Eastertide
May 3, 2014

Read Scripture: Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.

It will be said on that day,
   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.—Isaiah 25:6, 9

When I read the words throughout the Bible that describe the coming Kingdom of God, I sometimes wonder if that is really what we want. Our society surely does not act like it at times. We seem to enjoy bounty that comes at the expense of others. Hate spews from our mouths with ease not recognizing that all peoples are God’s children and thus our brothers and sisters. We image God in our little boxes and cannot accept that God just may transcend our imaginations.

Would it not be more prudent to invest our lives in practicing how to live in the Kingdom of God now so that when it arrives we will recognize it and find ourselves in the home we had envisioned ever since we read the promises of its coming? It would be a place where everybody has enough to eat, where no one would live in oppression, where no one commits crimes because they have learned how to love and be loved, where all people would have the opportunity to be fully the individuals God created them to be.

This is what the body of Christ has been called to do: practice Kingdom living now.

Prayer: God of Justice and Mercy, enable our full citizenship in the Kingdom of God now so that on that day we will feel at home when we enter into your presence. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.