As Above, So Below...As Inside, So Outside Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender Psalm 119.9-16; Matthew 6.9-15
Our world is in chaos. Violence, racial injustice, pandemic, economic catastrophe. Every where we look we now see how patriarchal white supremacy has infected institutions and systems that govern our every day lives. Banking, health care, education, property ownership, even location of grocery stores. These rumble through my mind and heart as I ponder what word to bring to you today on World Communion Sunday. A marked day that began in the midst of the Great Depression, 1933, by a Presbyterian Pastor in Philadelphia. He wanted to honor the kingdom of God here on earth in all its splendor and glory. As Sunday dawns, the first congregation says, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your Name...”. As evening falls the last church says, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your Name...”. All day, this prayer is prayed all over the world.
What caught me this time is the heart of the prayer: thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We cry out “come now, right now, may your kingdom right now, we beg You”. And what is this kingdom? Not a monarchy, with its demands for obedience of its subjects; not some human empire with one person in control over others; rather, it is reality, embodied in the life of the one we call Savior, Jesus Christ. At once individual and communal, this is the fulfillment which we still have to wait for, with the HOPE of the FUTURE breaking into our present with renewed significance. Let me say that again. This kindom is in the midst of us right now—God works Her will and way inside the space of the chaos we confront in our nightly news. As Above, So Below...As Inside, So Outside
The whole cosmos is covered in Jesus’ prayer: heaven, earth, hearts and minds, a grasp at closure of human history as we know it for we yearn for the ultimate provision, the completion of what Jesus began with His life, death and resurrection. The consummation of all things, that marvelous declaration: faith in the hallowed ness of God, Divine Justice in the arrival of the kingdom and human mercy acted out on earth as it is in heaven. Thy will be done.
What is God’s will for earth and heaven? From Eve and Adam to the last of Revelation, it is this: God’s will is to save. Simply and profoundly that - to save. The whole, not just the part. We want to see the complete theater of holiness that awaits us. We call on that devastating power, in all its terrible splendor, hidden from our eyes, to be unleashed. To shatter white supremacy with Divine Justice. To remove racism and hatred of People of Color from inside us and through us to liberate the culture from the bondage of decay and evil. If we mean what we say when we pray, “...thy kingdom come, thy will be done..” 50 times a year or so.
It is only when Jesus disregards the Temple traditions designed to bring comfort, that we see with real clarity what this WILL might mean. He teaches the rich to share. He eats with tax collectors, sinners and God forbid, women, who seem to always be labeled prostitutes. It is the outsiders, the marginalized, those we would ‘other’ who receive Jesus’ special attention. The kindom of God is both personal, for individual salvation, and corporate, to challenge and change the social order. It impacts our souls and our bodies. We live out the Christ Light by our words and our deeds; by our sharing communion and advocating for justice for all the oppressed. The ones we know and love, and the ones we cannot even understand. Every time we pray, ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done’ we de-center ourselves to ask God, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the Prophets, the Sovereign of the Universe, to become our Homekeeper of redemption. Not just for us but the the whole earth!!! “On earth as it is in heaven”. We make a choice every day of our lives, to give ascent, or not as the case may be, to submit to the intention of a God-will life. We trust this Divine Directive, fully realized in Jesus. We come begging to have our willingness to submit to this wisdom, even in the midst of the confusion and violence of our everyday existence. The Holy One’s purpose is being worked out, even when we cannot see it. As Above...So Below...As Inside...So Outside
What we know is this takes work. The demands of the gospel are clear—it means praying with open hands: change me, change the world. Make me more than I can ever hope to be on my own. It means we pray for our enemies and those who persecute us, even across our giant political divide. We pray for the whole world, the whole cosmos, all of it and everyone in it. Person, plant, flower and animal. We are called to be stewards of grace, forgiveness and hope. We beg God to pick up the shattered pieces, painstakingly glue them into place. We are not asking for hellfire and damnation, but the kind of judgment that mediates life for us and for others. It is the judgment of the cross, wherein love born in blood lays claim to the landscape of our lives. Where divine justice is expressed in suffering rather than marching boots lock stepped in formation. It is this space where Jesus says, “lay down your lives and take up your cross and follow Me. Walk where I walk, even into the hells of our world.” Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.