Kingdom Principle:  There are many kingdoms, but only one is anchored in the hearts of eternity.

To engage in worship of the King, is to experience the heart of eternity.

We don’t know, what we don’t know. (When we discover this – we encounter the possibility of a paradigm shift, unfortunately the more we know the more we are blinded to our ignorance – this is called the curse of knowledge.) Case in point, when you have never worshiped with a Greek Orthodox Church, you don’t know what you are missing. I am not saying it is “better”, “right” or even “suggested” – just that you don’t know what you are missing, until you do. With regards to worship limited to a western paradigm of the Christian church, you are “missing” the interconnection of the saints from ages past; all those who have worshipped before you. (Roman Catholicism touches on this with the western experience, but not in the way the Orthodox Church does – in fact it would be an offense to an orthodox priest to even state it as similar.) One other as aspect of worship that is lost to western thinking is true unity of the global church (all those who are worshiping concurrently with you). This ignorance works both ways as the greatest void (in my opinion) to the Greek Orthodox Church (as they don’t know, what they don’t know) is the conviction of mission as church to be the continuing presence of Jesus on the earth.

What don’t you, about that which is eternal? You can only learn by experiencing the eternal. For some that will mean, you can’t know until you die, however, eternity does not begin when you die, that is unless you deny it. Last week we looked at paradigm & paradox. The paradigm of the Kingdom is eternal and love its only constant, the paradox of the Kingdom is that it is both now and not yet. Our lives are marked by a temporary reminder – We are all going to die. Yet, that need not limit our impact and legacy in this world. We can conceive that how we live our lives now will impact how we are remembered after we die. Yet not nearly as many know that we don’t have to wait until we die to impact eternity. To worship is to engage the eternal heart of God. The Kingdom in not a location, it is a heartbeat. Kingdom servantleaders are identified as priests of the Kingdom, moving according to this beat. A priest is a lead worshiper. As a lead worshiper, you are not simply leading others in worship, (that is a worship leader – a mark of the western church) rather as a lead worshiper. A lead worshiper has a focus of One (not the masses)– to whom they are worshiping, and this aspect of leading is done by following.

The texts this week culminate “ordinary time”– this section (half the year) of the lectionary focuses on the time after Pentecost. The new ordinary is life lived in the Spirit experiencing the fullness of the Kingdom. King David believe everything after his death would be “ordinary time” in the sense that his kingdom would reign forever. He had good reason to believe this as it was promised by God. The psalm connects this paradigm with the paradox that David’s kingdom would not last on this earth, yet Jesus as a son of David. (Quoted 17 times in the New Testament) would come to reign and inaugurate the Kingdom of God eternally. It is you and I who are such a kingdom and priests of that dominion. As a priest – your work/labor is an act of worship. The joy of being part of the royal priesthood, is that you are 24/7 a lead worshiper.

What does it look like for you to make ordinary – a life marked by worship in spirit & truth?

Do you hear Jesus, if so you are on the side of truth? If not, you don’t know what you don’t know. Therefore read last week’s post and seek to embrace the paradox of your life.

Worship is an eternal act of singing with joy, being clothed in righteousness, expressing peace in our prayers, declarations and commanding in the Kingdom – which of these are not part of your everyday life currently? Do you have a desire to see that shift? If so – go to www.ATHOE.org and experience “I AM RENEWED”.