Psalm
99 18/1/15 Pilgrim 2#2
“Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heaven”
Where Is The Kingdom Found?
Imagine the scene:
“Gosh, what a lot of
dog hair!”. And Mum says nothing.
“It would be good if
someone could clean up this Dog hair”, And Mum says nothing.
“Ugh a Dog Hair in my
dinner!”. And Mum says nothing.
“Aargh! My socks are
completely covered in Dog hair!!” And Mum says nothing.
“Right! I'll get the
Vacuum out and clean it up myself!” and THERE is the Kingdom of
Heaven!
What Is The Kingdom Like?
The Kingdom: where god has
his way and everything comes right.
Jesus message “the
kingdom of God has come close to you”
Nature of the Kingdom
= the nature of the King. Ps99 “Justice”, “Holiness”,
“Engaged”, “Forgiving”, “Correcting”.
The Kingdom is not the
Church, it is supposed to be the whole of creation.
But we are often so
aware that our bit of creation doesn't look as if God is is King now.
Is that what we want?
“Your Kingdom Come”?
Brian McLaren “The
church is a community that lives to see God's dream come true for the
world”
What Are We Praying For Here?
Prayer in & for the
Kingdom: on earth.
Compare with: ISIS & the
Caliphate – Claim and Establish. The Moorish occupation of Spain and the rise of the
Camino Frances which forced the Holy Roman Empire to defend they route instead of retreating beyond the mountains. We are not defenders of a shrinking and endangered kingdom. We are not "Dads Army". We are the invading force ushering in the rule of God.
This is not a prayer
of abnegation. We are not saying “It's up to you Lord, I give up”.
Cyprian of Carthage AD 200 “When we pray “your will be done on
earth as in heaven” we are not praying that God may accomplish what
he wills, but that we may be able to do what God wills”.
We are the
invasion force. We strive to usher in the Kingdom of God. When we
pray “your kingdom come, your will be done” we hear God say
“Great. My will is that you
usher in my kingdom of Justice, Holiness, Engagement, Forgiveness and
Teaching on earth – as in heaven.”
Jesus says that we are like yeast, light, salt – things that are common and start
small but whose influence is far reaching, who grow and change the
environment around them and usher in the life, the rule, the kingdom
of God.
