When I consider the words, Your Kingdom Come, I envision a world transformed through love and grace. A world of fear, hate, and oppression that is born again through love, peace, and justice. It is the same powerful transformation that each of us experiences through Christ.
This transformation is not some radical future event that will happen at a discrete time and place. God is already wiping away every tear. The same divine love and grace that transforms each of us is at work transforming our world. There is evidence of that right here and now, but if we are standing around looking up at the sky, I’m afraid we will miss it.
We have only to look around to see God’s transforming love at work. We see it in tornado-impacted Brimfield, Massachusetts, and along the flooded banks of the Missouri River, where people are joining together to relieve one another’s suffering. We see this same “love in action” in a group of Heartland clergy who are boldly joining voices to declare through the Heartland Proclamation that homosexuality is not a sin. We see this love at Project Share in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where folks of different faiths join hands to feed hundreds of hungry people 6 days a week. This same love is present right here in the online community of Darkwood Brew where individuals from communities across the world are forming a virtual community that is diverse yet unified through love, respect, and compassion for one another.
The old order is slowly giving way to a new order…right here, right now. It is happening as more and more people realize that God’s kingdom isn’t in the heavens, it’s in our hearts, and the New Jerusalem isn’t something to sit around and wait for. A New Jerusalem is already materializing, wherever God’s people come together, hand in hand, heart to heart, to transform the world through love.
I’ve always believed that Jesus would agree with John Lennon:
Imagine there’s no heaven
it’s easy if you try
no hell below us
above us only sky
imagine all the people living for today
Lennon is considered an atheist or agnostic, but I think this particular song is thoroughly Christian. Jesus calls us to a kingdom, not in the sky, but here and now. And He doesn’t call us into His kingdom with threats of hell, but promises of community.
I think that people, like Lennon, who many consider an enemy of the Gospel, often turn out to be some of the best preachers of the Gospel.
“Thy Kingdom Come” …. transliterated as ‘Teytey malkuthakh’ in Aramaic, may be rendered as seven distinct expressions that themselves interact to give some texture to the phrase.
Create your reign of unity now –
through our fiery hearts
and willing hands.
Let your counsel rule our lives,
clearing our intention
for co-creation.
Unite our “I can” to yours, so that
we walk as kings and queens
with every creature.
Desire with and through us
the rule of universal fruitfulness
on the earth.
Your rule springs into existence
as our arms reach out to
embrace all creation.
Come into the bedroom of our hearts,
prepare us for the marriage of
power and beauty.
From this divine union, let us birth
new images for a new world
of peace.
Create your reign of unity now!
I now know why I am angered when the Lord’s Prayer is rushed!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Stuart and Raymond!
Hey Mary Ann…
I just photographed project share in Albuquerque. Do you have a connection there?
Cheers,
Scott
No…It was YOUR photo and blog mention that came to mind as I was composing my blog entry 🙂 I was moved by the diversity of the people involved in the effort – a great example of loving folks coming together to serve a need. Thought it was worth mentioning…again!