Zion and the villages

No blogs for a few weeks as we still haven't got t'internet in our new house. So as blogging is my main way of venting deep stuff prepeare yourself for this one...catching up to do!

Psalm 97
The Lord reigns let the earth be glad. Let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him. Righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne.....
Zion hears and rejoices. The villages of Judah are glad because of your judgements O Lord..


I have a bit of a "thing" about Zion at the minute. It's a word that I cant shake and it carries a deep sense of a home for me.
I guess I have been thinking that while I already dwell in a place of righteousness and eternal life through Jesus as a child of God, I await, I anticipate ZION in all its fullness. We can glimpse more and more every day and these glimpses are as important as the destination.
I can only describe this as the feeling you get before Christmas when that very first coca cola add comes on..."holidays are coming". I remember as a kid the amount of emotion and excitement that little add conjured up inside me.
I think its that season in my life where the adds are on for Zion. There is something in the air that resonates with my soul...pangs of hunger for Jesus...for his ways on earth!
"The distant shores rejoice"
I am praying that this spark will spread to the distant shores...that a song will rise.
The verse says that Zion, us, will HEAR...

Are you listening? If you are you will hear the whispers of God in the footsteps of the lost, in the cry of the broken and in the silence of the lonely heart. When you hear you cannot stay quiet. You have to make a shout about it.
You will look upon injustice with the eyes of Jesus. You will not contain yourself...you cannot be static in the face of injustice. The Joy of the Lord wells up and we the church make a song and dance...or should do, demanding the right ways of God.

As the verse mentions the villages are as significant as the city. The small groups of individuals who feel too weak to walk alone. It is vital to choose fellow travellers on this road to Zion that sharpen us. Those in your village must encourage you to be centred down on the righteous and just foundations of God.
I know a few of my travellers. I am still discovering others along the way.

The path to Zion will involve death. As John Piper says "Fleeing from death is the shortest path to a wasted life". Our path may get painful and sore, as some of you know already. But it is a guaranteed win win situation. JOY PEACE LOVE.

Can you hear it? The sound of heaven. A sound that at the end of the day is so down to earth it takes us to the dirt. It reminds us of why we love life. We love to love.
Lets not turn a blind eye to the injustice at the side of the road as we walk to Zion. If on a daily basis we remind ourselves that actually we have already arrived, that the kingdom of God is at hand in the dirt and filth and beauty that surrounds us then we can start living like the earthed heavenly beings we were created to be. Anticipation balanced with awareness of today.

Zion, Perhaps not a city on a hill but a state of living in the ordinary but with the undertones of God holding us in Love and demanding equality.