Sitting in God’s presence

From walking, running, standing we now turn to sitting in the presence of God.

I love the fully inclusive word picture painted by Jesus in Matthew 8. A Roman army captain came to Jesus and pleaded  with him to come to his home and heal his servant boy who was in bed paralysed and racked with pain. And Jesus responded by saying “Yes,” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

Then comes this wonderful pronouncement by Jesus, “And I tell you this, that many Gentiles like this Roman officer,[a] shall come from all over the world and sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

This picture is beautifully projected into our time and space in the words of John Gowans.

They shall come from the east,
they shall come from the west,
And sit down in the Kingdom of God;
Both the rich and the poor,
the despised, the distressed,
They'll sit down in the Kingdom of God.
And none will ask what they have been
Provided that their robes are clean;
They shall come from the east,
they shall come from the west,
And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

They shall come from the east,
they shall come from the west,
And sit down in the Kingdom of God;
To be met by their Father and welcomed and blessed,
And sit down in the Kingdom of God.
The black, the white, the dark, the fair,
Your colour will not matter there;
They shall come from the east,
they shall come from the west,
And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

They shall come from the east,
they shall come from the west,
And sit down in the Kingdom of God;
Out of great tribulation to triumph and rest
They'll sit down in the Kingdom of God.
From every tribe and every race,
All men as brothers shall embrace;
They shall come from the east,
they shall come from the west.
And sit down in the Kingdom of God.

Both the pronouncement of Jesus and the poetical interpretation in these verse begs the question, “how inclusive am I in welcoming those from the East and West in my life?” It was Martin Luther King jr who said, “An individual has not started living until they can rise above the narrow confines of their individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr

Lord, give us new strength so that we can build places of belonging: To create a community for all to share their gifts, To know that each of us is loved, To help us to see the light of Christ in all that we serve. Let us remember that each of us is loved, each of us is willed and each of us is necessary.