In his incredible book, ‘The Jesus I never knew’ Philip Yancey paints this dramatic picture of the Incarnation: “As a Christian I believe we live in parallel worlds. One world consists of hills and lakes and barns and shepherds watching their flocks by night. The other consists of angels and sinister forces and somewhere out there places called heaven and hell. One night in the cold, in the dark, among the wrinkled hills of Bethlehem, those two worlds came together at a dramatic point of intersection. God, who knows no boundaries, took on the shocking confines of a baby’s skin, the ominous restraints of mortality.”
We live in parallel worlds. Day to day, we are often consumed with work deadlines, running for buses, preparing meals, caring for the young and old. We are heads-down, paying bills and running errands, but behind the curtain of the stars, in heavenly places, there is a glorious, radiant King upon a throne who created all things and sustains all things and who is surrounded by constant worship: living beings crying, ‘Holy, holy, holy’; elders declaring, ‘You are worthy’ and myriads of angels and saints singing, ‘Blessing and honour and glory and power belong to the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”
Some years ago, my good friend Mark Edwards gave me an instrumental demo with the title ‘Angels’ so that I could create lyrics. With such a title, and with the ethereal quality of the music, my thoughts were immediately drawn heavenward, imagining the scenes from Revelation 4 and 5, and marvelling that the songs of heaven are ones which we, here in our parallel, everyday world, are invited and welcome and able to add our voices to.
A new video of this acoustic version of ‘Adoration’ has just been added to the YouTube channel. It was originally a hidden track at the end of my ‘Heart & Soul’ album, and I find this version, stripped back to just piano and voice, more poignant. This isn’t a congregational song, but it is a devotional one. I hope it will give you a moment of reflection and give you cause to pause from the busyness of life, lift your eyes to the One we love and join your heart to heaven’s endless song.
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