Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
- Matthew 6:10

Ten years ago next week, Britain voted Leave. The campaign slogan was "Take Back Control". It was powerful because it captured the feeling that the wrong people are in charge. Brexit didn't fix it, and now we've developed a habit of firing Prime Ministers.

Who is in control? Who should be?

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray: Your kingdom come, your will be done. It's a prayer that says,  "May you, God, take back control. Your rule. Your reign. Your will".

The Bible has a word for what that looks like: shalom. Not just peace in the sense of quiet, but wholeness, flourishing, justice, and right relationships. The prophet Isaiah pictures it as a world so saturated with the knowledge of God that a toddler plays safely beside a viper's den. That's how different things would be.

Humanity was made to rule — kings and queens of creation, under the authority of the Creator. We seized more than our authority. And the result is estrangement in every direction: from God, from each other, from creation itself.

That's why we need the Kingdom to come. It comes through Jesus, but not by violent regime change, but by going to the deeper roots. Healing the sick. Freeing the oppressed. And finally, at the cross, meeting the powers of evil and defeating them.

This is a prayer for people hungry for change. One day, the Kingdom will come in its fullness. That’s what we ask for - that the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. The question is, will we have spent the time that we have learning to receive it? We are hungry for change in the world, but also in ourselves. May we be people who pray this prayer, and people who are this prayer.