In the Collect appointed for this Sunday we prayed that, “we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal.” Do you ever think you get so tied up in the things of the here and now that you might just lose eternity? I confess that I often am fearful of that. I fear it for me personally. I fear it for you individually, and for us corporately here at St. John’s.

When we stop from all our busy-ness, when we pause from all of the “doing” with which we occupy our time and reflect, there is sometimes a sense of uneasiness. We might just be losing the things eternal by being so caught up in the things temporal: this time, this place, these things. That uneasiness was well described by T. S. Elliot,

“Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of heaven in twenty centuries
bring us further from God and near to the dust.”

Later he suggests that this may be our epitaph,

“Here were decent, godless people . . .
their only monument the asphalt road and a thousand lost golf balls.”

Is that to be our monument: a thousand lost golf balls?

When we stop all of our busy-ness, our endless preoccupation with our occupations, our careers, our families, our recreation; when we pause in our activities of our lives of working: writing that report, or getting ready for the next vestry meeting, or going on another business trip; or if retired: going to play golf or to play bridge. However it is we find ourselves caught up in the temporal, when we stop we know that there is more to our existence than those things, more than a paid-up mortgage, or a house at the beach, or a comfortable retirement.

We know, in our heart of hearts, that our deepest need and greatest longing is to be accepted, to be fully loved and to fully love and accept others.

And we know that need of ours is only partially met. What we want, what we long for and what we get are two different things. The acceptance and love we want . . . from a parent, from a child, from a spouse, from a partner, from a friend . . . is always mixed with anxiety, hostility and irritation. Sometimes there is so much anger around us and within us. That anger sometimes is directed outwardly and we become hostile. That anger sometimes is direct inwardly and we become depressed. Why? Because I am not completely accepted by others, because I do not believe that I am acceptable, because I am unable to accept others as they need to be accepted. And so we substitute doing and being busy for being loved and accepted.

We want to be loved. We want to find goodness within us and within others, to be totally accepted, and to know the joy of being in right relationship with one another, with the world around us, and with our God. We yearn for the eternal while here in the temporal. What we yearn for, to use biblical language, is the kingdom of God. Not just an individualistic kingdom, not just a “me and my God” sort of thing, but a kingdom based in community, based on relationships, based on communion with one another and with our God.

Jesus talked a great deal about the kingdom of God. His miracles and his parables were to illustrate the nature of the kingdom and our place in it. At times he spoke as though it had not yet come. In this morning’s gospel lesson he taught his followers to pray, “Your kingdom come.” At other times he spoke as though it had already come, “The kingdom of God has come upon you.”; “The kingdom of God is in your midst.”, referring to himself.

There is the paradox: the kingdom is now, the kingdom is future. We are citizens of the kingdom … now, and … not yet. It is here … and it is still to be.

Insofar as God’s will is done, here and now, in various ways when we are “in Christ”, the kingdom has already come. Insofar as all of the ways we try do God’s will, most of the time, are, at best, half-baked and half-hearted, the kingdom is still to come, still a long way off.

So here we are this morning, we who profess to be Christians, caught up in things temporal hoping not to lose the things eternal; citizens of this world and citizens of the kingdom. We are a mixture of belief and unbelief, of assuredness and anxiety, of saints and sinners, of acceptance and rejection, of love and hate; all because we and the whole creation are in the process of becoming. Becoming what God would have us be. And we and the whole creation groan in the birth pains of a new creation.

The seeds of the kingdom have been planted. We wait for the harvest. We are in-between. In fact, we are the harvest. But, if we are wise enough to look and able to see, we catch glimpses of the kingdom, and those glimpses are enough to keep us hoping. They are a foretaste of what is to be the eternal kingdom.

Where do we see the kingdom today? When you put the welfare of another above your own, there is the kingdom. A racial slur or a joke is made, the kingdom is denied. You volunteer and Manna Meals or help out at Covenant House and respect the dignity of other persons; there is the kingdom. We turn away and shrug at the genocide in Sudan, the kingdom is ignored. A friend leaves the Episcopal Church because of differing viewpoints on inclusiveness and diversity; the community of faith is torn and the kingdom suffers. You reach out in forgiveness to one who has wronged you, and the kingdom is seen. You unleash a terrible torrent of angry words at a loved one, and the kingdom is rejected. A listening friend supports you when you are hurting; there is the kingdom.

There are times when the kingdom is closer than we know, within our reach. Jesus often ended his parables by saying, “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Those who have eyes to see, let them see.” If we will but look we can see the kingdom, we can glimpse it; we can have a foretaste of what is to come. The kingdom of God is the fullest expression of the grace of God. The kingdom of God is for people, for us; for you and me, to grow and to be.

And so, our prayer this day, “Lord may we so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal.” Amen.