Life in God's Kingdom

There isn't much text to accompany this sermon. I preached at our parish's 5pm service and did not prepare a manuscript. Instead, I benefitted from several conversations this week about the lessons (thanks especially to Harper Lewis) and also from hearing my colleague Seth Olson preach twice this morning. Here's the bottom line:

What do you think life in God's kingdom is like? Do you think people go hungry in the kingdom? Do you think people lack clean drinking water in the kingdom? Do you think people have inadequate clothing in the kingdom? Do you think the sick are neglected or the poor are ignored in the kingdom? As a two-year-old shouted out in the middle of the sermon, "NO!" Of course not.

Then why aren't you doing more about it?

We are all welcomed into God's kingdom not because of what we have done but merely because of God's gracious love. But what is our response to that radical inclusion? Are we sticking our hands in our pockets, shuffling our feet, staring at the ground, waiting for God to take care of everyone else? Or are we willing to give every ounce of our effort, every dime in our pockets, every second of our day to helping establish the kingdom here on earth?

Look around. Can you see the kingdom? We know what it's supposed to look like. But what are we going to do about it?

Here's the audio for the 4+ minute sermon.

Here's the link to the gospel lesson for today.