Spectrum Blog Church: The kingdom is (t)here?

Spectrum Staff | September 21, 2007

By Alexander Carpenter
Happy Sabbath! Welcome to the Spectrum Blog Church, something I created as an excuse to combine some good music on a good idea. If you do stay for the service below, feel free to drop a comment about your week and what’s on your mind.
The service today centers on the ideal of the kingdom of God, the most important theme in the synoptic gospels and the key metaphor in the ministry of Jesus. To mediate on: what does it mean that the kingdom of God is within you?
Opening Prayer Mahalia Jackson sings “The Lord’s Prayer”

Scripture reading
Luke 4:43 (New International Version)
But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

By Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is within You
“That this social order with its pauperism, famines, prisons, gallows, armies, and wars is necessary to society; that still greater disaster would ensue if this organization were destroyed; all this is said only by those who profit by this organization, while those who suffer from it – and they are ten times as numerous – think and say quite the contrary.”

Special Music“Heaven” by the Talking Heads, with footage from Diane Keaton’s film, Heaven: The Ultimate Coming Attraction

HomilyPastor Brian McLaren preaches on Jesus & the Kingdom

OfferingThis week your financial talents can go to the Adventist Peace Fellowship, which works to increase the Adventist public voice on human rights and non-violence.
Announcements

Don’t forget that the Adventist Forums conference is happening next week in Santa Rosa, California.

Also, the new Spectrum website, with blog included (yeah for integration!) will be coming soon.

For further study on this week’s topic, check out the Wikipedia site on the Kingdom of God, it is helpful and short compendium of theologies on the subject.

Benediction St. Paul’s Cathedral Boys Choir sings John Rutter’s “For the Beauty of the Earth”

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