The Kin-dom Is Here
The forty-ninth saying of the living Christ as spoken by Mary Magdalene:
This kin-dom is not your personal domain, nor is it a secret revealed to chosen souls. This kin-dom of Heaven is not a private, walled garden in your heart. The kin-dom that cannot be shared is not the kin-dom. If the kin-dom is present but you cannot find the words, seek the Word, Presence, and Glory, and share them. Where they go, the kin-dom follows. The Living Word is spoken in loving kindness and walks among you. Presence flows from the heart, reaching out to others living in its way. Glory is the Light that shines the way forward so the path can be made clear. They can only be shared with an open hand. They invite all home. If it is locked within you, release the ever-flowing grace of the Divine which longs to overflow from you out into the world. The pressure needs release. Speak the Word. Share the Presence. Let your light shine.
Do not wait for the kin-dom to come, and do not let anyone tell you it is not here, now. The kin-dom is not coming, and it does not require a revival. The kin-dom was here for Abraham and Sarah. It has never left us. Even if only a remnant live in it, it never abandons us. It was with us in Babylon. It survived the Greeks. Not even the Romans have been able to drive it from us. Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the marketplaces, at busy intersections, and at the city gates. Wherever people are, Wisdom calls people to the kin-dom. Invite the Shekhinah in and the kin-dom will be built on the rock, and spread throughout the world.
I remember when Jesus told us we would know the way to the place where he was going. Thomas asked, “How can we know the way?” The Living Word responded: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me1.” The way of Jesus is love. The truth of Jesus is that we should take care of one another. The life of Jesus is poured out for the healing of everyone’s mind, body, and spirit. How can anyone come to the Father if they do not live through love, taking care of one another, and pour out healing and sustenance for the hearts, minds, and spirits of all? This is the life in the kin-dom.
The kin-dom does not need arguments; it must be lived. It does not need explanation, it needs to be experienced by the love we have for all things. The moment the kin-dom is simply present and easy to see for anyone with eyes open enough to receive it, it spreads.
In the casting out of unclean spirits, we heal the divided breath that robs us of our strength. When we feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, take in the stranger, and care for the imprisoned, we live the kin-dom so all can behold the Glory of God we live every day.
The kin-dom is here now, but when we do not breathe with the breath of God, our spirit becomes fragmented. The Accuser loves a shallow breath. We breathe for our fears, our doubts, or our greed. The Accuser seeks to keep our breath shallow, so it does not dip into the deep well of the Divine. The kin-dom lives in those deep breaths. When our breath is troubled, our spirit wears thin.
Throughout our days, we pick up the weight of our own wants and needs, those of the ones who rely on us, and those imposed upon us by others. The more we carry, the more labored our breathing. Our yoke is not to the cart we must carry alone, but to the kin-dom which carries the weight together. Its cart does not carry the desires of the greedy, the power-hungry, and the oppressors. In this way, it has room to take care of the needs of the people.
Seek the rapturous wonder of your life, and let go of the burdens you do not need to carry. Build the table where everyone is welcome and all are cared for and about. Transform the world with the joy that cannot be conquered and the peace that passes all understanding. This is the divine wholeness and inner stability that cannot be fully explained, and that peace protects our hearts and minds even amid suffering, fear, or uncertainty. In this way, the kin-dom will grow among you.
We are made whole when we stand in our daily lives, in these bodies, in the community we love, and say honestly: The kin-dom is here. We knead bread in the kin-dom, and we grieve. We tell jokes, and we do the hard work. It is not just in the rapture of prayer, or trapped in the temple. It is everywhere we are.
When we deepen our breath and awaken our souls to the world they live in, we heal our souls. We have to heal our sense of exile. Our breath may be divided, but the Shekhinah has never been exiled. We have never been truly exiled; we have only forgotten how to inhabit the land where we stand. Once we stop waiting for the kin-dom to come, and live rooted in it, we restore the world. The kin-dom is here, because the Light that shines through us has always been here. When we allow it to shine, the seeds that have waited for the light of spring will germinate and grow.
Open your eyes. You are already home.
John 14:4-6
You left the institution but not the longing. Creation’s Paths: A Creation Spirituality Primer is for everyone who still feels the sacred moving through the world and wants a language worthy of that feeling.
