When I used to teach in church I would regularly underscore the things that Jesus spoke about most. One of the biggies was “The Kingdom of God”, or the Kingdom of Heaven”. It seems this was the core of his message, he often began his teaching with “The Kingdom of God is like”......
Equally when his disciples asked him how they should pray he included the words, “Your Kingdom come.”
Ironically it seems that Jesus actually only gave examples of what the kingdom might be or might be like. It seems obvious to me then that the Kingdom of Heaven is not a place, not geographically at least. Is it possible then that heaven might indeed be a spiritual awareness or an enlightenment to the existence of God?
Does the Kingdom actually allow us into the supernatural presence of Big God and to his Almighty Power?
This has got me thinking about my blog and my personal ongoing journey into exploring my spirituality. My blog has been a coming out of sorts. A turning away from some of the confines of the organised religion I have encountered in church.
Some of my old churchy friends see my current direction as retrograde and they “fear” for my soul in that I am turning away from God. But I can say without any fear at all that I am certain that I am getting much closer to him since I left the bosom of a congregation and the control of an organisation. Believe it or not it can actually be quite tough stepping away from the instituation. My friend summed it up really well yesterday when he said “Navigating beyond the borders of the church is scary because support doesn't come from the church but from that which it doesn't endorse”. The world is indeed a scary place to expose yourself to.
I had a FaceAche conversation this week that probably should have been expanded more on my blog than on the public forum. To all intents it appeared that I was attacking church leaders for what I termed the Arseholier than thou attitude that many leaders of churches use to keep the flock in check. It's true. I know. I did it and I had some rather gross experiences on the other side of the argument too. All I was suggesting in fact is that pastors, vicars, priests etc should think VERY carefully before they speak. Something I need to do too. Something we all do. It's scriptural I believe: “Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble”. I'm still in training – obviously.
Now. In my virgin stages of blogging I've had a right good rant at christianity or more accurately churchianity. However, I have defended my rights to still believe 100% in Jesus as God (albeit for a few short years as a human example and as proof that God actually does exist). My drift away is from organisation and religion, not from God. Also, although I have challenged my belief in the authority of the Bible, I still maintain that it is an incredible book that has SO much to teach. Some of the gist of what Jesus said must be maintained in its pages methinks.
So. If Jesus spoke so much about The Kingdom of God / Heaven so fervently and passionately, I reckon he thought it rather important for us to grasp what it just might be. As I said, nowhere does Jesus actually define what he Kingdom of God IS.
- Certainly he proclaimed the Kingdom Come in himself, ergo if he / it had already arrived then we can't stop it.
- Certainly he taught that the Kingdom was for ALL. That it was all inclusive, welcoming the lowest of the low from every corner of the globe ; ergo all faiths, creeds and non believers. Everyone! Everyone is equal in Jesus eyes.
- Certainly Jesus went against the grain of the religion and the cultural laws of his communities. He brought a New Testament did he not? A new way of thinking and acting out your place in society.
- Certainly Jesus believed that The Kingdom of God is worth more than ANYTHING else we have – including life.
But here's the best bit; Jesus said that, the Kingdom of God is within us. We already have it! It's within us waiting to be discovered and released.
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Released!
I've seen some pretty amazing shit when we called upon God in church meetings. “Come Holy Spirit” we would pray and on many occasions amazing things would happen that could only be put down to the supernatural or good drugs.
So when ever people pray “thy Kingdom Come” I reckon they should shut the hell up, step back and let God do something within them. It's Gods gig It's Gods Kingdom after all innit?
So if faithful people pray in faith for the things of God to become a reality in our world, for God’s Kingdom to Come and truly impact our lives and communities, then it will happen through us.
We must allow God to Come into our own lives to allow him to change us in dramatic ways, miraculous ways. Then we might as the great Gandhi said, “become the change we want to see in the world”.
It's no good sitting around waiting for world peace and harmony. I applaud the “missionary work” many people in churches do. But it's no better than the work the non believers or the other faith groups do. It serves to bring God into the world. It releases Gods love and compassion through men and women whether the givers feel good about it or the recipients come to believe in the baby Jesus or not.
God will be God if only we release him from within.
The worst thing any of us can do is pray for The Kingdom to and not be willing to be part of the answer.
Yours in sincere love and ongoing hypocrisy.
Ray
Shalom folks and a Happy New Year
