For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory…
By: Sue Luttrell
I moved to Asheville in May of 2017 from Kansas where I had lived and my children were raised. I was born a United Methodist. My parents had me baptized as an infant. I had previously moved several times, but just in Kansas. As a child I remember going to church every Sunday, no choice, which sometimes I disagreed with, but went anyway!! I started attending Central soon after I moved here and joined in August, 2017.
After a few months, I joined the Ruth Circle of United Women in Faith (UWF). I have been involved with UWF through two name changes beginning in 1966 when I had two small daughters. United Women in Faith has guided my life through prayers, friendships, studies and being a support group as well as being a connection to church as a whole.
I had a 3rd grade Sunday School teacher who taught us that “The Lord’s Prayer” was part of our whole life in our connection with God. So, of course, we memorized it. I still use it very frequently today. It comes to mind almost every day at different times. Recently, the Blue Ridge District UWF offered a Bible Study on the Lord’s Prayer. “Living the Kin-dom” by Riva Tabelisma was the book used and we explored the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Practice for Social Transformation. In the last phrase “For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory” we were asked to think about God’s kin-dom in our present time.
As many times as I have said the Lord’s Prayer and had reasons to ponder about what the last phrase met to me, I had not really thought about God’s Kingdom, Power, & Glory as a social transformation. When I would walk in Kansas and look at the beautiful Flint Hills as part of God’s creation I thought and thanked God for the beauty of the plains. When I moved to another beautiful place and I could take walks and or just look out my windows or sit on my patio every day and take in the Blue Ridge Mountains, God’s Kingdom became more real to me.
To look at nature and all of God’s creation every day and wonder about all of God’s people was peaceful. Our Bible Study referred to God’s Kin-dom as in the present time and to think about how we have the power to love all because all of us are made by God and no one is better than the other. So now, when I say the Lord’s Prayer or walk in the Blue Ridge Mountains or in down town Asheville, I see God’s Kingdom, Power and Glory in nature, the people, and the busy streets.
