made in His image
To not merely express Glory like a fan
But to share in, dwell in, participate in, and live in His fellowship and Glory
And He calls it Man
And tho the angels worshipped God for the works of His hands
Lucifer and many more could not tolerate this Man
So they declared war on God’s great plan
and made it their job to destroy us and the image of God we had
But God knew better and He knew all along
That He would make a way tho things went wrong
Through Abraham, through Moses, through the Ark, you know this
Where God’s back glory made Moses’ face glow and freak people out
cus if he has seen God’s face it would have killed him, no doubt
Smoke and rumblings, lighting and thunder
Fall on your face, fear of God, awe and wonder
Where a pillar of fire and smoke led them night and day
and Holy of Holies killed you if your were impure or insincere in any way
God’s plan for glory would not be stopped
God’s plan for worship will not be stopped.
Then it all changes and He comes down Himself
The Son leaves the infinite Glory and puts His hands in the dirt
The King of Kings in helpless babe, unplanned and poor, came to save
The Glory of God in the body of man? Amazing what He’ll do to fulfill His plan!!
Then He dies and is sacrificed, and we’re sanctified and washed white inside.
But that’s just the means to what He provides.
That same eternal Glory! Shekinah! Pillar of fire! That required priests to wear a wire round their foot in case they died!
That’s the Holy Spirit now living inside!
And one day Jesus will return and sit on the throne
And in our glorified bodies everyone will know
That’s God’s plan cannot be stopped and that Jesus is Lord
Then a new heaven and new earth will unite God and man, once and all
and the Glory that’s in us now will be all around
and the angels and elders, cherubim and seraphim will gather to worship Him
But now there’s a new addition when the Saints go marching in!
and every tribe and tongue and people and nation
will fulfill God’s plan, God’s will, God’s vision
for all things in all creation to share in His glory and simply worship Him
Why worship? is like asking why He exists, its dumb
Cus Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come!
So when we worship in song and deed, we don’t just sing, we share in the mystery
the divine conspiracy for worship and glory
That glory is inside of us and itching to get out, to bring that throne room to here and now.
We’re the preview of what’s to come
We have access to live the trailer of the throne room of God
But is that what’s coming soon to a church near you?
Is that Sunday Mornings? Is that your life? Is that what we do?
Cus if its not then we’re wasting our time, wasting our lives, and I won’t waste mine
On ritual and tradition and going through the motions
Going cus you’re supposed to and if your Christian that’s just what you do
Thats a ridiculous way to spend your life when there’s infinitely more available to you.
David danced like a fool because of the Ark
And we have that presence inside our hearts!
He didn’t let cultural propriety or what others thought
Keep him from the freedom and fullness of worshipping God
He saw the big picture of worship and Glory
and wanted to share in it during his part of this earthly story
One day, he says, I’ll be honored by those slave girls
Cus when they’re dancing side by side in heaven they’ll think
“Wow, he actually got it while he was still in the world.”
Don’t you want to experience that right here and now?
Is our white evan-jellyfish churchianity, standing straight and stiff, singing monotone, really what its all about?
I’m tellin you, you’ve got Kingdom glory and joy and freedom inside of you, you just gotta let it out.
But a lot of times it gets covered up by sin and idolatry
The only thing that outweighs our apathy is our hypocrisy
We were created to worship God and God alone above all else
He’s the fuel our souls run on, without it there’s a breakdown of community and self
Idols replace God and they’re not always statues of wood and stone
They look like money, sex, relationships, fame, popularity, success, addiction.
Even a nice, three bedroom home
And Psalm 50 says those who worship idols become like them
Eyes but not seeing, ears but not hearing.
Sound familiar?
That’s exactly what Jesus said of the Pharisees, whose religious idols were ritual and tradition and looking how they were supposed to be.
Sound familiar?
Those white washed tombs and brood of vipers were so blinded and so foolish
That they stood before the very incarnate Son of God, the Word made flesh, who healed the sick and raised from the dead
and they said “let’s kill him.”
That presence and manifestation of God, full of Glory, full of Grace and Truth
about whom David leaped and prophets prophesied
The promise which Abraham trusted in and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Daniel and all the others looked forward to, but which never realized.
Until then. God made flesh standing before their very eyes.
And they missed it.
Because of idolatry and pride.
So when we, who have the Spirit and Glory of God living inside us, the Counselor whom Jesus said it would better for us to have than His physical presence,
And it seems like we couldn’t care less
and giggle at conviction and are scared of passion or expression
Who water down everything for fear of offending cus God knows Jesus always avoided controversy
I fear for the idols we’re actually worshipping.
We need to, like Jesus, take a whip of cords to our hearts
To flip the tables of culture and sin that are keeping us and God apart.
I’m not saying you’re not saved.
When we trust in Him, God’s grace and faithfulness is greater than any of our sin.
But I am saying there is infinitely more than the bare requirements to get in,
And this is a mess we’re in.
We’re consumerists who sit back and judge worship like American Idol
Your personal preferences for song selection are more important than authentically worshipping God? That’s another American Idol.
We’re incomplete people, men without chests,
with problems bland worship once a week won’t fix
Our spiritual act of worship is as a living sacrifice, Romans 12
That means being a whole person, in everything you do
Being the same person Sunday mornings as Saturday nights, Fridays as well.
Cus worship is not a genre and church is not a building
I’m the church, you’re the church, and worship is in everything
No geographical place, or time, or occupation, is any more spiritual than any other
We worship is Spirit and in Truth, in our classes, sports, and loving our brother.
Whatever you do, do it for His glory. Participate, here and now, in that eternal story.
God’s wants control of your life, to be knee deep in it, in everything
There should never be a time when you stop worshipping
So let all the idols go, smash them, you must
All the pride, duty, proprietary, and lust
You’ve got the King of Kings in your chest and He’s burning to get out
to Build His Kingdom in you, through you, and all around.
There’s a great grand story, of God revealing His glory, of calling all the worship Him
So don’t wait for eternity, stop worshipping half heartedly, because eternity starts right now.
This is where the party is at, His Kingdom come
From God comes real joy real peace real fun
The world is an imitation, we’ve got the real thing, the new wine.
Just fully open your heart to the Spirit, open your mind
Say “Jesus I am yours, and you are mine.”
In word and deed, lets live for the King, with everything, all of us for Him
Let’s dance like David and sing like the angels, join in the celebration
With guitar and singing and hands held high, with dancing and clapping and drum
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come.”
Seth
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