Pastor’s Perspective – July 2025
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Humanity
When I was a youngster, the 4th of July was my summer Christmas. I grew up in small town, USA, a rural community in Western New York that took the 4th of July seriously. We marched in the parade in little league uniforms and, when we entered Junior High School, as part of the Marching Band. The 4th of July meant baseball All Star games, Chicken dinners, and at the conclusion of the evening, fireworks. It was a time that was spent hanging out with friends and family and, in my more testosterone fueled teenage years, seeking a cutie to cuddle with under the stars.
In small town, USA there was no separation of Church and State on the 4th of July. Churches marched in the parades and were free not only to share their ideas but often were congratulated in the doing. My youngest brother, a future Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, remembers riding in a float promoting a church-based abstinence organization. The community cheered him on, even as his teenaged buddies ruthlessly mocked him.
Such was the synergy between small town America and the Church.
It has been years since I attended a parade and the allure of fireworks has ebbed in my later years, but as a creature of the Carter and Reagan years, I feel a deep loss for that synergy of Church and community. It is the loss of something once cherished, and while I know that it may well have been a phantom of both time and space, I still mourn the feeling that it may never return.
While the glory days of our nation always reside in memory, it is also true that (for good and for ill) the synergy of the Church and the nation was in fact…real. America in the past shared common cultural assumptions that made us feel that all was right in our world. These similarities allowed us to presume that we were good and holy as a people, but underneath the trappings of parades and illuminating lights lurked the deadly serpent.
Today it might be easier to see the traps, but make no mistake, they were always there, seducing the Church into a false sense of calm. As Keith Green sang, we were “asleep in the light.” We are not unique in this dilemma. It happens to every citizen and every culture. The trappings of peace and illumination allow us to let down our guard, and before we know it, we are ignoring the promise of God’s kingdom for the false peace of human rule.
So while I celebrate the blessings of living in this place and time (it is both my home and mission field) I no longer consider it to be “close” to the kingdom of God. The pilgrims were in fact seeking a home in which the kingdom of God could flourish, but that is what all good Christians seek. We are pilgrims, both seeking and awaiting the coming of the true Kingdom and the true King. While we wait, we live in peace, we bless our nation, and we seek God’s blessing. Yet we should never ‘settle’ for a Kingdom that is not ruled by King Jesus. As blessed as we are, we are not yet home. So I thank God for what I have, and I pray that one day Jesus will set His foot on the earth and bring the true kingdom revolution that the Church has been seeking.
Seeking the Kingdom of God since 1966.
Pastor Dan
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