The Kingdom of Heaven

I have recently come to visual contact with the term kingdom of heaven and it led me to some of these thoughts...

The kingdom of heaven has been a complex idea since its birth. It has led to a conquest of lands, approval of deaths, and oppression of particular people groups. Not only has the term 'kingdom of heaven' turned people off from Christianity, it has led people to leave "Christianity" due to the history of the term.
In my own life I have gone through many different understandings of the term 'kingdom of heaven'. In my youth I described the term as a great warehouse of people who believed in God and were willing to 'take back the land for his kingdoms sake'. Thankfully God took me away from the mass heresy and put me at a bible college where I learned the theological understanding of the term kingdom of heaven. A nice professor with a beaming bald head and a high pitched voice taught me that the kingdom of heaven is here but still not here. In simple man's words, Jesus brought down the kingdom of heaven, its just not fully here till he comes back again. The only reason I remember that much of it is because he would put the A.C on full blast in the month of October at 7 am on any given weekday.
I, understandably of course started running away from the term kingdom of heaven. I didn't like what it stood for and how instead of giving hope for people, it brought despair. Not only were Christians using the term for personal gain, so were other religions and people of different faiths.
Most recently though, during the last year I have been confronted more and more with the idea of the 'kingdom of heaven'. My pastor would talk about the term and what it means in our life today. Me being the pessismesstic and realist didn't believe him and accused him of wrong doing. I didn't know what he did wrong, I just knew there was something wrong. Me, once again being the 'humble' one started doing my own research to prove him wrong on the idea of the term 'kingdom of heaven'.
I was dumbfounded to realize that he was right. And this is now what I believe the term 'kingdom of heaven' means when Christ spoke during his lifetime.
When Christ spoke to the large crowd and the disciples, I would think that there were some poor in the crowd. That it wasn't like how our church's are today with the nice chairs and the lined up pews filled with our Sunday suits, Sunday socks, and Sunday shoes. That Jesus' gathering of people on that mountainside included; the poor, the meek, the mourning, the truth-seekers, and maybe even the righteous. I believe that Jesus was trying to teach that the kingdom of heaven isn't some secluded club like Curves is with a sign at the door screaming, "Only certain people allowed in". He was trying to teach that its an inclusive club with the door open, begging for people to come and join the party. Jesus also taught that the kingdom of heaven isn't something that needs to be taken, its already here. I've learned that it lives within our midst. That the kingdom of heaven is within our touch even, the touch of another human being. The kingdom of heaven is not for the proud or haughty where Jesus taught in one of his parables about how a Pharisee and the teacher of the Law would not help the Jewish man who was beaten and robbed at the road.
The kingdom of heaven is for the Samaritan. For the half-breeds and the marginalized. For the people who were passed by because of race, gender, or a lack of wealth. I have learned that the kingdom of heaven is for all and that if nobody wants to be a part of the kingdom, its fine. I will be honest with all of you. The hard part was not realizing what Christ meant when he said the term kingdom of heaven. The hard part is moving from the 'knowing' to the doing of the kingdom of heaven that Christ calls us too.
So here I am now. Hoping that I may live out to the best of my ability, the kingdom of heaven. Or in simple man's words, "The Kingdom of Love".