repost, redefine

A dear friend of mine asked me to write a poem on veils during the fall and I did. I posted it on here and found it again today. The image of rage, power, sacrifice and pure love that tore the curtain separating us from the Holiest of Holies runs through my head often - constantly in the past few days.
The curtain wasn't just torn. We were ruined by ourselves and Adonai wasn't willing to live without us forever.
Does your love fight like that? For friends, for family?
If you are arguing with your friends, are you willing to live without them forever? If you know your family members don't know the love of God, are you willing to live without them?
Or will you fight for them..?
This whole idea reminds me of another poem I wrote called "what kind of love.."
I will post both of them below:

Veils


Solomon created a temple
extravagant and dedicated to the One above
Inside was a veil
of purples, blues, golds, and riches
This curtain of time separated
the presence of the Holiest
from the bloodstained lives of those who worshiped.

Jesus came speaking peace, changing pagan rules.
He crossed the great divide
and conquered it all.
He taught intimacy and encouraged love.
When the last breath escaped
the battered body of an innocent lamb
all limitations were lost.

His body is our bridge
over an ancient chasm.
The veil was torn as He won the battle
and we were set free..
who am I to be scared or fear?
He gave me all of Him
I will give Him all of me.

What could separate us, the psalmist says,
What veil have I hung
to remove Him and bring distance once again?
I am unworthy, but He said He loved enough
to want all or nothing
What is this veil that withholds me
from the flood of His grace and mercy,
from the full divine presence of my Lord?!

[He asked for all or nothing
but what am I willing to give?
which parts will I hoard?
and what reason have I not to trust?]

--
What Kind of Love

that associates with

the filth on your shoe

that loves the dirt you tirelessly

try to rend from your body

that speaks into motion the very heart

you call your own

that watches painfully as you tear yourself away,

rejecting...

that asks little of you and yet you give

deceit, distrust, abandonment

to what you've only ever known

to follow your own mental lusts and desires.

He said He'd walk through fire

would your love?




--------


edit...30 minutes later
And wow - God just brought it full circle.
I don't know how many of you have heard the podcast by Louie Giglio from the release of Awakening in early March. If you haven't - please listen...I am going to do a poor, poor job of summing it up...but it involves veils...and that torn curtain...at least it did when I was emailing Josh about it a few moments ago.


Louie Giglio spoke that night and really hit home a lot of what was said at Passion about trading in something small - our lives - for something huge - God's will. period. Not simply for our lives, but His will overall. In everything. He also talked about how we love to be in the presence of God in situations like Passion - to just stay there. Not that being in God's presence is bad, but it's like they hoard it. Stay there until they suffocate. Other people are so against the idea of 'religion' that they don't see the 'relationship' and they just run wild. Some people who have experience the glory of God

 - who've been inside the Holiest of Holies past the torn curtain that separated us for so long - run back into the world wanting to show others, but end up being OF the world again...they aren't changed. So those around them say, "well, you went in there. you didn't change. so there's no reason for me to go in there." 

But there's a third set of people...They are called doorholders. They have been behind that curtain and have experienced the true presence of the Holy Spirit, but they choose to hold the door open - to hold back the curtain - so that other people can come in and experience. They are inviting. They are smiling, welcoming, and not judgmental when people approach the door. They greet them, smile, and say, "come on in." 

Dooholders hold back that curtain of time that separates us...they get rid of obstructions, obstacles, discriminations, and distractions....to allow others into the presence of Adonai.

wow.