A Christmas dream

When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind?  Doesn't presents, joy, Santa, or even the birth of Christ come to mind for most people?  I think Christmas is a really great time of joy and celebration and is meant to be shared with family as well as a sense of worship for Christ's birth.  I love this message of real joy that is found within family and the worship of Christ.  I would like to bring to light one thing that I think is also found in the joy of Christmas, and that is the hope of the kingdom that Christ has brought to us.
In my last blog, I talked about praying for God's kingdom to come.  The kingdom is here, and we are to be apart of bringing about the kingdom to earth.  This is an amazing hope that all of humanity can experience with each other as well as with the God of the universe.  This is a great joy that we can see through the Christmas narrative where the King, the God of the universe, comes in the very form of a human child.  When we picture that scene, I believe that we can see the kingdom come to earth as a possibility.
When Christ began his ministry to the disciples and the people of Jerusalem he would often use the phrase, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is near" (see Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 3:8; 4:18-19, 43).  If this was Christ's message, then doesn't this also show us that Christ's birth was an invocation of the coming kingdom of God?  I believe, that Christ brought the kingdom of God to earth when he came in human flesh because this allowed for humanity to be relatable to God.  This does not mean we our ourselves little Gods running around the earth, but we have an example to live by from his message and life.
A really cool way to see this as well is through the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Father brings about the Son to earth, the Son is one who relates to both God and humanity, and the Spirit is the one who works within Christ's ministry and within our lives today!  All three persons wrapped up in the nature of the Godhead invoke the beautiful kingdom of God unto earth and are calling humanity to participate with the Godhead in bringing about the kingdom!  This is great hope to us today as we can be involved with this kingdom that is already here, but is in need of our participation for the fulfillment of the kingdom.
I have an extreme passion for understanding the kingdom of God, the beauty that this kingdom brings to humanity.  It is so hard to understand how this can be lived out.  I find myself asking the question saying, okay, so what?  This question has had me wondering just what to do, but understanding that the kingdom does not come by our hands alone is important.  I do not wish to state at the end of this a list of things you must do in order to bring about the kingdom.  I do believe things like reaching out to the poor, helping the hurting, reaching out to the lost, and etc. are very important in bring about the kingdom.  Try to do these things and really listen to peoples stories because we all have them.  I really believe though, that when each of us prays that God's kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven, we can really see what the Christmas narrative is all about.
Let us all pray for God's kingdom to come.  Let us live an example of what Christ has done.  Read what Christ did, live by Christ's example.  We do not have to actually die on a cross to prove a point to people.  Nevertheless, let us show one another love and the joy that we can have this Christmas by reaching out to others and really praying that this kingdom may come.

The kingdom has come!

Finding God in our day to day lives can be one of the easiest things to miss.  Yet, many people find hope in a God who has come and who is bringing His kingdom on earth.  This hope that people find is through the coming kingdom of God.  There are many facets of the kingdom and how the idea and hope of the kingdom has brought to us.  Continuing to look to the Lord's Prayer for support of our Christian mission to bring about the kingdom is important to understand.

Again, the Greek text is important to highlight when looking at the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6: 9-13).  The Greek says, "ejlqevtw hJ basileiva sou` genhqhvtw to qevlhmav sou, wJV ejn oujranw/: kai ejpi gh:V` (Matt. 6:10)." 

This text, I believe, is translated as, "the kingdom of yours it came (!); your will it has been done (!) as in to heaven and on earth."  The previous verse about God's holy name allows the prayer to flow through a process of worshiping the holy God of the universe to call on God's name to bring about His kingdom.  This kingdom, it has come, it has been done by God's will, and it has been done in heaven and on earth.  This are things that have already happened, but the Greek does not stop there.  Both words "came" and "done" evoke the idea that is not only defined as what has already happened, but what is still happening.

As I said in my last blog, God invites His creation to participate through a divine and human relationship.  This relationship was brought was the purpose for creation.  God walked on the earth during the time of Adam and Eve.  Yet, some believe that God does not walk amongst us even today.  If God would want to have a relationship with His creation, yet did not walk with us in our world today, it would deny the very being of God.  So, why do we say that God walks among us yet live as if God is not even a thought within our minds?  A key dynamic of this bringing about of the kingdom is that it shows that God is still at work.

God offers us to participate with Him through creation.  This divine and human participation is brought on by the coming of the kingdom.  The kingdom is what is known as the already/not yet.  The kingdom is here and in our midst, but it is not fully brought about.  God has His own timing to bring about the fulfillment of His kingdom.  We are not to be spectators in this call to participate with God.  Humanity is called to be in relationship with God and in bringing about the kingdom.

There are many ways to bring about the kingdom and some are described within the rest of the Lord's Prayer.  Yet, there are poor and hurting people in the world.  We look around and we say where is God, but God's kingdom only comes when His people participate with His call of the coming kingdom.  Humanity must be willing to take a step of faith to reach out to the lowly and hurting.  When there are people in need, humanity must take a step of faith to help them.  Our world is in desperate need of people to reach out and help those in need.

I pray that you may pray this prayer in a new light.  That you may feel a burden to participate with God through the coming of His kingdom.  It is very hard for humanity to know what to do when we have needs of our own.  However, I believe that God will take care of us as well when we pray faithfully and ask for His kingdom to come on earth and for God's will to be done.  I pray that our world may be a people willing to reach out to the lost and broken for the sake of God's coming kingdom.

Our Father

"Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name (Matt. 6:9)."
This beginning phrase of the Lord's Prayer is very important for how we should view the God of the Universe.  This phrase that seems so simple, is packed with a great necessity for us to call the name of God to be holy, or the wholly other being.  The holiness of God is to be venerated by humanity, it is to be respected, lifted high above every name.  A good look at this verse will hopefully help you understand God's holiness in greater light.
The Greek text says, Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου, which is translated to say "Father of us the one in the heavens; hallowed the name of yours."  Again, it is important to state that the Greek does not do sentence structuring very well, but finding what the subject and objects in this sentence help to see what is important.  Since the subject Πάτερ is the phrases main focus, I would like to focus on this word and how the rest of the phrase gives meaning to who the Father is and how this Father is characterized.
First, the Father is "the one in the heavens."  Now, this phrase does not affirm that there are multiple heavens that God is in.  Nevertheless, the Father remains the provider and sustainer of the heaven and the earth.  God is the one is over and above everything.  This God is our Sovereign ruler who governs everything.  Humans can trust that God will be there for you in times of trouble and persecution.
Second, God's name is to be "holy" or "hallowed" which means to be separated.  This presents God as the "wholly other" that is far beyond our comprehension.  This God not only governs the heavens and the earth, but is held separate so as to say that God does not have, what Christians identify as, sin or a defect with our being that needs fixed.  Showing that God is the holy one presents God as one to be worshiped and glorified.
I have presented these ideas based on what most of us have understood God to be.  One area that I have been challenged in personally is that even though this God is "wholly other," this God is also in relation to His creatures.  This does not dismiss God's separateness or holiness, but this holiness is an example of how we are to live.  Let me explain this through the meaning of grace.
God's holiness presents a characteristic of grace that is accepting, forgiving, and loving.  Humans are welcomed into a beautiful relationship with the very God of the universe that created and seeks His people to be in relationship with Him.  The rest of this prayer gives meaning to how humanity can be in relationship with this God.  God shows that He wants to participate with His creatures, God calls us to participate with Him, to accept Him, and to truly love Him and worship Him.  As God's creatures, we do this by giving our lives to Him.
This giving of our lives involves a deep commitment to God that worships Him as the only thing we want.  Giving our lives can be a scary way to describe this, but God wants our full attention, He wants everything from us.  Its amazing to me how humanity is welcomed into this opportunity to be in relationship with the Creator but continually turn the other way.  Spread this news of God's love, begin to see God's creation as something that God truly loves.  If God's creation begin to see God this way and the world as something that God wants to participate in, then the world becomes a place that offers hope and love that can be life change.