"On earth as it is in heaven"

A picture of the earth with heavenly rays of light shining on it. Image text: "On earth as it is in heaven." Image source.

This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’

Matthew 6:9-13

In my post this Wednesday, About that White-Supremacist "Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel", I mentioned this:

His understanding of "the gospel" is quite effed-up, because he thinks it's completely unrelated to ending oppression and injustice on earth. Apparently he doesn't believe in "your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."

And I want to elaborate on that now, because I can easily imagine myself as an evangelical reading that and thinking "huh? what does that 'injustice on earth' stuff have to do with 'your kingdom come'?" Or myself as an ex-evangelical, reading it like "WAIT your kingdom-- whoaaaa wait like, does it-- as in-- wow now THAT is a way to interpret that verse, holy crap WHOAAAAAA wow my mind is BLOWN."

So let's talk about Matthew 6:10. "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Back when I was a very good evangelical, on fire for God, in a super-personal relationship with God, I was sure I knew what this verse meant. See, OBVIOUSLY, in heaven everyone worships God. Everyone obeys God and loves God and does all the correct things that Christians are supposed to do out of devotion to God. When Jesus says "your will be done", well OBVIOUSLY God's will is that everyone worships Them. That's the goal of everything God does- getting glory for Themself. John Piper said so. And God's kingdom is a place where everyone recognizes God as the King. See, this is our problem- sin- everybody wants to be master of their own life, when really they should be submitting to God. That's why our world has so many problems. Ugh, we're such dirty sinners, and every little sin hurts God, and God just hates having to deal with that all the time. But God's kingdom won't be like that- in God's kingdom, everyone knows their place and obeys God like they're supposed to.

So, of course, when we pray that we want this to happen on earth as in heaven, we're saying we want everybody to believe the correct Christian things and dedicate their lives to Jesus. That's what God wants most of all, and that's the defining characteristic of heaven. Right?

Yeah, little evangelical Perfect Number thought it was so obvious, it was hardly even worth thinking about. Of course that's what Jesus meant in Matthew 6:10.

Ha. Right. I don't believe any of that anymore.

I now believe that in the kingdom of God, everyone has their basic needs met, and everyone gets to live a happy life. Everyone is loved. There is no injustice, no oppression. Black lives matter. That's how it will be in heaven, and that's how we want it to be on earth.

(And NO, I very much DO NOT believe that "faith" is the criteria for getting into heaven. Maybe I'm a universalist.)

So this prayer- "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"- is a direct reference to social justice. It says we look forward to when the kingdom of God will come on earth- when someday there will be freedom and justice and equality for everyone- and we need to take action now to work toward those things.

I believe that's what Christianity is about. That's what Christians should do. And if you're not a Christian, that's fine with me- religious beliefs aren't the important thing here; the important thing is bringing justice to this world. (My husband is not a Christian and there's nothing wrong with him.)

There are so many bible passages like this, where their meaning was SO OBVIOUS back when I was an evangelical, but now I read them differently. Now I believe in a different God. The God I used to believe in felt so sad over people's continual sinning and refusal to worship him. He felt entitled to their devotion and worship. Like we are wronging him by not obsessing over him every moment of the day. In heaven it would be different; in heaven he would get the worship he deserved. But the God I believe in now ... truly is a loving God. They love people, and They believe people deserve to live good lives free from pain and injustice. That's the kingdom of God. Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.

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Related:
Why Does the Kingdom of Heaven Belong to Children?