Cinderella Castle by day (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Every tongue, every tribe, every nation…sounds like Disney World.
Young and old, rich and poor, women and men, gay and straight…everyone gets to play.
Every year people from all over the world travel to Disney. The attendance numbers of Disney Parks dwarf that of the closest competitors. Every year almost 121 million people visit a Disney park. Amazing.
I think it is because of the longing we have for a bit of magic in our lives. We long for a Kingdom which is already but not yet. A Kingdom where everything is beautiful and right; where creativity applauded, where anything is possible, where good always wins and evil is vanquished. We want to live in a place where everyone gets to play, where everyone is celebrated in spite of and because of their differences.
The church could stand to be a little more like Disney World. The employees at Disney World don’t pick and choose who gets to come in and neither should we. That is not our job. We are there to give the tours and run the rides and pop the popcorn and fuss over the guests. Jesus already bought everyone’s ticket. Everyone is allowed in if they want to come. Everyone is treated like a Prince or a Princess. Everyone gets to play.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a very imperfect analogy. Disney World for me is like a little sliver of light that shines through the gap under the door into a dark room. It is, in spite of its imperfections like the city on a hill that draws people to it because of the light that it gives off. We should be that way. Jesus was that way. Imperfect people wanted to be around Jesus. Jesus allowed everyone to come near. Because he paid the entrance fee, everyone gets to come into the true Magic Kingdom; God‘s Magic Kingdom.
Young and old, rich and poor, woman and men, gay and straight…everyone gets to play.
Every tongue, every tribe, every nation…it does sound like a Magic Kingdom.
word of a woman 
Love it!! Everyone gets to play. I shared this on Sunday during the intro at church. Cathy and I were talking and she said her mission was unity. She loves getting people together and connecting people. She said its like a line of ants all headed to the same place and there are the stragglers and those who are going in all sorts of different directions, but really they all are just going to feed the queen. But everyone gets to go! Its where I got my fb post from Sunday “As we journey through life let us hug the hurt, grab the stragglers, love the broken and care for the needy.”
Everyone gets to be apart of the kingdom =)
Reblogged this on word of a woman and commented:
This week we were with the kids at Disney World I was reminded of this post I wrote after a previous trip to the Magic Kingdom so I thought I would share it with you again…
I really like the idea about the church being open to all (Matthew 9), even if it might not condone certain things that people inside and outside it sometimes do. Best wishes, and God bless! =)