Jesus Christ on multiple occasions talks about his past. In the manuscript of John he records a prayer by Jesus in which he states; "Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed". Jesus existed before the world was created and the correlations between Genesis 1 and John 1 are undeniable as I believe in the Holy Trinity of God as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. In light of this I have spent the week contemplating the realities of the Kingdom of God and what that means for us the church, the bride of Christ, and how we aught to be living out the mission of God.
So often we talk about what we do as a church that I think we start to believe that we have any real say in what we should be doing. To say that the church has a mission is as foolish as thinking there is anything we can do to change this current world into the Kingdom of God. I think a healthier thought process would look like this; God has a mission and that mission is to reach those that do not know Him and to help God with this mission he has instituted the church, us, to do his work. God's mission has a church and that should be the leading process in the way we do everything.
When Christ came to earth and took on flesh, he initiated the process of the Kingdom of God coming to earth. The wise Lesslie Newbigin said this; "The domain of Heaven has touched that of earth and God's rule is actually being exercised in the world through Jesus. Those who accept Him come within the sphere of operations of the powers of the Kingdom: they may in fact be said to have been translated out of the present age into the new age which is to come. Christians have already, as it is said, tasted the powers of the age to come."
Every time we partake in communion we should remember that we have indeed been given a taste of the Kingdom. So now it is our turn to share that taste with others. We, God's chosen ones, need to be that foretaste of the Kingdom of God to a world that is starving for truth. Everything we do should be done in a manner so that those we encounter will be left wanting more. We are not perfect and never will be but that should not stop us from being a sample of the feast yet to come. If we call ourselves disciples our hope is found in Christ alone, as we know what is on the way. When non-believers encounter us, when the unchurched walk through those heavy doors, do we leave them with a taste so damn good that they have to come back for more because there is no place in this fallen world that taste so sweet. Or do they taste more of the same crap they find in the world and continue to search for the truth in other places?
