The Drama of Scripture - RHYTHM Psalm 3
Steph shares a spoken word (which is written down, soo.. a poem?) that traces one of the greatest stories ever told: the story of the Bible told as one consistent whole.
I want to tell a story
The greatest story ever told
The foundation for all of humanity
If I may be so bold
The drama of scripture
Let’s start at the beginning
Father, Son and Spirit
Apart from them there was nothing
One God in three persons
Existed in perfect harmony
So why bother to create?
Indeed, it was to share this love in community
And so God spoke
Into life the creatures, mountains and trees
All to proclaim his glory
The endless stars and galaxies
Still, God’s most wonderful work
He was yet to create
From dirt, He breathed life into man
And in His image, they were fearfully made
Be fruitful and fill the earth
God said, and you will be blessed
God saw that his creation was good
And from his work, He took a rest
Enter rebellion
For God loved these humans
He gave them the freedom to choose
And they chose their ways above His
God’s grace sinfully abused
Fallen now is all mankind
relationships are broken
So in this desperate part of the story
Who shall we find our hope in?
You see, God had not given up on his purpose
No, his creation was far from dead
In a mysterious prophecy of redemption
Man will one day strike the serpent’s head
In a world of hatred and sin
Noah, righteous and good
Found favour in the Lord
So his family and the animals
Scrambled into the ark, all aboard!
40 days passed
Where the flood wrathfully came
And when the dove finally left
God said “I will never do this again”
Then we have Abraham
With whom God made a covenant
He promised him the land
And descendants abundant
Then this large nation of Israel
Made Egypt tremble with harrow
So they were forced into slavery
Under the hand of the Pharaoh
The faithful Lord
Sent a humble servant by the name of Moses
To lead Israel out of Egypt
In a great and perilous Exodus
In the wilderness the millions walk
To follow their great King
God stayed faithful to the covenant
Though they would not stop complaining
Now in the promised land
God’s laws became terribly hard to keep
And when He looked down on His people
Surely He would weep
The prophets were sent,
In a merciful act, to warn them of their sins
But they turned their face away from God
None in the land would listen
Temples burned, kingdoms exiled
Israel had fallen
But in the midst of all this carnage
There’s a faithful God whom our hope still lies in
All this is to say
that God had not forgotten
His promise to Abraham
And His redeeming plan for creation
And with this hope we must move on
As this is the chapter’s end
After 400 years of silence
Born was a little baby boy
The world did not yet know
He would be the deliverer of God’s eternal joy
Jesus of Nazareth
Announces the coming of the Kingdom
But when he opens his mouth to speak
Was it what everyone was expecting?
Certainly not, this King of Kings
Is washing people’s feet
He eats with sinners
And heals the lame and weak
My dear friends
You must listen very close
For I am about to reveal something
Few of us truly know
This is His great commission to us
The homeless, the gay, the disabled, I cannot ignore
My heart is breaking for what broke His
The Kingdom of God is knocking at my door
At the heart of Jesus’ ministry
Were the dirty and the broken
“What you did for the least of these”
Never were more gracious words spoken
But some hated him for it
Why does this King act like a servant?
This is not our messiah
This is not what we wanted!
They nailed his hands to the cross
Could Jesus really die?
“Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”
A merciful final cry
Slain was the lamb
A perfect sacrifice
This was the cost of redemption
This was the final price
For God so loved the world
That He gave His one and only son
That whoever believes in Him shall not perish
But have eternal life
After three days Jesus rises
And with Him so do we
He has taken on our sin and judgement
In Him, you and I are free!
This dead man walking, this Jesus
I believe he is God’s son
He has taken my heart forever
Bled out on the cross to find the missing one
Go forth, Jesus says
For this was never the end
This is the renewal of God’s creation
When all will be good again
As Jesus returns to Heaven
His call is very clear
Go make disciples of every nation
And wherever you go the Holy Spirit is near
The early church grows in size
Preaching far and wide
For everyone’s is the Kingdom of God
Jews and Gentiles alike
There will come a day when Jesus returns
Whatever that may hold
Seven headed beasts and raging pits of fire
Not sure that I’m sold
What I know is that in the end
There will be ceasing of tears
Truly this is the climax
of God’s great love affair
Relationships will heal
Love will reign above all
The purpose of this whole story
is God’s good creation
Healed and restored
Right now our world is enemy territory
Where the rightful King has landed in disguise
And in his campaign of sabotage
Jesus calls the rebel bride
As the church today
We are to plot out His grand scheme
I must take up my cross
For all of creation will be redeemed
When we read this play
We need careful eyes to see the full picture
I hear a desperate call
To epilogue this divine drama of scripture
Do you get it yet?
Are you disturbed, are you squirming?
Because I cannot sit still
For the Kingdom of God is returning
Steph is currently studying 'Intermission,' a one year formational course at Carey Baptist College to which this spoken word was submitted as an assignment. She feels a passionate call to the other and the outcast, the one's which society or the Church often ignore. She'd love to hear your thoughts, leave a comment below!
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