Your Kingdom Come

"Your Kingdom come...Your will be done, in earth as it is in heaven...."


 


This Sunday evening's theme at Worship at the River is both a promise and a challenge. This update is a bit longer than usual, but I want to relate an incident last week which brought personal revelation through this challenge. 


 


As most of you know, I, on occasion, substitute teach in the Portland area public schools.  I began this adventure last December. 


 


We returned from Korea...speaking in various churches small and large, but what a contrast the next day, to find myself in a grade school PE class, playing dodge ball and running relay races with kids.  Actually, I have learned to thoroughly embrace these opportunities to work and relate with a local "mission" (not less important to the Lord than other more traditional models of church ministry).  The public schools are a mission field.


 


Last Friday, I had the opportunity to teach an art class at a local High School (yeah, I can see a lot of you laughing at the notion of me with 42 freshman students explaining pottery or artistic design). But the Lord used this assignment to teach me again....something profound.


 


I was substituting for a veteran teacher who explained to me that her last class of the week was one of the most challenging in all her years of teaching, primarily because she was guiding a student teacher who had been doing her best to convey her love of art to a class made up of literally 8 diverse cultures and languages.  It was not going well as the student teacher found herself leaving the classroom in tears more than once.  The student teacher was not enthusiastic at the prospect of a "sub" coming in on a unusually sunny Friday, on a "assembly" day where the schedule was erratic enough.  .


 


I consulted with the student teacher and assured her this class was going to be free from distraction and we would approach the day armed and ready. We planned to "ride" the kids hard and the regular teacher arranged for me to generously distribute disciplinary pink slips for detention


 


At 1 pm the enemy....err..the students began to arrive.  Never have I witnessed a more diverse group of teenagers...with their IPODS and creative hair styles and assorted piercings, not to mention the latest hip hop fashion accessory....baggy jeans...and, without going into detail, I simply want to emphasize and exaggerate the baggy part.  They looked, at the least, disinterested....at most, well, threatening.  I empathized with the student teacher and hoped she would not be tempted to abandon the noble and under-appreciated teaching profession based on what this class had thrown at her.


 


I introduced myself and she began the lesson.  I "roamed" near the back of the classroom and armed with my pick slips began to prepare for battle.  Then, I began to hear the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit.  Following is our conversation:


 


Holy Spirit:  You know, you might want to change the way you perceive these kids.  They are not the enemy....in fact, some of them have a powerful destiny and I'm preparing them for it.


 


Me:  But Lord, these kids have been disruptive....and I'm here to bring order....


 


Holy Spirit:  Excuse me...you are going to bring order...hmmm.  Why don't you first invite me to change the way you see students, see them as I see them....and bless them not with your arrows of detention....but with the gift of peace, My Prescence....do you believe you can change the atmosphere of this classroom and bring the peace and glory of heaven here?


 


Me:  Yes...I repent.....


 


I began to pray in the Holy Spirit, and I felt the Lord give me the gift of His perspective. We used to sing an old chorus "Heaven came down and Glory filled my soul...." I  invited heaven to "come and fill" this freshman art class on a sunny Friday afternoon.  And He did.  Near the end of the class, the student teacher remarked: "Never have I had such peace in this class....I don't know what's happened."


 


There were multiple lessons.  I repented from my assuming I had to "play hardball" (the pharisees were actually pretty good at that).  I began to see the treasure the Lord has deposited in every student that came through that door.  I began to see the deposit of His Grace and Presence in a high school art class....because I invited Him....Heaven to manifest on earth. 


 


Sometimes I am tempted to spiritualize my occupation....think that what I actually "do" in ministry is what validates true Kingdom progress here on earth.  Not true.  What all of you do, whether it's changing diapers or changing tires, becomes an opportunity to invite the Holy Spirit to manifest heaven on earth.  This is not a theological lesson for me, but an immensely practical one.  And, as usual, the Holy  Spirit is always kind enough  to lead me to repentance.....that's His nature.  And, to give me an opportunity to change.


 


Bless you.


 


Darrell and Carlene