Thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done...

This sermon is one that came in the middle of a sermon series on the Lord's Prayer at my home church on June 23, 2013.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10


for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3: 26-29


"When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19: 33-34


“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

We speak of God’s kingdom all of the time- but do we really know what it is? Well, if we are willing to sit down and hash it out, we can start in the Gospels where Jesus uses parables to speak of the kingdom of God. I chose to not do that this morning for a reason- we would be reading a whole lot, and I think Paul sums it up very nicely in his letter to the Galatians- “In Christ, There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female.”

The focus of most, if not all, of Paul’s letters was unity in Christ. Knowing that Christ is the incarnation of God, this is not surprising that Paul would strive to put this unity focus in his teachings because it is through our unity in Christ that we come into unity with God. It is as simple as that… or is it?

We cannot, even for a second, deny that there is diversity around us. Even if we limit our scope to this sanctuary, or even the pew where we are sitting, we see that we are unique. Every person has a unique appearance, a unique dialect, a unique job, a unique set of beliefs… I could go on for hours, but you get the point. However, even though we are all unique, we have one common thread holding us together- that we are all the children of God.

Just a few weeks ago, Rev. Sherrod baptized Ella Grace Hilliard. One very important aspect of that baptism was the communal recognition of our own baptisms. Whenever one is baptized, all are re-baptized. The significance in this is that through this recognition of our own individual baptism, we are also recognizing that we are all baptized in the same name of Jesus Christ, the son of God and that we are all children of God.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul points to this same baptism to explain that there is no separation between one person and the next. This was in a time of upheaval and strong belief that if someone was not like you, they were wrong. I hate to say it, but it probably wasn’t too far from where we are today. What is even more astonishing is that Paul doesn’t just bring all of those in the present into union, but ties them to the past as well- taking this unity as far back as Abraham, assuring that those who are in Christ are the descendents of Abraham and therefore part of the covenant with God.

We see in other letters from Paul that he does not totally do away with those things that make us unique- he addresses slaves as slaves, men and women accordingly, and even continues to use ethnic distinctions. These are not things that can be done away with- the point that Paul is trying to make is that because we are all children of God, these distinctions do not matter to God.

When we jump back to the laws in the book of Leviticus- we see that this lack of distinction wasn’t completely foreign- "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.”

Well, dictionary.com defines a stranger as a person who is not a member of the family, group, community, or the like, as a visitor or guest. There is no mention here of “this does not include…” So there you have it- even in the book of laws that many people turn to in order to cast someone out, we are told that we are to welcome those people in and to love them as ourselves. Throughout Leviticus 19 we find a great focus put on strengthening one’s relationship with their neighbor, whether they are a neighbor whom you have known for your entire life or someone who has come from an outside land.

What’s more is this law and deterioration of boundaries was not just set by some random person, but rather this law and all of those in this chapter are handed down to Moses by YHWH- further enforced throughout by the Hebrew phrase, “אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם “ (Ani Adonai Elohachem), translated as “I the Lord am your God”. For this reason, these were never taken lightly.

Have you ever tried to sit down and have a conversation with someone who did not agree with you? Unless you are a rarity, I bet you were quite uncomfortable- arms crossed and very guarded, and maybe even a bit defensive. We all fall into that mode on occasion if something we believe is being challenged. If someone says or does something that makes us uncomfortable, we retaliate- it is the human thing to do. But I wonder- what would happen if we actually engaged in conversation with this person rather than arguing and defending? That is what the law given to Moses is trying to get the people to do- to essentially sit down and engage rather than argue; to welcome one another in rather than to slam the door shut.

I think we are all familiar with the story of the ugly duckling- the version that I remember goes something like this…

One dark stormy night, when the wind was so strong it could pick up a boulder, a nest of eggs sitting by the lake was disturbed. One egg, much lighter than a boulder, was pushed down the hill by the wind until it came to rest in a new nest. The mother duck, not knowing how in the world one of her eggs slipped out from underneath her, quickly pulled the lost egg into her warmth- and there is sat until it came time to hatch.

Well, the day finally came and the eggs began to hatch. As the eggs hatched, beautiful baby ducklings climbed out of the shell and began to waddle around. One egg didn’t hatch though. Very worried, the mother duck found her spot sitting on the egg once more until finally it began to move. The ducklings and their mother gathered around, very excited, and watched as they saw the cracks slowly creep through the egg until finally a large grey head popped out from the egg. Very confused, the ducklings began to look at one another and then to this new duckling- they were each a beautiful yellow, but this new duck was grey! Something was terribly wrong.

As the ducks began to grow and learn their way around the pond, the grey duck who we will call “Buster” for the sake of the story, was always left out. His brothers and sisters made fun of him and left him out of the games they played. When they saw him coming, they would quickly swim away. It seemed that the only duck who loved him was his mother. No matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to get her other children to recognize Buster as part of the family, but she never shut him out. She fed him, swam with him, relaxed with him- mother never let her baby be alone.

And then it happened- one morning when Buster woke up, he looked up and saw all eyes on him and all beaks dropped open. Very confused, Buster waddled over to the lake and looked down at his reflection- he was no longer the goofy looking grey ball of feathers, but a beautiful swan. His brothers and sisters had spent so much time ignoring him that they never saw Buster’s transformation but his mother just smiled since she saw the whole thing happen.

Do you see the connection? This story that we use to teach our children the importance of not shutting a person out because they are different, isn’t really just for the kids. This story is a perfect summation of why we should let go of our differences and welcome one another in. I don’t know that the mother duck ever truly thought that this egg was hers since I think we all know that a mother is the first to see a difference in her children, but she saw that it was in need and she took it under her wings. Even after the eggs hatched and she saw that Buster was different, she never cast him out but continued to nurture him the way that only a loving parent could do. I don’t think I would be too far off base if I suggested that this is the way that God see’s us- we are all different, however no difference is ever enough that God would cast out a child. Just as the mother duck encouraged her ducklings, who did not listen, to include Buster God encourages us and even gave us a law.

This is the point when it can be all to easy to say “Well, this all sounds great but Paul wasn’t speaking to us- he was speaking to the Galatians… and the laws were given to Moses to give to the Isrealites… not us.” Remember that baptism though? The one that established that we are all children of God, not just connected to those people living today but all the way back to Abraham? Paul was in fact speaking to us and the laws were not just for the Isrealites. As Christians we too are called to look beyond all differences and distinctions and to welcome strangers in.

Theologian Freidrich Schleiermacher addresses the Kingdom of God in his writings about eschatological hope. In it, Schleiermacher explains that the Kingdom of God will come when all of humanity comes into full God-consciousness, essentially meaning that all of humanity not only recognizes but is completely dependent on God.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The original greek actually tells us that while the kingdom has been and continues to be present in heaven, it is not yet here on earth- so how do we get there? How will all of humanity recognize and become completely dependent on God, bringing the ever present kingdom in heaven into presence here on earth?

Well- I think that Paul and, let’s just throw it out there, YHWH give us a great start. When we strive to look past all earthly distinctions of age, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, education, social status, economic status, and any and all other distinctions which are present, we subsequently begin to welcome in those strangers that YHWH spoke of to Moses. When we can begin to look to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can begin to work towards bringing the Kingdom of God into action here on earth.

Last week I took a few minutes to sit down with our church’s bulletin to see how we are breaking down boundaries and welcoming all who we come across into the coming kingdom of God. I was very pleased with what I saw- every week we open our doors to at least five groups- Mother’s Morning Out, Girl Scouts, AA, AA/ Alanon, and the Career Transitions Support Group. Our prayer list includes not just members, but friends and family of members- last week there were five in the total twelve prayer concerns. The announcements start with an invitation to all in the greeting- “We invite you.” We also included two organizations outside of our church which we support. I would be willing to say that we are on the right track! But, if I have learned anything during my four weeks working as a chaplain, it is that we have to be willing to ask the tough questions. So here goes…

We open the doors so other groups can use our facilities, but is there ever a member presence? Has anyone ever been here to welcome people or to offer further hospitality? What can we do for these groups who regularly use our facilities, so that they know we are more than just a building? I know that we have made efforts periodically, but are we consistent and intentional with these efforts?

We read names in the bulletin- in many cases the same names for weeks and months on end. Do we as a church do anything to reach out to these friends and family so that they know we are not only praying for them on Sunday morning but continually thinking of them?

We send flip flops to Raleigh Rescue Mission, but have we thought about going down there to learn about what they do and maybe even work for a little bit? I can tell you from experience with Summer In The City- they have a huge food pantry that is always in need of organizing.

What can we do as God’s Children once we, both as a church and as individuals, reach out a bit further? LISTEN. What is the story behind the story? When we meet that person who takes us out of our comfort zone, imagine what we can learn if we actually listen to what they are saying. We may not understand everything that we are hearing, and we may not agree- but we are all God’s Children. God doesn’t focus on our differences and let them get in the way of God’s love, so why do we let them get in the way of our own love?

As humans, we come to know God through our earthly relationships- those relationships that we foster can be the avenue for the Kingdom to truly come and for God’s will to be done. As Jonathan said last week, “we are called to live lives that are sacred and set apart”. My follow-up to that would be that in breaking boundaries and looking beyond what makes us different from one another, we begin to live out one aspect of the sacred and set apart life. Jesus Christ ate with the sinners and outcasts, but who determines who that is? Unfortunately, humanity does. When we can go beyond these definitions of who we think other people are, and just open up and be with all of God’s children we will truly be setting the stage for the kingdom to finally come.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom and will of God are already and continue to be present… what role will we play as both individuals and the church to help to bring that kingdom and will of God into the world today? It won’t happen all at once, but we can definitely start today.