Perry Smith, our Canon for Pastoral Care here at the Cathedral, is writing a memoir. This week, he gave me a draft of the first few chapters. And I was rivoted. Get ready for the publication of something terrific. I could not put it down.
Perry’s life has taken some incredible turns. It is only now, as he writes this memoir, that he has begun to recognize the way that God has woven together his life and called him from boyhood to become a priest. But you would never believe what he has done and where he has been along the path to his vocation. He was a bullfighter, a trappist Monk with Thomas Merton, a Vietnam Veteran, and FBI agent and finally a priest. And all through this incredible journey, God was forming him. It is an incredible story.
When I was in high school, I thought that I was going to be the next Meryl Streep. I took every drama class that I could sign up for. In my senior year, I signed up for a class on movement and drama. The teacher was this shy man named Mr. Coons. At the beginning of every class, he would gather us together in an old gym and we would stretch. He told us to find a place for ourselves out on the floor of the gym, to spread out from one another, so that we could move and dance. He always kept the harsh florescent lights turned off and there was this spot out on the floor of sunlight, where the early afternoon sun shone through a sky light in the ceiling to make a perfect circle of brightness on the floor. Every week, I wanted to plant myself right under that skylight, but every week, I got shy and moved off somewhere in the dim light to do my warm ups. I wondered what it would be like to dance in that brightness, but I was embarrassed to call attention to myself so I shied away.
Jesus teaches us the Lord’s prayer today. The greatest of all Christian prayers, the Lord’s Prayer is so profound, so rich. Its words have remained intact through the centuries. Whereas the Nicene Creed and other statements and prayers have been dissected and put back together, the Lord’s prayer slips like liquid through the disputes of the centuries and remains today a symbol of the beauty and majesty of God. It is simply too holy to be messed with. Jesus himself spoke this prayer and, although it differs a bit between the gospels of Luke and Matthew, its major elements remain the same.
I would like to speak to you about one phrase in the Lord’s Prayer.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Jesus told us to say to God, Thy Kingdom Come. Thy Kingdom Come. What was he trying to say?
There were a lot more kingdoms in Jesus’ day than there are today. A kingdom was an area of land that was governed by a king or monarch. It was a place where the laws were created and enforced by the king and no one else. It was a straightforward place, really. There was one ruler and all others were subservient. The kingdom would be either a glorious and good place or a bad and cruel place depending on the ruler. Thus a kingdom of God would be a place where God was in charge, where God made the rules and we all followed them. Since God is inherently good, God’s kingdom would be a land with peace and harmony beyond anything that humans could muster. Even our times of greatest prosperity and peace would be no match for God’s kingdom, for the ruler of God’s kingdom would not be broken and would institute justice and righteousness like we have never seen.
Today we have lost the notion of kingdom. When we think of rulers we think of Queen Elizabeth, lovely and very wealthy but otherwise just a figurehead with no real authority. And those lands that are still ruled by one person tend to be places of violence and poverty or at least great inequality between the rich and the poor. The only positive use of the word kingdom is now to be found in fairy tales, or the Magic Kingdom of Disney. So our language and our understanding have shifted away from the word Kingdom and The Kingdom of God means little to us.
We often take the kingdom of God to mean heaven and by that we mean the place that we go after we die. A destination, the result of a good life of prayer and service. A place of beauty and peace that is beyond this world and cannot be reached except when we die. But this is a misunderstanding. Jesus clearly stated that the kingdom of God was near and he wanted to pray for it to come, not when we die but NOW. He wanted the Kingdom of God to come here NOW. On earth AS IN heaven.
Since language is always evolving, it is necessary for us to revisit the translation of the words Kingdom of God. I have a new translation to offer and it is this…
The God Dimension.
It strikes me that Jesus was talking about a realm of God that already exists but that people were not somehow able to access. It was like having the best computer game but not downloading it. We were living in a half-life, not allowing the God dimension to illumine us. Without allowing the kingdom of God to come, we were only half alive.
The concept of dimensions has only recently been discovered. Scientists are aware of three dimensions that we can see. The fourth dimension is considered to be time. But what about beyond that? Could there be dimensions that exist right now, right here, but that are somehow beyond our perception?
In my high school drama class, there came a day when I took a chance. When Mr. Coons asked us to spread out and begin to dance and stretch, I went to the sunlight. I stood there, in the middle of the circle of light and began to reach upwards. The air itself was full of the tiny particles that you can only see when you are standing in direct sunlight. I was not able to see anyone else around me for the light was so bright that it blinded me from comparing myself to others or even contemplating embarrassment. I danced and it was so beautiful. I caught a glimpse of the God dimension.
The God dimension slips into our lives from time to time, even without our invitation. It comes to us in moments of beauty or when we look into the face of someone we love. It comes to us when we hear music that lifts our hearts. It comes to us in worship. And it comes to us in silence. And once you have tasted the God dimension, the presence of God among us, you want that presence all the time and that is when you start praying in earnest
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Dimension come.
That is when you and I can begin to say, God, you must lead me. You must come to me. I know that you are already here, already present in the fifth or tenth dimension, your dimension, but come to me, open my eyes, that I may see you.
As one saint said, God is already here. Don’t seek God, SEE GOD.
This past week, I had the privilege of visiting Barbara Davis in the assisted living facility. Many of you know Barbara, she is a long-standing, very faithful member of the Cathedral and spent years serving in our Sacristy Guild and preparing the altar for worship. She is now bedridden and cannot come to church. Our Lay Eucharistic ministers bring her communion regularly. She has the look of one who is living in the God dimension. Light shines from her eyes. Let me share with you what she said to me.
“Sometimes I get frustrated because I cannot walk, but then I realize that I need to follow God. Whenever I have tried to do life my way, I have ended up making a mess. When I step out in front of Jesus, then I can’t see him or follow him because I have put myself first. So I step back into his presence, letting him lead me so that I can see his light and follow his path for me. He presses upon me and guides me, not with words but with his patient presence.”
God waits for you in the God dimension and you can access God NOW. Simply step into the light. Ask God to come, say
Thy Kingdom Come.
And then realize how God has been there from the very beginning, weaving the pieces of your life together like a beautiful tapestry, bringing you here to this very moment, along with a former FBI agent and a new Dean and so many other incredible people. God has been waiting for you to awaken to his eternal presence with you.
