Some of the Pharisees asked
Jesus, "When will the kingdom of God come?" Jesus answered, "God's
kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with
your eyes. People will not say, 'Look, here it is!’ or, 'There it is!'
because God's kingdom is within you (Luke 17:20-21)."
In 1937, the Federal Council of Churches (now known as the National Council of Churches) recommended that the entire part of the Christian calendar between Pentecost and Advent be named “Kingdomtide.” The liturgy for Kingdomtide stressed charity and assistance to the poor, certainly worthy themes and foci of both the Hebrew Bible and expanded Christian Bible. What could be wrong with these emphases?
The problem is that notwithstanding Jesus’ words to the Pharisees regarding the kingdom of God, this great church body (referred to by some back then as the “Protestant Vatican”) decided that they could transform the USA into the kingdom of God as understood by the proponents of the “Social Gospel Movement.”
In the Genesis story of creation and the fall, God created the human beings by breathing His life (spirit) into cosmic dust. A living person was created in God’s image and likeness (spirit). The first living spirit on earth was told, “You may eat of the fruit of any tree in the garden (which included a tree called “life”) but you must not eat of the fruit of the tree called “knowledge.” Eat of that tree and you will certainly die (Genesis 2:ff).”
We are impatient with Jesus’ idea of the kingdom. Notwithstanding the story in Genesis, we believe that we know enough to approximate what God had in mind for the earth. We continue to embrace “what we think we know, what we feel, what we see, and what we experience” over and against “God’s Word.” Why are we so afraid to accept Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom must first be in us, transforming our spirits so that our souls can be rebirthed, reformed, rescued and reshaped into the image of God?
Who ever told us that we should abandon the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” and seek to accomplish the same using our own imaginations and egos and self-centered dominated consciousnesses? (In earlier centuries “the Church” used genocide, burnings at the stake, pogroms, inquisitions and wars to bring about its kingdom on earth).
Jesus reminds us, “The kingdom is coming in a manner not subject to empirical evidence, yet it is here already for those who are willing to see.” You don’t have to wait for it, search for it, research it or travel to find it. LOOK WITHIN. Meet me in the recesses of your heart.” You are the temple of God. You are the place that God seeks to dwell and to prepare humanity for the new world.
In 1937, the Federal Council of Churches (now known as the National Council of Churches) recommended that the entire part of the Christian calendar between Pentecost and Advent be named “Kingdomtide.” The liturgy for Kingdomtide stressed charity and assistance to the poor, certainly worthy themes and foci of both the Hebrew Bible and expanded Christian Bible. What could be wrong with these emphases?
The problem is that notwithstanding Jesus’ words to the Pharisees regarding the kingdom of God, this great church body (referred to by some back then as the “Protestant Vatican”) decided that they could transform the USA into the kingdom of God as understood by the proponents of the “Social Gospel Movement.”
In the Genesis story of creation and the fall, God created the human beings by breathing His life (spirit) into cosmic dust. A living person was created in God’s image and likeness (spirit). The first living spirit on earth was told, “You may eat of the fruit of any tree in the garden (which included a tree called “life”) but you must not eat of the fruit of the tree called “knowledge.” Eat of that tree and you will certainly die (Genesis 2:ff).”
We are impatient with Jesus’ idea of the kingdom. Notwithstanding the story in Genesis, we believe that we know enough to approximate what God had in mind for the earth. We continue to embrace “what we think we know, what we feel, what we see, and what we experience” over and against “God’s Word.” Why are we so afraid to accept Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom must first be in us, transforming our spirits so that our souls can be rebirthed, reformed, rescued and reshaped into the image of God?
Who ever told us that we should abandon the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” and seek to accomplish the same using our own imaginations and egos and self-centered dominated consciousnesses? (In earlier centuries “the Church” used genocide, burnings at the stake, pogroms, inquisitions and wars to bring about its kingdom on earth).
Jesus reminds us, “The kingdom is coming in a manner not subject to empirical evidence, yet it is here already for those who are willing to see.” You don’t have to wait for it, search for it, research it or travel to find it. LOOK WITHIN. Meet me in the recesses of your heart.” You are the temple of God. You are the place that God seeks to dwell and to prepare humanity for the new world.
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