Moments of Bliss

 I love the parables, I love imagining what “the kingdom of God” is like….but I must admit, I just thought that the kingdom of God referred to the idea of heaven….the idea of the ‘fullness of time’…but it seems I was wrong. Thanks to my friend Alice for encouraging me to look more carefully at the Scripture and what it might mean. According to scripture scholars the idea of the kingdom of God does NOT refer to a place like heaven, but rather a TIME when “God’s power for good is fully manifest in the world and evil is defeated”. In listening to the first parable our take away is that this kingdom of God grows most often when we don’t even know how, until, at some point we might see some of its growth or it’s fruit!

I try to imagine what that might be like, the best I can come up with is perhaps those fleeting moments of bliss when you have a sense that everything, for just this instance, is just right:

the warmth of the sun on your face after too many rainy cloudy days;

witnessing the laughter on your sisters face, the kind that makes her throw back her head and shakes her whole body, after so many years of sorrow;

the sense of peace and joy in your heart after a job well done or a day well spent;

 Part of the fragility of this idea is the knowledge that this peacefulness won’t last forever, at least not now, because this isn’t heaven (as my aunt used to say often). We learn to see and treasure these moments, recognize them as little bits of perfection, and hold them in our hearts. They strengthen us on the journey.

The second parable of the mustard seed speaks to us of the power of HOPE. We absolutely know that little things mean so much. We don’t often know, like ripples on the water when we skip a stone, we don’t know how even our smallest actions can effect others.

In trying to think of an example of this, I struggle. But that makes sense and proves my point: we DON’T know how our actions affect others….and that’s OK. Years later when someone said to me: “It meant so much to me when you came with me to chemo…” that’s a kingdom of God moment, isn’t it?

When I am the receiver of the kindness, well, that I can recognize…I know how lovely it was when a colleague brought me a glass of ice coffee, or a younger person offered me that last seat on the uptown local at the end of a long day. It makes me wonder if I ever did that for someone else?

As I struggle to find examples of Kingdom of God moments, I sadly recognize that it’s way easier to name the exact OPPOSITE of this: I can name easily moments of hurt and evil…whether I’ve been the one to commit the sin, or the one who was hurt by the sin of another.

When we speak badly about someone else’s character,

When we spread rumors or untruths,

When we engage in behavior that is hurtful to others

When we go out of our way to make someone else uncomfortable

When we don’t do an  honest days work

These are moments that reflect our broken humanity and our weakness, our sinfulness: the total opposite of what we long for in the kingdom of God.

Our challenge today is to live our lives in such a way that we celebrate many more moments of bliss, of love, and laughter, and fewer of those less than shining moments…

Luckily for us, God is all loving and merciful…God forgives us even when we hurt one another, if we are truly sorry. Do we even recognize the need for our own contrition and repentance?

The mustard seed is a parable of hope: we CAN grow and we CAN be better! Do we WANT to work towards that?

My prayer for us today is that we may create and celebrate many more Kingdom of God moments for ourselves and our world!