Five Views of the Kingdom

Preached again yesterday at the church where we are now members. It was based on the Gospel lesson from Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52.

One of the fun things about writing a sermon has always been the research- which in my case is usually a fancy word for wasting time looking up semi-relevant information. I had a couple of really good opportunities in this morning's Gospel.

I started with something Father Justin planted in my brain one Sunday last year about the idea of "Kingdom." That is a word that is not an often used- and probably less understood word in our 21st Century world. Since this word is at the center of today's Gospel, I decided to play some word games with it. I dug through my computer Thesaurus and synonym finder and found some interesting replacements. 

Some of the expected words came up- domain, place of rule, country, nation, realm. But they also had their issues based on politics or lack of general usage. Territory came up. That has some potential since a territory is an area that is under the control or jurisdiction of a country, state, etc. But that feels a little too legalistic. I found the word "turf" which the rebellious side of me liked- Sort of like Fonzie as God- this is my turf. Nah. Not the right attitude. Then came the word neighborhood. Hmmm. That has a nice feel to it. I thought of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and the calm, peaceful atmosphere he provided there. We are in the neighborhood of God. A safe place to go where a visitor or stranger could feel right at home. That's good. 

Finally came a down-to-earth kind of phrase: Neck of the woods. The neck of the woods where heaven is made real. Which, for me, picks up the sense that Jesus is using in this passage this morning. 

Jesus gives us five descriptions of God's neighborhood and how people respond to it. It is not about control or even "turf." It is about experience and value. He tells us that the kingdom, the neighborhood is like a mustard seed  or leavening, what we call yeast. It is like a treasure in a field or a pearl of unlimited value. It is an all-encompassing net thrown into the sea pulling all into it. When you are in heaven's neck of the woods, something happens.

Jesus' first two descriptions are surprising. We are not talking about good things here. The mustard plant is an invasive species. The local farmers of Jesus audience would not have thought it something to cultivate. And it doesn't take much. Just a tiny seed does all that- or at least gets all that started. 

The same is true of leavening agents. Here is where, as a bread baker, I took another research detour and was reminded that what Jesus is talking about is not a package of Fleishmann's yeast from Hy-Vee. He is talking about that little lump of yesterday's dough known as a starter. A piece of slightly spoiled dough. Or the other way to get a leavening for bread is the heady foam from beer when it is being fermented. That was learned centuries before Jesus. But like the tiny mustard seed, leavening too doesn't take a lot and is potentially destructive. Let the sourdough starter sit too long and it's ruined. Use too much beer foam and it doesn't rise properly.

Why then would Jesus use an invasive weed or yeast to talk about God's neighborhood? Well, and this is an interesting thought- because they both have a way of spreading beyond anything you could have imagined. They are both powerful in spite of their seeming smallness. The neck of the woods where heaven is made real doesn't take a lot to get started, but wow! when it starts, it can be like that sourdough starter that you can never get rid of- and don't want to- it just keeps providing load after loaf.

Pretty valuable I would say which leads to the next two- the treasure and the pearl. This kingdom- this neighborhood surprises and delights us when we discover, even stumble upon its peace and joy. It is so great we are willing to bet the house on it. You don't want to lose it. You want to pull it in. You want to embrace it. The first church members 2000 years ago obviously felt that way. This teaching resonated with them. 

The first members of Alcoholics Anonymous 80 years ago responded the same way about their new and revolutionary idea for recovery from alcoholism. They put it down in their text- If you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it- then you are ready. No wonder some contemporary theologians see AA as a model of the church- and maybe even God's neck of the woods.

At first glance this all seems like some pie-in-the-sky idealism. Is God's Kingdom worth THAT much? Would I be willing to put all my savings, life, and future on that presence? Would living daily in God's neighborhood be worth that? Many over the years have believed that the answer to that is "yes." It doesn't take much to get it started- that pinch of sourdough or that tiny mustard seed in one's experience and suddenly things have changed. A commentary asked the question: I wonder, not simply would I be able to risk everything for the treasure hidden in the field, but would I even know the treasure worth risking for, if I came upon it?

The writer went on to say: Life is short. If there is anything worse than not reaching your goals, it's setting goals too low and reaching them. We can get life, oh, but adventure, treasure, the life worth living? God help us. We sell out too quickly, we settle for too little, we make nothing more important than money, and thereby we miss the treasure.

Which I think brings me to the fifth  simile Jesus used- the net, cast out into the widest waters possible. The neck of the woods where you can find the peace, joy and hope of God is not a narrowly defined location on a map. Nor is it a narrowly defined set of rituals, activities, theology, or ideologies. You get started and see where it leads. Later it gets sorted out. Not necessarily just at the end of time as in that passage, but also as we allow ourselves to experience more of the eternal life in the here and now, we will grow. The little seeds or the pinch of leavening within our own lives and souls will slowly permeate. It will fill us to overflowing- to life abundant. It will let us know that this is a safe neighborhood. It has a way of spreading beyond anything you have ever imagined.

Which is why I have no doubt that Paul knew that. In the end that is what he is talking about in that wondrous final section of Romans 8:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That's a neck of the woods worth exploring.

Just as a postlude, the following quote was posted by a friend on Facebook. Just thought it was worth passing on:

"Sermons: every week another one hanging around your neck like a penance, supporting the traditional assumption, from the days when the priest was the only person in the village who could read, that you could stand up there in the pulpit having universal truths channelled through you, when all you really had were questions."--Phil Rickman, The Smile of a Ghost: A Merrily Watkins Mystery (Macmillan, 2005), 69.

How Very Sad...

...and delusional.

I have waited a few days since the end of the world to make any more posts. In that time Mr. Camping has come out with his explanation. Sadly it was not an, "Ooops. Made a mistake." Not really. Instead he rambles and makes new predictions. He says he was off by five months. The end will come on Oct. 21. Here are some quotes as reported by AP on Yahoo! News:

"worked [it] out as accurately as I could have."

"We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning. The fact is there is only one kind of people who will ascend into heaven ... if God has saved them they're going to be caught up."

[May 21 was] a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment.

I feel sorry for people like Jeff Hopkins who spent a great deal of money driving around with a sign on his car in order to publicize the end of the world...

"I've been mocked and scoffed and cursed at and I've been through a lot with this lighted sign on top of my car. I was doing what I've been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I've been stymied. It's like getting slapped in the face."

Oh, Camping won't be doing any more warning. He insists that May 21 was the day when judgment and salvation were completed. No more warnings. We are on our own now.

Why is it that we spend so much time and energy on publicizing the extremes who clearly have little of substance to offer our faith? Why is it that the people who are doing their faith, living at the edges of their spirituality's hope, and making a real difference for the Kingdom of God are ignored?  Is it any wonder that the non-faithful people think we religious people are nothing but kooks?

God must get very tired of all of us in our human weakness.

No, thank God that God DOESN't get tired of us in our human weakness!

The Life of the Party

Consider this, my variation on my wife's sermon start this weekend:

They signed up to do God's work. That's what it was all about, wasn't it? The political junkie was ready to overthrow the oppressive government. The fisherman was looking for people to convince. The quiet mystic was thinking about those hours in contemplation of the ways of God as it is taught by the Rabbi. Others are looking for adventure or a change of scenery.

So where does he take them?

To a wedding.

And what does he do first?

He changes water into wine.

That doesn't sound like either the Jesus of Sunday School teaching or the Big Hairy Audacious Goal-incarnation of MISSION. Instead it's an earthy, commonplace celebration of life. Maybe all work and no play is as real for followers of Jesus as it was for whoever made it into a parable. Come to think of it, a lot of Jesus' miracles were down-to-earth. After all, they were with people facing the down-to-earth problems of living and dying.

But a party? Is that mission? He even keeps it a secret.

But it isn't about him- it's about the Kingdom of God. The way the world can become more and more the place where God is present. What's wrong with God being present at a wedding and helping them celebrate?

Tony Campolo, in a sermon titled The Kingdom of God is a Party, tells the story of throwing a birthday party at 3:30 in the morning for a local prostitute. When asked what kind of a church he preached at, he answered

"I preach at a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning."

"No you don't," said one of the others. "I would join a church like that."

Which Tony points out, is exactly the kind of community Jesus came to start!

That is the Kingdom of God!

Again on Ted Kennedy

"I recognize my own shortcomings -- the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realize that I alone am responsible for them, and I am the one who must confront them. I believe that each of us as individuals must not only struggle to make a better world, but to make ourselves better, too."

-- Sen. Edward Kennedy, in a speech at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Oct. 25, 1991

Found the quote at The Dude Abides and thought it would be the start for a few expanded thoughts on the passing of an icon, legend, and larger-than-life presence for 47 years.

1) The biggest complaints I heard in the past week about the reporting and coverage of Ted Kennedy's death was that no one was mentioning his shortcomings. It was almost as if doing so would have knocked Kennedy down a peg or two in the place he is taking in American political history. No more than Thomas Jefferson having a child by his slave can take away from his very considerable contribution or Lincoln's depression or FDR and Eisenhower (and others) having mistresses. Ted lived bigger-than-life for many reasons. He made mistakes which he somewhat readily admitted, but only as any of our clay-feeted politicians. His son, Patrick, mentioned his own struggles at the memorial on Saturday. These are the known situations. Larger-than-life people; great people; often have great flaws. How they live with them and overcome them says more about the person than we care to admit.

None of us can or will ever know what went on in the depths of Ted Kennedy's heart and soul. We will not know the pain that may have been part of his driving force, the remorse that ate at him but which he used as fuel for his desire for service. In that he is no better or worse than any of us who are driven by our own demons and angels.

The Dude Abides blog had this quote to sum this up:

In an Associated Press report from Dublin earlier this week, an Irish everyman -- Joe Drennan, a 68-year-old contractor from County Cork who was among those waiting in a line outside the U.S. Embassy to leave his condolences for the Kennedy family -- summed up Sen. Kennedy's legacy beautifully.

"He had his peccadilloes, like all of us . . . but boy, did he overcome them," Drennan said. "He overcame the biggest obstacle in his life -- and that was himself."

2) As odd as it may seem, it was only this past week that I realized that Ted was not the also-ran with his brothers. Death at an early age in the manner that Jack and Bobby died give them an immediate memory and presence. It is their shortened potential that makes us stop and ponder who they were and what they did. In my mind, Bobby will always be the big question of what could have been in so many different areas of American life.

But Ted who was always the "baby brother" managed to do what the others were able to do- make an indelible change by his own work. JFK and RFK continue to inspire and motivate some of us now aging boomers and '60s liberals. That's due to memory. Ted has inspired Gen X and Gen Y and Millennials. Ted has worked for equal rights and civil rights. Women, gays, minorities, the poor- the nation- have benefited. Among his good friends were poor people and Republicans. He modeled passion and care and ways of having fun. He modeled the willingness to stand up and do what one feels is needed- essential.

There were many stories of his care that came out in the past week, like his calling all families of 9/11 victims and keeping in touch with them. He made a life out of keeping in touch with people which was a deep and abiding part of who he was.

3) Listening to some of the commentary on Saturday morning public radio, they spent a good amount of time talking about Ted's faith and the wrestling he did with his understanding of how that plays out in life. One referred to his work as a way of living out the Kingdom of God as envisioned in Matthew.

Matthew 25:34-40 -- "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' (NIV)

They talked about how his views on issues at times clashed with official church positions. He never wavered from what he felt was right. He lived and breathed his faith as well as any of us, but did not allow other people's interpretations to sidetrack him when he was convinced. That, too, is something to hold up. He may not have been your typical "religious" person (whatever that may be. But he was as unashamed of his faith as he was of his political views.

It was good to hear such a balanced and knowledgeable conversation of faith and public life on the radio. No hysterics, no scare tactics from any side of the issue. It was a good example of how Ted himself would have handled it.

4) Overall, I felt like the past week was more a celebration of who we are as Americans than just about Ted Kennedy. His life and death, his place in our national life for so long, led us to that point. Just as Ronald Reagan's death a few years ago opened us to some of that same dialogue, any such national event will call into our awareness who we are as citizens of this amazing democracy. To watch both sides of the political aisle stand and praise Kennedy was to watch our American life in action. Let us hope that that era of American life never comes to an end.

Sundays Come and Sundays Go
We all know there's one every week. Sundays come and Sundays go. Year in and year out, for 2000 years, we have had a Lord's Day every week. Or at least those of us who celebrate Christianity recognize it as the Lord's Day. But let's me real. It is not THE Lord's Day. That one is waiting to happen. Here's how John saw at least a glimpse of it in a vision.

Rev. 7:9-12 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"

Quite an image. Every time I have read or heard it I have been overwhelmed by what it has to say. Innumerable, uncountable, seemingly infinite collection of those who believe. But even more remarkable and mind-boggling is the world into which this vision came. It was a world of oppression and death and fear and uncertainty. It was a world dominated by Rome and the hated dictatorship of the Caesar. Not a world that we in the United States can even begin to imagine.

But we are perhaps in the minority among Christians. In his remarkable book, The New Faces of Christianity Philip Jenkins describes a much different world. It is the world of the 3rd and 4th worlds, many countries of which are located in the global south. There they know famine and starvation and drought without much assistance. They know cruel dictatorships and persecution. As a result they often are given visions and gifts of discernment that we have sublimated beneath our "proper" ways of living in our world. They read the Bible with eyes that I cannot even conceive. They are living the world of Revelation.

When they turn to John's words they see life for themselves. They see hope for their children. They see the promise fulfilled that no matter what happens around them, God is still on His throne and all is well and all will be well. That multitude is not a distant vision it is God's reality today.

In big theological words it is called "realized eschatology." That's just a fancy way of saying, in essence, that the Kingdom of God is not something we have to wait for. It is here. Today. It may not be in its fullest. Sin and fear and death and violence still appear to control the world. But reality is far more than it seems. Two thousand years of Sundays are not just history, they are the celebration that each day is the Lord's Day and the Kingdom is alive and well.