“For not with swords loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums; with deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes.” —Lead on, O King Eternal by Ernest W. Shurtleff
I learned to pray at an early age. In Sunday school, we memorized the Lord’s Prayer, later learning to use its form to shape prayers of our own. It’s a beautiful prayer—complete and sufficient for our many requests. But the one line near the beginning has always caught my attention more than the rest: “Thy Kingdom come…” It’s a request for God to act here, but also, I believe, a call to action for us as Followers of Jesus.
Jesus commanded us to love one another. He meant it as an action verb—love compelling us to go, to do, to move, to care. Love is not passive. It commands us to do something for God in the world around us. So, when we pray, “thy Kingdom come” we are asking to be partners with Jesus in making that happen. But what exactly are we asking for? What does the Kingdom of God look like?
The simplest answer is that where there is love, there is the Kingdom of God. When one person reaches out a hand to another in love, there is the Kingdom of God. When we come together in joy or sorrow, to love and support each other, there is the Kingdom of God. When a child is hugged, a hurt forgiven, a smile offered or an embrace of peace shared, there is the Kingdom of God.
For me, it really is all about loving. In each small task I do every day, each glass of water given to a sick child, every kind word whispered to a frightened little girl even though I am in a hurry, every smile–even at the mean people, the rude people—each act is an act of love. I do my job with a smile and a kind word, not because it’s my job to be kind. No, the kindness is there because I know that I am loved. God loves me so much, He has seen me for who I really am (not at all kind or good or loving) and He loves me anyway. So, doing what He wants of me—the kindness, the love, the working for His Kingdom—it’s my way to say “thank-you”. It’s the way I can show God’s love to the people who cross my path every day.
Is this easy? No, not always. Some days I get through just on God’s grace and strength and a LOT of deep breathing. But I am not a preacher. I can’t stand on a street corner and proclaim aloud God’s message of love to the crowds hurrying by. Even so, God has asked me to spread the news, to get out there and take action, to do my part to help bring the Kingdom of God to earth. So, since I am much better with actions than with words, I get out and do. Just ordinary everyday stuff: small kindnesses and bits of love that I pray will send out ripples through the lives of those I touch–ripples of God’s love across the ocean of human suffering and pain.
This is how we make a better world. With LOVE.
Even though we may each feel small and insignificant, this is how the Kingdom of God comes on earth: by each of us doing our small acts of love. It all adds up. Each small act means something great to the world and to the Kingdom of God. It’s all worth doing, because in the end, isn’t the coming of the Kingdom of God what we have been praying for all along?
The View from Mt. Hope 