The Great Commission…
Resources
- Sheet Music:
- Audio:
Joel McDurmon is worth listening to. He understands well the lie of the land. Listen to him here discussion the true scope of Christ’s Commission to the Church in Matthew 28. His vision for cultural redemption & the evident lack of appetite for the same among most evangelicals today prompted me pen to this song freely adapted from Roy Harper (I hate the White Man ~ 1971).
Far across the ocean
In a land called Galilee
Was a Great Commission
To you and me;
There the wind blew softly,
Its sweet perfume flows still;
There the barefoot dream of eternal life
Began to be fulfilled.
But the master of confusion
In an unseen universe
Ushered in a dark delusion
Obscuring Eden’s curse.
Now a crowd of careless pilgrims
Seeking ‘peace and happiness’,
As a muted bride lies fast asleep
In her own fantastic mess!
Yet the Great Commission
Calls the faithful through the years
Drawing into Mission
Him obediently who hears!
Cherished vistas of God’s city
Locked up in a safe
Sport scarecrows standing lifeless
As defenders of the Faith;
While outside on the whitewash
Truth is barely ever heard –
No tear-filled eye, not a heart-felt cry,
No conviction by God’s word!
And in the countless canticles
Of her hollow banquet feasts
Is offered up in ‘sacrifice’
A mindless masterpiece;
Whose weekly entertainments
Warm her toes besides the fire,
As stubble they’ll be cast upon
The everlasting pyre!
Still the Great Commission
Calls the faithful through the years
Drawing into Mission
Him obediently who hears!
A peal of holy thunder
Over steeple-bells forlorn
Signals to a faithful remnant
Their need to be reborn;
Can the citadel of meaning
Be awakened from its trance?
Can a fleet of idle infidels
Be induced again to dance?
Let the children ask her
Of the glory that’s to come;
Make her speak of earthly paradise –
Full redemption through God’s Son!
For not until the nations
In contrition bend the knee
Will the Lamb descend from heaven’s throne
For every eye to see!
O, hear the Great Commission
Calling faithful through the years
Drawing into Mission
Him obediently who hears!
Steve Layfield – April 2013
