As is unity

I was told I needed to say what happened. Like actually, pen to page – thought to word – feeling to expression. I’m used to letting my pictures stand on their own, but there was more felt here than I provide a visual representation; there was more spoken than displayed. It’s been a couple of weeks and this evening is still ringing in my ears. So here it is – my view of the worship night in script and image.

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I don’t know what we expected, but I can tell you it’s not what we got. It’s funny that God will continually surprise us with that. We prepare, plan and set and then he comes at it with a completely different approach. I think it’s just because he doesn’t like to be predictable; constant yes, he always is, but predictable is something that I think he bucks the system in. — There was a stirring in me all day – this … almost warning(?) or some sort of building anticipation leading up to that night. Entering into that space of the Mission Place before the masses, there was this bareness before us. Just like the concrete floors, seemingly base line, mundane and traditional, but coming at it from certain angles, you knew there was something that was about to happen. Like the light getting caught in crevices in certain ways revealing the roughness. It was almost porous for the purposes to absorb the pain and praise.

Crowds gathered and congealed into their acceptable and known groups. These pods popped up forming the comfortable tribes. It was good buzz, even in the division there was some sort of unity in the surface conversation and ease of environment.  I’m not an enthusiast by any means – I’m the rational one that steps back and evaluates from many perspectives. I take account everything from the layout of stage and chairs, to lighting, to the type of people collectively, to structure of program, to (mainly) the feeling in the room. And I’ll just say it was practical, different but completely practical.

There were 3 major moments that I think shifted the entire emotion of the evening and defined why we were there. 1) Alignment 2) Surrender and 3) Claim.

• Alignment

And while there may have been hesitation in the first moments because in this place there was little familiarity and too many had a hard time gaining their bearings, the worship team set the tone with lyrics speaking:

Come have your way in us
Come have your way in us
Come fill us with your love
Come and tell us who we are

Repeating again and again, what started as vacant and unknown words became filled and personal beseeching, beckoning the Spirit’s presence to come. I should probably explain the necessity of this tone. With at least 8-10 different churches represented in this room, not to mention age and gender, and race – it was surely a motley crew. There were clear lines of discord and differing histories that somehow managed to make all their ways into this mid-sized room. But I think that the distinguishing factor that called all these unique people to this moment was a fire. Each person I spoke with that evening has this insatiable beat too them; this ticking time bomb or rather, final dissatisfaction. All of these people came with the same mantra of “enough”. They all had had enough of the lack of unity in the Church, and this became the battle ground to stake their claim.

“Sing it again! Call out to him! Let him know he’s welcome here!” prompts of affirmation given from the stage, drawing the congregation into a deeper union and awareness to him – an understood communion. It was the marker and mission statement that centered souls and began to withdraw the lines of dissension.

• Surrender

Once the desire was centered, the individual barriers started to rise and quickly fall. The realization that this was a place with people like you but not like you but with the same mission in mind angered your flesh and all of a sudden certain things fought back because this was unmarked territory in your soul. Maybe you’d skirted these issues before but being in the presence with those in the same place as you but at the same time not, made your muscles tense. But the words of truth gave direction in your uncertainty.

Spirit of God fall fresh on us
We need Your presence
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
Here as in heaven

There’s something in repetition, especially with this generation. Maybe it’s in the mundane where we find faith, or maybe it’s because we brush over words so quickly and don’t allow meditation to take place. We have a hard time allowing something to seep deep within our souls, because we lack the imagination of its impact or maybe it’s fear that hinders us. But the bottom line is that the more we say it, the more we start to believe it. Preaching to ourselves these truths again and again, the second shift happened. We lost control in the best way. It wasn’t about the sound levels or the differences in skin tone or the even the mission of the evening, but something happened where those muscles that were once tense in fear, let loose and we died a little. We died a little to our preferences. We died a little to our stereotypes. And in turn, we sought after surrender. If I could tell you about the sound of surrender, I would. But I can’t. It’s not something that you can articulate. How do you explain the letting loose of your soul? And somethings aren’t meant to be explained but experienced.

• Claim

This was probably my favorite moment of evening. It really wasn’t the song or the person singing but the movement. After we surrendered to Him what was rightfully His, something was given back to us. And you could feel it. He didn’t come rushing in with it, but the build to this moment developed a cry and boldness that wasn’t there before. We weren’t there at the beginning of the night, but somehow he led us to it.

All the earth will shout
Your praise
Our hearts will cry
These bones will sing
Great are You, Lord

The song was sung. The verse spoken and we were lead to a place of worship. But what happened next I’ve only experienced a few times, truly. The worship leader had finished this song and the band prepared to move on to the next, but the Spirit pushed back and said “not yet”. And that cry of boldness rose up, took claim of the words being sung and sang it again. It rang again. And again. And again. And this motley crew with division and discord and clear divides claimed together their voice and led us back into worship. This one voice was not led by a band or person, but a people unified through the Spirit.

It was a combination of all of these events that ultimately led up to God smiling. Can I say that? I think God smiled, actually smiled with glee and delight at what happened that night. I’m not sure if there is another way to describe the aftermath other than knowing that unity was sought after and won.

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There’s much more I could tell you of this evening and of these people, but even I’m having a hard time with adjectives. Maybe the word I’m looking for is foreign. Because the idea of some many different people of differing churches and friend groups combining in one place to worship the same God felt — foreign, like we didn’t belong there but all together at-home at the same time. It was foreign to flesh but craved and savored by the soul. As is unity.