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Hello, my friends,

When Jesus wanted people to understand the Kingdom of God, he often told them a story. He would start with the familiar, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” He spoke of wedding celebrations, workers in a vineyard, seeds planted in the ground, hidden treasure, and wheat growing among weeds. Through familiar images, Jesus revealed a way of life very different from the values of the world around us.

This September and October, we will begin a new sermon series exploring these parables and asking what we can do to prepare for God’s coming Kingdom.

We sometimes think of the Kingdom as a place we hope to enter someday. Jesus, however, proclaimed that “the kingdom of God has come near.” God’s Kingdom is not only a future promise, it is God’s transforming work already taking place among us. Wherever grace overcomes resentment, generosity replaces greed, forgiveness interrupts retaliation, and love challenges injustice, we catch a glimpse of the Kingdom drawing near.

Throughout the series, we will consider how Jesus calls us to unwind some of our earthly viewpoints and learn to think differently. We will ask what it means to be prepared rather than simply waiting. We will explore ideas about fairness and whether we can celebrate grace when it is extended to someone else. We will touch on forgiveness, as well as the value of small and seemingly insignificant acts, and the ways God uses the ordinary to accomplish extraordinary things.

These teachings will eventually lead us to one of faith’s most difficult questions: If God is all-good and all-powerful, why does evil exist? How can we believe in God amid war, poverty, cruelty, injustice, and human suffering? We may not discover an explanation that makes tragedy understandable, but Jesus’ parables can help us understand how Kingdom people are called to respond. They teach us to recognize evil without surrendering to it, to protect what is good, and to participate in God’s healing work.

This series will not only ask us what we believe about the Kingdom, it will ask how our belief changes the way we live. If God’s Kingdom has truly come near, what must change within us? How can our choices help reveal it? And how might we become signs of the Kingdom for those still waiting to see it?

I hope you will join us as we work through Jesus’ teachings to prepare ourselves to participate in the Kingdom of God.

With much love,

-Pastor Brian