November 21, 2009

• Living in God’s Dominion

  I have had the experience of living in two different dominions.  Prior to coming to Canada, I had lived all of my life in the States, in fact, I had lived all of my life in Michigan prior to living in Halifax.  I have learned that while our two nations are very similar there are definite differences.  I cannot assume that I know the laws of the land.  I frequently have to check myself before I make assertions about what one may or may not do.  In Michigan, pedestrians enter a cross walk only when they have the traffic light or when there is no vehicular cross traffic.  Pedestrians, who do not wait for a break in traffic, are known as road kill.  The exception to this is the City of Ann Arbor where pedestrians wander into the streets heedless of traffic but that would be because they are University of Michigan students who are pretty much clueless anyway.  I had visited Canada many times prior to moving here and had spent several days on some of my visits but I did not get to know the differences in the laws and the system of government on those visits, there seemed to be no need, I was just visiting.

   

  It is very likely that many people who claim to be people of faith in God enter the dominion of God the same way I entered Canada.  They realize they are in a place where the rules are different but they don’t plan to stay long enough to make it necessary to learn the rules or change the way they behave.  They come to God’s dominion more for a vacation than as their permanent residence.  They enter on Sunday mornings, or when there is a family celebration or crisis or when they have time to do charitable work.  They intend to stay only as long as they need to take care of their God business and then they will return to their real home, where they are more comfortable with the rules and expected behavior.  We have a passing knowledge of life in God’s dominion from hearing the Bible stories, reading the words and actions of Jesus, and hearing The stories of people who have lived under God’s reign but our exposure is like a travel log about some place we want to live eventually.  We have to live in the “real” world now so we just dream about living in God’s world some day.  It isn’t really practical for us to live as if God ruled our world.

   

  Each week we sing, “Your Dominion come; Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”  Are we serious about that?  Are we asking God to impose God’s will upon us?  Are we praying for the wisdom and determination to live as God would have us to live?  These are very important questions about how we see the Dominion of God happening on earth.  It seems to me most people who pray these words or words like them are expecting God to do the work while we set back and watch it happen.  They don’t want to take responsibility for the changes they would have to make in their lives to bring about God’s Dominion.  We would have to care for the widows, the orphans, the aliens, the prisoners, the poor, the hungry, and the thirsty.  We would have to treat our neighbors as ourselves.  We would have to speak out for justice for others who have no voice.  We would have to care less about the comforts the secular world tells us are essential and work for a world where everyone has clean water, clean air, sustainable income, and the right to live without fear, the right to live in peace.  Living in God’s Dominion would mean treating others the way we want to be treated and not as a means to our personal gratification or advancement.  We would have to be willing to give up our personal power over others.

   

  My experience convinces me that most of us would find it easier to sacrifice comforts, work for the marginalized, and become champions of good stewardship of the environment than to surrender personal power.  We want to feel powerful, we want to be important.  We have the stories of the disciples who are concerned about how much power they will have in Jesus’ dominion.  They are argue among themselves about who is the most important and worry whether one of them might be getting more recognition than they deserve.  The disciples cannot understand why Jesus does not call on the forces of God to defend him and place him on the throne of the earth.  Jesus answers them by telling them not to fret over who will have what position in the coming dominion and to worry more about whether they will be able to live the life dominion citizenship requires.  We would do well to worry about how much personal power we can wield in the church or in the community and worry more about whether we will have the wisdom and determination necessary to live as citizens of God’s dominion.

   

  The worst abuses of religion have been inflicted upon the world by those who assert that their relationship to God gives them the right to tell others what to believe, how to live, and whether they have a place in God’s dominion.  I can find nothing in the sacred writings, in the actions of God in the world, or in my life that supports that God has designated me, or anyone else to rule anyone else in God’s name.  I do find support for the assertion that God calls each of us to rule over our own lives, to live in accordance with the standards God has set for citizens of the dominion of God.  I don’t know about you, but I have found ruling my own life has taken all the wisdom and strength I have.  Amen.

  • 7:45 pm
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