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Searching for the Kingdom
One scripture which has given me difficulties in taking Jesus literally is Luke 9:27. Jesus, during his time on earth, said, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." We do not know of anyone who is still living after 2,000 years so this simple verse became a stumbling block for me. If the Kingdom of God is Heaven and that's a place I cannot enter until I have died, then how could someone living over 2,000 years ago be told they'd see the kingdom before they died? How can this be possible? If it is not possible, have we been told a lie?
In my sixth decade, I have begun to see a glimmer of truth so simple it was beyond my capability to understand. I have begun to understand the kingdom is here among us just as Jesus was God among us. The kingdom resides in the quiet moments when simple people make simple gestures of love which in preponderance would turn the earth back into the kingdom of God first established as the Garden of Eden.
Have you ever loved an angry dog into submission? Dog lovers do it all the time and think nothing of it while those who fear dogs get bit. Think about it before writing me off as out of touch. Angry dogs are experiencing fear and they are responding to the fear of the person they feel compelled to bite for their own self-protection.
The earth is filled with fear; all-consuming fears have taken control of the minds of so many at such an early age. The earth is also home to people of peace who seem to build a serene sanctuary in spite of all the chaos surrounding them. I want to share an example of how young people can bring love to other young people and even though it's just one example, to me it exemplifies the big picture as well:
In Indianapolis, Park Tudor's upper and middle school adopted an inner city kindergarten, School 14. "Students at the Indianapolis Public Schools elementary come from some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. School 14 has the most homeless students of any elementary in the state. The Park Tudor delegation brought bags of toys and set up a gift shop for kindergartners, who were invited to choose gifts for loved ones. Every child received a bag full of canned and boxed foods for their families, and students from Park Tudor's upper school and middle school read to them.
"The schools have partnered in a long-term arrangement in which Park Tudor will work with this year's kindergarten students until they leave School 14 after sixth grade. That means Park Tudor's sixth-graders will work with the kids until graduating from high school. All of the students were excited about the visit, said Eileen O'Keefe, a kindergarten teacher at School 14. And the chance for her students to find gifts for parents and siblings teaches an important lesson, she said. "You just can hear that this isn't all me, me, me," she said. 'They're bringing the true spirit of Christmas.'
"Reilly Martin, a seventh-grader at Park Tudor, helped launch the partnership between the two schools. She said she learns a lot just from seeing the different world the children live in. Working with the students over the next several years will be a chance to make a difference, she said. "I think that will be cool...it's important because this school has the most homeless in the city. It's important we give, and it felt really good to help." --Andy Gammill, Indianapolis Star.
Jane Mullikin
I am beginning to think something remarkable might be occurring right under our noses. At the same time the world is moving closer to self-destructing, there's a quiet movement of brotherly love welling up. It's as though an army of disconnected, unrelated, ordinary human beings has literally embraced the message found in the words of Jesus. Thanks to the worldwide explosion of knowledge mentioned in Daniel 12:4, I am reading of these instances occurring throughout the world.
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