![](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/S-mYFtQQxEI\/AAAAAAAAEko\/EzPY9UJ3EYs\/s320\/monk.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nI went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and \u2018the commonwealth of God.\u2019 <\/p>\n
So over a cup of coffee I said, \u201c\u2018Scuse me for asking, but what is \u2018the commonwealth of God?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it is a term I have devised which I think is more relevant to modern people living in a Western democracy. Kingdoms and monarchs are soooo medieval!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, but democracy isn\u2019t necessarily a modern thing. I mean the Greeks and Romans understood the concept of a republic or a democratic form of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to make the point that Jesus and his followers would have understood democracy or commonwealth or republic or what you will, but he rejected that as a concept for what he was trying to communciate. He chose \u2018kingdom\u2019 because that was the best (and inspired) was to convey the idea of a community of people in shared submission to their Lord. Are you sure you have the authority to change that concept to something you like better?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to communicate more effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you didn\u2019t communicate very well to me. Instead you\u2019ve offended me. You want a cookie with your coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyhow, in the Lord\u2019s prayer we affirm the whole idea of the Divine Monarchy. Jesus puts it right there in the prayer he taught us because it is one of the non negotiables. When we say, \u201cThy Kingdom come\u201d we\u2019re also saying, \u201cYou\u2019re the King and I\u2019m the subject here.\u201d God is not the Prime Minister or President or Chairman of the Board. He\u2019s the King. That\u2019s a position that is bound up with who he is and it is a job that lasts forever.<\/p>\n
If that is the case, then we would expect his kingdom on earth to be just that\u2013a kingdom. In other words, his kingdom on earth is the Church and the Church is therefore hierarchical. There\u2019s a chain of command. There\u2019s authority and rank. However, the difference from the world\u2019s understandint of monarchy is that, although the monarch (Christ himself) is absolute, his absolute power is confirmed by his absolute weakness. Although he was in the form of God he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but took upon himself the form of a servant and was obedient even to death on a cross.<\/p>\n
Therefore as we affirm the Kingdom and pray for the Kingdom to come on earth we also affirm that this is an upside down kingdom. The first are the last and the last are the first. The greatest of all will be the servant of all. The King is the humble servant and the humble servant the king. So when I pray for the kingdom to come I\u2019m standing the whole world on its head. Nothing is what it seemed. <\/p>\n
Christ\u2019s Kingdom is the other way around and so when I pray for his kingdom to come I am praying not only that the whole world might be reversed, but also that my world will be reversed and turned upside down. In this prayer I say, \u201cChange the world, but first change my world. Take this proud and stubborn soul who wants power and pleasure and wealth and make me the servant of all so that I may reign forever in the Kingdom of Christ the Slave who is therefore Christ the King.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and \u2018the commonwealth of God.\u2019 So over a cup of coffee I said, \u201c\u2018Scuse me for asking, but what is \u2018the commonwealth of God?\u201d \u201cWell, it is a term I have devised which I think is more relevant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Thy Kingdom Come<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and 'the commonwealth of God.' So over a cup of coffee I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thy Kingdom Come\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and 'the commonwealth of God.' So over a cup of coffee I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-11T14:06:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/S-mYFtQQxEI\/AAAAAAAAEko\/EzPY9UJ3EYs\/s320\/monk.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html\",\"name\":\"Thy Kingdom Come\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-11T14:06:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-05-11T14:06:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and 'the commonwealth of God.' So over a cup of coffee I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thy Kingdom Come\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thy Kingdom Come","description":"I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and 'the commonwealth of God.' So over a cup of coffee I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thy Kingdom Come","og_description":"I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and 'the commonwealth of God.' So over a cup of coffee I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2010-05-11T14:06:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/S-mYFtQQxEI\/AAAAAAAAEko\/EzPY9UJ3EYs\/s320\/monk.jpg"}],"author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html","name":"Thy Kingdom Come","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-05-11T14:06:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-05-11T14:06:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"I went to a clergy conference once where some goofy liberal Anglican kept on referring to Jesus and 'the commonwealth of God.' So over a cup of coffee I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/05\/thy-kingdom-come.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thy Kingdom Come"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/S-mYFtQQxEI\/AAAAAAAAEko\/EzPY9UJ3EYs\/s1600\/monk.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n