G: Good News of the Coming Kingdom

Returning after the summer half term, The Link decided to wrap up the academic year by revisiting the core values that have underpinned our whole journey together. These are the values that those who were becoming ‘Cambourne Church’ drew together back in the days when Cambourne was just a building site (even more than it is today). These are the values that underpinned the prayers of the team behind the Deckchair Listening Project used as they met week by week to pray for what might come next. And These are the values that we’ve adopted as we’ve become Church at The Link too.

The sun was shining as we set out our bring-and-share picnic outside the school… sharing stories of the best ways we’ve heard Good News announced. Wedding announcements. Birth annoucements. Job announcements. And we shared our own Good News.

One thing we noticed is that good news is often a little while in the making. There is a time when a few people are in the know, but aren’t yet ready to go public. Perhaps because there are still details that need finalising, or becuase it is too soon… the waiting can be hard sometimes!

But then the moment comes: the good news is ready to share…

Sometimes, that is the end of it. But often, it’s just the beginning. There is the working-out of the good news — the new job, new house, or new life.

In much the same way, the bible tells a great story of Good News. The ‘Gospels’ (the word literally means “good news”) tell the good news of the life, death, and new life of Jesus — the Son of God — inaugurating God’s Kingdom breaking in here on earth, as it is in heaven.

But, like many Good News announcements, this didn’t come out of the blue. The Hebrew Scriptures (often called the Old Testament of the Bible) are full of hints and previews of this Good News.

This video from the Bible Project captures it rather well:

After we’d eaten, we turned out hands to jigsaws. The larger jigsaw (which came without a picture to copy!) was billed as being all about GOOD NEWS. The smaller jigsaws contained images of some of the descriptions Jesus himself used when describing the coming Kingdom. And the simplest jigsaw (perfect for our toddlers) featured animals — beautiful examples of God’s creation.

As we wrestled with the puzzles, we thought about our experiences as well as some of the stories Jesus told about the Kingdom — and some jigsaw-themed contemporary reworkings too, written by our friends at Gateways.  What do you think?

Here’s one ancient parable of Jesus…

Disciples:¹⁰ Why do You speak to the people in parables?

Jesus:¹¹ The knowledge of the secrets of heaven has been given to you, but it has not been given to them. ¹² Those who have something will be given more—and they will have abundance. Those who have nothing will lose what they have—they will be destitute. ¹³ I teach in parables so the people may look but not see, listen but not hear or understand.^[a]14 They are fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy:

You will listen, but you will not understand;
you will look, but you will not see.
¹⁵ The people’s hearts have turned to flab;
their ears are clogged;
their eyes are shut.
They will try to see, but they will not see;
they will try to hear, but they will not hear;
they will try to understand, but they will not comprehend.
If they, with their blindness and deafness, so choose, then I will heal them.^[b]

^16-17 Many holy prophets and righteous men and women and people of prayer and doers of good have wanted to see but did not see, and have wanted to hear but did not hear. Your eyes and ears are blessed.

From Matthew Chapter 13 – just after Jesus has shared the Parable of the Sower. The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. (In this version, italics indicate editorial glosses to help capture the original poetry or drama, and to aid contemporary understanding)

And a contemporary reimagining:

The Kingdom of Heaven is like this. There was once a woman doing a jigsaw puzzle. And she looked and looked for the piece that was the cat’s eye, but she couldn’t find it and began to think that it must be missing. Just then, a young immigrant came to the house and looked at the puzzle and immediately he picked up the cat’s eye piece and put it in.

Here’s another story of Jesus…

Jesus:^3-4 Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one, leave the 99 in their grazing lands and go out searching for the lost sheep until you find it? ⁵ When you find the lost sheep, wouldn’t you hoist it up on your shoulders, feeling wonderful? ⁶ And when you go home, wouldn’t you call together your friends and neighbours? Wouldn’t you say, “Come over and celebrate with me, because I’ve found my lost sheep”? ⁷ This is how it is in heaven. They’re happier over one sinner who changes his way of life than they are over 99 good and just people who don’t need to change their ways of life.

⁸ Or imagine a woman who has 10 silver coins. She loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the whole house, and search diligently until that coin is found? ⁹ And when she finds it, doesn’t she invite her friends and neighbours and say, “Celebrate with me! I’ve found that silver coin that I lost”? ¹⁰ Can’t you understand? There is joy in the presence of all God’s messengers over even one sinner who changes his way of life.

from Luke 1. The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. (In this version, italics indicate editorial glosses to help capture the original poetry or drama, and to aid contemporary understanding)

And a contemporary reimagining:

Suppose a woman is doing a jigsaw puzzle. When she has completed it, she sees that one piece is missing. Doesn’t she check down the back of the sofa, look through the toybox and sort the piles of books and papers until she finds it? And then she goes on Facebook and posts ‘Rejoice with me! I have found the lost piece and finished my puzzle’. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Now, you may not believe that we didn’t stage this… but as we got closer and closer to finishing the Good News jigsaw, we started to fear the worst… a piece was missing!

Feeling a little defeated, we tried to cheer ourselves up by reflecting that there is work still to be done in the kingdom…. daring to ask if WE might be the missing piece!

But when the person who’d brought the jigsaw got home, they did just as the parable said. They searched, and searched, and searched… and then found the missing piece in the bottom of a bag, and posted on Facebook: