Midweek Musing- June 11, 2025

This is the second in my series of Midweek Musings on the Lord’s Prayer.

Each week in worship, we say these familiar words together—and that’s a beautiful thing. But it’s also a dangerous thing. Because anything we say often enough can lose its weight if we’re not careful. It can become a reflex more than a request. More a habit than a hope.

My intent in writing this series is simple: to help us really think about what we’re praying, phrase by phrase. Because this prayer Jesus taught us—it’s not just spiritual poetry. It’s a bold, radical invitation to seek God’s heart, to align our lives with God's will, and to imagine a world shaped more by heaven than by human agendas.

So, let’s pause together again this week. Let’s slow down and take seriously what it means to say:

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

While we know these words in this form as translated into English in the King James version of the Bible; the actual literal translation from the original Greek that Jesus teaches his disciple to pray say this:

“Let your kingdom come; let your will come into being—as in heaven, so also on earth.”

This literal translation, although not as poetic, is far clearer in its active call as opposed to the passive phrasing of the version we say each week.

But friends, these words of our Lord are bold, daring, audacious imperatives.

Jesus is teaching us not to whisper into the dark, but to call on God to break into the world with light, love, power, and transformation.

And we all want for God to do just that don’t we? Because we all desire something better for this world.

As God’s people we want a world with less violence and more peace, less greed, and more generosity. We want a planet full of acceptance and kindness while also wanting the end of prejudice and bigotry.

This section of the Lord’s Prayer taps into all of those deep longings.

When we say, “thy kingdom come,” we are crying out for a world that looks more like heaven—where God’s justice, grace, and mercy rule instead of fear, hatred, and injustice.

Now as John Lennon wrote, many will say, “we are only dreaming.”

But I would respectfully disagree.

Because this I believe is the astonishing, hopeful truth: Jesus wouldn't ask us to pray this if it weren’t possible.

This prayer is what the late Dr. Walter Brueggerman would say is a prayer full of the language of the prophets. Because these words declare that heaven can be glimpsed even in this messy, convoluted, unjust world. To quote his most famous work The Prophetic Imagination: “The prophet does not scold or admonish but evokes an alternative reality to the dominant consciousness.”

And it is also a bold declaration that the God who made the universe has not abandoned us here on earth.

However, it is also important to note that this is a radical, even counter cultural prayer.

Indeed, this isn’t a polite prayer. It’s a revolutionary one.

When Jesus says, “thy kingdom come,” He’s also saying:

“Let all other kingdoms be undone.”

“Let power be reshaped.”

“Let love take the throne.”

It’s a direct challenge to every system of injustice; every personal empire we build to protect our comfort. And that second line? “Thy will be done”? That means surrendering our will, our control, our preferences. It means praying, “God, what You want matters more than what I want.” That’s lovely … and also terrifying.

Remember Jesus was speaking to people living under Roman occupation. For them, to pray “your kingdom come” wasn’t spiritual fluff—it was a risky declaration. It meant hoping against the empire.

It was breaking the law since you were declaring allegiance to God instead of Caesar.

Today, we may not live under Caesar, but there are still powers that compete with God’s will: consumerism, pride, nationalism, division, bigotry, prejudice, fear.

This prayer says: Let God’s way take root—even if it overturns mine.

“As in heaven, so also on earth”

Friends, heaven is not just some future destination. It is the realm where God’s will be fully done. And Jesus asks us to long for that same reality—and be willing to work for it in the here, now.

This is a prayer for the incarnation to come.

And profoundly this prayer calls us to be the answer to what we pray because if I understand the Biblical text:

When we forgive someone—heaven touches earth.

When we feed the hungry—heaven touches earth.

When we choose truth over convenience—heaven touches earth.

It’s no wonder Jesus places this line at the center of the prayer. It’s not just a request; it’s a mission statement.

So, what does that mean for us both this and every week?

It means that the Lord’s Prayer is more than comforting words—it’s a dangerous hope.

When we say it, we are inviting God to change the world—and to start with us.

This week, ask:

Where is God’s will being resisted—in my heart or my community or perhaps both?

Where can I become a small part of the kingdom coming?

What might I need to let go of, so that God’s will might be done?

How might I let God’s reign of peace and mercy take root here?

How might I let God’s justice rise up in the broken places?

How might I let God’s will be done—even knowing it will unsettle ours?

And how might I let others see glimpses of heaven, in my action?

Friends, these aren’t rhetorical questions. They’re the work of discipleship.

They are the hard but necessary questions we need to consider if we really desire God’s kingdom to come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I hope as we pray these words, they will be more than just routine but will indeed be a call to us to work towards doing what we can to build God’s beloved community.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Alleluia. Amen.