Matthew 6:10
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
GOOD NEWS
- God’s kingdom is coming
- every thing’s gonna be alright
- heaven on earth
- all of life’s burdens are coming to an end: handling workload, keeping the house clean, making ends meet at the end of the month, struggling with health issues, coping with conflict, dealing with the death of beloved ones, all of life’s burdens
- powerful, loving, perfect
- so much better than human reign
BAD NEWS
- God’s kingdom has been coming for more than 2000 years now
- we still have to pray and ask for it to happen
- trustful toward the Lord
- it hasn’t happened so far
- all of life’s burdens have not yet come to an end: there is still a lot more to do than you could ever handle, your income stretches only so far, that pneumonia won’t go away soeasily, talking to Uncle Joe is still a pain in the neck, life without mom or dad is hard.
- longing for the kingdom, because this world is imperfect
GOOD NEWS
- we can pray: God is still listening
- we can have hope: This world is not going to last forever
- we can have dream, like Dr. Martin Luther King Junior had a dream this Thursday 45 years ago: "I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.This is our hope."
- we need hope to live, to stretch our minds beyond the realities we live in
- we need hope in times of "good bye", that those who passed on are in a better place
BAD NEWS
- Whatever our image of heaven may look like, it’s a projection as long as we are looking upward from earth down here
- Tell me who your God is and I’ll tell you who you are
- Not my but your will be done
- Marie’s will
GOOD NEWS
- By joining the Lord in his prayer we can look down on this life’s burdens
- We can find comfort in the fact that God’s good rule comes with might
- A kingdom, not a democracy
- in heaven first and as a consequence, down here, too
- We have reason to hope that this earth can be a carbon copy of God’s heavenly master copy
- God’s Kingdom is coming, his will is going to be done, on earth as it has been done in heaven
- All of life’s burdens are coming to an end.
