Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel... ~ Ephesians 6.19

06 August 2013

He's coming. Are you ready?

The cross I see every day walking to church.  A sign of God's kingdom come.
     As I read the texts for Sunday, I stand convicted.  The text from Hebrews talks about the faith of Abraham, who though he remained childless for years after God's promise of children, still believed.  I stand convicted because a) I don't have very much patience and b) I don't always believe that the promise of God's kingdom come will happen.  As a pastor, it is difficult to admit this, and is perhaps one of those little footholds Satan has in my faith.  A few weeks ago when we had the reading from Luke 11 on the Lord's prayer, I was reminded that some of this impatience and doubt often comes because I am not praying for the Holy Spirit but rather am praying for something I want, I wish, or some other self-centered prayer.
    Yet Abraham believed the promise that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars in heaven, and this God 'reckoned to him as righteousness.' (Gen 15.6)  And indeed God was faithful, though even Abrah, Isaac, and Jacob never saw this promise come to fruition but rather, 'All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.' (Hebrews 11.13)
     The distance the writer of Hebrews refers to here is their eternal home with God.  These three fathers of the Abrahamic faiths 'confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland...But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.' (Hebrews 11.14-16)
     This promise sounds a lot like the promise Jesus makes in the gospel this week from Luke 12 when he says, 'Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.'  I have already admitted that sometimes it seems to me that God's kingdom will not come,  God's will is not done, and no matter how much I pray for this, it is not going to happen. 
     Yet this kind of thinking is exactly what Jesus warns against as the scripture continues, 'Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.'
     Often I find with my mindset of God's kingdom not coming and God not doing what God promised, I miss those moments of the kingdom inbreaking my world.  I am a slave who is not alert when the master comes, or another way to say it, if you're not looking for it, you don't see it.  This is true not just of God and God's kingdom, but of anything.  Take for instance, when I was pregnant.  It seemed, in those 10 months of my life, that everyone around me was also pregnant.  Now the month Frankie was born was not an excessively busy month, and there wasn't a bump in births that month, it was just that I was looking for it and easily noticed all the pregnant women.  Or, when I was in my entomology class in college and was working on my final bug collection (which comprised 50% of the grade) it seemed that the world suddenly teemed with all sorts of different insects.  The reality is that there were no more bugs in the world those two months I was working on the project, but my eyes were looking for them.
       It is God's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, if only we have eyes to see.  And Jesus links this directly to selling possessions, giving alms, and putting your treasure in the right place, 'for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'  Putting your treasure in God's kingdom is a perfect way to notice it in this world.  Giving alms, or using your money to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and nourish the soul is a perfect way to see God's kingdom in our midst.  For when we spend on ourselves we certainly receive a momentary pleasure but it is fleeting.  Putting your treasure in what really lasts, into God's kingdom, is another story.
     In God's kingdom women in their 90s give birth to children.  In God's kingdom thousands are fed on a few loaves of bread and some fish.  In God's kingdom death is not the end but the beginning of new life.  In God's kingdom moth and rust don't eat away, love and forgiveness abounds, and everything works for the good of those who love God.
     And God promises.  Through Christ, God-made-flesh, we see this kingdom come.  And through our baptisms into Christ, we see the kingdom come.  God has promised and God is faithful.  The mystery of faith we live is a simple one: he is coming.  Are you ready?

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