“The Kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Each Sunday we pray Our Father, in fact everyday I and I suspect nearly all of you pray Our Father. Don’t worry; this is not just a sentimental sermon about fathers. However, I do want to talk about the quality of Christian relationships. And in fact while I will be talking somewhat about the Lord’s Prayer, the sermon grows out of meditation upon Jesus’ words “The Kingdom of heaven has come near.” Back to our Father; Jesus often used the Aramaic word Abba when he addressed God. It simply means “daddy.” At one level it seems presumptuous or arrogant to address God as daddy, however Jesus taught us to approach God in this way. He wants us to experience the same intimacy that he knew and lived – that God is a parent, intimate, loving and committed. For that very reason, there is nothing wrong with calling God Mommy. Jesus’ concern was not about how we address God, but was about how we approach God. He wants us to live in an intimate and loving relationship with God. Jesus tried to teach us that when our relationship to God has the quality of feeling God’s affection for us the Kingdom of God has come very near to us.

I understand what Jesus was trying to teach because I am a son and I am a parent, a father. My birth daddy used to say to me, before I went to sleep, “Daddy loves you; you can hear it echoing in the stars. Daddy loves you.” After he died I used to look up at the stars and think there are so many stars to echo around that it will never stop. God’s love for us echoes not only in the stars, but between every atom of creation. I tell my son the same thing my dad told me at night. Knowing God is all about the relationship of accepting and giving love like an intimate relationship between parent and child. When you feel that love deep down it echoes everywhere you go. When that happens the Kingdom of God is near to us.

Sometimes I live my life like I am in a sound absorbent chamber. It has walls of thick foam that absorb away into silence every word and sound that someone might want to try to speak. It is living in such a way that I will not let love echo in and through me. When I am in that sound absorbent chamber I am self-consumed. I do not let anyone in and I certainly do not let myself out. Sometimes I can get to feel so sorry for myself that I refuse to hear that in true fact someone is really and truly sorry for me. They are sorry because I will not let their love and care into my heart. I have treated the one who loves me the most that way. I have refused to let Jesus get right next to my heart to warm my soul. When I do let myself out of that sound absorbent chamber and let my Lord’s love in, how can I explain the joy I feel? The only metaphor that comes close to this feeling is like how I feel when I watch my son, as the goalie of his soccer team do an amazing block and save the game. When I hug him and tell him how proud I am of him it is more then he has done a great job, it is my soul reaching out to him to say “Daddy loves you; you can hear it echoing in the stars.”

Once we begin to understand and then to live the quality of relationship that Jesus teaches – the intimate affection of parent and child – one thing is quite clear; he then expects us to begin to live that same quality of relationship with each other. We are meant to share this kind of intimate, loving and committed relationship as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is how the Kingdom of God comes near to us. This how the Kingdom of God is found alive between us. If we are able to love this way with our children and with our parents, can we risk loving each other this way? Yes, but --- the but is that first we must open our hearts to hear God saying to us, “Daddy loves you; you can hear it echoing in the stars. Mommy loves you.” And when it echoes between the atoms of your own body it cannot help but echo in your relationships with others. When we love this way, “The Kingdom of heaven has come near.” Amen.