Advent invites us to make space, to lean into the liminal space, where we anticipate the coming of Jesus, while experiencing a reality that feels incredibly distant from Jesus’ Kingdom.
On this Advent Sunday, we offer you a sneak peek of Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists. In this 20-day guide we lean into our longings for liberation, healing, flourishing and beauty. Together, we join a global chorus who proclaims that Creator is not done yet.
Purchase your digital copy of Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists, here.($10)
Day Two: Kingdom Come
The Kingdom of God is described in scripture as something that has come, is coming, and will come. It is now, but not yet. Does it feel elusive to you?
Well it definitely did to those who were waiting for centuries only to receive a message about an ordinary boy from a marginalized family. The longing of God’s people could not have been appeased in a Redeemer Messiah and King arriving in an animal bowl. The chaos they were experiencing needed more power.
Why does it sometimes feel like the answer to our longing is not what we want? Why does it seem like the practice of longing is changing us more than it is the situations we are in? And why does that not feel satisfying?
The kingdom that is here, but also arriving, creates a dissonance that is felt in our bodies. That dissonance should lead us to longing for liberation. This longing should not only be expressed in our prayers when we say, “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” It should be expressed in our lifestyle.
Theologian Justo Gonzalez invites us to consider how the kingdom is lived:
“The kingdom of God is both a present reality and a promise to be fulfilled. We see signs of the kingdom wherever the love and will of God are revealed. Even though the kingdom is a future expectation, a foretaste of it can also be a present experience. We can experience such signs of the kingdom wherever love is manifest and conquers hatred and evil.
We see it when old grievances are forgiven. We see it when barriers separating people from one another are broken. We see it when people fleeing terror or poverty are made welcome.”
The Kingdom of God is an alternative reality where Jesus is the King and we practice a lifestyle of justice, compassion and love. We cannot pray, ” Your kingdom come . . .” and support systems of hate and injustice that oppress. We must ask ourselves, “how can we live as a foretaste of heaven?”
READ
Mark 1:15, Luke 17:20, Mark 14:25, Matthew 6:9-13
NAME
the ways you have seen a foretaste of the kingdom through others around you? Write words that describe their lives or create pictures that show you that the liberating Kingdom of God has come.
LISTEN
to O Come, O Come
Emmanuel © 2021 Sharon Irving has
arranged and added a spoken word
for our liberation.
Longing: An Advent Guide for Weary Activists is 20 days of guided practices, meditations and readings that help us to commune with Jesus and live into the reality of His Kingdom coming by longing into our longings for liberation, healing, flourishing and beauty. Purchase your copy today and celebrate advent with us.
