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"Thy Kingdom Come"
"Thy kingdom come." The words are spoken, who knows,
hundreds of thousands of millions of times a day, a week,
a year. It was learned almost unintentionally by simple
repetition along with the rest of the words that form
what we have come to call the Lord's Prayer. I am
offering that phrase, "Thy kingdom come," to you tonight
as a lens through which you are invited to take a look
around at the world in which we are living, at your life
as you live in this little slice time, and of course to
look at the events recorded in the Bible that bring us
all together this evening.
People say it, "thy kingdom come," rather casually most
of the time and I suspect without an awareness of the
intensely radical nature of what is suggested by the words.
For there is imbedded in the phrase an idea, a notion, a
tiny little spark of hope and truth that there is another
reality, a kingdom, something that is more, something that
is different than what we are currently experiencing and
that is yet to come.
I'm not so sure that if we knew what we were saying we
might not choose to skip over "thy kingdom come." After
all what we have here and now has some pretty great parts,
especially this time of year - gifts, decorations, family,
gifts, time off from work and school, candy and cookies,
gifts, parties, enough food to feed a third world country,
and of course gifts.
And there is nothing inherently wrong with any of that.
Please hear me say that loud and clear. This is not a
"you-people-have-way-too-much-and-should-really-feel-
guilty-instead-of-happy" sermon. Not at all, in fact
the world we live in is an amazing and exhilarating
place that we were meant to experience and enjoy. Think
of it - art and literature and films, the creativity of
the human mind and spirit, technology and cultures and
architecture and mountains and oceans and stars and
planets. So why on earth would we want something different?
Some of you know exactly why. You've seen the other side
personally. And all the rest of us live with that uneasy
feeling that nothing is certain or permanent. What's here
today can be gone tomorrow and we're left holding an empty
bag wondering what went wrong. Our natural instinct is to
try and build a fortress against the inevitable and shelter
ourselves, our loved ones, create our own little kingdoms
to protect us from the forces that lurk in the unknown of
the future, but we're never quite secure enough.
“Thy kingdom come” offers something more remarkable than
the best of what we have or can imagine having and without
the intrusion of all that you know and fear in this world.
You see I believe, and the Bible teaches, and I invite you
to consider the possibility that the American dream is not
the ultimate hope for human beings. I believe that there is
another kingdom that is even now being formed in secret that
will surpass all that has gone before when it is revealed in
full.
The kingdom of God in Christ is this new kingdom and it is
already among us. I am sorry to say that most people, much
of the church, and many pastors have caved in to the notion
that this new kingdom is really just some modified and
polished version of the present. Christianity for the most
part, I am sad to say, has given up its charter to lead the
charge into the new reality of God’s kingdom and has settled
instead for offering therapy and advice on how to make the
best out of the here and now, which is why so many have
given it up except of course for the obligatory holidays.
To be honest I’m not sure I’d come every week either if
it weren’t my job, oh, and the fact that I am absolutely
certain that my job is not so much about helping you cope
with the here and now as it to tell you the story of the
real world, the one that is yet to come and train you to
live in it.
You see I believe that the Bible is the story of God working
to bring us to that new reality. It tells a single, cohesive,
timeline of God’s intimate attention to every detail of
history for the purpose of giving you and me the life we’ve
always longed for and dreamed of. To accomplish that goal
God did an utterly astounding thing. He chose to take on
human flesh and blood in the person of Jesus to live with
us and get this, to secure the exit strategy out of this
mess into the kingdom that is to come.
For the moment we are trapped in time. We cannot escape by
ourselves, but at just the right time Jesus entered the
world. That’s the event we are here to celebrate this evening.
A decree went out that a census should be taken. God did that.
Joseph and Mary went up to Bethlehem. God did that. The time
came for the baby to be born. God did that.
Not too soon, not too late, Jesus was born. He grew up with
his eyes firmly fixed on the future, your future and mine.
To get us there required that he himself absorb all that is
wrong in the here and now, which he did on the cross and then
break through the last barrier that separates us from the
kingdom that is to come, which he did when he rose from the
dead. Through that empty tomb there is now an opening between
here and there that is available to you. There is only one
way to get through that opening.
Stuck in a dead-end job and strapped for money, Kyle MacDonald
came up with an improbable plan: starting with one red paperclip,
he would trade on the Internet until he exchanged it for a house.
First, he traded the red paperclip for a fish-shaped pen. Next, he
traded the pen for a doorknob. He traded the doorknob for a Coleman
stove. He traded the Coleman stove for an electric generator. He
traded the electric generator for a Budweiser sign and a keg of
beer, which he then traded for a snowmobile. Exactly one year
and 14 trades later, MacDonald finally reached his goal: he
exchanged a part in a Hollywood movie for a home in Saskatchewan,
Canada. The true story of Kyle MacDonald is told in his book One
Red Paperclip. Now the book is being made into a movie. Fame,
fortune, a book, a movie deal, and a home—it all began with one
red paperclip. Sounds incredible, doesn't it?
Faith is believing that God’s incredible story as it is told in
the Bible is in fact the controlling force that is guiding and
governing this world’s history toward its grand and glorious
finale. Faith, to the human eye looks like less than a red
paper clip, but then who would have thought you could trade
a paper clip for a house.
Faith comes from hearing the story and being drawn into the
plot that culminates when the kingdom comes. Christianity is
perceived as some sort of social, political, organization
trying to do good things, a bunch of people who get together
for something or other. They think they’re better than
everybody else. They talk weird.
I want to challenge that stereotype. I want to suggest to you
that the church is actually a community that is bound together
by a story, God’s story. It is a thrilling, invigorating, life
shaping, life changing story that ties us together in a common
purpose, direction and destination that gives order and meaning
to your life beyond compare.
This evening is an invitation, an appeal, no, really a challenge
to all of you. Starting Jan 6th, here at Oviedo and at our
location at Joan Walker Elementary School in Chuluota, and
at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Sanford, we are
going to begin a year-long telling of the Bible’s story
starting with the creation and ending at the promised
coming of the kingdom in all its fullness and glory. I
wonder what would happen if you came to church every
Sunday for a year.
“Thy Kingdom Come” is the name of the series and it is your
chance to find out. Come and see. It is the story of your
life, real life that begins right now and will never end.
A Savior was promised. Jesus was born. He lived, died, and
rose again and His kingdom is coming.
Amen.
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