Reflections on an Easter Sunday

Jesus answered, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," in response to his followers asking of him, "When will the kingdom come?" It will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, Look here it is, or, Look there it is. Rather the kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and people just do not see it. It makes as much sense to call this a philosophical or political enterprise as to label it "religious," for discipline of the imagination is the central human concern. Without it, there can be no compassion, no good judgment, no justice. Without it, we are exactly where the powers-that-be want us: malleable, predictable, and slavishly in thrall to the hydra-headed monsters of entertainment and consumption. The kingdom is here, now, but we miss it every day: we see what we expect to see and we think as we (are) expect(ed) to think. The here and now, the kingdom, is evident in a reattunement to our surroundings; objects, weather, and other lives in which ours are enmeshed. May your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.