On this Wednesday, the Gospel for the Daily Prayer of the Church is taken from the 17th chapter of Luke where we read:
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’
Then he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them—it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’ Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’ (Lk. 17: 20-37).
Sometimes people get enamored with the far away and the exotic. Things are always better elsewhere. Sometimes we treat the Kingdom of God like that as well. But Jesus told his disciples, he tells you and me: “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”
The kingdom of God is not in some far off place and time in the future; rather, it is in our midst. Although at times we fail to live into it, you and I are part of the Kingdom of God. It is in the right here and in the right now. What we are doing in the everyday has eternal consequences.
Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THE GARDEN TOUR A SUCCESS. We have a few hundred visitors!
CALENDAR REMINDERS
Gospel by the Sea is this Saturday, June 8 at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 1420 31st Street.
Free Mammograms at St. Augustine on Sunday, June 9. Please tell all of your female friends who are at risk for breast cancer and have no medical insurance.
Please remember everyone on our prayer list, especially Evelyn, Tom, all those who are travelling, and the families of the 4 Houston firefighters who lost their lives.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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