*kingdom dwellers

Kingdom's have citizens.

citizen
1: an inhabitant of a city or town ; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman
2 a: a member of a state b: a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it
3: a civilian as distinguished from a specialized servant of the state

Click here to see who these citizens are and notice that they are ALWAYS refered to in the plural and NEVER in the singular.

They are known in their nature as a community, a communion of saints, a rag tag army of forgiven, enabled, and energized people.

*kingdom talk

What does this kingdom of God that Jesus talks about look like?

Take a peek in scripture here.

playgrounds and the kingdom of God

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.”

James Michener

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Mark 10:13-14



Yesterday the faith community I lead, River of Joy Lutheran Church, gathered for a community meal and a service project. We were putting together care packages to carry in our gloveboxes in order to be prepared for the next time we see someone homeless on a street corner. Click here for more on this new missional initiative.

Anyway, before we began the service project a bunch of the kids (ages 2-7) were outside playing as the adults were setting up inside. One of the mom’s who was outside supervising came in and excitedly told us that some of the children were outside on the playground car giving care packages to one another; role playing the sharing of the care packages before we had even constructed them or officially “told” them about the project. Apparently, the tagging along as the gloves, hats, socks, and granola bars were purchased and the conversations around these purchases had sunk into their precious beings before the care packages were even constructed.

Now you might think this is a cute story, and it is. But it is more than cute. Because how children play is deeply rooted and highly significant in their development. “Play is freely chosen, intrinsically motivated and personally directed. Playing has been long recognized as a critical aspect of Child development.” I am no childhood development expert, but it would seem to me that to have our children engaging in play where “human behavior is structured by very different rules” sounds a lot like living in the kingdom of God, where the rule of love expressed by Christ is markedly different than the governing rule of our world.

So let’s play!!! Let's play as communities of faith that are called to live by different rules in this world. Let's play, as children of God who have been marked by the cross and set free for goodness, life, and light. May Christ’s spirit continue to inspire us and lead us as we create environments for our children to live out a life of playful, world changing creativity.