THE HEAVENLY WORSHIP ROOM

A writer’s vision leads her to explore the tabernacles of the Bible.

The founder of the Bride Song Ministries, the author focuses her religious efforts on worship and “restoring the Glory to the priesthood and to the church.” Parkin’s (Unlocking Worship Entering His Presence, 2014) latest book begins with a vision she received in 2004 when her ministry was taking over a new building. She discovered that God had plans for a small room the size of a walk-in closet—an “unfolding revelation....a teaching room” that had “many lessons inherent in its design.” The book includes pictures of the finished product, with gold walls accented with crimson to represent the glory and the blood. But most important was the “pattern” she received from God of how to construct and arrange the room: “He assured me this is how he led both Moses and David.” The connection of the room’s pattern to these two major figures leads the author to explore the tabernacles of Moses and David at length as both physical and spiritual spaces. Using King James concordances and a brief review of certain translations, Parkin deftly argues that Jesus himself was the vessel or tabernacle for the modern church, connecting Christian worship with ancient Jewish lore. In line with this driving thesis, there is something intriguing and almost anachronistic about the author’s prose. Her phrasing and terminology are more in line with a hymnal scribe than a contemporary Christian author, returning often to the imagery and metaphors of the “bridegroom.” At times, the effect manages to elevate something ordinary to the mystical and sacred, such as a closet being described as “a place where the Love song of the Bride would move the heart of her King, a place of romance and the Dance.” But overall, the effect is one of distance—rather than making esoteric and ancient ideas more accessible for readers, Parkin’s language only renders them more cryptic.

An examination of worship and biblical ideas that sometimes gets lost in arcane language.