As I reach to embrace the Historical Church- as I look to the ancient paths- I find the blood of martyrs drawing my eyes to the path they have left trodden, hardened with their very lives blood. I stand looking, considering their sacrifice, as they stood and boldly proclaimed Jesus is Lord;having their breath wrenched from them as if to try and silence what their hearts boldly declared.
And today I pray to be able to have ears that hear. I hear the echo that all of nature whispers, the Holy Spirit extending an invitation to enter worship, to passionately worship-it is a call to surrender my thought- my heart- my very being.
Kingdom Worship is to offer my life continually, as if to pronounce I will give my life in this space and then again over and over again. I hear the call to surrender to life, the relentless giving.
I feel the echo pounding in my head, my heart all around me and I stop and bow in worship.
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:16
Stop, look and listen. It’s the first thing I remember my mother and father telling me about how to keep myself safe where ever I was going, and I believe this verse is telling me something similar.
Stop would be the part that is the most difficult for me, when I have something on my heart, something that I believe God put there, I have this sense of urgency to accomplish it as soon as possible. And that’s where I have to yield the authority of the word of God, clearly He is saying “stand at the crossroads and look,” is that what I am doing now?
Perhaps the ancients have been calling to me for years. In my love of old books, traditions and a knights quest for what is noble. The way a smith knew whether to use the material in his hand to forge a weapon or a token of love.
I am pursing the relationships that will connect me to the whispers of the ancient. I am stopping to listen for answers to the questions. What is the good way? Where are the markers? How will I discover the old paths?
Can I trust the past to gain wisdom for things to come?
Will I follow the ancient paths that work? Or will I waste my time paving new roads?
Thomas Drake