United or Untied?

There are many beautiful and challenging metaphors for the ‘kingdom of God’ that stretch our imagination as to what it is really all about। A treasure. A pearl. A mustard seed. Yeast in dough. Some new metaphors that I have heard have included the kingdom as a canvas, a computer network and even an interactive, flowing dance. So I searched my heart and set about imagining my own metaphor for the kingdom…

The kingdom of God is like a woven tapestry. A thick yarn runs from the heart of God to the heart of each believer. And then smaller threads of a slightly different shade continue to connect each believer with one another. So the kingdom is woven together & these connections create the warp & the weft of the kingdom. The strings that make up this tapestry are invisible - but strong. And one-who-is-not-yet-woven-in may, perchance, run into one of its connecting threads. And, even without seeing it, may hold it loosely in the hand and walk along its length until coming to its source – either the Master Weaver himself, or another follower who has the thread woven into his heart.

At any moment, the Woven Ones can tug on the yarn leading to God or one another in order to interact. And at any moment, those wishing to join the tapestry need only to walk to the Master Weaver, unroll a bit of thread from the spool of her own heart and offer it to the Weaver’s skillful hands. In less than a moment, He will intertwine the two threads in such a way that they can never be untied again. If you could see this new connection at all, you would not be able to tell where one heart ends and the other begins.

Now, even though these hidden, invisible threads stretch and cross, weave in & out and bind believers & God together in inseparable bonds, others may pass right through them without even knowing they are there. And the Woven Ones may, at times, forget that there are threads that link them together. But the loosely woven tapestry is still there nonetheless.

The Weaver is a patient one. He knows that one day all the needed threads will be added, woven and knit in just the right pattern. And when that time has come, when all the individual strings of yarn are in place, He will slowly draw all the Woven Ones to Himself. The space between the threads will shrink & disappear. The expanded, loose Woven Ones that have been separated by time & distance will be cinched together into a close-knit tapestry of beauty & grace. And that tapestry will reflect the glory, diversity, unity, beauty, intimacy & design of life as the Master Weaver intended it to be. And together, wrapped around the Master at the center, their perfect interconnectedness will remain throughout eternity.

This metaphor is certainly not perfect। But the metaphors of the kingdom can never catch it’s truest beauty. It is about something bigger – better – other – than the kingdoms of this world. Where would you fall within this metaphor? Are you united to others in the tapestry or are you alone, unwoven, untied?

Q: What metaphor of the kingdom rings truest in your own heart?
Q: Would you dream it, write it down, share it, live it?