Going Deeper - Serving and Eating Books

Is anyone hungry?

In a remarkable vision, the Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel was told to eat a very particular item. In the 3rd chapter of his text, we read: " 1The LORD said, "Ezekiel, son of man, after you eat this scroll, go speak to the people of Israel." 2-3He handed me the scroll and said, "Eat this and fill up on it." So I ate the scroll, and it tasted sweet as honey." (CEV)

Scott introduced many of us to a new word, a very powerful and image-invoking Greek term, perichoresis, or as he translated it, the "divine dance." This divine dance, understood theologically, is not just a continual circling and experience of the joy of the dance. Rather, the divine dance is a special dance displaying the unique relationship between the Father, the Son and the Spirit, their mutual indwelling, their mutual intimacy, their mutual sharing and sustenance of each other.

For some of us, the purpose of the Cross wasn't simply to give us that ticket to Heaven, as true and powerful as that is. Rather, the purpose of the Cross was to issue an invitation to the world to join in the divine dance of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. The Father knew we were not able to keep the covenant. The Old Testament is filled with stories of such an invitation being given time and again but never accepted (sort of what I tried to talk about when I looked at the idea of covenant – we humans simply have a awfully hard time keeping covenant), and sent His Son in the fullness of time to be the one-time eternal grace-enabled invitation to the dance.

Scott spoke about serving as an activity that flows from the very nature of God. Going deeper, when we join in with the divine dance, while not fully now but in the process of being ultimately fully realized, we are able to partake in that indwelling, intimacy, sharing and sustenance that is the characteristic of the divine dance of the Father, Son and Spirit – that eternal and powerful flow comprising the nature of God.

We, as with Ezekiel and his eating of the scroll, are able to be feed by that flow of the divine nature. Jesus told us what is a part of that flow, “the Son of Man came to serve, not be served,” Matthew 20:28 (The Message). Let us be Ezekiels.