rend & rapture
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
Isaiah 64 - what an opening line! The outpouring of desire to see God & interact with Him; the belief in His power...
... and remembering the old ways; the desire to overthrow the habitual:
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
It got me wondering as to how far and how wide that thirst for God, that outpouring of utter want goes. Or are we turned into a people, known more for rules and restrictions than relationships?
You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
___________________
Let all the prodigals run home
All of creation waits and groans
Lord, we're heard of Your great fame
Father, cause all to shout Your name
Stir up our hearts, Oh God
Open our spirits to awe who You are
Put a cry in us so deep inside
That we cannot find the words we need
We just weep and cry out to You {C}
- Salvation
Prodigals. It's not just about a non-believer finding their way in the light. It speaks to all of us, lost and found; lost again then found again... and over and over and over again. And each time, scooped up once again and carried home:
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young
- Isaiah 40.
We started The Bible Jesus Read tonight at HG for the final term before we break for the summer. I'm pretty excited :D :D (- That much, in fact.) The study uses a range of media making it a bit more multimodal-friendly, so we'll have the usual discussions but based around Yancey's book, plus the dvd this time. I've read through it once before before (well, blitzed through it as it was Pre-WiM at the time so I only had 48 hours after unearthing it in the church at Keele, hence) it'll be good to re-explore again & in more depth. ~ Yay for Old Testament-learning!