The Four Movements of Rhythm Change

Written by Justin Bouldin. You can keep up with him on Facebook, Instagram, and the Reconcile Church Collective Instagram page. He's stays dropping gems on ministry, social justice, the church, and what it looks like to reflect Christ in this current social climate!

Rhythm defined can mean “to flow”. You can find a rhythm everywhere. Music. Poetry. Architecture. Biology. But what if you discovered the greatest rhythm? It has always been there, flowing through every moment. Come along a journey to reveal this mystery. Selah. 

CREATION 

In the beginning... 

Where once there was nothing, miraculously it became something. But not just anything... 

What came to be was good. I mean real good. Like an artistic masterpiece, complex in its design, the earth in its purest form was unmatched in its beauty and magnificence. 

Including its inhabitants. 

Humanity inherited this amazing canvas and had the privilege of living lives devoted to the flourishing of the earth and each other.. 

The Hebrew word used to describe this moment is shalom. Shalom is translated “peace”, but it’s deeper than our typical understanding of peace being an absence of conflict. 

Shalom is when everything is exactly as it should be. 

FALL 

In the midst of the moment of shalom, there came a moment of breaking. 

A singular event would fracture everything good in the design of Creation. Almost as if someone threw a giant wrench in the gears of a grand clock. 

This moment of breaking turned that harmonious symphony into a chaotic nightmare. The peaceful melody once experienced now became like the ear piercing shrill of the mythical siren. 

Where once there was flourishing in the land, now there was contempt and famine. 

Where once there was peace among people, now there was animosity and strife. 

Where once there was authenticity and intimacy between lovers, now there was jealousy and betrayal. 

All of this fractured beauty began to take a toll and cause humanity to begin searching for any remedy that could heal the brokenness. 

REDEMPTION 

In the midst of all the brokenness, there was given a promise. A promise that there would come a day when the cure for what ailed the earth and all of us would be given. 

And just as one singular moment fractured the shalom we once knew, another singular moment came and administered the cure all had been searching for. 

Have you ever been so sick that your body almost felt like it was giving up on you? 

Do you remember the moment you turned the corner and began to heal? That feeling the first morning you woke up and it felt oddly better? 

There was a moment when the world experienced that same kind of feeling. Not completely over the effects of their symptoms, but the underlying disease had been cured. 

There was still pain and suffering, but now despair was replaced with hope. 

There was still jealousy and strife, but now hatred was replaced with reconciliation. 

There was still heartbreak and betrayal, but now retribution and revenge were replaced with forgiveness and love. 

In a moment, humanity experienced the promise that brokenness would not have the final word. 

Hope would be the calling of what would eventually be. 

RESTORATION 

The hope of all humanity would be returned with the realization that what once was lost, would eventually be found. 

The original design, that harmonious symphony between all of us and the earth, will be once more. 

All of the broken pieces would be intricately woven together into a beautiful tapestry that declares the wonder of our existence. 

Where we once felt all of the despair and chaos, we found hope that our lives would actually be made whole and our joy would be fulfilled. 

Restoration is about the return of all that is right and the peace of knowing it will always be. 

This is what we have all been desperately searching for and now we experience the freedom of living in light of its beautiful truth. 

Check out Rhythm Change on Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal!