Holy Week

It's Holy Week and here in Orlando even the pine trees know it.

The Shape of Things to Come

We've been doing a message series in our church's worship services on The Lord's Prayer. Praying "Thy Kingdom Come" is a prayer that will change us. It is clear from reading just a little of what Jesus said about the Kingdom of God that he is talking about a way of life that is different from what we're used to in this world. Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in his day, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." John 18:36

Author, Donald Kraybill puts his finger on how different the Kingdom of God is in his book entitled, The Upside-Down Kingdom. He suggests that the kingdom of God points to an inverted way of life that contrasts with the established social order. In this inverted kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first, the exalted will be humbled and the humbled will be exalted, sinners are forgiven and welcomed while the self-righteous are punished, the poor are blessed and the rich are condemned, the lost are found and the dead are brought back to life, the lion lays down with the lamb and spears are beaten into pruning hooks.

So even while the Kingdom of God is not of this world it is not "other-worldly." In other words, this isn't a reality that we will only experience after we die. Jesus also teaches his disciples to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What type of matter the new creation, the new Jerusalem, the kingdom of God will take is yet to be determined, but ever since the resurrected Jesus ate fish with his disciples on the beach and Thomas touched the risen savior's nail scarred hands and pierced side, Christians have anticipated a kingdom of God that involves bodies and earth rather than ghost-like spirits and clouds. Any type of disembodied notion of the kingdom of God was condemned by the early church as a heresy called "Gnosticism."

So when we pray "Thy Kingdom Come" we are speaking of the shape of things to come on earth as it is in heaven. Indeed, Christians are called to live into the Kingdom of God right now. After all, Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe the good news" Mark 1:15. That means we should be seeing glimpses of the Kingdom of God on earth all around us. Those glimpses may seem small or insignificant (such as a mustard seed, Matthew 13:31-32) but Jesus insists they are the shape of things to come.

This week a member of my church dropped off her daughter for preschool and she was driving a different car than usual. Turns out she had rented this one while her car was in the shop for some repairs. She came in after the drop off and shared with me that her 3 year old daughter had been exploring all the compartments in this rental car and found a bag of bullets. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I have no idea what to do with a bag of bullets? I've got no use for them. What am I supposed to do?"

Reflecting later on that conversation it occurred to me that her reaction to this bag of bullets was a glimpse of the inverted way of life in God's Kingdom. According to the Biblical prophets who speak of turning spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3), we are all headed in the direction of the day when we find a bag of bullets and shrug our shoulders. We will simply have no use for them in God's Kingdom.

What ways are you seeing glimpses of the Kingdom of God coming on earth that reveal the shape of things to come?

Changed By Pain

Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people . . . . I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive. Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope, p. 41

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1

This week it occurred to me that the transforming work of God happens in our lives when we aren't comfortable. Perhaps you've noticed that times when you have felt most uncomfortable, least self-sufficient, and even powerless, you have been most open to change and trust in God.

One of my sisters in Christ moved away this week to be with her daughter in Tennessee. I met her 13 years ago at Church. Over the years she grew to know God's love and saving grace through worship and studying the scripture. She had good friends and a supportive family. She was happy.

But God must have been messing with her because not long after I met her she made a decision to do something pretty uncomfortable. She became an advocate for homeless families in central Florida and went out recruiting other pastors and churches to form what would become the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Central Florida (a network of churches to help homeless families find dignity, get employment and back into a home).

What makes her decision even more surprising is that she was a retired nurse and had never stood in front of pastors and churches to make speeches before. That was really hard for her, made her really uncomfortable. But as it turns out, she wasn't the first person to ever find in her personal ordeals an opportunity to transform herself and heal the people.

Apparently this is the way God has chosen to transform the world . . . through a cross. God's desire isn't to serve us as a kind of divine genie who grants our wishes if we're good enough. God looks at us in love and longs to make us new. God sees for us a new reality which we aren't capable of seeing apart from sharing in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is what leads Christians to say things like this:

But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 4:13

It took a long time for the Interfaith Hospitality Network to gain momentum and get started. There were days when it looked like it might not happen. But even if it hadn't, Shirley was being changed, deepening her trust of God and concern for the poor. Her discomfort had revealed God's glory.

In what ways might God be using your discomfort or inviting you into it in order to transform you?

How have you noticed the way God uses discomfort to bring transformation?