I preached my last sermon at Harvest Sunday. One more week, and then our doors close for good. Here were my final words:

Today begins the Third Week of Advent. Christmas Day is less than two weeks away. The signs are all around us. This is the season in which we remember the coming of the Christ Child. It is the time of year when we anticipate the return of Christ the King. And for us, it is a time to anticipate the next step, life after Harvest.

One day, in the desert on the Judean border, a man shouted to the crowds: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near!” With those words, John the Baptist announced the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

Thirty years earlier on the edge of a small village in the Judean backwater, a pregnant girl cried out in pain: “The Kingdom of God is near!” It’s due date has arrived!

In Christ, God became flesh. The Invisible became visible. On a lonely night among the noise of farm animals and the labour pains of a young woman, a baby’s cry announced the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. Though scarcely noticed when it happened - the birth was attended only by a few shepherds and foreigners - history was forever changed that night. The Kingdom of God had arrived.

To His followers Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is in you.” Just as the Kingdom took on flesh when Jesus was born, it takes on flesh again whenever people choose to live Jesus-brand lives. In and through faithful Christ-followers, the Kingdom expands. It pushes back darkness, and brings light and life to the world. The Kingdom of God has arrived. It is is here, and it continues to grow thru the lives of Kingdom-Bringers.

This is the last opportunity I have to preach at the Harvest. It may be the last time I have an opportunity to preach to each of you as well, for who knows where our lives will take us in the coming years. (Who knows when another church will be silly enough to let me stand behind the pulpit.) I’ve chosen my words carefully, because last impressions are often lasting impressions.

First let me say thank you.

Thank you, Harvest, for allowing me to learn and experiment and grow with you. I have changed more than I ever could have anticipated and in ways I never would have thought. I have attempted much in your midst, not all of which was successful, but all done in for the Kingdom. You have been gracious and kind, allowing me to train on the job. You have been honest. You have allowed me to ruffle your feathers from time to time, whether by technique or presentation or message. I hope you’ll allow me to do it once more.

In one week’s time, we will walk out the door for the last time. Many of you have already begun the process of looking for a new faith community. Some are returning to previous churches; some are checking out the larger, better known churches around town. Wherever you look, as you search let me urge you to do one thing.

Never lose sight of the Kingdom.

If I have any regret in my Christian life, it is this: I wish I had been introduced to the kind of radical, mission-focused, kingdom-centered life that we have pursued over these last five and half years.

These final weeks of Harvest have been particularly sad for me. Not only is there the sadness of changes and endings, there is something more. After five and a half years of searching - of gift inventories and conversations, of books and experiments, of false starts - after five and a half years I feel like I’m just getting my feet under me. I feel like I’m just getting clear on who I am and what God might be calling me to do.

Easter was a watershed for me, but now that the Harvest is closing its doors, my ready venue is gone. I fear that I will become lazy, that I will not do the work necessary to find a new venue, and that I will allow my gifts and passion to go wasted. And so I am sad. Regardless, this is the course, and so I - and so we must all figure out how to move into the next season of our lives.

As we do, we must not lose sight of the Kingdom, for the Kingdom of God is within.

A friend of mine from New Zealand wrote something that I’d like to share:

Christianity emerges from a wilderness spirituality;

John the Baptist, camel haired and with locust wings in mouth, emerges from the desert;

Jesus in preparation for ministry, walks into the wilderness;

Israel finds God in the desert, where in the wilderness Moses is called and a nation is shaped.

The rough places and tough spaces become the place of encounter with God.

These Harvest years have been difficult years. Our faith has been tested, and we have wrestled with God. We have served with passion. We have followed Him, not knowing where the next step lay. We have been excited; we have been disappointed. We have been in the wilderness…

And it has been awesome! Hard? Yes. Exhausting? Absolutely. Emotionally draining? Without a doubt. But we have encountered God. We have all met him and been changed by him. In following Him, we have helped to usher in the Kingdom of God.

The temptation foe each of us, is that we will leave Harvest and go some place comfortable. We will leave the wilderness of this place, a place where we have encountered God, and we will settle. Rather than following God day by day, step by step, as Israel did in the desert and as the Apostles did in the Galilean countryside; we will settle, we will find comfort and familiarity, and we will lose the Kingdom.

So I say it again. My challenge is this: Don’t lose sight of the Kingdom. No matter where you go from here, your life is meant to be lived out with one and only one purpose. You are to be a Kingdom-Bringer. You have been charged by God with the Gospel, the Good News that the Kingdom of God is here! It is here and it will change the world as long as you don’t lose sight of it.

Don’t lose sight of the Kingdom!

Here is why this is so important, why my last message to you centers on the Kingdom: Many, if not most, of the churches you will check out in the coming weeks and months will be places of comfort and not wilderness. They will be places where you can settle in and find a safe, steady rhythm. They will be places that remind you of places you’ve been in the past; they will sound familiar, look familiar, and smell familiar. And because of their familiarity and comfort, they will tempt you to forget the Kingdom.

Don’t lose sight of the Kingdom! A few weeks ago I said that the success or failure of Harvest will be determined by the extent that we remain Kingdom-Bringers. The Gospel, the Good News that The Kingdom of God is here and It can change the world, is only true to the extent that Christians - that you and I are willing to live for it, to usher it in, to rearrange our lives for it, to sacrifice our comfort and live in the wilderness where we encounter God, where we experience His Life, where we find ourselves dependent on Him and Him alone. This is not hyperbole: God’s Great and Glorious plan of Redemption can be rendered powerless, if Christians - if we settle for comfort and forget the Kingdom.

Don’t lose sight of the Kingdom.

Here’s where I might ruffle some feathers. I’ve thought about each of us and the ways we might be tempted to settle, to get comfortable; and I’ve tried to come up with ways to remain in the wilderness.

Some of us must be challenged politically. It will be easy to settle in to a community that thinks the same way we do. It will be easy to insulate ourselves from voices that dissent. Resist the temptation of political comfort, and step into the challenge of political wilderness. Remind yourself that true hope is not found in a political party of agenda, but in the Kingdom of God. Find voices that differ from yours, thoughtful voices that will challenge your politics. Be open to persuasion. Remember that there are sincere, Kingdom-Bringing Christians on both sides of the political aisle. Step into the challenge of political wilderness.

Some of us must be challenged economically. It will be easy to surround ourselves with people in the same social class. It will be easy to settle in to the pattern of comparing ourselves with the wealthy. Resist the temptation of economic comfort, and step into the challenge of economic wilderness. Find ways to be around the poor, not so you can pity them and not so you can feel more thankful about your own economic position; but rather so you can understand their struggle and so you can rearrange your own life to bring hope and justice. Reject the economy of self that hoards and looks inward. Instead, embrace the economy of gift that looks outward with abundant generosity. Step into the challenge of economic wilderness.

Some of us must be challenged geographically. We will be making decisions about where to live. We will make big decisions - what city or country - and little decisions, like what part of town or what neighborhood. And again, it will be easy to seek comfort, the comfortable house and the comfortable neighborhood. Resist the temptation of geographic comfort and step into the challenge of geographic wilderness. Find ways to bring the Kingdom into neighborhoods that need the sort of renewal and renovation only found in God, whether that means staying where you are or moving some place you’d never thought of. Step into the challenge of geographic wilderness.

Finally, some of us - no all of us must be challenged spiritually. We will be tempted to settle in to comfortable, familiar expressions of our faith. We will find safe theologies and wrap our hearts like warm quilts. Resist the temptation of spiritual comfort and step into the challenge of spiritual wilderness. Read book, listen to speakers, find voices that rub you the wrong way. Take a theological interpretation that you hold dear, and learn all you can from those who take the ideologically opposite position. Never stop listening to God. Grow to expect a measure of fear any time you follow Him, for without fear there can be courage, and without fear there is no need to depend on God. Keep moving. Keep following. Step into the challenge of spiritual wilderness.

Step into the wilderness, and encounter God. “The Kingdom of God is in you.” Don’t ever lose sight of the Kingdom!

Let me close with a prayer from my friend down under:

Wilderness God

Hidden in the deep valley

Obscured by rocky outcrop

This Advent

May we be found in Your wilderness.