This marks the beginning of a series of articles on the Kingdom
of God. These coincide with the Lay Witness Mission and the continuation of what
has begun in the parish. We are a Kingdom People. Jesus spoke about the coming
of the Kingdom of God.  We are
called to extend the Kingdom of God to all areas of our lives. The Kingdom
proclaims God’s reign on earth and in our hearts. The Kingdom of God says to us
we are converted to God. Scripture says,” Seek first the Kingdom of God and all
else will be added unto you.”  What
does it mean that one is converted to God? It means that one is first loyal to
God and everything else follows. It means that God is paramount in the person’s
life. To put it simply, one is prepared to go into jail and even pay the highest
price for God, if one’s heart is converted to God. That is what we mean by the
Kingdom of God taking root in one’s heart.  The disciples are examples of people
converted to God, for they suffered much persecution for the Glory of God. They
were prepared to be jailed for the Glory of God, and the extension of the
Kingdom of God. If one is converted to God then one is total committed to the
Kingdom of God. In this series of the Kingdom of God we will look at the four
hall marks of the Kingdom of God. 
These are love, compassion, justice and freedom. 
Love is essential to the Christian faith and community. 
We are all called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Kingdom
of God is a Kingdom of compassion. Several times in the Hoy Scripture we are
told that Jesus looked at the crowds with compassion for he saw that they were
sheep without a shepherd.  Justice
is the hallmark of the Kingdom of God. We are taught to love our enemies. St
Paul says to us, render no evil to anyone. The prophets tell us that religious
observance without us responding to social issues around us makes us
irrelevant.  Then finally freedom:
one of the many Acts of God was to lead the Children out of Egypt into the
Promised Land. In the New Testament people are freed from demon possession and
diseases are healed.  The Kingdom
manifesto is found in Luke 4 vs. 16-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He sent me to
proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” 

Fr. Barnabas Nqindi

 We are now three weeks away from our highlight of the year. Our
Lay Witness Mission. We are expecting a full programme from Friday the
29th of June to the 1stof July. We all have to
participate. Thank you to all those that have been coming every Wednesday that
shows commitment to our God. This week in the pew leaflet we are asking you to
donate a pot of this and that, for the meals on Friday and Saturday. If we all
chip in this will keep the cost to a minimum. Secondly the men’s breakfast needs
to be supported by all men, over the age of 18 years in the parish. We really
want to see numbers on the Saturday morning at 0800, huge numbers. For I am
expecting all the men of the parish 18 years and above to present. 
No excuses. An excuse that is allowed is to be sick and be in bed only.
Any other excuse would be showing lack of support to the God whom we believe and
follow. We are a Kingdom people and we do not give excuses we execute what our
Lord wants us to do.  For his Glory
and Honour.
This coming week I expect each one of us to invite our
neighbours, it is an opportunity to evangelise. Something great is happening. If
you have not caught it, where have you been? I will be doing my part in visiting
my neighbours to come on the Friday the 29th. It is an opportunity to
really work for Christ. The lay Witness Mission is giving us the opportunity to
witness for the Christ but to ultimately extend the Kingdom of God. The watch
word for the coming week is walk your street and invite all your neighbours. 
Things to Remember and Do


1.       So remember that to make pot of something for Friday and Saturday
during the lay witnessing weekend.


2.       
Walk your street and invite your neighbour to come. It will be
shame if you do not simply go across ad invite your neighbour. God has plan for
and them.


3.       
Open you home and host one of the Lay Witness Visitors – Life
time Friendships are found and formed this way


Let us give it our All People of God. 
To His Utmost Highest!  I am
excited. Catch the Bug and spread it.


Fr. Barnabas