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

At the very beginning of the musical Hamilton, there is a scene in which the titular character and Aaron Burr bump into one another on the street. Alexander Hamilton can’t believe his luck because—as it would turn out—Burr is just the person who he has been hoping to meet. At this point in the show, Hamilton is hungry for both revolution and for a college education. He wants to do an accelerated course of study and then join the fight for independence. The problem is that he is having trouble finding a school that is willing to agree to these terms. He had heard through the grapevine that Aaron Burr had managed to graduate from Princeton in less than four years, so, meeting Burr on the street like this is perhaps the luckiest thing that has ever happened to young Hamilton. Almost immediately, Hamilton launches into a long explanation of who he is, of what he is trying to do, and of why he thinks that Burr could possibly help.

As Hamilton goes on and on—eventually getting around to his dreams of fighting in the revolution—Burr interrupts him to ask if he would like some advice. Advice is really what Hamilton wanted in the first place, so of course, he says yes. Unfortunately for Hamilton, though, Burr’s advice is not quite what he was hoping to hear. In fact, it doesn’t even reference Hamilton’s current problem of trying to get through school fast enough so that he can also fight. “Talk less,” Burr tells him, with a grin. “Smile more.”

Hamilton is not a religious play, nor is the playwright a religious person, and yet, I can’t help but to see the parallels between this advice from Aaron Burr and what Jesus is saying to His disciples as He spells out for them this second part of what will eventually be known as The Lord’s Prayer. We human beings are opinion-laden people. We all have our own ideas about what the world should look like, and about how we should all be behaving in order to make that vision a reality. Sometimes, we even communicate our visions by using the same sort of language that Jesus uses here—by presenting what we want as God’s will. But are our hopes and dreams really God’s will? Have we taken the time to ask God about what we want in relation to His will, and then to listen to what He might have to say about it? Or have we just made assumptions? Have we been doing all of the talking when we really should have been listening?

As followers of Christ, we are allegiant to God’s kingdom and to God’s kingdom alone. To paraphrase Richard Rohr, if we are to pray “thy kingdom come”, then we must also pray “my kingdom go.” It is important for us to find clarity around what values are God’s values and what values are our values. They are not always the same, and sometimes, we don’t realize that until we take the time to have that conversation with God. If the value is diametrically at odds with God’s kingdom, then we have to begin the hard process of letting that value go. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, we must have a willingness to listen if we our hearts are in the right place, but the answer is still “no”. There are occasionally moments in life where our values are very much in line with God’s, and what we want might be exactly what God’s kingdom is like, and yet—we might not be called to do that particular thing at that particular moment. A life that is lived in step with Jesus is a prayerful one. To be a person of faith is to always be listening—to always be setting down ego in exchange for the love of God.

The good news is that since God is God and we are not, that if we do—as we say in Quaker circles—outrun our guide, that the world is not going to end. We are not going to destroy everything. God is faithful even when we are not, and His faithfulness delivers. Wrongs can be righted. Brokenness can be mended. Mistakes can be redeemed. We are always, always loved, no matter what stupidity we get ourselves into. And to be clear, sometimes, action has to precede listening. As a person who is CPR certified, for example, I am not going to let someone who is need of CPR die while I wait for God to tell me if its okay to perform CPR or not. I am going to do what I can to save that person’s life. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to commit oneself to listening and to get in the practice of asking God for guidance. Paying attention and being open to being in conversation with God makes way for us to better hear from Him. Learning how to keep the pace prevents us from crossing the finish line while God is still running the race.

So, Friends, may we talk less. May we listen more. May we trust in God’s love and wisdom enough to come to Him with our opinions and our questions. And may that love sustain us whether we are behind, ahead, or moving right in step with God. May we take seriously the words “may your kingdom come; may your will be done” and let our kingdoms go.

Hannah Lutz is the pastor of Ada Chapel Friends Meeting in Wilmington.