Matthew 13:31-33; 44-52 is the text in next Sunday's lectionary...
Everything in EMPIRE has to be grand, the biggest, the best - just huuuuge.
It is all about opulent wealth, absolute power and undeniable status above all others.
What gets folk to that is the despair, the disenfranchisement and destruction of others' lives.
The Kingdom of God calls us to live differently.
In the Kingdom, it is the smallest, seemingly most insignificant thing that has great value. The smallest seed of promise that grows and sustains life for some of the most insignificant creatures on earth is what is valued in the Kingdom.
The spreading of good things throughout, that grows and produces life sustaining stuff is what is valued in the Kingdom.
The treasure of Agape and Grace, when stumbled upon in the midst of the crap of the world, is obtained at whatever cost of worldly values, in the Kingdom.
The treasure of Agape and Grace, when recognized in others and thus valued because of what one has seen, is sought after intentionally and obtained at whatever cost of worldly values, in the Kingdom.
The reckoning comes by God in the end, when those things of Kingdom value are sorted from those things of worldly value, separated and relegated to very different fates.
The true servants of God go to the storeroom of heaven to bring out the best, the consistent, the (Agape) Loving, Merciful and Gracious of the Old (covenant) and the New (covenant), and apply it to the living of life in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.
If you value the things of this world, of EMPIRE (Greed, Hatred, lust for Power, desire for Status), you will not understand or value the things of the Kingdom.
The values of Empire destroy many lives for the sake of a few.
The values of the Kingdom sustain lives of Shalom (completeness, wholeness, well-being) for ALL.
The Kingdom is different.
The values of the Kingdom are different.
We are taught and commanded by Jesus to live them here and now.
So, in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now, which do you value?
Pastor Jamie
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