The Emerging Reign of God
Lisa and I keynoted the Georgia youth event
(Youth-a-Palooza) this past weekend. It was wonderful working with her again.
It was refreshing. The weekend theme, "Faithbook", gave us the chance to talk
the Disciples story and our individual Disciple story. We each had the
opportunity to give a homily during worship. The theme for Sunday morning was
the emerging kingdom of God. How do you connect to it, live in it, and connect
to others in the kingdom of God. These are my words from Sunday
morning.
What is the kingdom of God like? What is it
like living in a world where God’s reign means blessing? Look around:
You, are the emerging kingdom of God. A kinship of community in an
overstimulated world of information and emotion moving faster than light or
sound.
Here in the
21st
century in a multi-lingual culture of written, digital and spoken word the idea
of hearing about God in our native language is not a big deal. We can hear many
languages each day.. Spin through the TV channels and depending on your cable
package or time of day you can hear and see the diverse, multi-lingual world.
Have you ever traveled to a place where you did not know the language? A place
where you needed a translator? Someone who could help you understand how to ask
for water, for directions, for something to eat. The Pentecost story is a
reminder: You are a translator for the emerging reign of
God.
The reign of God is already here,
but not yet . . . fully realized. It is like watching a movie trailer, and
having to wait for the movie to come to a theatre near you. You get glimpses of
the Reign of God at camp, at youth group, when you live out of abundance instead
of mine and yours. You get a glimpse when you listen to a grieving friend or
help someone you don’t know. You get a glimpse at
Youth-a-Palooza.
What does good news
sound like in the emerging reign of God in places where weapons fire,
explosions, land mines or suicide bombers are part of daily life? It sounds
like Dialogue, Conversation and Compromise that is void of shouts or finger
pointing or swearing revenge. It sounds like children laughing instead of
crying and a language that doesn’t include the word
war.
What does good news sound like in
places where the beauty of the earth has become lava flows, mud slides, frozen
land, flood waters, wind blown or famine filled? It sounds like opening boxes
filled with blankets and clean up kits. Rustling bags of flour or wheat and the
thump of bottles of drinking water. It sounds like someone tearing a check from
a checkbook, the clink of change dropped into a collection plate or kettle.
Banging hammers, shoveled dirt, chain saws, and bulldozers. It is the beep beep
of a truck backing up to pick up trash and rubble, the sizzle of electricity
pulsing through lines, and the flip of a switch that powers lights,
refrigerators, and heat. It sounds like, “What can I do to help?”
What does good news sound like close to
home? It sounds like a door closing at your local food pantry or homeless
shelter for the last time because poverty is no longer an issue here. You might
hear good news in the bass thump of hip hop, in the two step tones of country,
in the blues, in a driving guitar riff or favorite hymn. You might catch a
glimpse of good news on film, “be a miracle” or challenged to
“free your mind” or realize that your life means something in the
ringing of bells.(1)
WHAT DOES GOOD NEWS
in the emerging reign of God LOOK LIKE? A church, a mosque, a temple, a
community of faith or group of concerned citizens that make Fair housing,
quality education, equal opportunity, good public transportation, and affordable
health care happen for everyone. The kingdom of God, the reign of God looks
like you.
Think about it this way. The
younger kids at your church are watching. What hymns do you sing or not. Is
the sanctuary a place to be loud or quiet? Where can I run and play? Is there
anything important about what we do around the table at the front of the church?
If it is important why is it so hard to find people to help serve or pray? If
something about church is important why do some want to sleep in or go to soccer
practice instead of worship or youth
group?
Is a cross or fish around your
neck a statement or jewelry? What will it mean the next time you are hanging
out where they are making fun of someone because of their parents, hair, or
clothing, or laugh when someone tells a joke about a person of another color or
religion and you don’t
object?
Learning the language of faith is
easy . . . living that language takes a lifetime. And your friends are
watching. There are already a lot of people who claim to be followers of Jesus
that measure faith and goodness by what they don’t do, by what they deny
themselves and others, by what they resist and who they exclude. Maybe
Disciples need to measure faith and goodness by what we embrace, what we create,
and who we include.
If asked I think
Jesus would say that Good News in the emerging kingdom of God has more to do
with the words from Matthew 22:37, “love God and love your neighbor as
yourself” rather than John 3:16, “God so loved the world . .
.”
Those who stood and spoke that
first Pentecost probably didn’t wake up thinking they would be
translators. They were hanging out, waiting, going about their lives and
practicing the things that Jesus taught. Sometimes you hear someone speak of
seeing the world through the eyes of a child. Those first disciples were seeing
God, seeing their sisters and brothers, seeing foreigners and strangers through
the eyes of Jesus. You are the emerging reign of God. The Pentecost story
dramatizes what can happen when human beings get “fired
up.”
The problem for us is in the
centuries that have followed Pentecost day is that Christians have more often
gotten “fired up” over the meaning of John 3:16 instead of living
Matthew 22:37. Maybe it is because it is easer for human beings to believe in a
miracle rather than be a miracle?(2) The Pentecost story is a good reminder of
what the world can be like when you hear good news in your native language and
live as if the kingdom of God is already here. . .not just our words only, but
our actions, your living. Look around. You are the emerging kingdom of God.
Those next to you and across from you. They are your connection to something
bigger than yourself, your balance, the very face of God and voice of Jesus.
They are a part of your faithbook now.
Start now! Connect the dots. Free
your mind. Live the stories. Be the miracle. Just do it. You are living in
the emerging kingdom of God.
Translators
needed!
Note
1.
Quotes from the films: "Bruce Almighty," "The Matrix," "It's a Wonderful
Life".
2. Lisa, my companion, said something
very similar to this during her installation address as full professor at LTS,
2004.
Filed Mon - January 12, 2009, 08:53 AM in
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