#kingdomofgod — Public Fediverse posts

The Maranatha Empire

There is a prayer so holy that it should burn the tongue of every empire that tries to speak it.

Maranatha.

Come, Lord.

It is the cry of the small church under pressure. The cry of the persecuted and the patient. The cry of those who have no armies to summon, no throne to defend, no voting bloc sufficient to save them, no market share large enough to secure their future. It is the cry of those who wait because they know they are not God.

But in every age, there are those who take this prayer of waiting and turn it into a banner of possession.

They say, “Come, Lord,” but what they mean is, “Give us control.”

They say, “Thy kingdom come,” but what they mean is, “Let our faction rule.”

They say, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” but what they build are prisons, borders, propaganda machines, religious celebrity platforms, and monuments to their own fear.

This is the Maranatha Empire.

It is not one nation only, though nations may become its servants. It is not one denomination only, though denominations may become its chapels. It is not merely Rome, nor Geneva, nor Washington, nor Moscow, nor any other city that has mistaken power for providence. The Maranatha Empire is the recurring temptation of the religious heart: to stop waiting for Christ and begin replacing him.

It begins quietly.

It begins with concern.

The world is dangerous. The children are vulnerable. The church is shrinking. The enemies are multiplying. The culture is changing. The old certainties are crumbling. The people are afraid.

Fear, when baptized, often calls itself faithfulness.

So the frightened church begins to reach for tools Jesus refused.

A throne.

A sword.

A spectacle.

A scapegoat.

A strongman.

A law that can accomplish what love has not yet persuaded.

A state that can enforce what the Spirit has not yet formed.

A leader who promises to defend Christ, as though Christ ever asked Peter to keep swinging after Gethsemane.

This is how the prayer becomes an empire.

The early church cried, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it knew that Caesar was not Lord. The Maranatha Empire cries, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it wants Caesar to become useful.

The early church broke bread in homes. The Maranatha Empire builds platforms and calls them altars.

The early church welcomed the stranger. The Maranatha Empire sees the stranger as a threat.

The early church died rather than kill. The Maranatha Empire kills and calls the dead collateral damage in the defense of righteousness.

The early church believed the Lamb had conquered. The Maranatha Empire keeps looking for a beast strong enough to protect the Lamb.

And there is the blasphemy.

Not that empire rejects Christ outright. That would be too honest. The Maranatha Empire does something more dangerous. It uses Christ as decoration for a power that is fundamentally afraid of the cross.

It sings of the Lamb while trusting the dragon.

It preaches resurrection while organizing itself around survival.

It displays the cross while despising weakness.

It quotes Jesus while ignoring the people Jesus told us to notice: the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry, the foreigner, the enemy, the child, the wounded man beside the road.

The Maranatha Empire is not built by atheists. It is built by believers who have lost patience with the way of Jesus.

For the way of Jesus is slow.

It is seed, yeast, salt, light.

It is foot-washing.

It is forgiveness seventy times seven.

It is refusing the shortcut of domination even when domination appears efficient.

It is telling Peter to put away the sword when everything in Peter’s body screams that this is the moment for holy violence.

It is standing before Pilate and saying, “My kingdom is not from this world,” not because the kingdom has nothing to do with the world, but because it does not come by the world’s methods.

The Maranatha Empire cannot tolerate this.

It cannot tolerate a Messiah who will not seize power.

It cannot tolerate a church that would rather be faithful than influential.

It cannot tolerate a people whose politics begin at the basin and towel.

It cannot tolerate enemy-love, because enemy-love ruins the machinery. Empire requires enemies. It needs them. It feeds on them. Without enemies, the crowd might look too closely at the throne.

So, the Maranatha Empire manufactures urgency.

There is no time to love.

No time to listen.

No time to discern.

No time for reconciliation.

No time for peacemaking.

No time to ask whether the means resemble the Christ we claim to serve.

The hour is late, they say. The danger is great. The stakes are too high. We must act now. We must take control now. We must win now.

And somewhere beneath all that urgency is a terrible confession:

They do not actually believe the Lord is coming.

Or, if he is coming, they do not trust him to arrive in the right way.

So they build him an empire to inherit.

But Christ does not inherit empires.

He judges them.

He walks in alleyways, not palaces. He asks whether the churches have kept their first love. He warns those who are rich and comfortable and self-satisfied that they may be poor, blind, and naked. He stands at the door and knocks, not because he has been defeated by secularism, but because religious people have locked him outside while holding meetings in his name.

The Maranatha Empire is always shocked when Jesus is found outside the gate.

Outside the camp.

Outside respectability.

Outside the approved narrative.

Outside the walls with the crucified, the excluded, the unclean, the inconvenient, and the condemned.

The empire expected him in the capital.

But he is with the refugees.

The empire expected him in the cathedral of victory.

But he is with the mother of the disappeared.

The empire expected him on the reviewing stand.

But he is washing feet in the basement.

The empire expected him to bless the troops.

But he is asking why his followers are still carrying swords.

This is why Maranatha must remain a dangerous prayer.

It must never be allowed to become a slogan for conquest. It must never be printed on the banners of those who are unwilling to be converted by the One they summon. To pray “Come, Lord” is not to invite divine endorsement of our projects. It is to invite judgment upon them.

Come, Lord, and judge our churches.

Come, Lord, and judge our flags.

Come, Lord, and judge our markets.

Come, Lord, and judge our weapons.

Come, Lord, and judge our sermons.

Come, Lord, and judge our secret hatreds.

Come, Lord, and judge the ways we have used your name to avoid your way.

This is the prayer empire cannot honestly pray.

Because if the Lord comes, the first thing to fall may not be our enemies.

It may be our idols.

The algorithm.

The nation.

The party.

The brand.

The gun.

The strongman.

The myth of innocence.

The lie that we can harm others for a righteous cause and remain untouched by the harm.

The Maranatha Empire teaches us to fear the collapse of Christian influence.

Jesus teaches us to fear gaining the world and losing our soul.

The Maranatha Empire asks, “How do we take back the culture?”

Jesus asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the winners.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the forceful, for they shall secure the future.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

And perhaps this is the word for us now:

The church does not need to become more powerful.

The church needs to become more faithful.

Not passive. Not silent. Not withdrawn into pious irrelevance. But faithful in the particular, cruciform, stubborn way of Jesus. Faithful enough to resist evil without becoming its mirror. Faithful enough to tell the truth without hatred. Faithful enough to protect the vulnerable without worshiping violence. Faithful enough to build communities of economic sharing, hospitality, forgiveness, courage, and joy. Faithful enough to be a people who can live without controlling the outcome.

That is the hard part.

Empire is attractive because it promises control.

Jesus offers communion.

Empire promises security.

Jesus offers peace.

Empire promises victory over enemies.

Jesus offers reconciliation that may begin with our repentance.

Empire promises to make us great.

Jesus invites us to become small enough to enter the kingdom.

So, let the Maranatha Empire fall.

Let it fall first in us.

Let it fall in every place where we have confused anxiety with zeal. Let it fall where we have preferred dominance to witness. Let it fall where we have wanted laws to do what discipleship would not. Let it fall where we have used the suffering of others as fuel for our own righteousness. Let it fall where we have asked Jesus to come only after we have arranged the throne to our liking.

And when it falls, may something older and more beautiful remain.

A table.

A basin.

A towel.

A loaf.

A cup.

A people gathered without illusion, without empire, without the need to be impressive, whispering the ancient prayer not as conquerors but as witnesses:

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come not to crown our domination, but to free us from it.

Come not to baptize our fear, but to cast it out.

Come not to make our empire holy, but to teach us again that your kingdom comes like a seed, like yeast, like mercy, like a Lamb who was slain and yet lives.

And until you come, make us faithful.

Not imperial.

Not triumphant.

Not afraid.

Faithful.

The Maranatha Empire

There is a prayer so holy that it should burn the tongue of every empire that tries to speak it.

Maranatha.

Come, Lord.

It is the cry of the small church under pressure. The cry of the persecuted and the patient. The cry of those who have no armies to summon, no throne to defend, no voting bloc sufficient to save them, no market share large enough to secure their future. It is the cry of those who wait because they know they are not God.

But in every age, there are those who take this prayer of waiting and turn it into a banner of possession.

They say, “Come, Lord,” but what they mean is, “Give us control.”

They say, “Thy kingdom come,” but what they mean is, “Let our faction rule.”

They say, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” but what they build are prisons, borders, propaganda machines, religious celebrity platforms, and monuments to their own fear.

This is the Maranatha Empire.

It is not one nation only, though nations may become its servants. It is not one denomination only, though denominations may become its chapels. It is not merely Rome, nor Geneva, nor Washington, nor Moscow, nor any other city that has mistaken power for providence. The Maranatha Empire is the recurring temptation of the religious heart: to stop waiting for Christ and begin replacing him.

It begins quietly.

It begins with concern.

The world is dangerous. The children are vulnerable. The church is shrinking. The enemies are multiplying. The culture is changing. The old certainties are crumbling. The people are afraid.

Fear, when baptized, often calls itself faithfulness.

So the frightened church begins to reach for tools Jesus refused.

A throne.

A sword.

A spectacle.

A scapegoat.

A strongman.

A law that can accomplish what love has not yet persuaded.

A state that can enforce what the Spirit has not yet formed.

A leader who promises to defend Christ, as though Christ ever asked Peter to keep swinging after Gethsemane.

This is how the prayer becomes an empire.

The early church cried, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it knew that Caesar was not Lord. The Maranatha Empire cries, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it wants Caesar to become useful.

The early church broke bread in homes. The Maranatha Empire builds platforms and calls them altars.

The early church welcomed the stranger. The Maranatha Empire sees the stranger as a threat.

The early church died rather than kill. The Maranatha Empire kills and calls the dead collateral damage in the defense of righteousness.

The early church believed the Lamb had conquered. The Maranatha Empire keeps looking for a beast strong enough to protect the Lamb.

And there is the blasphemy.

Not that empire rejects Christ outright. That would be too honest. The Maranatha Empire does something more dangerous. It uses Christ as decoration for a power that is fundamentally afraid of the cross.

It sings of the Lamb while trusting the dragon.

It preaches resurrection while organizing itself around survival.

It displays the cross while despising weakness.

It quotes Jesus while ignoring the people Jesus told us to notice: the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry, the foreigner, the enemy, the child, the wounded man beside the road.

The Maranatha Empire is not built by atheists. It is built by believers who have lost patience with the way of Jesus.

For the way of Jesus is slow.

It is seed, yeast, salt, light.

It is foot-washing.

It is forgiveness seventy times seven.

It is refusing the shortcut of domination even when domination appears efficient.

It is telling Peter to put away the sword when everything in Peter’s body screams that this is the moment for holy violence.

It is standing before Pilate and saying, “My kingdom is not from this world,” not because the kingdom has nothing to do with the world, but because it does not come by the world’s methods.

The Maranatha Empire cannot tolerate this.

It cannot tolerate a Messiah who will not seize power.

It cannot tolerate a church that would rather be faithful than influential.

It cannot tolerate a people whose politics begin at the basin and towel.

It cannot tolerate enemy-love, because enemy-love ruins the machinery. Empire requires enemies. It needs them. It feeds on them. Without enemies, the crowd might look too closely at the throne.

So, the Maranatha Empire manufactures urgency.

There is no time to love.

No time to listen.

No time to discern.

No time for reconciliation.

No time for peacemaking.

No time to ask whether the means resemble the Christ we claim to serve.

The hour is late, they say. The danger is great. The stakes are too high. We must act now. We must take control now. We must win now.

And somewhere beneath all that urgency is a terrible confession:

They do not actually believe the Lord is coming.

Or, if he is coming, they do not trust him to arrive in the right way.

So they build him an empire to inherit.

But Christ does not inherit empires.

He judges them.

He walks in alleyways, not palaces. He asks whether the churches have kept their first love. He warns those who are rich and comfortable and self-satisfied that they may be poor, blind, and naked. He stands at the door and knocks, not because he has been defeated by secularism, but because religious people have locked him outside while holding meetings in his name.

The Maranatha Empire is always shocked when Jesus is found outside the gate.

Outside the camp.

Outside respectability.

Outside the approved narrative.

Outside the walls with the crucified, the excluded, the unclean, the inconvenient, and the condemned.

The empire expected him in the capital.

But he is with the refugees.

The empire expected him in the cathedral of victory.

But he is with the mother of the disappeared.

The empire expected him on the reviewing stand.

But he is washing feet in the basement.

The empire expected him to bless the troops.

But he is asking why his followers are still carrying swords.

This is why Maranatha must remain a dangerous prayer.

It must never be allowed to become a slogan for conquest. It must never be printed on the banners of those who are unwilling to be converted by the One they summon. To pray “Come, Lord” is not to invite divine endorsement of our projects. It is to invite judgment upon them.

Come, Lord, and judge our churches.

Come, Lord, and judge our flags.

Come, Lord, and judge our markets.

Come, Lord, and judge our weapons.

Come, Lord, and judge our sermons.

Come, Lord, and judge our secret hatreds.

Come, Lord, and judge the ways we have used your name to avoid your way.

This is the prayer empire cannot honestly pray.

Because if the Lord comes, the first thing to fall may not be our enemies.

It may be our idols.

The algorithm.

The nation.

The party.

The brand.

The gun.

The strongman.

The myth of innocence.

The lie that we can harm others for a righteous cause and remain untouched by the harm.

The Maranatha Empire teaches us to fear the collapse of Christian influence.

Jesus teaches us to fear gaining the world and losing our soul.

The Maranatha Empire asks, “How do we take back the culture?”

Jesus asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the winners.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the forceful, for they shall secure the future.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

And perhaps this is the word for us now:

The church does not need to become more powerful.

The church needs to become more faithful.

Not passive. Not silent. Not withdrawn into pious irrelevance. But faithful in the particular, cruciform, stubborn way of Jesus. Faithful enough to resist evil without becoming its mirror. Faithful enough to tell the truth without hatred. Faithful enough to protect the vulnerable without worshiping violence. Faithful enough to build communities of economic sharing, hospitality, forgiveness, courage, and joy. Faithful enough to be a people who can live without controlling the outcome.

That is the hard part.

Empire is attractive because it promises control.

Jesus offers communion.

Empire promises security.

Jesus offers peace.

Empire promises victory over enemies.

Jesus offers reconciliation that may begin with our repentance.

Empire promises to make us great.

Jesus invites us to become small enough to enter the kingdom.

So, let the Maranatha Empire fall.

Let it fall first in us.

Let it fall in every place where we have confused anxiety with zeal. Let it fall where we have preferred dominance to witness. Let it fall where we have wanted laws to do what discipleship would not. Let it fall where we have used the suffering of others as fuel for our own righteousness. Let it fall where we have asked Jesus to come only after we have arranged the throne to our liking.

And when it falls, may something older and more beautiful remain.

A table.

A basin.

A towel.

A loaf.

A cup.

A people gathered without illusion, without empire, without the need to be impressive, whispering the ancient prayer not as conquerors but as witnesses:

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come not to crown our domination, but to free us from it.

Come not to baptize our fear, but to cast it out.

Come not to make our empire holy, but to teach us again that your kingdom comes like a seed, like yeast, like mercy, like a Lamb who was slain and yet lives.

And until you come, make us faithful.

Not imperial.

Not triumphant.

Not afraid.

Faithful.

The Maranatha Empire

There is a prayer so holy that it should burn the tongue of every empire that tries to speak it.

Maranatha.

Come, Lord.

It is the cry of the small church under pressure. The cry of the persecuted and the patient. The cry of those who have no armies to summon, no throne to defend, no voting bloc sufficient to save them, no market share large enough to secure their future. It is the cry of those who wait because they know they are not God.

But in every age, there are those who take this prayer of waiting and turn it into a banner of possession.

They say, “Come, Lord,” but what they mean is, “Give us control.”

They say, “Thy kingdom come,” but what they mean is, “Let our faction rule.”

They say, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” but what they build are prisons, borders, propaganda machines, religious celebrity platforms, and monuments to their own fear.

This is the Maranatha Empire.

It is not one nation only, though nations may become its servants. It is not one denomination only, though denominations may become its chapels. It is not merely Rome, nor Geneva, nor Washington, nor Moscow, nor any other city that has mistaken power for providence. The Maranatha Empire is the recurring temptation of the religious heart: to stop waiting for Christ and begin replacing him.

It begins quietly.

It begins with concern.

The world is dangerous. The children are vulnerable. The church is shrinking. The enemies are multiplying. The culture is changing. The old certainties are crumbling. The people are afraid.

Fear, when baptized, often calls itself faithfulness.

So the frightened church begins to reach for tools Jesus refused.

A throne.

A sword.

A spectacle.

A scapegoat.

A strongman.

A law that can accomplish what love has not yet persuaded.

A state that can enforce what the Spirit has not yet formed.

A leader who promises to defend Christ, as though Christ ever asked Peter to keep swinging after Gethsemane.

This is how the prayer becomes an empire.

The early church cried, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it knew that Caesar was not Lord. The Maranatha Empire cries, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it wants Caesar to become useful.

The early church broke bread in homes. The Maranatha Empire builds platforms and calls them altars.

The early church welcomed the stranger. The Maranatha Empire sees the stranger as a threat.

The early church died rather than kill. The Maranatha Empire kills and calls the dead collateral damage in the defense of righteousness.

The early church believed the Lamb had conquered. The Maranatha Empire keeps looking for a beast strong enough to protect the Lamb.

And there is the blasphemy.

Not that empire rejects Christ outright. That would be too honest. The Maranatha Empire does something more dangerous. It uses Christ as decoration for a power that is fundamentally afraid of the cross.

It sings of the Lamb while trusting the dragon.

It preaches resurrection while organizing itself around survival.

It displays the cross while despising weakness.

It quotes Jesus while ignoring the people Jesus told us to notice: the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry, the foreigner, the enemy, the child, the wounded man beside the road.

The Maranatha Empire is not built by atheists. It is built by believers who have lost patience with the way of Jesus.

For the way of Jesus is slow.

It is seed, yeast, salt, light.

It is foot-washing.

It is forgiveness seventy times seven.

It is refusing the shortcut of domination even when domination appears efficient.

It is telling Peter to put away the sword when everything in Peter’s body screams that this is the moment for holy violence.

It is standing before Pilate and saying, “My kingdom is not from this world,” not because the kingdom has nothing to do with the world, but because it does not come by the world’s methods.

The Maranatha Empire cannot tolerate this.

It cannot tolerate a Messiah who will not seize power.

It cannot tolerate a church that would rather be faithful than influential.

It cannot tolerate a people whose politics begin at the basin and towel.

It cannot tolerate enemy-love, because enemy-love ruins the machinery. Empire requires enemies. It needs them. It feeds on them. Without enemies, the crowd might look too closely at the throne.

So, the Maranatha Empire manufactures urgency.

There is no time to love.

No time to listen.

No time to discern.

No time for reconciliation.

No time for peacemaking.

No time to ask whether the means resemble the Christ we claim to serve.

The hour is late, they say. The danger is great. The stakes are too high. We must act now. We must take control now. We must win now.

And somewhere beneath all that urgency is a terrible confession:

They do not actually believe the Lord is coming.

Or, if he is coming, they do not trust him to arrive in the right way.

So they build him an empire to inherit.

But Christ does not inherit empires.

He judges them.

He walks in alleyways, not palaces. He asks whether the churches have kept their first love. He warns those who are rich and comfortable and self-satisfied that they may be poor, blind, and naked. He stands at the door and knocks, not because he has been defeated by secularism, but because religious people have locked him outside while holding meetings in his name.

The Maranatha Empire is always shocked when Jesus is found outside the gate.

Outside the camp.

Outside respectability.

Outside the approved narrative.

Outside the walls with the crucified, the excluded, the unclean, the inconvenient, and the condemned.

The empire expected him in the capital.

But he is with the refugees.

The empire expected him in the cathedral of victory.

But he is with the mother of the disappeared.

The empire expected him on the reviewing stand.

But he is washing feet in the basement.

The empire expected him to bless the troops.

But he is asking why his followers are still carrying swords.

This is why Maranatha must remain a dangerous prayer.

It must never be allowed to become a slogan for conquest. It must never be printed on the banners of those who are unwilling to be converted by the One they summon. To pray “Come, Lord” is not to invite divine endorsement of our projects. It is to invite judgment upon them.

Come, Lord, and judge our churches.

Come, Lord, and judge our flags.

Come, Lord, and judge our markets.

Come, Lord, and judge our weapons.

Come, Lord, and judge our sermons.

Come, Lord, and judge our secret hatreds.

Come, Lord, and judge the ways we have used your name to avoid your way.

This is the prayer empire cannot honestly pray.

Because if the Lord comes, the first thing to fall may not be our enemies.

It may be our idols.

The algorithm.

The nation.

The party.

The brand.

The gun.

The strongman.

The myth of innocence.

The lie that we can harm others for a righteous cause and remain untouched by the harm.

The Maranatha Empire teaches us to fear the collapse of Christian influence.

Jesus teaches us to fear gaining the world and losing our soul.

The Maranatha Empire asks, “How do we take back the culture?”

Jesus asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the winners.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the forceful, for they shall secure the future.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

And perhaps this is the word for us now:

The church does not need to become more powerful.

The church needs to become more faithful.

Not passive. Not silent. Not withdrawn into pious irrelevance. But faithful in the particular, cruciform, stubborn way of Jesus. Faithful enough to resist evil without becoming its mirror. Faithful enough to tell the truth without hatred. Faithful enough to protect the vulnerable without worshiping violence. Faithful enough to build communities of economic sharing, hospitality, forgiveness, courage, and joy. Faithful enough to be a people who can live without controlling the outcome.

That is the hard part.

Empire is attractive because it promises control.

Jesus offers communion.

Empire promises security.

Jesus offers peace.

Empire promises victory over enemies.

Jesus offers reconciliation that may begin with our repentance.

Empire promises to make us great.

Jesus invites us to become small enough to enter the kingdom.

So, let the Maranatha Empire fall.

Let it fall first in us.

Let it fall in every place where we have confused anxiety with zeal. Let it fall where we have preferred dominance to witness. Let it fall where we have wanted laws to do what discipleship would not. Let it fall where we have used the suffering of others as fuel for our own righteousness. Let it fall where we have asked Jesus to come only after we have arranged the throne to our liking.

And when it falls, may something older and more beautiful remain.

A table.

A basin.

A towel.

A loaf.

A cup.

A people gathered without illusion, without empire, without the need to be impressive, whispering the ancient prayer not as conquerors but as witnesses:

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come not to crown our domination, but to free us from it.

Come not to baptize our fear, but to cast it out.

Come not to make our empire holy, but to teach us again that your kingdom comes like a seed, like yeast, like mercy, like a Lamb who was slain and yet lives.

And until you come, make us faithful.

Not imperial.

Not triumphant.

Not afraid.

Faithful.

The Maranatha Empire

There is a prayer so holy that it should burn the tongue of every empire that tries to speak it.

Maranatha.

Come, Lord.

It is the cry of the small church under pressure. The cry of the persecuted and the patient. The cry of those who have no armies to summon, no throne to defend, no voting bloc sufficient to save them, no market share large enough to secure their future. It is the cry of those who wait because they know they are not God.

But in every age, there are those who take this prayer of waiting and turn it into a banner of possession.

They say, “Come, Lord,” but what they mean is, “Give us control.”

They say, “Thy kingdom come,” but what they mean is, “Let our faction rule.”

They say, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” but what they build are prisons, borders, propaganda machines, religious celebrity platforms, and monuments to their own fear.

This is the Maranatha Empire.

It is not one nation only, though nations may become its servants. It is not one denomination only, though denominations may become its chapels. It is not merely Rome, nor Geneva, nor Washington, nor Moscow, nor any other city that has mistaken power for providence. The Maranatha Empire is the recurring temptation of the religious heart: to stop waiting for Christ and begin replacing him.

It begins quietly.

It begins with concern.

The world is dangerous. The children are vulnerable. The church is shrinking. The enemies are multiplying. The culture is changing. The old certainties are crumbling. The people are afraid.

Fear, when baptized, often calls itself faithfulness.

So the frightened church begins to reach for tools Jesus refused.

A throne.

A sword.

A spectacle.

A scapegoat.

A strongman.

A law that can accomplish what love has not yet persuaded.

A state that can enforce what the Spirit has not yet formed.

A leader who promises to defend Christ, as though Christ ever asked Peter to keep swinging after Gethsemane.

This is how the prayer becomes an empire.

The early church cried, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it knew that Caesar was not Lord. The Maranatha Empire cries, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it wants Caesar to become useful.

The early church broke bread in homes. The Maranatha Empire builds platforms and calls them altars.

The early church welcomed the stranger. The Maranatha Empire sees the stranger as a threat.

The early church died rather than kill. The Maranatha Empire kills and calls the dead collateral damage in the defense of righteousness.

The early church believed the Lamb had conquered. The Maranatha Empire keeps looking for a beast strong enough to protect the Lamb.

And there is the blasphemy.

Not that empire rejects Christ outright. That would be too honest. The Maranatha Empire does something more dangerous. It uses Christ as decoration for a power that is fundamentally afraid of the cross.

It sings of the Lamb while trusting the dragon.

It preaches resurrection while organizing itself around survival.

It displays the cross while despising weakness.

It quotes Jesus while ignoring the people Jesus told us to notice: the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry, the foreigner, the enemy, the child, the wounded man beside the road.

The Maranatha Empire is not built by atheists. It is built by believers who have lost patience with the way of Jesus.

For the way of Jesus is slow.

It is seed, yeast, salt, light.

It is foot-washing.

It is forgiveness seventy times seven.

It is refusing the shortcut of domination even when domination appears efficient.

It is telling Peter to put away the sword when everything in Peter’s body screams that this is the moment for holy violence.

It is standing before Pilate and saying, “My kingdom is not from this world,” not because the kingdom has nothing to do with the world, but because it does not come by the world’s methods.

The Maranatha Empire cannot tolerate this.

It cannot tolerate a Messiah who will not seize power.

It cannot tolerate a church that would rather be faithful than influential.

It cannot tolerate a people whose politics begin at the basin and towel.

It cannot tolerate enemy-love, because enemy-love ruins the machinery. Empire requires enemies. It needs them. It feeds on them. Without enemies, the crowd might look too closely at the throne.

So, the Maranatha Empire manufactures urgency.

There is no time to love.

No time to listen.

No time to discern.

No time for reconciliation.

No time for peacemaking.

No time to ask whether the means resemble the Christ we claim to serve.

The hour is late, they say. The danger is great. The stakes are too high. We must act now. We must take control now. We must win now.

And somewhere beneath all that urgency is a terrible confession:

They do not actually believe the Lord is coming.

Or, if he is coming, they do not trust him to arrive in the right way.

So they build him an empire to inherit.

But Christ does not inherit empires.

He judges them.

He walks in alleyways, not palaces. He asks whether the churches have kept their first love. He warns those who are rich and comfortable and self-satisfied that they may be poor, blind, and naked. He stands at the door and knocks, not because he has been defeated by secularism, but because religious people have locked him outside while holding meetings in his name.

The Maranatha Empire is always shocked when Jesus is found outside the gate.

Outside the camp.

Outside respectability.

Outside the approved narrative.

Outside the walls with the crucified, the excluded, the unclean, the inconvenient, and the condemned.

The empire expected him in the capital.

But he is with the refugees.

The empire expected him in the cathedral of victory.

But he is with the mother of the disappeared.

The empire expected him on the reviewing stand.

But he is washing feet in the basement.

The empire expected him to bless the troops.

But he is asking why his followers are still carrying swords.

This is why Maranatha must remain a dangerous prayer.

It must never be allowed to become a slogan for conquest. It must never be printed on the banners of those who are unwilling to be converted by the One they summon. To pray “Come, Lord” is not to invite divine endorsement of our projects. It is to invite judgment upon them.

Come, Lord, and judge our churches.

Come, Lord, and judge our flags.

Come, Lord, and judge our markets.

Come, Lord, and judge our weapons.

Come, Lord, and judge our sermons.

Come, Lord, and judge our secret hatreds.

Come, Lord, and judge the ways we have used your name to avoid your way.

This is the prayer empire cannot honestly pray.

Because if the Lord comes, the first thing to fall may not be our enemies.

It may be our idols.

The algorithm.

The nation.

The party.

The brand.

The gun.

The strongman.

The myth of innocence.

The lie that we can harm others for a righteous cause and remain untouched by the harm.

The Maranatha Empire teaches us to fear the collapse of Christian influence.

Jesus teaches us to fear gaining the world and losing our soul.

The Maranatha Empire asks, “How do we take back the culture?”

Jesus asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the winners.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the forceful, for they shall secure the future.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

And perhaps this is the word for us now:

The church does not need to become more powerful.

The church needs to become more faithful.

Not passive. Not silent. Not withdrawn into pious irrelevance. But faithful in the particular, cruciform, stubborn way of Jesus. Faithful enough to resist evil without becoming its mirror. Faithful enough to tell the truth without hatred. Faithful enough to protect the vulnerable without worshiping violence. Faithful enough to build communities of economic sharing, hospitality, forgiveness, courage, and joy. Faithful enough to be a people who can live without controlling the outcome.

That is the hard part.

Empire is attractive because it promises control.

Jesus offers communion.

Empire promises security.

Jesus offers peace.

Empire promises victory over enemies.

Jesus offers reconciliation that may begin with our repentance.

Empire promises to make us great.

Jesus invites us to become small enough to enter the kingdom.

So, let the Maranatha Empire fall.

Let it fall first in us.

Let it fall in every place where we have confused anxiety with zeal. Let it fall where we have preferred dominance to witness. Let it fall where we have wanted laws to do what discipleship would not. Let it fall where we have used the suffering of others as fuel for our own righteousness. Let it fall where we have asked Jesus to come only after we have arranged the throne to our liking.

And when it falls, may something older and more beautiful remain.

A table.

A basin.

A towel.

A loaf.

A cup.

A people gathered without illusion, without empire, without the need to be impressive, whispering the ancient prayer not as conquerors but as witnesses:

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come not to crown our domination, but to free us from it.

Come not to baptize our fear, but to cast it out.

Come not to make our empire holy, but to teach us again that your kingdom comes like a seed, like yeast, like mercy, like a Lamb who was slain and yet lives.

And until you come, make us faithful.

Not imperial.

Not triumphant.

Not afraid.

Faithful.

The Maranatha Empire

There is a prayer so holy that it should burn the tongue of every empire that tries to speak it.

Maranatha.

Come, Lord.

It is the cry of the small church under pressure. The cry of the persecuted and the patient. The cry of those who have no armies to summon, no throne to defend, no voting bloc sufficient to save them, no market share large enough to secure their future. It is the cry of those who wait because they know they are not God.

But in every age, there are those who take this prayer of waiting and turn it into a banner of possession.

They say, “Come, Lord,” but what they mean is, “Give us control.”

They say, “Thy kingdom come,” but what they mean is, “Let our faction rule.”

They say, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” but what they build are prisons, borders, propaganda machines, religious celebrity platforms, and monuments to their own fear.

This is the Maranatha Empire.

It is not one nation only, though nations may become its servants. It is not one denomination only, though denominations may become its chapels. It is not merely Rome, nor Geneva, nor Washington, nor Moscow, nor any other city that has mistaken power for providence. The Maranatha Empire is the recurring temptation of the religious heart: to stop waiting for Christ and begin replacing him.

It begins quietly.

It begins with concern.

The world is dangerous. The children are vulnerable. The church is shrinking. The enemies are multiplying. The culture is changing. The old certainties are crumbling. The people are afraid.

Fear, when baptized, often calls itself faithfulness.

So the frightened church begins to reach for tools Jesus refused.

A throne.

A sword.

A spectacle.

A scapegoat.

A strongman.

A law that can accomplish what love has not yet persuaded.

A state that can enforce what the Spirit has not yet formed.

A leader who promises to defend Christ, as though Christ ever asked Peter to keep swinging after Gethsemane.

This is how the prayer becomes an empire.

The early church cried, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it knew that Caesar was not Lord. The Maranatha Empire cries, “Come, Lord Jesus,” because it wants Caesar to become useful.

The early church broke bread in homes. The Maranatha Empire builds platforms and calls them altars.

The early church welcomed the stranger. The Maranatha Empire sees the stranger as a threat.

The early church died rather than kill. The Maranatha Empire kills and calls the dead collateral damage in the defense of righteousness.

The early church believed the Lamb had conquered. The Maranatha Empire keeps looking for a beast strong enough to protect the Lamb.

And there is the blasphemy.

Not that empire rejects Christ outright. That would be too honest. The Maranatha Empire does something more dangerous. It uses Christ as decoration for a power that is fundamentally afraid of the cross.

It sings of the Lamb while trusting the dragon.

It preaches resurrection while organizing itself around survival.

It displays the cross while despising weakness.

It quotes Jesus while ignoring the people Jesus told us to notice: the poor, the imprisoned, the hungry, the foreigner, the enemy, the child, the wounded man beside the road.

The Maranatha Empire is not built by atheists. It is built by believers who have lost patience with the way of Jesus.

For the way of Jesus is slow.

It is seed, yeast, salt, light.

It is foot-washing.

It is forgiveness seventy times seven.

It is refusing the shortcut of domination even when domination appears efficient.

It is telling Peter to put away the sword when everything in Peter’s body screams that this is the moment for holy violence.

It is standing before Pilate and saying, “My kingdom is not from this world,” not because the kingdom has nothing to do with the world, but because it does not come by the world’s methods.

The Maranatha Empire cannot tolerate this.

It cannot tolerate a Messiah who will not seize power.

It cannot tolerate a church that would rather be faithful than influential.

It cannot tolerate a people whose politics begin at the basin and towel.

It cannot tolerate enemy-love, because enemy-love ruins the machinery. Empire requires enemies. It needs them. It feeds on them. Without enemies, the crowd might look too closely at the throne.

So, the Maranatha Empire manufactures urgency.

There is no time to love.

No time to listen.

No time to discern.

No time for reconciliation.

No time for peacemaking.

No time to ask whether the means resemble the Christ we claim to serve.

The hour is late, they say. The danger is great. The stakes are too high. We must act now. We must take control now. We must win now.

And somewhere beneath all that urgency is a terrible confession:

They do not actually believe the Lord is coming.

Or, if he is coming, they do not trust him to arrive in the right way.

So they build him an empire to inherit.

But Christ does not inherit empires.

He judges them.

He walks in alleyways, not palaces. He asks whether the churches have kept their first love. He warns those who are rich and comfortable and self-satisfied that they may be poor, blind, and naked. He stands at the door and knocks, not because he has been defeated by secularism, but because religious people have locked him outside while holding meetings in his name.

The Maranatha Empire is always shocked when Jesus is found outside the gate.

Outside the camp.

Outside respectability.

Outside the approved narrative.

Outside the walls with the crucified, the excluded, the unclean, the inconvenient, and the condemned.

The empire expected him in the capital.

But he is with the refugees.

The empire expected him in the cathedral of victory.

But he is with the mother of the disappeared.

The empire expected him on the reviewing stand.

But he is washing feet in the basement.

The empire expected him to bless the troops.

But he is asking why his followers are still carrying swords.

This is why Maranatha must remain a dangerous prayer.

It must never be allowed to become a slogan for conquest. It must never be printed on the banners of those who are unwilling to be converted by the One they summon. To pray “Come, Lord” is not to invite divine endorsement of our projects. It is to invite judgment upon them.

Come, Lord, and judge our churches.

Come, Lord, and judge our flags.

Come, Lord, and judge our markets.

Come, Lord, and judge our weapons.

Come, Lord, and judge our sermons.

Come, Lord, and judge our secret hatreds.

Come, Lord, and judge the ways we have used your name to avoid your way.

This is the prayer empire cannot honestly pray.

Because if the Lord comes, the first thing to fall may not be our enemies.

It may be our idols.

The algorithm.

The nation.

The party.

The brand.

The gun.

The strongman.

The myth of innocence.

The lie that we can harm others for a righteous cause and remain untouched by the harm.

The Maranatha Empire teaches us to fear the collapse of Christian influence.

Jesus teaches us to fear gaining the world and losing our soul.

The Maranatha Empire asks, “How do we take back the culture?”

Jesus asks, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the winners.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek.”

The Maranatha Empire says, “Blessed are the forceful, for they shall secure the future.”

Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

And perhaps this is the word for us now:

The church does not need to become more powerful.

The church needs to become more faithful.

Not passive. Not silent. Not withdrawn into pious irrelevance. But faithful in the particular, cruciform, stubborn way of Jesus. Faithful enough to resist evil without becoming its mirror. Faithful enough to tell the truth without hatred. Faithful enough to protect the vulnerable without worshiping violence. Faithful enough to build communities of economic sharing, hospitality, forgiveness, courage, and joy. Faithful enough to be a people who can live without controlling the outcome.

That is the hard part.

Empire is attractive because it promises control.

Jesus offers communion.

Empire promises security.

Jesus offers peace.

Empire promises victory over enemies.

Jesus offers reconciliation that may begin with our repentance.

Empire promises to make us great.

Jesus invites us to become small enough to enter the kingdom.

So, let the Maranatha Empire fall.

Let it fall first in us.

Let it fall in every place where we have confused anxiety with zeal. Let it fall where we have preferred dominance to witness. Let it fall where we have wanted laws to do what discipleship would not. Let it fall where we have used the suffering of others as fuel for our own righteousness. Let it fall where we have asked Jesus to come only after we have arranged the throne to our liking.

And when it falls, may something older and more beautiful remain.

A table.

A basin.

A towel.

A loaf.

A cup.

A people gathered without illusion, without empire, without the need to be impressive, whispering the ancient prayer not as conquerors but as witnesses:

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come not to crown our domination, but to free us from it.

Come not to baptize our fear, but to cast it out.

Come not to make our empire holy, but to teach us again that your kingdom comes like a seed, like yeast, like mercy, like a Lamb who was slain and yet lives.

And until you come, make us faithful.

Not imperial.

Not triumphant.

Not afraid.

Faithful.

Tori Danyel is live! PROPHETIC SOUL SATURDAY. HEART TO HEART. #prophetic...
https://youtube.com/live/8cLtszmUj7c?si=lEi07QIHjg3Siy2X #Love #HolySpirit #KingdomOfGod

Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

“13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

“16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

“20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

 as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

“1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

“6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

In the road spray, he taught us to ask

They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

How awasome is this place?
This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?

He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

We thank You Father,
we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
You gave your only son.
We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!

*

*

We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

Yeah,

we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
Oh, too much.
And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

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Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

“13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

“16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

“20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

 as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

“1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

“6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

In the road spray, he taught us to ask

They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

How awasome is this place?
This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?

He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

We thank You Father,
we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
You gave your only son.
We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!

*

*

We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

Yeah,

we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
Oh, too much.
And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

Rate this:

Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

“13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

“16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

“20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

 as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

“1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

“6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

In the road spray, he taught us to ask

They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

How awasome is this place?
This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?

He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

We thank You Father,
we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
You gave your only son.
We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!

*

*

We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

Yeah,

we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
Oh, too much.
And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

Rate this:

Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

“13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

“16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

“20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

 as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

“1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

“6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

In the road spray, he taught us to ask

They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

How awasome is this place?
This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?

He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

We thank You Father,
we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
You gave your only son.
We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!

*

*

We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

Yeah,

we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
Oh, too much.
And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

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Sunday service 2026 May 3 Experiences of religion

Spring seemed to have arrived properly this last week.

It’s really lovely to have you all with us. Very lovely to have Jonathan and Rachel Edwards from Winton meeting, and Rachel will be talking to us, giving words of encouragement a bit later.

It’s so good, isn’t it, to be together as a family, a family in Christ, so that we can praise God and thank Him for His creation and for everything that He’s done for us. And of course, most importantly, to remember what Jesus has done and what he is still doing for us day by day. Because it’s because of him that we’re here now. And it’s because of his sacrifice that we have hope in the future.
And we know that he is here with us in this hall, because he said that whenever 2 or 3 people gather in his name, he’s there in the midst of us.

So he may have lived 2000 years ago, but he is alive today in this year 2026.

May our singing, may our meeting of the Bible and remembering Jesus in bread and wine give Jesus and his God the honour they deserve.

So, dear God, now we simply put this meeting into Your Hands. May we feel Your presence here with us today and throughout the week and always.
In the name of our loving lord Jesus, we offer this our service to You now, Amen.

Julian has had a stroke, which has affected his right arm. He is now at home with support from the family, coming to terms with his new situation. They are managing their change circumstance with fortitude, and they’re not doing too badly. Regular physiotherapy sessions at home, the care review is scheduled for next week. They send their love and best wishes to everyone.

Belanwa Methode from our Anderlecht ecclesia is feeling much better and recovering after a recent heart attack and spell in hospital. We do hope to have a service again on Saturday, 16 May at the house church in Anderlecht.

Jane reports that the family of her brother-in-law in Australia are facing a very difficult time; he is facing a major operation in May, which will be life-changing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

John Launchbury from Portland, USA, had a major heart surgery last Monday. By Wednesday, he was sitting up in bed and had actually been out of bed moving around, having had most of the tubes removed. This weekend, they hope that he’ll be able to return home. – We pray for him and his family at this difficult time.

With our song “Give thanks” we gave thanks to our Most High God, from whom we all receive those blessings from Mother Earth.

Next, we listened to the reading talking of the time when Jacob, the 3rd patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebekah, went out from Beer-sheba to go to Haran.

Coming to a certain place, he made it his resting-place for the night, for the sun had gone down; and he took one of the stones which were there, and putting it under his head, he went to sleep in that place.

And he had a dream, and in his dream he saw steps stretching from earth to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on them. And he saw Jehovah by his side, saying that He is the Lord, the God of Abraham his Father, and the God of Isaac. This God said to Jacob:

“13 … I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” (Genesis 28:13-15 ASV)

And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said,

“16 …Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:16-17 ASV)

And early in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been under his head, and put it up as a pillar and put oil on it. And he gave that place the name of Beth-el (house of God), but before that time the town was named Luz.  Then Jacob took an oath and said,

“20… If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:20-22 ASV)

Our speaker today wants to think about the experiences of religion,

 as I’m sure you know, means to tie fast. It’s a binding between God and man, and I want to try to explore how long or short that finding is.

We’re told God is in heaven. Isaiah chapter 66 begins:

Thus says the Lord, heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? (Isaiah 66:1)

The first mention is in Genesis chapter one, quoting the authorised version.

“1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. …

“6  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” (Genesis 1:1, 6-8 AV)

I understand that the firmament was a word made up in the 17th century. The NIV uses the words “expanse ” and “sky,” and the NLT says it’s a space called “sky.”

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 2, Paul talks about some caught up to the third heaven, and this is often explained as the first heaven being the atmosphere and the clouds at 1 to 3 miles above the surface of the earth.

Planes fly about 6 to 7 miles high. So, these days, it’s within touching distance.

The second head is the planets, stars and galaxies.

Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. He could probably see about 3.000 stars, so he was promised a huge family. In the universe in total, there are about 8.000 stars bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
But there are actually thought to be 200 million trillion steps, 200.000 million, million, million stars in the universe. So he was promised an amazingly large family.

The third heaven is the final sphere, God’s dwelling place.

The Hebrew word means to be lofty. And looking at the Greek word for heaven, strong offers by explanation happiness, power, and eternity.

The physical space was finite, and beyond the material world was the spiritual space of God. The physical world was subject to death and decay, but the heavens were eternal, spiritual, and better than the earth. And the planets and stars were pointers to the religious heaven of God.

Up to the Middle Ages, the cosmos was believed to have had the Earth at the centre of everything, surrounded by concentric spheres of the moon, the sun, planets and stars.

Art aimed to represent the spiritual order beyond the material world and portrayed heaven in pictures comprising a light blue background with flat, out-of-proportion figures, often in gold, referencing the sky and the sun.

But art in the 13th century developed a new way of seeing heaven. And even a pope encouraged a change of style to incorporate linear perspective, which made a sort of medieval virtual reality. Which was thought to have the power to convert unbelievers to the Christian faith by making heaven more believable.

Science took up the reins of the shift a couple of hundred years later, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, who were all on the side of God. To them, the new astronomy reflected the glory of God the Father, Whose power and order in the universe supported their faith in Christianity’s eternal salvation, whose domain is the Kingdom of heaven.

Firstly, Copernicus suggested that the Earth went round the sun so that the Earth, including us, was no longer at the centre of everything. Newton’s big idea was that gravity, the gravity that makes an apple fall to the ground, also keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and planets orbiting the sun. So space everywhere is ruled by the same physical laws. This continuity between terrestrial and celestial realms, by this continuity, Newton famously united the heavens and the earth. The physical space could go on forever. So there was no room left over for heaven as a superior alternative domain.

Newton tore a hole in the social fabric that we’ve been … we’re struggling to comprehend, and reverberate still in the war between science and religion.

Einstein replaced Newton’s cosmology with space-time, and this has been developed into hyperspace, which I don’t understand, but is described as nothing but space curled up into patterns.

At the start of our universe, space had no structure, formless and empty darkness, to quote Genesis chapter. It was simple and uniform, like a blank piece of paper. Then, as time proceeded, the paper crinkled up into ever more elaborate structures, eventually giving rise to the complexities of today. So, perhaps this is God as the origami artist.

The new understanding of space impacts on who we think we are in space today is an arena to be mapped and measured. If heaven isn’t special, are we special?

Are we in conglomeration with molecules?

Christadelphians and other fundamental Christians and even New Age proponents do not accept this poor, demoralising, reductionist world.

But, I don’t think there is a war between science and religion. Science has furthered our understanding of the physical world. And as we’ve mentioned, it greatly enhanced the promise of Abraham.

But God doesn’t need to live in heaven. He is everywhere. Acts chapter 17 verses 27 and 28 say He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.

Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

In the road spray, he taught us to ask

They Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Asking for the divide between God and man to be dissolved.

The Kingdom of heaven is still the domain of human salvation, the righteousness of God replacing the sin of the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Today, the expression “a thin place” is used to describe a place in time where space, the space between heaven and earth, grows thin and the sacred and the secular seem to meet.

This is what I mean by the experience of religion.

The Bible is full op people being touched by God, often in a vision or a dream. I picked a few examples showing how people felt about God drawing near to them. We’ve read about Jacob and his ladder experience in Genesis chapter 28. And his conclusion was

How awasome is this place?
This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven.

Then in the New Testament, I think of Mary.

My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the couple on the road to Emmaus expressed their vivid feelings.

When are our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us.

In our 21st-century lives, a thin place offers a sense of peace or a feeling of awe, where we feel our connection with God more strongly.

Some people feel it in wonderful landscapes. Others in a quiet place, or listening to music, or appreciating a work of art, or a moment in daily life, like opening the door onto a sunny morning.

I expect lots of people find the giving of thanks and taking the bread and wine a thin place.

As we’re about to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, may you know Jesus, your saviour.

May I know Jesus, my saviour. Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel, for those lovely words. It’s almost impossible, isn’t it, to imagine the extent of the universe, the cosmos, and to think that God is both filling that. But also, as you said, so close to every one of us now. And you have brought us beautifully to the centre point of our meeting, to think about Jesus, who said about himself, and I’m doing this remembering Jesus would one day see the angels ascending on himself, the Son of man. So just as Jacob saw the connection between heaven and earth, wo we see heaven and earth coming together in Jesus, our lord.

Before we share the bread and wine, we’re going to sing another hymn. And this time it’s going to be ” Praise the Lord” 174, which reminds us of the depths of the love that has been poured out on us in the sacrifice of Jesus.

Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?

He can never be forgotten, thoughout heav’n’s eternal days.

We thank You Father,
we come before You at this time to give our thanks and praise for all the blessings You bestow on us.

We thank You for the love that You show towards us because You loved us so much.
You gave your only son.
We come now to remember the love that Your son, our lord, showed not only to You, but to us and the whole world also, in that he fullfilled Your word to the very end.

As we pass these emblems of our lor’s love and great sacrifice to one another, we again give our thanks for the Plan that You have for all people that believe in You.

We ask that we may soon see the return of our lord and that we can therefore be brought closer to You, our eternal Father.

We ask that You be with us all and that You will hear this prayer through our lord and saviour’s name. Amen.

Together we sing a Christian hymn based on Joachim Neander’s German-language hymn “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”, published in 1680.: When we look down from a lofty mountain grandeur,

O Lord my God! when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
how great thou art! How great thou art!

*

*

We finish our Sunday service with prayer:

Let us pray, Lord God Heavenly Father,

we put oour minds to places where we just can’t comprehend Your dwelling place, the sky above the stars above the sun and moon, places You hold in the Palm of Your Hand.
Yeah, beyond our wildest imagination,

Yeah,

we come to You in prayer, whether we are gathered in this room, whether we are sat in our various homes across different countries worshipping and praising You now and we know You’re in our presence. You are hearing these very words now. That’s amazing and we are in such actual majesty and splendour and Your power and glory in our presence now.

It is humbling and we pray tha what we have done this morning just a litle bit goes towards chewing as a sweet smell. As pleasing and acceptable we are mindful of the clouds above. And in our lives, we feel the rains pouring down at us sometimes and the stresses and strains and struggles of life.
Oh, too much.
And there’s no sunshine, and there’sno brightness. There’s nothing to look forward to. Then the clouds break. And the blue sky above is always there. The sun is always there. And the same with You, that well, whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our troubles and problems and strains and anxiety, You are therejust above it all. And we can come to You in our prayers, or we can seek strength and guidance. As we face another week we know that You are ina principle of hearts and minds. And You control everything, and You planeverything for us. So guide our ways. Help us take our hand and lead us as Yougo towards another week.
So we thank You for so much, we thank You for Your blessings, for Your kindness, for Your love.

Rate this:

The Decisive Revolution

“Jesus is risen. The decisive revolution in world history has happened – a revolution of all-conquering love. If people would fully receive this revealed love into their own existence, into the reality of the ‘now’, then the logic of insanity could no longer continue.”

There are some lines that feel less like commentary and more like a struck bell. Rudi Dutschke’s Easter words are like that. They do not merely describe resurrection; they announce it as a historical detonation, a rupture in the order of things. They refuse to let Easter remain tucked away in pious sentiment, safe sanctuary ritual, or abstract doctrine. Instead, they cast resurrection as revolution. Not one revolution among many, but the decisive revolution in world history.

That is a breathtaking claim.

Read the rest of the essay at PeaceGrooves:

https://peacegrooves1.wordpress.com/2026/04/28/the-decisive-revolution/

A quotation from Brennan Manning

In effect, Jesus says the Kingdom of His Father is not a subdivision for the self-righteous nor for those who feel they possess the state secret of their salvation. The Kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homelier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something Is Radically Wrong” (1990)

More about this quote: wist.info/manning-brennan/8368…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #brennanmanning #Christianity #Jesus #KingdomofGod #moralstruggle #salvation #selfrighteousness #sinner #snobbery #superiority

A quotation from Brennan Manning

In effect, Jesus says the Kingdom of His Father is not a subdivision for the self-righteous nor for those who feel they possess the state secret of their salvation. The Kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homelier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something Is Radically Wrong” (1990)

More about this quote: wist.info/manning-brennan/8368…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #brennanmanning #Christianity #Jesus #KingdomofGod #moralstruggle #salvation #selfrighteousness #sinner #snobbery #superiority

A quotation from Brennan Manning

In effect, Jesus says the Kingdom of His Father is not a subdivision for the self-righteous nor for those who feel they possess the state secret of their salvation. The Kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homelier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something Is Radically Wrong” (1990)

More about this quote: wist.info/manning-brennan/8368…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #brennanmanning #Christianity #Jesus #KingdomofGod #moralstruggle #salvation #selfrighteousness #sinner #snobbery #superiority

A quotation from Brennan Manning

In effect, Jesus says the Kingdom of His Father is not a subdivision for the self-righteous nor for those who feel they possess the state secret of their salvation. The Kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homelier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something Is Radically Wrong” (1990)

More about this quote: wist.info/manning-brennan/8368…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #brennanmanning #Christianity #Jesus #KingdomofGod #moralstruggle #salvation #selfrighteousness #sinner #snobbery #superiority

A quotation from Brennan Manning

In effect, Jesus says the Kingdom of His Father is not a subdivision for the self-righteous nor for those who feel they possess the state secret of their salvation. The Kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a larger, homelier, less self-conscious cast of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.

Brennan Manning (1934-2013) American author, laicized priest, theologian, speaker [Richard Francis Xavier Manning]
The Ragamuffin Gospel, ch. 1 “Something Is Radically Wrong” (1990)

More about this quote: wist.info/manning-brennan/8368…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #brennanmanning #Christianity #Jesus #KingdomofGod #moralstruggle #salvation #selfrighteousness #sinner #snobbery #superiority

Prakasha, Ohr Ein Sof, Kingdom of Heaven

https://youtu.be/YHQ5904OdaQ

#Prakasha #OhrEinSof #KingdomofHeaven #KingdomofGod #KundaliniBaptismofFire

Prakasha, Ohr Ein Sof, Kingdom of Heaven

https://youtu.be/YHQ5904OdaQ

#Prakasha #OhrEinSof #KingdomofHeaven #KingdomofGod #KundaliniBaptismofFire

Excommunicate Me

Excommunicate me, then.
Ring the bell if you have one. Draw the line in ash. Nail the notice to the chapel door. Speak my name in the flat voice reserved for weather, death, and disappointment. Tell the saints to avert their eyes. Tell the children not to ask questions. Tell the old women in the kitchen to lower their voices when I pass. I have grown used to doors closing with the gentleness of those who think themselves righteous.

Excommunicate me for loving too widely, for asking where the missing ones went, for lingering too long at the edge of the map where the heretics, addicts, doubters, dissidents, and queer-eyed prophets make their fires at night. Excommunicate me for saying that Christ still wanders there, coat smelling of smoke, hands warm from other people’s wounds. Excommunicate me for suspecting that the kingdom keeps being born in places your committees have not approved.

Cast me out for refusing to confuse your fences with holiness.
Cast me out for noticing how often your purity is purchased with somebody else’s loneliness.
Cast me out for believing that a table is still a table even when the wrong people find bread there first.

I know how this works. First comes the sorrowful meeting. Then the careful language. Then the phrases dressed in prayer like soldiers dressed in hymnals. We say discernment when we mean fear. We say order when we mean control. We say peace when we mean silence from those already bruised. We say love while measuring who may enter it. We say truth with our arms folded.

Excommunicate me because I cannot keep pretending that the wound in the Body is healed by cutting off another limb.

I have seen too much of the outside to fear it now. I have seen the banished making soup for one another. I have seen the condemned share coats in winter. I have seen those denied the sacraments become sacraments for each other: bread in famine, oil in sickness, a hand on the shoulder in the long vestibule of grief. I have heard better theology whispered on back steps than shouted from polished pulpits. I have watched the Spirit climb out the stained-glass window and go where she is not expected.

Excommunicate me, and I will go down among the unclaimed.
I will kneel beside the ones your footnotes could not save.
I will keep company with the mothers whose prayers embarrassed you, the children whose questions outgrew your answers, the men who wept when they were told to be strong, the women who spoke and were called dangerous, the wanderers who could not make your narrow gate into a home.

And if you shut me out from your sanctuary, I will make a sanctuary of the road.
If you deny me your blessing, I will learn the blessing of crows at morning, of rain on rusted tin, of strangers who still know how to share fire.
If you call me lost, I will answer that some of us were never meant to be found by empires.

Do not threaten me with the outer dark.
I have met God there.

Not the tidy god of minutes and motions, not the well-behaved deity who always sides with the CEO, but the God who haunts the threshold, who leaves the ninety-nine to go where the crying is, who touches the unclean and is not diminished, who slips through locked doors and still carries wounds, who keeps raising what the pious have buried.

Excommunicate me for this: I no longer believe belonging is yours to ration.
I no longer believe grace requires your seal.
I no longer believe heaven trembles when your vote is taken.
The veil was torn without your permission, and it has never been properly mended.

So do it.
Write me out.
Strike my name from the roll.
Erase me from the minutes.
Tell yourselves the garden is safer now that one more wild thing has been removed.

But listen: roots work in secret. Seeds pass through the beaks of birds and are planted in their shit. Wind ignores decrees. What you cast out does not always die. Sometimes it takes hold beyond the wall and flowers in the rubble, and those passing by say, I did not know beauty could grow here.

Excommunicate me, then.
I will go with Christ among the cast out.
I will go where the lepers still ring their bells, where the scapegoats stagger into the wilderness, where the rejected stone waits in the dust.
And when at last you come looking for God, breathless with your censures, your keys jangling at your side, do not be surprised to find us already inside the feast, the doors flung wide, the music loud, the wounded laughing, and every empty place at the table set for one more.

The Worst Kind of Freedom

Dediticii of the State, Paroikoi of the Kingdom:

On Christian Nationalism, False Freedom, and the Pilgrim Church

There is a freedom that sings loudly and yet is already in chains.

There is a freedom that waves a flag, quotes a verse, demands a prayer in the public square, and calls itself holy. There is a freedom that speaks the name of Jesus with one breath and the language of domination with the next. There is a freedom that insists it is under threat whenever the neighbor is also allowed to breathe, speak, worship, live, vote, belong, or flourish. And that freedom is no freedom at all. It is fear dressed in patriotic robes. It is anxiety holding a Bible. It is the oldest lie of empire baptized in civil religion.

Christian nationalism is built upon that lie.

It says, “We must take the nation back.”
It says, “We must restore Christian order.”
It says, “We must defend our way of life.”
But underneath all of its grand language is a smaller and sadder confession: we do not trust the way of Jesus to be enough unless Caesar kneels beside him. And once the church begins to think that way, it has already bent the knee to another throne.

That is why the old Roman word dediticii has such prophetic force here. In Roman usage, deditio was surrender, and dediticii were those marked by that surrender, those living under the terms of a conquering power; in later Roman legal usage the term could also refer to people whose liberty was degraded, curtailed, a kind of freedom beneath full belonging.  What a terrible phrase that is for the church to deserve: not merely conquered, but living in the illusion of liberty while shaped by the chains of empire.

And that is the tragedy of Christian nationalism. It imagines itself strong, but it is surrendered. It imagines itself sovereign, but it is already owned. It imagines itself defending the faith, but it has accepted the terms of a lesser kingdom. It seeks power in the way Rome seeks power, order in the way empires seek order, peace in the way fearful nations seek peace: through threat, hierarchy, exclusion, privilege, and force. It calls this righteousness. It calls this prudence. It calls this realism. But the gospel calls it what it is: temptation.

For every freedom built on another person’s diminishment is already a form of bondage.

If I can only feel secure when someone else is excluded, then I am not secure.
If I can only feel righteous when someone else is silenced, then I am not righteous.
If I can only feel free when someone else is less free, then I am not free.

I am merely protected by a cage large enough to mistake for a kingdom.

This is the bitterest irony of all: those who would limit the freedom of others in the name of preserving their own eventually discover that they, too, have become servants of limitation. They must constantly patrol the borders. They must always be on the lookout for enemies. They must keep watch over books, bodies, ballots, classrooms, pulpits, prayers, and pronouns. They must nourish grievance. They must cultivate suspicion. They must remain forever agitated because domination cannot rest. The soul that clings to supremacy must live in permanent alarm. And so the one who promised freedom becomes the custodian of fear.

That is why this is not merely a political error. It is a spiritual deformation.

Christian nationalism is not simply bad analysis. It is bad discipleship. It is the church forgetting what kind of people it is. It is the church forgetting that Jesus did not seize Rome; Rome seized Jesus. It is the church forgetting that salvation did not come through occupying the governor’s palace, but through faithfulness unto death. It is the church forgetting that Pentecost did not create a purified nation but a multilingual people. It is the church forgetting that the Lord’s Table is not bordered by tribe, race, party, passport, or patriotic myth. It is the church forgetting that Christ rules from a cross before he is confessed in glory.

And when the church forgets these things, it becomes available for conscription.

It can still sing.
It can still preach.
It can still quote scripture.
It can still say “Lord, Lord.”

But it begins to sound less like the Beatitudes and more like a millstone. Less like the prophets and more like the court. Less like the crucified and more like Pilate washing his hands while the machinery of death carries on.

Against all this, the New Testament gives the church another word, a better word: paroikoi. The term carries the sense of strangers, sojourners, resident aliens, people dwelling near but not fully at home in the order around them. In 1 Peter 2:11, believers are addressed in precisely that way, as “foreigners and exiles,” those whose lives in the world are real but not reducible to the world’s claims.  And Paul, in Philippians 3:20, gives the church its political center of gravity: “our citizenship is in heaven.”

There is the contrast.

Dediticii are defined by surrender to imperial terms.
Paroikoi are defined by faithful dwelling without ultimate belonging.

Dediticii live under the dictates of the conqueror.
Paroikoi live under the promise of God.

Dediticii accept diminished freedom as though it were normal.
Paroikoi know that their life comes from another commonwealth.

Dediticii are shaped by subjection.
Paroikoi are shaped by pilgrimage.

The church is called to be paroikoi, not dediticii.

The church is called to dwell in the world, bless the world, serve the world, weep with the world, labor for justice in the world, and seek the welfare of the city; but it is never called to worship the city, confuse the city with the kingdom, or surrender its conscience to the rulers of the age. It is called to be near without being possessed. Present without being absorbed. Public without becoming idolatrous. Loving without becoming captive. The church does not need to dominate in order to be faithful. The church needs to remember who it is.

And who is it?

It is a baptized people, not a blood-and-soil people.
It is a Eucharistic people, not a nationalist people.
It is a Pentecost people, not a monocultural people.
It is a cruciform people, not a triumphalist people.
It is a resurrection people, not a fear-governed people.

That is why Christian nationalism is so dangerous. It does not merely propose a flawed strategy. It offers the church a false identity. It tells Christians they are landowners of a sacred nation rather than pilgrims of a holy kingdom. It tells them they are guardians of civilization rather than witnesses to Christ. It tells them their task is to possess the machinery of rule rather than embody the mercy of God. It tells them the neighbor’s difference is a threat rather than an occasion for love. It tells them anxiety is wisdom. It tells them domination is stewardship. It tells them privilege is providence.

And many believe it because it flatters the flesh.

It flatters the longing to be secure without sacrifice.
It flatters the longing to be righteous without repentance.
It flatters the longing to be powerful without being crucified.
It flatters the longing to call coercion conviction and call fear discernment.

But Christ does not flatter the flesh. Christ calls the church to die.

To die to supremacy.
To die to tribal vanity.
To die to the dream of holy violence.
To die to the seduction of being chaplain to empire.
To die to every flag that asks for what belongs only to God.

The church must hear this plainly: when it reaches for power by limiting the lives of others, it does not become more itself. It becomes less. When it seeks freedom through exclusion, it does not enlarge liberty. It redistributes bondage. When it blesses structures that narrow the humanity of the neighbor, it nails its own soul to those same structures. That is the judgment hidden inside the word dediticii: those who think they have secured their place have, in truth, surrendered themselves to a power that can only give them the worst kind of freedom.

But the gospel still offers another way.

Be paroikoi.
Be pilgrims.
Be resident aliens of grace.
Be people whose identity papers are issued in heaven.
Be people who do not need Caesar to certify the lordship of Christ.
Be people free enough to bless without ruling, to serve without controlling, to witness without seizing, to love without fearing.

For our citizenship is in heaven.
And because our citizenship is in heaven, we are finally free on earth: free to tell the truth, free to defend the vulnerable, free to refuse idols, free to reject every gospel of blood and soil, free to stand with those whose liberty is threatened, free to be neither conquerors nor cowards.

The church does not need a Christian nation.
The church needs Christian faithfulness.

The church does not need the illusion of greatness.
The church needs the courage of holiness.

The church does not need to become the soul of the state.
The church must become again the body of Christ.

So let the nations rage. Let the parties boast. Let the demagogues preach their frightened liturgies of invasion, purity, and control. The church must not join their choir. The church must remember its name.

Not dediticii of the state.
But paroikoi of the kingdom.

Not surrendered to empire.
But dwelling in hope.

Not the keepers of a lesser freedom.
But the witnesses of the all-encompassing liberation of Christ.

The Lamb Beneath the Millstone

A Parable of Good Friday

Every morning, the people of the village woke to the turning of the mill.

They heard it before dawn: the low groan of stone upon stone, the creak of beams, the steady labor that promised bread by noon. Mothers kneaded dough to its rhythm. Children carried flour home in little sacks. Old men at the square tore crusts apart with grateful hands and said, as they always said, that the village endured because the mill endured.

No one thought much about what kept it turning.

There were rumors, of course. There had always been rumors.

Some said the lower stone had been set long ago upon a foundation of bone. Some said the first miller, desperate in a year of famine, had made a bargain with hunger itself. Some said that now and then, if one stood very still in the hush before dawn, beneath the grinding and the groaning one could hear something softer still—a muffled crying, the sound of something gentle bearing a terrible weight.

But bread has a way of silencing questions.

And so the stones turned. And so the people ate.

Then, one spring, on a day, darkened though no storm had been forecast, the mill began to groan louder than before. Not with its ordinary labor, but with pain. The whole frame trembled. Flour drifted through the air like pale ash. The people gathered outside, clutching their baskets and aprons, muttering that if the mill failed, all would fail.

The miller himself, white with fear, shouted for silence.

That was when they heard it.

Not the grinding. Not the wood straining. Beneath it all, there came a cry so small and so wounded that it seemed impossible it had gone unnoticed for so long. It was not the cry of something wild. It was not rage. It was not even accusation.

It was the sound of innocence suffering quietly beneath the weight of everyone’s hunger.

Men took crowbars to the stone. Women pulled at the beams with bare hands. Children wept without knowing why. At last, with great effort, they lifted the upper millstone just enough to see what lay beneath.

There, crushed into the dust and darkness, was a lamb.

Its wool was matted white and red. Its body was broken. Its breathing was shallow. Yet its eyes were open.

And when the villagers saw it, they understood with horror what they had refused to know: all these years, their daily bread had come at a hidden cost. Their life had rested on a silent suffering. Their peace had been built upon the one beneath the stone.

No one spoke.

The baker, whose hands had fed the town for forty years, fell to his knees first. Then the miller. Then the mothers. Then, the old men who had praised the strength of the mill. One by one, all who had eaten came down into the dust.

For the first time, they did not ask whether there would still be bread tomorrow.

For the first time, they asked what kind of village they had become, that a lamb could be crushed beneath their life, and they call it blessing.

The sky darkened further. The wind rose. The lamb let out one final shuddering breath.

And the mill stopped.

No one moved to start it again.

That evening there was no bread in the village. Only silence. Only grief. Only the terrible unveiling of what had always been hidden beneath their ordinary life.

But years later, the old ones would still say that was the day they first tasted truth.

For before that day, they had only eaten bread.

After that day, they began at last to hunger for mercy.

#BruceChilton: "The #KingdomofGod was the principal theme of Jesus' message...& the pivotal hope of Galilean Judaism. Rule by a king was both...the source of their oppression...& their hope for the future under God. The world of Jesus made no distinction btw politics & religion."
bit.ly/453ossb
Image: Herod ordering the Massacre of the Innocents, 10th century Codex Egberti, Wikimedia Commons.

#BruceChilton: "The #KingdomofGod was the principal theme of Jesus' message...& the pivotal hope of Galilean Judaism. Rule by a king was both...the source of their oppression...& their hope for the future under God. The world of Jesus made no distinction btw politics & religion."
bit.ly/453ossb
Image: Herod ordering the Massacre of the Innocents, 10th century Codex Egberti, Wikimedia Commons.

#BruceChilton: "The #KingdomofGod was the principal theme of Jesus' message...& the pivotal hope of Galilean Judaism. Rule by a king was both...the source of their oppression...& their hope for the future under God. The world of Jesus made no distinction btw politics & religion."
bit.ly/453ossb
Image: Herod ordering the Massacre of the Innocents, 10th century Codex Egberti, Wikimedia Commons.

#BruceChilton: "The #KingdomofGod was the principal theme of Jesus' message...& the pivotal hope of Galilean Judaism. Rule by a king was both...the source of their oppression...& their hope for the future under God. The world of Jesus made no distinction btw politics & religion."
bit.ly/453ossb
Image: Herod ordering the Massacre of the Innocents, 10th century Codex Egberti, Wikimedia Commons.

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished.
#OrderOfTheSacredEarth
https://bit.ly/4hkaVA6

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished.
#OrderOfTheSacredEarth
https://bit.ly/4hkaVA6

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished.
#OrderOfTheSacredEarth
https://bit.ly/4hkaVA6

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished.
#OrderOfTheSacredEarth
https://bit.ly/4hkaVA6

From Solomon’s temple to the heavenly city — God’s plan has always been about more than buildings. The true temple is made of living believers, and its cornerstone is Christ. 💎
#KingdomOfGod #Revelation #Faith #Jerusalem
🔗 the-Bible.net

Discovering what truly matters goes beyond material possessions. It's about seeking something deeper. However, this pursuit doesn't guarantee a perfect life. In the end, “we still live in a sinful world.” #KingdomOfGod #FaithJourney #SpiritualGrowth

@alexmorse #JesusOfNazareth worked a trade before announcing the #KingdomOfGod and dying on the #Cross for our sins. #MartinLuther pointed out #God does not need our service, but our #neighbor does. This is why we engage in #TheologyOfWork, #ServantLeadership, and #KingdomEntrepreneurship. Our #Calling and #Vocation are in the world. When we #create and #work, we image our #Creator. When we exercise our #SpiritualGifts we please and honor God. This is how we #BearFruit.

Quote of the day, 9 August: St. Edith Stein

Because hidden souls do not live in isolation, but are a part of the living nexus and have a position in a great divine order, we speak of an invisible church. Their impact and affinity can remain hidden from themselves and others for their entire earthly lives.

But it is also possible for some of this to become visible in the external world. This is how it was with the persons and events intertwined in the mystery of the Incarnation.

Today we live again in a time that urgently needs to be renewed at the hidden springs of God-fearing souls. Many people, too, place their last hope in these hidden springs of salvation.

This is a serious warning cry: Surrender without reservation to the Lord who has called us. This is required of us so that the face of the earth may be renewed. In faithful trust, we must abandon our souls to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.

We may live in confident certainty that what the Spirit of God secretly effects in us bears its fruits in the kingdom of God. We will see them in eternity.

Saint Edith Stein

The Hidden Life and Epiphany

Stein, E. 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, translated from the German by Stein, W, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Vintage stereograph card depicting a boy and girl kneeling in prayer beside a brass bed with a red and white quilt, captioned “Now I Lay Me. At the End of Day.” Image credit: End of the day – Now I lay me, ca. 1850-1920, stereograph from the Stereograph Collection, Boston Public Library Arts Department. No known copyright restrictions.

#eternity #HolySpirit #KingdomOfGod #StEdithStein #surrender #trust

Jesus Sends Pilgrims into Battle: Gospel in Hostile Territory (Luke 22:35-37)

https://www.scottlapierre.org/jesus-sends-pilgrims-into-battle/

Unpack some of Jesus’ final instructions to His disciples to live as pilgrims in hostile environments.

#pilgrimsinhostileenvironments #lukegospel #scottlapierre #christiansermon #biblicalworldview #kingdomofgod #jesusiscoming #discipleship #persecution #heavenlycitizenship #christcrucified #biblestudy #expositorypreachingsermons #christianliving #faithnotfear

Uncover the dangers of the flesh in this critical analysis. We explore the pitfalls of prioritizing desires, pride, power, and wealth, and their impact on our spiritual journey. Learn how to avoid these traps and focus on what truly matters. #WorksOfTheFlesh #SpiritualJourney #Christianity #FaithBased #BibleStudy #SelfImprovement #KingdomOfGod #MoralValues #SinfulBehaviors #ReligiousEducation

Gospel Reading: Luke 9:51-62. #GospelOfLuke #BibleStudy #JesusJourney #Christianity #Faith #Discipleship #ReligiousStudies #BibleVerse #ChurchService #KingdomOfGod

God's kingdom has no borders or barriers. In EVERY nation, those who seek Him are welcomed!
Peter's revelation in Acts 10 shattered religious boundaries and showed us God's heart for ALL people. Is your table as inclusive as God's kingdom?

#OpenDoors #AllAreWelcome #KingdomOfGod #Jesus #equippedchurchco

Whether you’re called to stand with the oppressed, comfort the afflicted, or simply be a prayerful presence in the struggle, this handbook bridges the gap between faith and action.
“Strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” - Book of Common Prayer
#ProtestChaplains #EpiscopalChurch #SocialJustice #FaithInAction #KingdomOfGod #NonviolentResistance #BelovedCommunity #JesusMovement
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/protesting_faithfully_-_handbook.pdf
3/3

Whether you’re called to stand with the oppressed, comfort the afflicted, or simply be a prayerful presence in the struggle, this handbook bridges the gap between faith and action.
“Strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” - Book of Common Prayer
#ProtestChaplains #EpiscopalChurch #SocialJustice #FaithInAction #KingdomOfGod #NonviolentResistance #BelovedCommunity #JesusMovement
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/protesting_faithfully_-_handbook.pdf
3/3

Whether you’re called to stand with the oppressed, comfort the afflicted, or simply be a prayerful presence in the struggle, this handbook bridges the gap between faith and action.
“Strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” - Book of Common Prayer
#ProtestChaplains #EpiscopalChurch #SocialJustice #FaithInAction #KingdomOfGod #NonviolentResistance #BelovedCommunity #JesusMovement
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/protesting_faithfully_-_handbook.pdf
3/3

Whether you’re called to stand with the oppressed, comfort the afflicted, or simply be a prayerful presence in the struggle, this handbook bridges the gap between faith and action.
“Strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” - Book of Common Prayer
#ProtestChaplains #EpiscopalChurch #SocialJustice #FaithInAction #KingdomOfGod #NonviolentResistance #BelovedCommunity #JesusMovement
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/protesting_faithfully_-_handbook.pdf
3/3

Whether you’re called to stand with the oppressed, comfort the afflicted, or simply be a prayerful presence in the struggle, this handbook bridges the gap between faith and action.
“Strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” - Book of Common Prayer
#ProtestChaplains #EpiscopalChurch #SocialJustice #FaithInAction #KingdomOfGod #NonviolentResistance #BelovedCommunity #JesusMovement
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/protesting_faithfully_-_handbook.pdf
3/3

Did Jesus Really talk about Hell three times more often than heaven find out in todays blog post
https://assemblybethesda.com/did-jesus-really-speak-more-about-hell-than-heaven

#HeavenAndHell #BiblicalMisconceptions #GospelAnalysis, #KingdomOfGod #Gehenna #DivineJudgment #ChristianTheology

Matthew 4:17
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Reflection
Jesus urges repentance as God’s kingdom draws near. Act now! #Repentance #KingdomOfGod #Bible

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings

In the aftermath of the great flood, what’s left is what God wants us to know is important: life. Life is the way we participate in the essence of our Creator God. And that life is so important that absolutely nothing could completely blot it out – not even the waters of the flood. What humankind had done to bring on the flood was not enough for God to allow that deed to completely blot out all life from the face of the earth. Indeed, God preserved life in the Ark so that, even in its impure and imperfect state, it could be brought to perfection in these last days.

These last days came about through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. What the flood could not wash away was cleansed completely by the blood of the Lamb. Unfortunately, Peter and the Apostles did not yet understand that. Jesus rebuked Peter not just because he was slow to get the message, but more because his kind of thinking was an obstacle to the mission. The mission is about life – eternal life – and nothing, absolutely nothing, must interfere with it.

We are the recipients of the command to be fertile and multiply. This command is not just about procreation of life, but also about life in the Kingdom of God. It was always God’s plan that we would not only populate the earth, but populate heaven as well. That’s what we were created for, and that’s why God would sooner allow his Son to die on the cross than live without us. That’s what that rainbow sign of the covenant was about – whenever we see a rainbow, we should remember the love and mercy of God.

#kingdomOfGod #life

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s readings

In the aftermath of the great flood, what’s left is what God wants us to know is important: life. Life is the way we participate in the essence of our Creator God. And that life is so important that absolutely nothing could completely blot it out – not even the waters of the flood. What humankind had done to bring on the flood was not enough for God to allow that deed to completely blot out all life from the face of the earth. Indeed, God preserved life in the Ark so that, even in its impure and imperfect state, it could be brought to perfection in these last days.

These last days came about through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. What the flood could not wash away was cleansed completely by the blood of the Lamb. Unfortunately, Peter and the Apostles did not yet understand that. Jesus rebuked Peter not just because he was slow to get the message, but more because his kind of thinking was an obstacle to the mission. The mission is about life – eternal life – and nothing, absolutely nothing, must interfere with it.

We are the recipients of the command to be fertile and multiply. This command is not just about procreation of life, but also about life in the Kingdom of God. It was always God’s plan that we would not only populate the earth, but populate heaven as well. That’s what we were created for, and that’s why God would sooner allow his Son to die on the cross than live without us. That’s what that rainbow sign of the covenant was about – whenever we see a rainbow, we should remember the love and mercy of God.

#kingdomOfGod #life

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished. https://bit.ly/419H1Jf

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished. https://bit.ly/419H1Jf

#Mystical #love breaks thru the rational brain to a bigger, intuitive, imaginative one whose passion for justice & compassion burns & refuses to surrender or yield to despair. Call it the #kingdomofGod where justice, truth & love rule & lies, injustice, despair, greed are banished. https://bit.ly/419H1Jf