Luke 9:27 But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.
Jesus' promise, or declaration, that some standing with him would not taste death before they see the kingdom of God rings in my ears. This congregation has experienced a fair bit of death recently, as sisters and brothers in Christ have entered their heavenly rest. Our world experiences quite a bit of death every day, some of it peaceful and beautiful and some horrific and terrifying. And so I wonder, did those who died get to see the kingdom of God before they did?
That begs the question I guess as to what we mean by the kingdom of God and what it might mean to see it. Does it mean seeing a physical place like heaven before death? Does it mean having a vision of the new heaven and the new earth as John did and wrote about in the book we call Revelation? I have come to believe that seeing the kingdom of God in this life means seeing God in action. Have you seen God in action? Have you seen new life coming to birth? Have you seen love and compassion en-acted? Have you seen grace embodied? Then in my book you've seen the kingdom of God. And we live lives of thankfulness for those visions.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
This message is a ministry of All Saints Lutheran Church. See our website for lots of ministries and activities. We worship every Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11. If you would like to be removed from the mailing list, please press reply and request that. Funeral services for Helen Johnson will be held on Thursday at 11 am followed by a luncheon. This Sunday is the Festival of Pentecost. Remember to wear red.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment