Thy Kingdom Come On Earth

Strength for the Journey

May 25, 2011

Thy Kingdom Come On Earth

Over the past several weeks there has been a lot of buzz in the news, on face book and on other electronic media about Harold Camping, the 89-year-old doomsday prophet, who predicted the world would end this past Saturday.  Many have made jokes about the end of the world and what would or would not happen.  People have always been curious or concerned about these things.  

This was true in Jesus’ day as well.  On more than one occasion, Jesus was asked to tell his followers when these things would happen. One of these conversations goes as follows: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory.  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. . . .‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he^* is near, at the very gates.  Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.   Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,^* but only the Father.’”(Matthew 24:36)

As the people of God we can argue, and do, about what this wonderful, powerful and symbolic language means, about what Jesus means about this generation not passing away before these things happen and about many other things.  But about the when, Jesus is pretty clear: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the father.”

Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, in what we call “The Sermon on the Mount,” we see a prayer that moves our focus from heaven to this earth on which we live and move and have our being.  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.  Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.”(Matthew 6:9-13)

This prayer leads me to believe that Jesus is at least as concerned about how we live on this earth as He is about how we get to heaven.  It also leads me to believe that Jesus believes God has heaven under control and that His purpose in being here on earth is because our life here is important.  How we treat others is important and matters eternally.  In fact, a little later in the Sermon on the Mount He reminds is that “in everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the law and the prophets.”(Matthew 7:12)

And last (for today) but not least, Jesus unrolls the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and proclaims his purpose in his first sermon at his home town synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

When God created the Heavens and the Earth he saw that it was good, very good.  God sent Jesus to redeem all of creation, Earth as well as Heaven and we have been called according to the scriptures to do what Jesus did and even more, we are called to be co-creators with God.  Whatever God has planned for the end of the world and whenever and however that will happen, I believe Jesus calls us to work with Him so that “God’s Kingdom will come, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!”

Blessings and Peace,

Ben

Some Reflections on the Death of Osama bin Laden

Some Reflections on the Death of Osama bin Laden

May 2, 2011

Any time another human being dies, it should cause us to reflect seriously and humbly on our relationship with God and with all other human beings in the world.  As I reflect on the death of Osama bin Laden, I must go back to Christmas of 2002.  On Christmas Eve at “Midnight Mass” Christians are ‘forced’ to read and to hear the following reading from the 8^th century BCE prophet, Isaiah.

“^{2 *}The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. ³ You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.  ⁴ For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.  ⁵ For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.  ⁶ For a child has been born for us,a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.  He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:2-7)

As many will remember, the fall of 2002 was the time of the debate over whether to go to war in Iraq or not, and as we know now the time of the building up of resources for that war.  As a Christian priest serving in New Orleans at that time, I could not hear this passage, especially the sentence, “for a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” without preaching on the Christian view of the possibility of this impending war.  To the best of my knowledge, I am the only preacher in New Orleans at that time who even touched on this difficult subject.  This is what I said:

“As Christians, and as followers of the Prince of Peace, we are called if it is Humanly possible to avoid war at all costs.  AND, if it is not possible to avoid War, then we should enter into it on our knees with a prayer in our hearts and tears in our eyes.”

My reflections continue with the execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.  Even though he was a man who carried out very evil and inexcusable deeds, since I did not believe that we belonged in Iraq in the first place, I did not believe we had the right to execute him.  I understand that he was allegedly executed by his fellow Iraqis, but I would take exception to that argument.  This action really gnawed at the pit of my stomach and I still have a difficult time with it. 

In many ways, I see the death of Osama bin Laden differently.  First, bin Laden, unlike Saddam Hussein, did have something to do with 9/11, a great deal, in fact.  He was responsible for the deaths of over 3000 people on that day as well as the subsequent illness and deaths of many of the first responders and volunteers who assisted with rescue efforts.  The resulting war in Afghanistan can to a great extent be laid at his feet as well.  I believe he and his organization, Al Qaeda, have continued to propagate death and destruction in the United States and around the world.  I believe the world is better off without him in it and that his death was certainly the surest way to accomplish this.  I pray for those who carried out this mission.  I give thanks for their bravery, and I also pray for them as they deal with what the taking of another human life does to a person.

Having said all of this, I choose to use this occasion, not to jump up and down and cheer, “USA, USA, USA” (though I understand that reaction). But to pray and reflect on: our relationship to God, our relationship to other human beings, enemies as well as friends, the use of religion (any religion) as an excuse for violence, and how we can use this event as a way to move closer to Isaiah’s dream.

For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.  ⁶ For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.  He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from

this time onwards and for evermore. (Isaiah 9:2-7)