To read this reflection click here:   What Kind of Kingdom.docx

The Bible begins with a picture of a perfect relationship—with God, with each other, in a beautiful place.

The Bible ends with a picture of God’s new community—glorious, full of light and color, beautiful trees and a shining river flowing from the throne of God, and a whole city living in perfect relationships in the light of Christ.

Both pictures portray the kinds of things we’ve always wanted—to be loved, cared for, intimate with God, surrounded by happy friends, with endless opportunity to be creative and fruitful and energized and affirmed. But we don’t see that kingdom clearly yet.

In between those pictures we see a fallen creation full of broken relationships. And the bulk of the Bible is about God’s way of restoring that which has fallen short of his glory.

So what is God’s way?