Your Kingdom come

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
(Matthew 6:10)

We’re at one of those waiting moments in the Christian calendar - the 11 days between Ascension (when Jesus returns to his Father in heaven) and Pentecost (when God’s Spirit is poured out and the Church is born). It’s the moment at the beginning of the Book of Acts when the disciples wait in Jerusalem for Jesus to send what he promised - the gift of his Holy Spirit. After the trauma of Jesus’ death, the scarcely imaginable joy of his resurrection, and the surprise of him disappearing from their sight into the sky, they must have been dazed, but full of hope.
 
This is a waiting moment, but not a dead moment. There’s a sense of anticipation in the air, that God is going to do something extraordinary. It’s a moment that lends itself to prayer, as we wait for God to fulfil what he has promised. The global prayer movement, “Thy Kingdom Come”, sets aside these 11 days as a time for focused prayer.  It’s a time to pray for people we know who don’t yet know Jesus. It’s also a moment to pray for God’s reign to be recognised in our world, to bring his peace and reconciliation where there is war and hatred, his justice where there is oppression, his healing where there is destruction, his hope where there is despair and cynicism.
 
Following Jesus often seems to involve waiting, sometimes not just days but decades. Maybe you’ve been praying for years that God will give the gift of faith to a friend, or will heal someone you love, and you’re still waiting for your prayers to be answered. I can get discouraged when I hear about the continuing violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where militia groups kidnap, rape and kill ordinary people and are not brought to justice. For more than 20 years we’ve been praying with Congolese friends for peace with justice in their country. Why does God seem not to answer those prayers?
 
I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know that Jesus told us to keep on praying and not to give up, and that his Spirit helps us when we have no courage and no words left. Jesus used the striking image of a widow so determined to get justice for herself that she won’t take no for an answer from a judge. She keeps on boldly bringing her case before him until he finally gives her what she asks for. She doesn’t get discouraged. She reminds me a lot of Congolese friends and colleagues who courageously trust God’s goodness and continue to cry out to him for justice in their communities, patiently waiting for his answers, for his Kingdom to come.
 
How about making time in these next few days to join in with the global prayer movement and to pray again for people and situations we’ve brought to God many times before? As we do this, we’ll be joining with people all over the world who long to see God’s Kingdom come.
 
A prayer - Lord Jesus, may your Kingdom come and your will be done in my life, in our church, in our community, in our country, in your world. May your Spirit give me courage to keep on praying, and to wait for your extraordinary answers. Amen

Image by reenablack from Pixabay