Date: March 9th
Preacher: Pastor Ashley Rosa-Ruggieri
First Reading: Romans 14:16-19
Second Reading: Luke 17:20-21
Theme: Kingdom Come
We enter our second week of this Lenten season, and we continue our theme of the Lord’s Prayer. The past week we have focused in on the beginning of the prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,” and reflected on how we live into our prayer that God’s name be kept sacred and holy. This week we continue in the prayer, with the next petition: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.”
Q: What is a word that you would use to describe the kingdom of God?
These words, these are the ones that we come up with when we try to explain the kingdom of God. Not only are the words hopeful, but they can be guiding words, ones that lead us to enact what we pray here. The part of the Lord’s Prayer that we look at this week helps us to understand two things. First, it reminds us that we pray for God to lead us and guide us every day. Not our own version of the kingdom, not our own will, but God’s kingdom and will. These are what we pray to know in our minds, to understand from our hearts, and to do through our actions. The second thing we learn is that we recognize this kingdom does not exist on Earth, but we want it to. We want to reflect the kingdom of God in heaven here on Earth to the best of our ability. Because the kingdom of God is among us, as Jesus says in our reading, and yet it is not fully realized here. We want to embody the words that were shouted out earlier to describe the kingdom of God, because that is the kingdom we are praying will come to be here and now.
Q: When have you glimpsed the kingdom of God here on Earth?
I glimpse the kingdom of God in small sprouts of seed paper that began to grow before they were even fully planted. I glimpse the kingdom of God in a child joyfully running up and down the aisle during worship. I glimpse the kingdom of God when we say the same prayers that have been prayed for hundreds of years by Christians all over the world, from lips that speak many different languages. I glimpse the kingdom of God through catechism students asking questions and then answering the questions themselves after some time of discussion and learning. These are a mere few examples of when I have glimpsed the kingdom of God that is among us now, and yet is not quite tangibly here.
Q: So, I ask again, when and where have you glimpsed the kingdom of God here on Earth?
Maybe you do not have an answer yet. Maybe one is forming in the back of your mind, but it is not ready to make itself known through words. Maybe you have never thought about this question before. Whether you had an answer jumping from your mouth immediately or you are still lost in reflective thought for a response, I encourage you to let that question sit in the back of your mind. Oftentimes it is in the small moments when we catch glimpses of the kingdom here, so be ready. In the meantime, we keep praying this prayer, each week, sometimes each day, and we ask God to show us the will and kingdom set before us, so that we might usher it into the world here and now. Because the kingdom of God is here and now among us, and will continue to become something more as we follow Jesus through our actions. I mentioned last week on Ash Wednesday that I would end each Wednesday Lent service with a question to ponder and reflect on for the next week. Here is my question for this week:
Q: How can you usher in God’s kingdom here on Earth as it is in heaven through your words and actions?