God’s kingdom is creation healed
Hans Kung
The Kingdom is an attractive …..
What you are in love with
what seizes your imagination
will affect everything.
Pedro Aruppe SJ
| Jesus paints in bold brush strokes a picture of the reign or kingdom of God. It’s not a place – or a program: it comes as a surprise, as a gift. We do not work for it, produce it – we receive it (as a little child). |  | This is another way of knowing. It is not working things out or fixing things up. It is being open, letting the moment reveal its gift to you. |
….. an imaginative …..
Wherever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
within the family of things.
Mary Oliver
| Just as someone stumbles over a treasure in a field, we stumble on the reign of God (attraction, conversion). We sell all we have (desire, repentance) … … in order to buy the field (passion, commitment.) |  | When commitment becomes a chore, enthusiasm fades … … we are being asked to look again at our treasure, where our heart is. |
… an alternative reality
When plans fail, programs falter or do not deliver what they promise, an alternative way beckons us. The way into this kingdom is “to be found out in our poverty” (Monica Furlong). R S Thomas says, “Admission is free” – if “you present yourself with/your need only”.
Hope stirs as we imagine alternative possibilities. How do you feed or stimulate your imagination? Novels, poetry, films, time out? Getting stuck is often a failure of imagination, not an invitation to try harder.
Abbeville folk hymn
Text: Benjamin Beddome, in Rippon. Selection of Hymns (10th ed., 1800)
Tune: arr. E.J. King, in B.F. White and E.J. King The Sacred Harp (1844)
Sung by Alison McAllister and recorded at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Adelaide, complete with local traffic from Moore Street.
| Come Holy Spirit, come With energy divine, And on this poor benighted soul, With beams of mercy shine. | From the celestial hills, Light, life, and joy dispense; And may I daily, hourly feel Thy quickening influence. |
| Melt, melt, this frozen heart; This stubborn will subdue; Each evil passion overcome, And form me all anew. | Mine will the profit be, But thine shall be the praise; And unto thee I will devote The remnant of my days. |
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation click on the link below.
