“Abba!” “Father,” I cry wanting no longer to be a slave of this world, but an heir to your Kingdom, as you have promised all who turn to you. But what is it that I am inheriting? Certainly not the world as we have it today. My inheritance must be something better – more precious – more divine. War, hunger, capital punishment, poverty, unemployment, classism, divisions among those who declare themselves faithful, and a greed which has permeated our hearts and souls in these times of struggle; this is not the stuff of your Kingdom on earth for which we pray. As an inheritor of the age-old promises, there must be more.
Yet, what I do see and live each day is what I do inherit as your follower in this time and place; on this side of the paradise that awaits all your faithful. And so, I pray, that during the precious few years of my existence, you will use my life to:
… Strive for peace, by opposing war
… Provide fullness by opening my table to others
… Stand for life, by speaking out against the death chambers
… Labor for the end of poverty, through equality of the distribution of the wealth you have provided us with
… Boldly speaking out for ways to provide employment for all who have sought for so long for an income to support their families
… Live my life in ways that break down the barriers that divide us and turn us against one another
… Open up the dialogs between all peoples of different faiths
… and to live with an open heart, of love and compassion, to those around me; that gives, as well as receives, the blessings that are ours.
May I be an inheritor of your ministry and work – here and now.
Amen.
Rev. Michael Kirchhoff
based on Galatians 4:1-7
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