It can only happen if we exercise our freewill to choose it. Neither, ultimately can justice or truth. And that, in turn, requires us to be secure to know that there is justice to want to love our fellow human beings and to be willing to face the truth about ourselves. There can be no peace on earth unless we choose it, unless the hearts of every person is turned back to peace. And though our response in the here and now is important, ultimately peace cannot be imposed from above. We are, as you may have noticed, on the eve of a General Election and the would-be leaders of this nation are wrestling with how to bring about peace in the face of international terrorism. But that freewill is best exercised when we choose Jesus as our king, because to do so is to choose goodness, humility, peace, justice and truth – the very things our souls need the most. The greatest gift this king bestows on us is freewill. There can be no reluctant citizens of this kingdom. “I tell you the truth,” he says, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”Īnd perhaps most extraordinarily of all, this is a kingdom whose law is optional. Rather the greatest among you must become like the least, and the leader like one who serves.” This is a king who exercises his rule by serving us whose kingdom is about justice and unity, where greatness is found in true humility. “The rulers of the gentiles lord it over their subjects” Jesus says, “but it is not so with you. And this is the background to Jesus’ teaching that we should pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”īut as with all things to do with Jesus, he also subverts our earthly notions of kingship and kingdoms. To call oneself a Christian is to recognise that Jesus is the Christ – the king promised in the pages of the Old Testament who will re-establish God’s kingdom on earth, ensuring that God’s will is once more done ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. And by the time his ministry ends, with the Ascension, his disciples have reached the conclusion that Jesus is himself the king to which that kingdom belongs. Right at the beginning of his ministry, he goes through Galilee proclaiming “The kingdom of God is at hand”. There are many messages to emerge out of the Gospel, but if you take Jesus’ teaching alone, the central message is the coming of God’s kingdom. Thy kingdom come is not only the theme of these weeks of prayer, but the heart of the Lord’s prayer. Dan & Kristy Pattimore (Deanery Pioneer Ministers).Rachel Milburn (Deanery Network Youth Leader).Online Services for the Heart of Westmorland Mission Group.Morland – A brief History of the Building.
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