Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, "The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, 'Look here!' or, 'There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you." ( Luke 17: 21 ; Eugene Peterson's The Message )
Interesting, the " Kingdom " is the buzz word of the emerging-ent/ missional conversation. In John's gospel Jesus pitches his tent among us in the midst humanity, the incarnational presence of God with us. As we open the door crossing the threshold of Mark's gospel, Jesus announces the Kingdom is " Near."
The Kingdom cannot be marketed. The Kingdom is not in clever programs. The kingdom is beyond the wisdom and power of man.
The Kingdom is abiding in the beauty, the simplicity of Jesus' words, " God's Kingdom is already among you." It's in the simplicity of living. It's living in the moment, of knowing God dwells within through His Spirit. It is knowing the same Spirit that brooded over creation in the beginning, continues to brood over an embryonic beginning of a new creation.
Every moment of our day, is potentially a " Kingdom Moment ", in which we carry the incarnational presence of Jesus. As Paul would say, " Christ within." Every moment of the day, there are cracks, seams in simple conversations in which, if we are obedient the Spirit will give us the words of Jesus. These divine moments will surprise us. They won't be clever, pious or religious words. They will just be words where humanity and spirit merge, of where deep calls to deep. We will be surprised because it will be all " God ", and the profound discovery, " God's Kingdom is among us ."
It's also in having the eyes of Jesus, to have his mind, to have the redemptive imagination to see an alternative to the world. Its to see the injustice, the broken places and spaces of humanity as healed, restored, the upside down image of the world which is the Kingdom. It is communities, individuals bold enough to build what they see through the redemptive imagination of Jesus. Again we are surprised, because we begin to see God's Kingdom in places that we had never thought of.
Amen and amen! Such good stuff, this.
Posted by: Erin Wilson | October 15, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Great post! My favorite thus far.
Posted by: Eruesso | October 27, 2009 at 05:46 AM