Your Kingdom Come

Today, I am thinking about those friends who, in real ways, face the bitter reality of our busted-up lives. There is loss and pain, fear and longing. There's a deep weariness in living with a reality that was just not meant to be. I mean, we know that God's Kingdom is coming ... but it's not fully here. And a good dose of brokenness sure makes us long for it.

The Kingdom's not fully here, but we're told that it is already here in measure. What does that mean? Just where is this Kingdom?

This evening I will attend the concert for which Keziah and her group of fellow musicians have been practising all week. She's thrilled to be performing alongside so many different instruments, excited to have been part of pulling together something beautiful. I'm sure it will be great!

When I listen for sounds of the Kingdom, though, I am not necessarily expecting the polished symphony of a practiced orchestra playing in the town’s public hall. Beautiful although that is. I am listening also for the whisper of the wind as it bends the grasses in a way that reflects the sunlight. I am listening for the soft lilt of the teenage mother as she sings to her baby. I am listening for the sound of “Sorry” and “I love you.” 

I am listening to hear the note that I play alongside the God-notes - and the note that you play - that makes this ordinary music beautiful.

Where are those places in life where the colours are a little brighter, where the pieces are woven together in such a way that it allows some distinct and particular beauty to shine through? It is in these places that I see the loving movements of God, sometimes in ways I am aware of at the time, other times in ways I only see as I look back.

In these intersections, I see the coming of the Kingdom. More love, more beauty. Broken pieces coming together. The light of revelation, the weightiness of encounter. God shines through, in words and pictures, in poems and songs, in tears and laughter, in bread and wine. 

Even in our places of brokenness, you and I get to participate in creating these intersections. We point them out, describing them so others see them too. “Look!” we say, “The Kingdom shines through.”

I see a time of wholeness, when

Everything that is broken is set together.
Both the great blocks of discord 
And the small shards of disunity,
Undone together, re-knit together, 
Made one together, now whole together, 
More together than ever.
Because of You.

I see a place of beauty, where
Light shines a million rainbow colours.
It lights on what was unseen
And sets it in its place of glory.
It sweeps over scenes so majestic
In breadth and grandeur, that
We catch our collective breath.
As we see You.

I see a realm of order, whose
Predictability makes space, for
More freedom than we knew to be
Possible. Everything finds the place it fits,
Like notes in harmony and
A beat in time, that
Makes the music soar.
We sing for You.

I see an era of abundance, which
Flourishes and flows with
Everything that is good, and right.
No lack, no meanness here;
More goodness than we know
What to do with.
All we are, and have, and do prospers.
Because of You.

I see your Kingdom, Lord.
The place we long for,
The home our hearts have dreamed of
Since time began.
Let it come, we cry -
In all the small ways, 
And then with cosmic shockwaves.

It’s all for You.