Missions Sunday
We will be having our Missions day this coming Sunday (November 22nd). We are excited to host a missionary guest speaker. She will speak twice. The first session will be at 9:00am in the gym. Don’t miss it, we will be serving free breakfast for all. Then the second session will be at the 10:30am worship service.
As we come towards our Missions Sunday, I have been reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer and what it teaches us about missions. Especially Mathew 6: 10; “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
What does the kingdom of God on earth look like? What is God’s idea of the divine kingdom realized on earth?
The Lord’s Prayer was given at a time of Roman dominion. At that time, it was urgent, especially for people of faith who were potentially facing persecution under pagan imperial reign, to establish God’s idea of rule and order.
Perhaps Jesus’ words in this portion of the prayer are a reminder that we must seek to understand the nature of God’s realm if our actions are to be consistent with God’s design for our lives and all of creation. The scriptures repeatedly support the observation that Jesus’ intention for his followers was for them to think and act differently from others. Christians are called to look at the world through different lenses (God’ Kingdom lenses).
Edward Hick’s famous painting, “The Peaceable Kingdom,” is the artist’s representation of Isaiah 11:6-9. The text paints an image of a time where the world is different. A world where the wolf lies with the lamb and the child plays near the den of the cobra without fear of harm. It is an ideal world where peace can exist among the created order.
Our current natural order requires that wolves eat meat, not vegetables, and parents must protect their children from that which they do not instinctively know to fear.
I believe that the kingdom of God on earth that Jesus spoke of is not an expectation of a world where everything goes our way, but rather a world where we do what is within our power so that things unfold in God’s way.
Christian community therefore, should be about selfless service, caring commitment, and daily discipleship that make a transforming difference in people’s lives. Before we go out and launch forth into whatever missional project we have to do, examining the biblical blueprints reveal that God also requires transformational change in our lives. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mathew 6:10).
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