God's Reign

The reign or kingdom of God sees the full restoration of relationships as God intended them under the sovereignty of God. Jesus came announcing the good news of the reign. Moreover, Jesus lived out the character of this reign—love, right relations with people, forgiveness and reconciliation, restoration and newness. Hear how Jesus identifies the marks of God's reign, God's new rule: The Matthew 11:2-6:

	“The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
		Indeed, Jesus was the Anointed by God sent by God, the Messiah.

From the passage above and what you can recall, talk about:

What did Jesus do?

How was Jesus with people?

How did he show his passion?

You don't want them? They're not cool enough for YOU? They're not the right type? Not enough money? Class? Do you think Jesus cared? The "least" in other people's eyes had open access to him. Freedom for "the least" and not power to the privileged. Freedom from sin and life's oppressive circumstances into God's light and love. Jesus expressed anger when people declared their allegiance to God while oppressing and exploiting others, pointing out vividly that this was neither true worship of God nor true piety, for example in Matthew 23:23-24. Whew!

It's a big story. It's the heart of it all. This Jesus died and rose again "for our sins and our salvation," or put another way, for our freedom. In the middle of the joy of the resurrection and the freedom of good news stands the cross, representing suffering and humiliation, yet power and victory. In fulfilling God’s promise, God gave Jesus Christ into the hands of human beings to suffer humiliation and death. Jesus, albeit with some inner struggle, accepted this as the will of a loving parent. This was part of the demonstration of the character of the reign to which Christ’s disciples are called. Philippians 2:6-8 describes Jesus’ deity, humanity, love, humility, and obedience. Jesus’ epitaph could read: “Jesus, Son of God and man, obedient to God to the point of shameful and excruciating death, humble servant and lover of all, restorer of broken relationships. Of such is the Reign/Kingdom of God.”
	What do you do with such a love?
	What will you do with this story?

What does the cross represent for you?

How does your story show the reign of God and the love of God?

What do the stories around us teach about God's reign?

Where would you like to see signs of the reign of God?

How can our stories of God's love represent the reign of God?

How can we help others live into the reign of God?

Take a look at what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:1-7 or Matthew 6:5-15.These are passages about prayer and there is lots to discuss in them. For now, as you read the whole thing, think about the phrase: "your kingdom come." What are we really praying, especially when we look at this phrase in its context?

Think about this silently for a few minutes.

Talk about it together.

When you have some ideas on it, find a creative expression for what you have meant and will mean when you pray this phrase (quilt, drama, art, poetry, short story, musical composition). Relate this to your discussion on "you and the reign of God."