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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