Caught Between Heaven
and Earth
Matthew 13:24-33
Second in six week
series on the Lord’s Prayer
Preached at Midway Hills
Christian Church
Today
we continue our series on the Lord’s Prayer by taking a closer look at the
phrase: your kingdom come, your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Last
Sunday Bill mentioned the importance of words and the power of words. Words shape our reality, affect our
attitudes and influence our actions…. I
think we have become so familiar with the words of the Lord’s Prayer, that they
have lost some of their power in our lives.
What we want to do in this series is
linger over this familiar prayer, phrase by phrase, and reclaim its
wonderful words of life. We want to be
keenly aware of who it is we pray to, and what it is we pray for.
Children
are often some of our best teachers and just listening to the ways they have
internalized those familiar phrases from the Prayer makes us ask ourselves,
“what are we really praying?”
One
kindergartner, who was obviously thinking about lunch said, “give us this day
our jelly bread.” Another said,
“forgive us our dentists, as we forgive our dentists.” Then there was the four year old who prayed,
“and forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our
baskets.” A little girl prayed,
“forgive my mommy her debts so I can get a new bicycle.” A farmers’ boy prayed, “deliver us from
weevils” and a little girl ended her prayer with, “for thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen and FM!”
Some
of the ways we are going to try to ‘enter again for the first time’ into the
prayer is to share versions of the Lord’s Prayer from different cultures. After communion we will also experiment with
different interpretations of the prayer.
So,
the part of the prayer we have before us today has to do with the kingdom and
will of God.
I
don’t know about you, but I spent a large part of my life being stressed about
discovering God’s will. I used to
believe that God’s will was a moving target or like some kind of divine
obstacle course—one false move and I was doomed for life. How awful to approach God’s will with
fear. Sometimes I make God’s will all
about me: my perfect job, my perfect
relationship, my perfect health. How
selfish is that?
In
the prayer that Jesus taught us he indicates that understanding the kingdom is
the key to understanding God’s will.
Jesus spent a lot of time teaching and preaching about the
Jesus
redefined this expectation by claiming in his words and actions the kingdom was
already present. The kingdom was
breaking into the world through his acts of wholeness. The kingdom was not some external,
otherworldly, or militaristic event. It
made a difference in the lives of people here and now through wholeness. Jesus’ healings and exorcisms liberated
people from oppressive and dehumanizing forces. His inclusive table fellowship modeled an experience of life in
the kingdom—a feast, a banquet at which outcast and sinners were not only
welcome, but given the best seats in the house.
Jesus
not only made way for the kingdom in his actions of wholeness, he claimed that
this way of wholeness was also within us.
In Luke’s gospel, the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom was coming,
to which he replied, “The
Jesus
also told many parables about the kingdom.
These stories indicate that the
The
The
story is told of a retired pastor who took seriously the words of Jesus: “When
you do it to the least of these, you do it to me.” This elderly man, retired and on a fixed income, began to fill his
van with food and clothes and share the little he had with people in need. A local church heard about him and decided
to give him money to buy food and clothes.
When the head of the mission committee arrived with a check one Saturday
the pastor was setting up tables in a vacant lot and placing food and clothes
out for people to take. The pastor
wouldn’t take the check. He said, “I
don’t need your money. I need your
hands. If you want to stay here and
help me serve these people, I’d be obliged.”
After several months of working along side him, the pastor was able to
discern the hearts of these volunteers and did eventually accept their
financial support.
Come
to think of it, we don’t have any record of Jesus sending a large contribution
to his local synagogue in lieu of his healings and exorcisms. He touched people who were untouchable,
broke bread with sinners, took time to hear the life stories of the people he
healed, and wept with them and for them.
The
Some
theologians wonder if the term ‘kingdom’ is very useful for contemporary
Christians. We no longer live in a
world dominated by kings. Maybe a
better word would be the ‘realm’ of God or the ‘dominion’ of God. I believe the kingdom vision we receive from
the life and teachings of Jesus is best represented in the concept of
shalom—health, wholeness, well being.
It
is a vision we are committed to here at Midway Hills. We understand that to pray ‘thy kingdom come’ is not wishful
thinking. It is a call to action. When we pray ‘thy kingdom come’ we are not
making a request, we are taking a vow.
We are pledging our willingness to allow God’s kingdom/shalom to be
established in and through us.
That
is the essence of God’s will. God wills
the kingdom to come. God wills that it
be on earth as it is in heaven. And
when we are tuned to the unlikely places and people of the kingdom, when we are
engaged in acts of wholeness that bridge the gap between heaven and earth we
are doing God’s will. Or in the words of Madeleine L’Engle: “Heaven is not a
place name, heaven is wherever God’s will is being done.”
Some
of us need to stop pretending that the will of God is a mystery. Jesus made it quite clear. God wants us to feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, care for the sick, dismantle dehumanizing systems and structures, invite
the uninvited.
Some
of us need to cease our obsession with the second coming. Our calculations and debates about how and
when it is going to happen are an excuse for inactivity. Jesus has made it quite clear. The
As
disciples of Jesus, all of us are called to live in the tension of the already
and not yet of the kingdom. We are
caught between heaven and earth. We
catch glimpses of the kingdom when we feed the hungry, advocate for the poor,
and challenge the dehumanizing systems of the kingdoms of this world.
Those
glimpses keep us looking and yearning for more. We are continually discerning the places where God is at work so
that we can co-operate. Those moments
of connection fuel our passion for justice and deepen our hunger and thirst for
righteousness.
Those
glimpses keep us working toward that vision of ultimate shalom pictured in the
book of Revelation when:
The kingdoms of this world will become the
kingdom of our Lord and of the Christ.
A
time when:
The home of God is among mortals. God will dwell
with them; they will be God’s peoples, and God’s very self will be with them;
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for
these first things have passed away.
That
is the vision. We long for it. We work toward it. And we pray for it.