Anniversaries can be happy reminders of a beautiful event, or a sad reminder of opportunities lost.

Life is filled with both.

And so today, on the 32 birthday of my daughter, I choose to reflect on both, and peer deeply into the substance of my faith.

NOTE: I posted this on DailyKos, and thought it might generate some discussion here too.

In my brand new Sojourners magazine, Jim Wallis has an editorial piece, A Generation Comes of Age, in which he suggests that young evangelicals are in fact very different than their parents.  This very fact may be an indication of an important shift that liberals should pay careful attention to, and point to a new alignment and new energy for the causes of human rights and our future.
Jim Wallis, of course, is in touch with emerging trends in the "evangelical" culture.

I just received a new book the other day, Klyne Snodgrass’s massive new book on the Parables of Jesus (Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus).  And that got me thinking about that almost ubiquitous term in the New Testament:  the Kingdom of God.  Most of the parables seem to be describing the Kingdom (or Reign) of God.  And this "Kingdom of God" is almost always a topsy-turvy world where our allegiances are clarified, where small things matter, where the meek often trumps the powerful.

And if we didn’t think the Kingdom was an important idea, Jesus when he starts his ministry announces: "Repent, the Kingdom of God has come near."  And of course, in the Lord’s Prayer, we regularly ask for the Kingdom of God to come (Thy Kingdom Come!).  The Kingdom of God is a key theme, written and unwritten, throughout the entire Bible.