Thy Kingdom come

In 2016 the Archbishop of Canterbury asked the clergy of the Church of England to pray for people to come to know Christ in the period between Ascension and Pentecost. This has become a wave of prayer around the world involving many Christian denominations with many key worship / prayer events being organised. Christ's prayer for the disciples and those who follow was that they should be one as Christ was one with God (John 17.21). This is a prayer that understands and welcomes our diversity while celebrating our unity in Christ. In a similar manner the prayer that has been called for by the Archbishop of Canterbury has been seen as being something that is unifying in the face of diversity.

Praying for 'Thy Kingdom come' means praying for the inclusivity of all God's people

Such unification in prayer is something that we need all to strive for and yet we stumble often at the first hurdle that of 'unification'. Our own growth and perspective has been shaped by our culture and our upbringing. If we cannot truly encompass all people within this prayer than we are failing because we are looking for people who will come to the Christ that is shaped in our image not in the image of God. This is natural, it is the result of our many years of life and those with whom we spend our days with. More often than not the company that we keep and attend to is not the company of God. Our friends, our colleagues, our families, etc. all come before God and if we are faithful we will spend some time with God, either early or late in the day. This is what affects our understanding and social awareness of the society in which we live. The amount of time spent in God's company is small compared to the amount of time spent in others company so it is no wonder that the influences and betrayals are present in our prayer.

We are part of a greater whole not just ourselves, as individuals or as one worshipping community.  Undoubtedly, we are not only shaped by our external community but we are also shaped by how we understand ourselves as being part of a worshipping community. That means that we are shaped by our personal and corporate beliefs. One of those is a belief that God in the sending of the Spirit guides us in all that we do if we believe. This then is the key for us as a community in Christ. We are to show the love of God to each other as we are our own neighbours and to those who are outside of our community. Just as Paul did even in a community to which he did not belong (Acts 16.16-34). Imprisoned he found strength in God's presence as he showed God's love. He formed the community around him despite the expectation of being outcast. In creating community he showed God's love and brought people together. It was not his prejudices that limited him but rather God's love that extended him.

In taking up the challenge that 'Thy kingdom comes' poses means that we need to turn aside from our own pre-judgements and allow God's voice to be heard once more in the life of the Church, not just as a once off but as a continual part of each individuals life. It cannot end in one week but must be a continual presence in our lives. Once we remove the distractions of the society that we have built and concentrate on the presence of God in the everyday we will begin once more to shine as a community in Christ. We have let our faith down by only paying lip service to the commandments of Christ and God. To pray for Thy Kingdom comes means that we pray for all not just for ourselves, our denomination, our faith, our nation, our race, our gender, our sexuality. The faith of Christ is in the end a faith of inclusion not exclusion. Irrespective of our individual beliefs we need to open ourselves more fully to the other and take on the cross that Christ has asked us to bear, the witness of God's love to the world.