The Spectrum Blog

Spectrum Blog Church: The kingdom is (t)here?

By Alexander Carpenter

Happy Sabbath! Welcome to the Spectrum Blog Church, something I created as an excuse to combine some good music on a good idea. If you do stay for the service below, feel free to drop a comment about your week and what's on your mind.

The service today centers on the ideal of the kingdom of God, the most important theme in the synoptic gospels and the key metaphor in the ministry of Jesus. To mediate on: what does it mean that the kingdom of God is within you?

Opening Prayer
    Mahalia Jackson sings "The Lord's Prayer"

Scripture reading

Luke 4:43 (New International Version)

But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."

By Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is within You

"That this social order with its pauperism, famines, prisons, gallows, armies, and wars is necessary to society; that still greater disaster would ensue if this organization were destroyed; all this is said only by those who profit by this organization, while those who suffer from it – and they are ten times as numerous – think and say quite the contrary." 

Special Music
"Heaven" by the Talking Heads, with footage from Diane Keaton's film, Heaven: The Ultimate Coming Attraction
 

Homily
Pastor Brian McLaren preaches on Jesus & the Kingdom

Offering
This week your financial talents can go to the Adventist Peace Fellowship, which works to increase the Adventist public voice on human rights and non-violence.
 

Announcements

• Don't forget that the Adventist Forums conference is happening next week in Santa Rosa, California.
• Also, the new Spectrum website, with blog included (yeah for integration!) will be coming soon.
• For further study on this week's topic, check out the Wikipedia site on the Kingdom of God, it is helpful and short compendium of theologies on the subject.

Benediction
    St. Paul's Cathedral Boys Choir sings John Rutter's "For the Beauty of the Earth"

A local Sabbath prayer

Sent over by Bonnie Dwyer, editor of Spectrum Magazine

Prayer for Justice for the Poorest of the Poor
By Rev. David Thompson of Westminister Presbyterian Church, Sacramento, California

Our loving God of us all, we are haunted by an ideal life because we all have within us the beginning and the possibility of it.

We have come here today to pray for the hearts and minds of our County Supervisors. We have come to pray for the preservation of legislation that 15% of all new development have units for people at the lower ranges of the income spectrum. We pray for our supervisors that if it is not their intent, that it will become their intent to advocate with developers for the poorest of the poor.

O God with just a basic apartment in the downtown going for high prices, our working poor are so hard pressed to make ends meet pay check to pay check. They often don't have health care, yet they sicken as others do. They need to eat, to be clothed and to have a life, as others do. And so they need advocates. They need to be a part of the process of decision making that affects them so deeply. They need an affordable place to live. And we in Sacramento and the County need our Supervisors to represent us and the core values of America, with demonstrations of fairness, inclusion and clear visions with a priority for the poor.

Today we presume our Supervisors' basic willingness to do the right thing for justice. We give them the presumption of our trust. May we and they, at the end of our lives, be able to approach You with straight eyes, knowing that we have done justice, done the deeds of mercy and walked humbly with our God. With this legislation as a level playing field, may the developers enjoy a reasonable profit and be proud of themselves for doing the right thing by the poor. May they showcase the affordable units with pride of achievement.

May the County and City of Sacramento be models for affordable housing in this great nation. May we in this amazing city have done with small thoughts. . . These things we pray in the name of justice and fairness for all.

Hear our prayer,  Amen