The Mysterious Kingdom: You Gotta Want It
by Ken Wilson
The 4 week period leading up to Christmas is called Advent. Advent means coming. A woman is pregnant. New life is coming. Actually God is coming. Love is coming to town. Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord. To use old language, the King is coming to establish his reign.
This brings us to over-arching theme of the Bible, golden strand run-ning thru love story of God in search of humanity. Kingdom of God. Jesus fulfills the longing of the people of God for the kingdom of God.
The earliest public words of Jesus: The time has come. The kingdom is near. Repent, and believe this good news.
At the time Jesus appeared in Israel, everyone thought they knew what the kingdom of God was about: a Jewish king who would sit on David's throne, ruling Israel with justice, defeating all her enemies. Beginning with Roman occupation forces. Which meant an uprising, a bloodbath, a great victory for little Israel over the Goliath of Rome.
The hope of kingdom felt like hope of American soldiers in Japanese prison camps in Philippines, General Macarthur leaving them behind with promise: "I shall return!" They would want him to return. They would long for the day when their captors had hell to pay.
Instead, Jesus spoke of the mystery of the kingdom. As if the kingdom were something that wouldn't meet everyone's neat & tidy expectations. Would catch us all off guard.
In these weeks together leading up to Christmas, we're going to open our ears and our hearts to the vision of the kingdom as Jesus understood the kingdom. So we can keep our eyes peeled.
Shall we start with the most famous prayer in the universe? The Lord's prayer, so named, because he prayed it himself.
Asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray as he did, Jesus said, "When you pray, say this: 'Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. May your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Just like that, he answered two worldview questions. (Questions that strike at heart of how we see the world, how we experience world, how we understand what in the world is going on.)
First question: Where is God? The world is a beautiful place, more fantastic than wildest fantasy. But also a hazardous place. A valley of tears between mountains of joy. And we all seem to have this God-itch that we long to scratch, if we could only locate it. Tantalizing close? Impossibly far away? Where is God?
"Our father in heaven" If you're a skeptic, and who doesn't have a little skeptic running around in his head…you might say, "Heaven? That's debunked. Flew to moon, didn't find any heaven up above."
Not so fast, inner skeptic. In ancient worldview heaven a little more subtle than that. Understood to be seven-layered; "the heavens" plural, extending to realm just beyond reach of naked eye, but also all way down to air-filled space around us. The ancients knew the "God in heaven" might peek out once in a while--might catch a glimpse in a shadow, or just upon waking, or hear his voice in a cool breeze.
Now the fancy pants scientists are talking about multiple dimensions to reality we can't easily detect or access but which are imbedded right alongside or next to or within the four dimension of space-time. The mathematics tell us so.
Where is God? God is in heaven. God is at least part hidden here but plainly present in a dimension that transcends the reach of the mere senses, though he might also be as close as your next breath.
But now the kicker: "May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
OK. Down to business. Down to earth business that is. The God Jesus is talking about is a God who can be invoked, invited, drawn in to earthly affairs. He's in heaven, but that doesn't mean you can only meet him when you die and go airy-fairy on everybody.
He's in heaven, but heaven is nearer than you think and it's possible for God's influence to be felt here on earth.
"May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This is telling us a lot about the kingdom of God.
The kingdom is the influence of God that can be--maybe even waits to be--invited. As though there is some door that we have a role in opening, through which the influence comes.
Prayer for the kingdom begins with desire.
Desire is the fire of prayer.
"May your kingdom come…" are words that only make sense to say,
if you want the kingdom to come.
It's based on desire. And you can't fake desire. Not for long at least.
Jesus couldn't care less about care-less religion!
Care-less religion: Religion not rooted in the God-longing.
Religion that doesn't care about God's presence.
Religion that doesn't desire God.
Our religion sometimes expresses our desire for control, or power, or answers for the sake of mastery. Which is fine. Understandable.
But Jesus isn't about that kind of religion.
He's about religion that desires something: "May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
When things go wrong and you want them to go right, that's when you pray. When you want to connect with something, somebody beyond yourself, bigger-smarter, a shade more glorious than you are, that's when you pray. When you're tired of simply exerting your own will and you want God's will, that's when you pray.
Desire is the fire of prayer: "May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Which brings us to the second worldview question that Jesus answers in this prayer: Who's in charge around here?
Did you ever wonder, "Who's in charge around here?"
Who do I blame when things go wrong?
Who do I appeal to when the powers-that-be short sheet my bed?
Who do I thank? For all this…
Who do I fall in love with for all the loveliness around me?
Who is going to help get this place organized?
Who is in charge around here--ultimately?
Our lives are spent trying different answers on for size. First we think mom & dad are in charge. Then we think, "I can do a better job!"
Then life beats us up, and we just try to keep out of the way of the powers that be, whoever they are, or seek to please them sufficiently to get enough scraps to get by.
"Our father in heaven….May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The implication is that the earth is not presently a place where his being in charge has been fully realized.
Hello? To ask for God's kingdom to come is to acknowledge it's not yet here. To ask for God's will to be done, is to acknowledge that he's not yet exerting it here. At least not completely.
All this glib talk about God is in control. Yes, there is a realm where God is in control. But this realm in which we live and move and have our being, is a mixed realm right now. He is not fully in control, which is why we're asking him to please come and take charge.
And this is a realm that he has set up, so that his kingdom coming is in some mysterious way tied to us.
From the very beginning, depicted in Genesis, he set this place up as a kind of divine experiment: he wants to run this place in partnership with us. His image bearers. His stewards. Here. Take a shovel, tend the garden for me, with me. A power sharing arrangement.
The kingdom is not coming to this realm by overt, irresistible insistence on his part, at least not yet. But by invitation. Our invitation. Based on desire.
The kingdom coming is not a result we can effect alone.
The prayer is not framed as the prayer of an isolated individual.
It's not, "My father in heaven…" It's "Our father in heaven…."
Jesus is recruiting, empowering and conducting a chorus of voices moved by desire crying out for God to come and take charge here on earth. The only question is, do we want to join the chorus?
The more we get together on this, the happier we'll be.
The more the kingdom will come on earth, as it is in heaven.
This Advent, I have a proposal to make: let's do it. Let's join our voices to the chorus. With intention. We heightened anticipation. Fanning the flame of desire. Wanting it more, hoping for it more, and crying out for his kingdom to come more than it's already here.
Here's how we can do it:
1. Daily: Every day, wherever we are, whatever we're doing, let pause at intervals through the day, get in touch with our desire and pray more of the kingdom in…..
Jesus prayed like this, at intervals. So did the first disciples, and many since. Upon rising. In the middle of the day. At dinner time. Before bed. Pause, in the middle of life, and pray.
You can do it any way you want to. Can also use this disciplined method called the divine hours. Christmastide: 4 little set aside prayers through each day. Use it once a day, twice a day, 3-4 times.
You decide, based on DESIRE.
We ask you, depending on the time you choose to pause and pray to remember these particular needs: our global missions, our justice-compassion ministires, our need for workers, our local outreach.
Upon rising: prayer for global missions. People we are supporting around globe, laboring to bring gospel of the kingdom. Kashmir. Russia. Guatamala. Middle East (Emily-Sarah). Turkey (Sarah-Gaurov) Remember them. Lift them up. Fold them into your morning prayer.
At mid-day: justice-compassion ministries: Single Moms, Friday Homeless Outreach, Sunday Ypsilanti Meal; Matthew's Party,Detroit 313 student mentoring; Green Vineyard; ESL for immigrants. O God, let these ministries be an open door for your kingdom!
Dinner-Time: prayers for workers to serve harvest. Jesus said, "Look around you, the fields are ripe for the harvest. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the fields!" Right here. Now.
It's the easiest thing, natural tendency, to treat your religion as a matter of your personal preference and opinions. To think that by advocating for this or that, we're being religious.
Especially in a town like Ann Arbor. Critique Central! Multiple law suits facing public school each year, from parents!
But what every church needs more than people willing to advocate for this or that, to offer suggestions for improvement, etc. are people who look at the pile before them and say, "Hand me a shovel!"
You know what I mean? People who pitch in to get it done. Who believe it can be done. Who are diligent, conscientious. Like engineers are. Jesus is saying to us: the harvest is ripe, you need more workers, pray for 'em! (God is speaking to us through this need we have for CM….fields are ripe, kids are here, we need workers!)
Bed-Time: Before turning of the lamp next to your bed, pray for local outreach to those on the outside of faith looking in. Universities, students, those unfamiliar with the church enterprise, anyone in need of a deeper God connection, including friends, neighbors, co-workers.
2. Intensely over a 24 hour period. Beginning next Saturday at 9am, the church will be set aside for you to come for 30 minutes, an hour, as long as you like, to pray. Anytime from Sat at 9am until Sunday at 9am. Through the watches of the night.
There's something special happens when we carve out time to do this. We've done it before as a church, but not for a while. We're due.
A prayer-watch. 24 hours continuous, someone's here praying. Hopefully more than few someone's at any given time.
By the way: what to expect when you show up? The sanctuary will be open. Just come on in, sit, stand, kneel, whatever and say your prayers….a place for quiet prayer. Three other places in the building:
a room for silent prayer, a room for let-er rip, call down the heavens with cries and groans prayer (one of my favorites), and a room that Don is setting up called a "pray with your senses room"
[Sign Up]
3. Wherever two or three are gathered. If you gather, especially with anyone else from the Vineyard, in a small group, to have a meeting, whatever….take a little time or a lot, to pause and pray….
[Intercession for global missions, justice-compassion ministries, workers for harvest, local outreach.] Get prayers: Bob Royce, missions. Colette, justice-compassion. Workers. Don outreach.
Dedication, then Kid Minute (or as Kid Minute at 11):
Parents dedicating themselves to the Lord,
And dedicating themselves through the Lord, to the raising of children
Reorganize their lives around this task…
Essential part of raising children in the Lord, is helping children build a spiritual framework for their lives that is rooted in God.
That's not just a personal thing, or a family thing, it's a community thing.
It takes a spiritual community to build a spiritual framework for children
To be a parent, you need to commit to this part of the task….
Make time for it.
We make time for involving our kids in sports,
We make time for homework,
We make time for television,
We also need to make time for this.
Helping out in Sunday School, Children's Ministry is a wonderful way for you to get equipped to help children build a spiritual framework for their lives. Every week, in Sunday School, you hand the children
A brick, a 2 by 4, some mortar, some nails, for building such a framework--a story from the Bible, a lesson from life, a picture to draw that reinforces the lesson, an activity that makes it real.