God has been teaching me, lately, that the Gospel is an invitation into a new way of life— something that God shapes and is Kingdom oriented. When Jesus appears his message is “repent and believe the good news that the Kingdom of God is near” (Mark 1:19). Living in the Kingdom means— my mind is changed (repent) and I believe the Good News ( the Kingdom of God is near). Living in the Kingdom means that I am on a journey with Jesus. Each day I am becoming more and more aware of God and how God is helping me take on a new attitude, live a new lifestyle and do it all with the help of a new leader (Jesus). As I read the scriptures I can see and hear what God was up to in the world in Jesus day and sense God calling me to do the same thing, today. I am shaped by the Scriptures, prayer and other people. Actually, everything around me, every passing moment is shaping me. I am beginning to see how the Holy Spirit is forming me.
In Acts 2, Luke reports to his friend Theophilus about how the early followers were being formed into a community. I don’t think Luke was explaining how an “institutional church” should operate as much as he was explaining how the Holy Spirit was shaping a new faith community—they were discovering life together as a renewed community of God.
It seems like those in the early faith community spent a great deal of time listening to the apostles share Jesus stories and learning about the Kingdom. They ate together, shared their possessions with others, committed their time to prayer and worshiped God in the temple. They were aware that Jesus was alive and living among them through the Holy Spirit. They believed that Jesus would soon return to fully establish his Kingdom making all things right.
Today we discuss what a “real” church is to be about. Is the church a building, an institution, or an organization? To be a church must there be music, a sermon, committees or a budget? Are there other expressions of church?
Could “church” center around informal dinners with those on the journey, sharing food, talking, disagreeing, praying, crying, or laughing? Maybe it is possible encounter the Kingdom in the ordinary. Could I be sharing in the Kingdom when I laugh with my son as he shows me yet another silly “You Tube” video or by helping a neighbor with some food, or by praying for a close friends healing, or listening to a group of neighbors gathered on a porch? I am beginning to think that the church is the community of faith that comes together and through a variety of ways are being transformed into the image of Jesus.
In recent months, I have met many people who who are interested in this way of living. Many of us meet weekly to do community outreach and in the midst of working side by side we are learning from each other, sharing our stories and the Story with each other. Most of us are convinced that Jesus is alive and well teaching us his Way, as we act on what he is calling us to do. We know that God is forming us in the places we find ourselves —a sort of an inside out transformation.
My eyes are opened each week as I see the Kingdom appear before me as a young doctor feeds a child, or an unemployed father puts a helping of macaroni and cheese on a plate, or a lawyer washes dishes. The Kingdom comes as I watch a teenage boy sitting on the floor with a little child falling asleep in his lap as the rest of the children are singing Jesus Loves Me or as an older man struggles to get up off the floor as he had been sitting there listening to children share prayer concerns and caring enough to pray for them. That’s how the Kingdom is forming me, I am blessed to see glimpses of the Kingdom and am anticipating the Day when Jesus returns to set things right — once and for all.
