{"id":9010,"date":"2011-12-16T13:27:25","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T19:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=9010"},"modified":"2011-12-16T13:29:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T19:29:00","slug":"the-upside-down-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/the-upside-down-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Upside Down Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I think about Advent and Christmas this year, I continue to think about just how upside down the Kingdom of God really is and how different and upside down I hope our celebrations can become.<\/em><\/p>\n

From St. Peter’s Brewery:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know, I realize this week has been rough for various folks in our group,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Matt began. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But as I was reading this weekend and then talking with Julie about random malarkey, I began to think about just how different the Kingdom of God is \u00e2\u20ac\u201d compared to the kingdom of man. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this upside down, twisted kingdom that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever really wrap our minds around.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Jimmy looked up from his plate and listened as Matt continued.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hope that no matter what happens politically, no matter what happens in the world around us, it can be said that I serve the king of an upside down kingdom. A kingdom where the meek shall inherit the earth, where those who morn are comforted, where the last are first, where the oppressed shall be freed. Where rather than appearing in a palace to lead his kingdom with a sword, my king came and appeared in a lowly manager \u00e2\u20ac\u201d surrounded by farm animals.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Matt continued strumming his guitar as Julie opened a Bible and began reading aloud.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.<\/p>\n

You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed when you feel you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.<\/p>\n

You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re content with just who you are \u00e2\u20ac\u201d no more, no less. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be bought.<\/p>\n

You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked up a good appetite for God. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s food and drink in the best meal you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever eat\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As Julie finished her reading, Matt continued telling his story.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about this upside down kingdom and reading the passage that Julie just read and it brought me hope to know that when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at the end of our rope, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when God can really go to work. And when we lose what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really dear to us, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be embraced by God. God loves us all \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but I think he has a special place for those who suffer and mourn \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in fact he says he will comfort them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Matt continued strumming his guitar as he sat looking at the various faces in the room. Jimmy tried to focus on his food again, hoping not to make eye contact with anyone else in the room.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And so for those of you who have had your kingdom and your world collapse recently, I want to remind you that God offers a different kind of kingdom for us all,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Matt said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And I want you each to know that not only does God suffer with you, but each of us suffer with you as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

You can grab a print copy of St. Peter’s Brewery<\/a> from Amazon or now through Christmas, the book is available for only $.99 for both Kindle<\/a> and iBooks<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I think about Advent and Christmas this year, I continue to think about just how upside down the Kingdom of God really is and how different and upside down I hope our celebrations can become. From St. Peter’s Brewery: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know, I realize this week has been rough for various folks in our group,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d … Continue reading The Upside Down Kingdom<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":9011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[1374,1155,1566,1607,4307],"class_list":["post-9010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-book","tag-kingdom","tag-novel","tag-st-peters-brewery","tag-upside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-content\/uploads\/stpetersbrewery.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-2lk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}