From the Pastor's Pen

Pastor Sally’s Devotional 9/26

| September 27, 2020

Dear Friends,

As we continue our look at the Lord’s prayer, we come to the petition, “Thy Kingdom come.”  What does that mean?  I think lots of American Christians struggle with the whole concept of a Kingdom.  We don’t live in a Kingdom, and we don’t have a King.  In fact we repudiated the whole notion of Kings back in the Revolutionary war.  So what does it mean to pray for God’s Kingdom to come?

Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven a lot!  In the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, the first words of teaching we have from Jesus’ lips are, “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near.” (Mark 1: 15)  At other times Jesus was known to say, “The Kingdom of God is already among you. (Luke 17:21)   I think Jesus understood the concept of God’s Kingdom was hard for people to understand, so he frequently began his parables, “The Kingdom of God is like….” 

There are a couple of ideas that can help us wrap our minds around the Kingdom of God.  The first is that every Kingdom has to have a ruling monarch… a king or a queen.  In Jesus’ day a monarch ruled over everything, guiding the life of the people.  And a good monarch secured the safety and well being of the people and provided for peace.  Part of praying for God’s Kingdom to come is surely praying that God would take charge of our lives and the whole creation.

The other thing we want to note is that Jesus clearly believed he was ushering in God’s Kingdom, so it is helpful to look at Jesus’ life and ministry to see what the Kingdom of God might look like. So Jesus was very interested in the common people in particular.  He had great compassion on the masses who needed a shepherd to lead them and care for them.  He fed the multitudes, he healed the sick, he was a friend to sinners and to those who were discounted by society and those who were forgotten.  He forgave sins.  He raised the dead.  He preached hope, and one has the impression that the Kingdom Jesus was preaching would mean the world would look very different from our present situation where some have of a lot and some don’t even have enough to feed their children.  I think when we pray, “Thy Kingdom Come” we are asking the Lord to come and set up the peaceable Kingdom pictured in the Old Testament, where everyone has enough, everyone is beloved and everyone honors God.  That’s a lot to pray for and it’s a lot to think about the next time you pray, “Thy Kingdom come.”

Peace,

Pr. Sally

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