Invasion

“My dad used to take me there,” he said, “before he moved to Washington.”

“Tell me about your dad. What is he like?”

“He plays a lot of video games.”

(So this is the kingdom of the world for my little friend: a video-game-playing dad who seems to drift around a lot, and a church that is associated with him. What will keep this boy from ruin in a neighborhood of crime and fatherlessness? We say life is valuable. What will redeem his and make it so? Is there any way a couple strangers devoting some time at the rec center can save his life, in the name of Jesus?)

About that time my best friend called. He was amped up about the mission trip he’ll be taking in two days. Tonight they had a prayer meeting and the Spirit so empowered him that he began singing, a cappella, right there in the group. He’s not a singer. Maybe for Irish pub songs. Or Billy Joel. But when the Spirit moves anyone is a star.

It got me thinking of how amped up we should be, not just on the eve of the faraway mission trip. A cross-cultural mission is just a walk out the door, anytime, agents of the kingdom of God breaking into the kingdom of the world. I wasn’t singing but I felt great joy of worship in my chat with a kid whose deck is stacked against him. An aging Midwestern Caucasian playing ping pong with a mixed-ethnic youngster in urban San Diego. Word on the street is this is the kingdom of God.

(My wife was playing in the back yard with our toddler, who pointed to the sky. She said something, perhaps “G-”, and my wife wondered, “God?” It got me thinking how the heavenly Father is depicted as being way up there, far from here, in the heavens which are far away. The deists who founded our country saw him as the blind watch maker. Even much biblical imagery places him up there, with Jesus at his right hand. This is the transcendent God. And he is also immanent. …)

God is invading our space, ever pursuing, offering himself. Offering the kingdom of heaven as an alternative to the ways of this world, where fathers are known first for video games and moving away. My little friend may realize soon, if not already, that despite whatever he learned from his father, and despite all the failings of people, church is right here with him on Thursday night, offering an alternative kingdom. “Word on the street is you have a church.”