from our Lay Leader
We can’t see the Kingdom of God with our physical eyes (John 3:3). Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is within us or among us (Luke 17:21). The specific wording (“within us” or “among us”) depends on the translation. If it is within us, then it is contained within our mind, body, and soul. If it is among us, it is in our relationships, in the love that we have for one another.
Love is the connective tissue within and between all of us, making us the one, connected and whole Body of Christ. Love is the Kingdom of God within us. We are love embodied. You can’t see love with your eyes any more than you can see God’s kingdom by looking around, but they both exist within us and among us.
Love is bound up in our bodies. Love is existential in our mind. Love is the heart of our soul. We are soulless without love. We founder and sink without love. Love is our existence.
Love is God. Love is God’s kingdom. Love is the Father, love is the Christ, love is the Holy Spirit. Christ is love embodied as we are love embodied. He is the template, the blueprint from which all of us have been made. Love alive, love incarnate, love with a body. That is God’s kingdom. It’s not just near; it’s here, within us, among us.