Monday, November 21, 2016

First Lessons from My First Season: For His Glory

In his first season with Ad Deum and holding down the fort as the only male dancer in the main company, we asked Seth to share about his experiences so far this season. This is what he had to say:

Photo Credit: Sarah Lee Roes
Ad Deum is first and foremost a community. Joining the company this year, I was aware of this reality, but experiencing it is a whole different matter. It really is an honor to be a part of a people who have no agenda, but to unify in the Father's presence and connect to His heart for the sole purpose of giving ourselves as vessels for His glory. I'm so grateful for these brothers and sisters in Christ who passionately seek the kingdom of heaven and simply the effect they hold in my life.

Being the only man, as well as the youngest member in the first company, has its challenges as I am still trying to grasp my role in the community. But three months into the season, I already have a testimony of God's faithfulness and kindness in my life.

Through the company repertoire, the Lord, in His kindness, has taken me deeper into His thoughts and feelings. First Corinthians 2:16 says, "For who has known or understood the mind of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ and do hold the thoughts, feelings, and purposes of His heart." I sense Jesus' feelings as I intercede through the movement. I sense His zealous love for us as he fervently desires to be with us, His inheritance. I sense His passionate anger at the darkness upon this world and how He longs to break through with His truth and light. I truly am beginning to understand how He sustains us through every word and expression of His heart.



Another thing that the Father has been teaching me through this semester is that as artists for the Lord, we don't need to apologize for the platforms we are given. Not that we are given any right to boast, for it's by grace alone we are even given the strength to stand. But we should step into these opportunities with confidence in the Lord's love and proclaim His truth in kindness. I think of the parable about the servant who took the talent given to him and buried it. Who are we to hoard the gifts the Lord has given us? I've decided to step into the purpose the Lord has given me and that is to live for the praise of His glory.

"In Him we also were made God's heritage and we obtained an inheritance; for we had been foreordained, chosen, and appointed beforehand in accordance to His purpose, Who works everything out in agreement with the counsel and design of His own will, so that we who first hoped in Christ and put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory."
Ephesians 1:11-12

- Seth


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Photo Credit: Scott Morrow
Photo Credit: Anna Handelsman