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Thy Kingdome Come

Written by J. Ted Voigt : September 22, 2008

**The following was inspired in part as I was reading N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope,” a work of theology which is at times quite poetic as well. If you would like, you may consider this equal parts “poem” and “book review.”**

The Kingdom of Heaven has captured my heart
the more I feel it’s power take root
the more I yearn for Beauty and Justice

Today, I thought about buying a building.
something old, abandoned, ugly
and turning it into a castle for the Kingdom
A sanctuary
stain glass replacing iron bars
a hedge of roses instead of the fence
that everyone expects
in this neighborhood…

I want to see a sick person get well again
not so they’ll listen to me
or attend my church
or go to heaven
but so they can know, like I know
the kingdom of heaven is near

I want to be a portal to an alternate universe
a stitch where the fabrics of heaven and earth are sewn close

I want to write the most beautiful words I can imagine
and paint them on a billboard
over ads for beer and cheeseburgers

I want to walk these city streets till all the walls crumble
build porches for all my neighbors
and sit
and talk
about how great the Kingdom is starting to look.

Author Bio:: Ted works for the Kingdom of Heaven in Asunción, Paraguay with his wife Sarah. You can read more about their adventures at their website tedandsarahvoigt.org




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Comments

Viewing 5 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    It was lovely

    bendiciones
    • ^
    • v
    It is a truly Romantic idea to fall in love with ruins; it's a Kingdom idea to want to raise them to life again.

    Kudos.
    • ^
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    FedericoRebollo Silva 2 weeks ago
    This is beautiful.

    Hello people,i´m from Uruguay, Yes,South America and i´m officially the second southamerican comment, behind "Mountainguy", it´s an honor to be second.
    Love God,the Son and the Holly Ghost in random order.

    Un saludo a todos y en particular a Mountainguy.
    Federico Rebollo Silva.

    sorry my poor english.
    • ^
    • v
    siempre es bueno algo de competencia (jejejeje)

    Saludos desde Colombia
    • ^
    • v
    Mountainguy, Federico- muchas gracias, y bediciones a ustedes tambien. I'm working on writing Spanish versions of some of my poems, I'll let you know when I get some done, maybe you two can edit them for me!

    Thom, yeah I agree. There is actually a lot of this going on the US right now, unfortunately the church isn't involved in much of it. Reusing building materials and re-purposing buildings is really popular, but for environmental reasons, not theological ones. Maybe in a few years these ideas with trickle their way down to church building committees... I'm sure there are churches out there that think with a kind of building-project-as-community-redemption mentality, but it's not as pervasive as it should be.

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