on earth as it is in heaven

Being a part of a church is all about connections. Connecting to one another, connecting to what is going on in the world, connecting to God.

A place that reflects the values of the community. A community where you know that your children will be taken care if you are out of the room. And a place where they will be included in the life of the group.

The whole it takes a village thing. We can’t live in isolation. We need a community that reinforces the hopes we have for our children.


For 10 weeks last summer we gathered in small groups in people’s homes to discuss our hopes and dreams about what church could or should be. The three quotes above came out of some of those gatherings. What I realized during those meetings, with over 100 people and in 11 different homes, is that God has a dream for his people; a dream that the Holy Spirit has written on our hearts.

Our challenge (the gift we have been given) is to live into that dream. Our calling is to allow the kingdom to come through us and in us as we engage the world together. Oh I know that this is a broken world and that the kingdom will not be fully realized on this earth until our Lord returns. But it is our call nonetheless, to live a life together with Christ at the center, that reflects God’s dream of peace and love in the world.

On Sunday evening as I watched a woman lovingly hold the child of another mother who she did not know four months ago, I felt like God’s dream was being realized among us. As two young boys took the hands of two toddlers and walked them around like they were best buds, God’s dream was being realized among us. As we passed a brown sandwich bag around and collected money to purchase Bibles for children of God who find themselves in prison, God’s dream was realized among us. As we prayed over the bookmarks that our children had made to place in those Bibles, God’s dream was being realized among us.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.