God’s kingdom is not a location or a physical realm. God’s kingdom is both heaven and earth – anywhere God’s creation is working in harmony with God’s will. Where do we see God’s will played out in our world? How do we know what God’s will is? Long ago I tried to follow God’s will for my life – a single, linear plan that I believed God had laid out that would make my life run smoothly. But it terrified me to imagine any decision that would lead me astray. One wrong turn, and I might be lost forever. Until a very wise person in my life asked me, “What makes you think God has only one plan for your life? If you followed a different path, what makes you think God wouldn’t walk with you along the new path?” It seems obvious now, but until then I hadn’t realized God’s will is not a destination or a singular, linear journey. God’s will is a way of being. It is kindness, patience, compassion. It is God’s creation (me) working in harmony with God’s will (love, generosity, hospitality). It is a child offering a hug to an elderly man. It is a consumer purchasing a fair trade product. It is trees renewing polluted air with fresh oxygen. When we ask God’s kingdom come, we are pleading for creation to work in harmony with God’s will.

Luke 11:2-4

He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”