Live service recording from Mosaic Fort Worth.  Vocals and Acoustic Guitar: Todd Porter; Vocals: Holly Anderson; Vocals and Keys: Hannah Ball; Lead EG: Stuart Baker; Rhythm EG: John Wade; Bass: Lindsay Lientz; Drums: Jason Ball.

Luke starts the book of Acts with this (1:9-11):  "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”  The verses of this song are my reflection on what it was like to be one of the ones standing there looking up into the sky, wondering "what just happened?" and "now what are we going to do?"  

In his Revelation of Jesus Christ (5:1-10), John writes "I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.  When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

The chorus of Axios is from the passage in Revelation.  I put these two passages together when I started wondering if they were both talking about the same event, whether the moment Jesus disappeared into a cloud was the same moment he appeared in heaven, ready to open the book.  All of this in the context of Advent, that season of waiting and anticipating where, on the surface, we wait for the coming of the infant Jesus, while at the heart of it all, we wait for the return of King Jesus.  And in between, while we're waiting, live in the tensions of the already-but-not-yet Kingdom of God.

The title of the song come from the Greek word translated "worthy", Axios.