“David blessed GOD in full view of the entire congregation: ‘Blessed are you, GOD of Israel, our father from of old and forever. To you, O GOD, belong the greatness and the might, the glory, the victory, the majesty, the splendor; Yes! Everything in heaven, everything on earth; the kingdom all yours! You’ve raised yourself high over all. Riches and glory come from you, you’re ruler over all; You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand to build up and strengthen all. And here we are, O God, our God, giving thanks to you praising your splendid Name.” – 1 Chronicles 29: 10-13
Back in 1953… the year before I was born… John Bright… the Tennessee born Presbyterian scholar and theologian wrote a book titled, “The Kingdom of God.” It is almost 300 pages long and still available today if you dare read it. And here I am attempting some comments in four short posts in the local news on the same subject all adding up to about four pages (8.5 x 11) on my laptop… yet there have been 100’s of books and thousands of pages written about the kingdom of God to say nothing of the articles published or the sermons preached throughout the history of Christianity. It is indeed a subject requiring our attention.
Back in 1930… another pastor… Harry Emerson Fosdick… raised a Baptist but called to begin Riverside Church in the heart of Manhattan… a Presbyterian congregation… designed to be interdenominational … lived in a world much like ours… as he was a WW1 military chaplain, survived the Spanish flu, left a congregation over theological issues and yet had great hope for what was then being hailed as ‘the Christian century.’
He wrote a song, titled… “God of Grace and God of Glory”… to help launch the church… and the third verse helps us in the quest here…
“Cure your children’s warring madness;
bend our pride to your control;
shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss your kingdom’s goal,
lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.”
What is the kingdom’s goal? Why is it so hard for us to grasp when so many we know are troubled by difficult hours and challenging times including rising economic prices, political polarities, conversations over gun rights, energy concerns and a relentless desire of some global leaders to press on with war? We don’t choose this. Is there an alternative? Does God desire a different way?
Think of it like this… if the Kingdom of God was about the acquisition of property… then Jesus would have been all in when the devil offered him the world on a mountaintop of temptation. Yet, how could Satan offer Jesus that which he was an initiator in creating? Rather… the Kingdom of God is about people… folks like you and me and our willing participation in a holy following of God’s rule as the most important thing in our lives… as the prophet Micah noted… “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8). Is this the goal of God’s kingdom?
There are directives to help us discover the Kingdom of God… as John the Baptizer, Jesus, St. Peter and St. Paul all proclaimed in their own way to “repent and believe in the Kingdom of God” as it was near and at hand and accessible by the renewal of one’s own mind… as the word ‘repent’ … actually means to ‘change directions…’ which requires some effort on our part… and when that happens Jesus said this… “People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God” … the perfect and preferred way God desires for us all!
