and I heard as it were, the noise of thunder, saying
“Come and see” and I saw
and there was tragedy, and hurt, and pain, and suffering for a time and a season,
and I, like an old fool, or jaded child was drawn to these things, they had my focus and my imagination, this lack, this deficit, this falling short, this hamartia, this sin, my eyes drawn to it, and I,
taking notes, in my mind, to share of the heartache, like a fool, like these things were worthy of repetition and shares
but then i heard that voice again, like thunder,
in my chest, shaking me from those things,
and it said “Come and see”,
the same words, because the voice hadn’t changed
and my eyes, heart, thoughts, went back on the hurt and the peril and danger again,
like a fool, as if these things were worthy of my eyes, thoughts, affections, and behold,
I heard again as it were, the noise of thunder, in my very bones, in my very lungs, in my very, very veins, saying
“Come and see” and the voice was the same, but like Peter, that third time broke me, in breaking me, braking me, stopping me from my folly and restoring me, reminding me of who I was, and where and who it was that called to me, and what was worthy to be seen, to be given place in my mind and on my lips
and I turned my eyes upon Jesus from the pain and the hurt and the failures and the falling shorts and the enemies and old slights and the sins, slander and shame,
turned from these things as if they were not worthy, because they were not worthy, in light of the One on the throne
and as I turned my eyes and set my thoughts on my once slain, now risen King
I heard
as it were, from the very saints in heaven saying
Amen and
and I heard
and our God will wipe away every tear from their eyes
and oh
there was a man goin’ round taking names
and I thought, when I was a young old fool,
to fix my eyes on the judgement
through the lens of payment and punishment for sin
-you see, he decides who to free and who to blame –
and I, when I was an old me, and a fool thought this –
That the punishment was the point
but when I was new and was seeing, and heard and listened and saw
a man, Son of man, Son of God, Son of Glory, Son of Heaven, Prince of Peace,
He going round and taking names and giving life, and bread and water and blood and love and Himself, and giving names and I saw that that first name that He gave was always loved
and He called me loved
And behold,
there was a Voice, like a breath on a leaf, or soft breeze on a blade of grass, and it cut me, close,
dividing old me from new me, soul from spirit, disappointment from hope
and I heard that Voice, closer than my own, for it was always the same, calling me loved and saying go and do likewise
and remember the Gospel – God Our Sins Paying Everyone Life
so go and forgive
and declare a Happy New Year of Jubilee, leading with love and taking names and forgiving debts and setting captives free – cause they think that the punishment for sin and taking names for judgment and penalty is the point
And behold,
That Voice said
I am making all things new, that includes you and I am longing to give you new eyes, Jubilee eyes, that long for that 7th and 7th 7th year for yourself and for others
that your eyes would long for, would see the mercies of God particularly manifested
for the Jubilee, The Year of Release deals largely with land, property, and property rights
and I heard that Voice like thunder saying “come and see the streets you walk on as loved,
The streets in your mind as loved, the streets in this city as loved,
As the property of the Lamb who loved and was slain”
So I heard in this Year of Jubilee that if while we were God’s enemies we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son
then the same is true for our enemies
and that the gospel is forgiveness for enemies that don’t deserve it
because that man going around taking names, that is our Lord, who was taking names to the throne of heaven and asking God forgiveness
so go and do likewise and forgive those who haven’t earned it, like a loving fool
like a Lamb Slain, who took names and wrote them in His Book of Life
and I heard that Voice saying “come and see, the grace I have for you
to meet you where you are along the way”
If you enjoyed this, please visit my YouTube channel, like the corresponding video for this post, and subscribe for new releases.
This was originally shared and recorded on February 23, 2020 at The Light Church in Baltimore https://www.atthelight.org/. This particular recording is from our practice for the worship set. I’ll be adding the other pieces in a few weeks.
The Light Worship Team you hear in this recording:
- Spoken Word: John Dorsey Jr
- Keys: Rebecca Fanning
- Brief Vocals: Cynthia Miller
- Guitar: Stephen Chai
Content Sources, Citations, Influences:
That “Remember the Gospel” part is from Propaganda’s awesome presentation of the Gospel in four minutes.
Johnny Cash – “When The Man Comes Around” was a huge influence for this piece. If you’re a fan of Cash I’m sure you heard it. In this spoken word I wrestle with focus. I am torn between the brokenness of this world and the glory of Jesus. In the grandest of pictures it is no contest, but in the day to day, ultimate focus can get lost.
This is especially true when we have such specific expectations. “When The Man Comes Around” moves in the expectation of The Man’s judgment and (I gather,) vengeance and punishment for sin. With such great injustice in the world, we can long for the same. And there is Biblical allowance to do so, but as followers of Christ I feel there is a fine line between our anger and sinning not (Ephesians 4:26). Sinless whip snapping and temple table flipping is far from natural.
In this broken world, where injustice and pain and violence is rife, the tension is real. I believe that we, as believers are called to bear witness to, and to cry out against evil. But witnessing and speaking out against injustice and brokenness can weigh us down.
This piece calls our focus back to the Lamb, Slain and Risen for us, even in a world of brokenness. It calls us to long for love, over vengeance.
It is a message that I needed to hear again. Especially after I found out what happened on February 23rd, the same day that I shared this with our church family. (And again, after what happened on March 13 to Breonna Taylor.)
There were other influences and inspirations for this piece, but I feel the post has already gone on too long.
I might share them another week, but I think there is a pretty big one that I might address having to do with the expectation for 2020. The excitement felt on New Year’s Eve when this was written has in so many ways been challenged by some of the events of this year.
Okay, think it’s a good idea to turn my eyes back to Jesus again.
The big chunk of scripture read is Romans 5:1-11.
The Bail Project – Jesus paid it all to set captives free. We can’t do the same, but we can do something similar.
Video info:
Audio recorded on Google Pixel 2 XL
Video created on Google Pixel 2 XL using PowerDirector for Android https://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector-video-editing-software/features_en_US.html
Visual for video: “Background 0517”, belongs to Videvo https://www.videvo.net/video/background-0517/249/
Festival of Booths 
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