The Kingdom of God is an earthly experience which manifests in an unearthly manner.

I often feel the pressure, from my peers and others, to come out and __ake a stand_ on a moral or social issue. Typically, I refuse to do so, or at least I refuse to do so in a way that will please my critics. On so many of the hard and divisive issues of our times, I don__ close my eyes. I do stand for something: I stand for love. For if Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but to redeem it, how can we who bear the Name respond any differently? Yes, what I believe about all these moral and social issues matters, without a doubt. But these beliefs mean nothing, if my first and consuming conviction is not love for those who are different and believe differently than me. We have a choice: We can choose to show how __ight_ we are, or we can choose to love. Sometimes, it is impossible to do both at the same time.

We preach grace, but we don__ always practice it. We talk about God__ mercy, but we don__ always want the people who need it most to know it or get in on it. We say we are in the redemption business, but the door to that redemption is often locked by us from the inside. We say, __ome in! All are welcome!_ but __ll_ is often marked with an asterisk. How, I ask, can the world change _ how can heaven come to earth _ if we stingily protest against God for his grace to others, grace we have freely received ourselves? How can we pray __hy kingdom come,_ and be resentful toward God and those he allows to enter the kingdom in his way and his timing?

When __octrinal integrity_ (a term usually defined by those using it) trumps kindness and grace, faith has wandered out of bounds. Anything claiming to be truth that does not lead to compassion for our neighbors cannot rightfully be called the truth.

We in the revivalist tradition have viewed grace only in terms of privatized, individualized spirituality. Give people enough Jesus to save their souls, move them to an emotional decision, help them get their hearts right and acquire a more responsible morality, and that will be enough. But that is not enough. It is not even the beginning of enough. God was concerned about those living in dire suffering long before Bono, Angelina Jolie, or George Clooney turned into social activists.

The more deeply one enters into the experience of the sacred the more one is aware of one__ own personal evil and the destructive forces in society. The fact that one is alive to what is possible for humankind sharpens one__ sense that we are fallen people. The awareness of sin is the inevitable consequence of having met grace... This grace-judgment dynamic reveals that the center of Christian life is repentance. This does not mean that the distinguishing mark of the Christian is breast-beating. Feeling sorry, acknowledging guilt, and prolonging regret may be components of the human condition, but they are not what Jesus means by repentance. Repentance is the response to grace that overcomes the past and opens out to a new future. Repentance distinguishes Christian life as one of struggle and conversion and pervades it, not with remorse, but with hope. The message of Jesus is not __epent,_ but __epent for the Kingdom of God is near.