Love is calling

Maybe you saw it. In the middle of the World Cup in the USA, the German national player Felix Nmecha scores, and while an entire stadium erupts, he does something unexpected. He kneels, takes an invisible crown off his head, and lays it down on the grass. Afterward he explained why: "I lay my crown before the King."

In front of millions, he gave the victory back to God.

He didn't come up with it himself. He drew it from one of the most magnificent visions in the Bible. In Revelation, John looks into heaven, where the elders sit around God's throne:

"They lay their crowns before him and cry out: 'Lord, our God, you are worthy to receive all glory, honor and power, for you created all things.'" (Revelation 4:10-11)

A victor's wreath was the winner's crown of that time. And that's exactly the image our own band, ÅbenLovsang, opens their new song with. It's called "Love is calling," and the first lines go:

The lines from “Love is calling” are not reproduced here — listen to the song by ÅbenLovsang via the link in the article.

Here's the strange thing: laying down the crown sounds like a loss. But everyone who has tried it knows it's a relief. Because most of us walk around with a crown we were never built to carry — the pressure to be enough, to prove something, to hold it all up on our own. We try everything else to fill the empty space inside, and we end up just as empty afterward.

There was a time when many left Jesus because his words were too hard. So he turned to those closest to him and asked whether they wanted to leave too. Peter answered:

"Lord, where would we go? You have the words that give eternal life." (John 6:68)

Peter didn't have it all figured out. But he knew one thing: there is nowhere else to go.

And notice who is calling whom. The song isn't called "I am calling." It's called "Love is calling." It's not you who has to fight your way up to God. It's his love that reaches down first.

"We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

That's why you can lay down the crown. Not because you've got your life sorted out, but because he has already done what needed to be done. The song ends where Jesus ended on the cross:

"It is finished!" (John 19:30)

The Greek word is tetelestai. Archaeologists have found papyrus receipts from that same era with exactly that word stamped across them: paid in full. There is nothing more to do.

Think of the tabernacle, Israel's sanctuary in the desert. There were no chairs. The priests always stood, because the work was never done — sacrifice after sacrifice, day after day. But of Jesus it says that he sat down. For the first time, something was completely finished, done once and for all.

"So there still remains a rest for God's people." (Hebrews 4:9)

Rest is not the reward for enough work. It's the starting point for those who believe that Jesus meant what he said.

Så gør som Nmecha. Læg kronen. Hør "Kærlighed kalder" her: https://youtu.be/HaR0XIFJ7U0, og prøv at bede versets bøn: "Jeg giver slip på det, jeg har."

På søndag klokken 11 samles vi i Åbenkirke. Kan du ikke være der, så følg med på livestream: https://www.youtube.com/@ÅbenkirkeKBH/streams

What is the crown you're still carrying around — the thing you find it hard to lay down before him? Write it in the comments.