The Kingdom Of God is like....A Bob Dylan sing-a-long

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify Your Father which is in heaven." KJV Bible

Recently, I was in Nashville to celebrate my parents' 40th anniversary. While I was there, I had the opportunity to attend a live show with my brother where ten local artist/musicians from the Nashville area (Ten of Tenn) collaborated to create an incredible music experience. It was a beautiful experience because the whole nature of the performance was very much about the songs and not about the individual artists. The ten artists took turns sharing their songs and when they weren't singing their own songs, they would rotate to an instrument and play in the band for another artist. Everybody seemed to be there to share and enjoy each others music for the sake of enjoying music.

After the last song was sung ('Save You' by Matthew Perryman Jones...you must download that song) the whole band came to the front of the stage and chose to end the experience in a very unique way. They all came down into the middle of the audience (it was a bar/music hall so everyone was standing) with their instruments unplugged and began to sing the Bob Dylan tune "I Shall Be Released". As they began to sing, everyone in the room began to sing with them as only a Nashville audience can. The environment in the room became everything that Nashville should be as everyone was simply sharing in the song. I think I may have been one of the only people in the room that didn't know the song and never in my life have I so badly wanted to know the words.

As I have thought about that whole night, I wonder if that may be what our invitation to those outside of God's Kingdom should look like. Maybe our lives are supposed to be like a melody that we are all singing together. A melody that is so sweet and somehow so familiar that it creates an incredible longing inside of those within our song's reach to want to know the words.