I’ve started using the New Zealand Prayer Book in the mornings as a devotional guide. These prayers and readings are from a very liturgical church tradition. Somehow these readings feel as if they pull me into a sacred space. They are proving to be a great way to get started when I sit down at my desk in the morning.
This mornings reading started with one sentence from the Lord’s Prayer:
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
How many times have you spoken those words aloud in worship without giving any thought to what they mean? These are loaded words. So full of implication and challenge. They are dangerous. Well, only if we actually mean what we are praying.
As I thought about those words this morning, it reminded me of the story in Luke when Jesus sent out the 72 ahead of him. His instructions to them were, whenever they came to a house they were to say, “The Kingdom of heaven is near.” The Kingdom of Heaven - that’s talking about where God’s will is done on earth. When Jesus came and lived among us, that was the initiation of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is no longer just near. It is here. We followers of Christ are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We live in and as a part of this invisible Kingdom that exists right here in the midst of the the earthly place we live. The church is intended to be an outpost of the Kingdom. A mission outpost if you will.
What’s the mission? God’s will done on Earth as it is in Heaven. It’s God’s Kingdom expanding and increasing and blessing Earth.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God (the church) is like yeast; a woman takes it and mixes it with flour until the dough (the world) is risen.”
Here’s the biggest implication: We aren’t just here to exist among those around us. We are called to bless and enrich and invite and embrace those around us.
We don’t just pray for God’s Kingdom to come. We work for God’s Kingdom to come.
We don’t just pray that God’s will be done. We strive to always do God’s will.
What might happen if we prayed it....and meant it?
No comments:
Post a Comment