wfn.org | The Kingdom of God is Near, Even When It Doesn't Appear So

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA99133 
26-June-1999 
 
              The Kingdom of God is Near, Even When 
              It Doesn't Appear So, Worshippers Told 
 
FORT WORTH-The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and 
believe the good news of the Gospel.  The kingdom of God is at hand, but it 
is not what you expect.  Repent, and stop thinking that you can decide what 
God's kingdom looks like.  This was the mistake of the Pharisees, who 
missed the Messiah because Jesus wasn't what they expected. 
     This was the heart of the message the Rev. Mary Graves, pastor of 
Trinity Presbyterian Church in San Carlos, California, gave commissioners 
on the final day of the 211th General Assembly.  She said when Jesus first 
proclaimed this good news, it didn't seem as though the kingdom of God was 
at hand.  John the Baptist sent to learn if Jesus was the messiah or if 
they should look for another.  Jesus sent a message to John that "the blind 
regain their sight and the lame walk and the deaf hear." The kingdom of God 
had come.  John heard that news and was promptly beheaded.  This is the 
kingdom of God? 
     Likewise, it may not seem as though the kingdom of God has come when 
we look around us today.  "Maybe things that happened this week at General 
Assembly, things that are happening around the world.  You look around and 
there are so many things that are in decline--mainline churches are in 
decline, our own denomination is in decline.  We see family support systems 
in decline, morals are in decline, human decency and civility are in 
decline.  And we get to church and doubt that the good news of God's 
kingdom has come." 
     She said that on Thursday night of this week, she had received a call 
from her church in San Carlos that a young man, a former Youth Advisory 
Delegate to the Assembly, had committed suicide.  She said she returned to 
a church and a family full of deep darkness.   
     She said to commissioners, "you go back home and perhaps face your own 
darkness.  Yet the kingdom of God is at work even so." 
     "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and 
believe." 
     Assisting in the service were the Rev. John Miller, pastor of 
Northpark Presbyterian Church in Dallas, the Rev. Dionne Bagsby of First 
Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth and Grady E. Coyle, director of music at 
Northridge Presbyterian Church in Dallas. 
 
Bill Lancaster 

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