Kin-dom: the new Jerusalem

Transcription

1 Kin-dom: the new Jerusalem Scripture: Revelation 21:1 22:7 I have the great privilege of serving on our denomination s ordination committee, known locally as Section A. When a person who feels the call to ordained ministry has completed her official time of discernment and preparation, she writes a paper and submits it to Section A. The paper serves as proof of her understanding of theology and church structure and history, and provides us with a foundation for conversation. Different people approach the paper in very different ways. On Friday, we met with a candidate who had used traditional theological categories to talk about what she believed. One of the categories she used was eschatology, which is another word for the study of the end times, or eschaton. One of my colleagues on the committee, a lay person who has served on Section A for over five years, said he had never seen the word. He asked the candidate why she had written about the end times, and whether anyone really cared anymore what happened after death. His question was a very typical one in liberal Christian circles: we don t know what s going to happen after death, and Jesus message is all about our living now, so why even talk about the end times the eschaton, the kingdom of God at all? But we do care. We care desperately. Books about the end times like the Left Behind series sells in the tens of millions. Bumper stickers plaster cars. And it s not just those who believe in the rapture who care about the coming kingdom. I spend quite a bit of time with folks when they ve lost a loved one, and the number one statement I hear when I help a family prepare for a funeral is, well, at least he s in a better place now. We care very much about what we call the next life. We hope that death is at least as good as life, and in our darkest hours we pray that there is life after death, and that it is better than life here. I said before that a lot of us believe that the message of Jesus, and the point of Christ, is purely about this life here lived with God and humankind. Some of us believe that the kingdom of God the one for which we pray every Sunday when we say Thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven is about only about justice and mercy right here right now. We have rejected the cartoon version of heaven and questionable deathbed conversions so strongly that we believe that our relationship with God is only about being nice to each other, doing good works, and wanting decent standards of living for people far away. I am coming to believe that we trivialize our relationship with God and God s people when we think it is purely about the now. We reduce God s connection to us to a political statement about social ills. When we discard the promise and the prayer for the kingdom the in heaven part as well as the on earth part, we trivialize resurrection. We trivialize new life. We trivialize God s unimaginable powers of healing and reconciliation. When thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven becomes a slogan merely about the powers and the principalities now, we reduce God s will to the outcome of an election, or the funding of a vaccination campaign. Copyright 2004, Rev. Elane O Rourke, Congregational Church of Campbell. All rights reserved

2 We realize that the kingdom of God is not a heaven out there, distant in time and space. The kingdom of God is not the result of a final horrific battle of good and evil, between Christ and the anti-christ, the US and whatever country we re mad at this week. The kingdom of God is not just a better version of Thanksgiving, but with all the people you love arriving on time and with your team winning the bowl games. The kingdom of God is not Warren Beatty in sweatshirt and wings playing his trumpet and throwing a football. And the kingdom of God is not merely enough food for everyone on the planet, but with your own life unaffected by the change. So what is the kingdom? God s will is nothing less than God s desire for us to live in perfect connection with God and others and to live in the fullness of God s time. It is true that God s will is not a football game, decided in the last few moments by a single pass. It is also true that the kingdom of God is not simply rhetoric, a way of speaking about earthly justice. God s kingdom is a new lens, a new life, a new relationship, a new way of thinking. God s kingdom is the new Jerusalem, eternity and the present merged: loving God with all your focus and attention, and living in Kairos. The kingdom of God is no less than a complete overturning of the way things are now. The kingdom of God is new life. The kingdom of God is new relationship, new ways of thinking, new ways of being. The kingdom of God is a new lens it is seeing and living and feeling and thinking through the lens of God instead of through our own. Notice that in the scripture it is not just people leaving earth for heaven. It is a new earth and a new heaven taking the place of the old. So if the world as it was in the first century or the world as it is now is Jerusalem the kingdom of God is not just a somewhat better Jerusalem. The kingdom of God is a new Jerusalem. And if the kingdom of God is a new creation, that means it isn t just now. It isn t just in the future. The kingdom of God is eternal past present future one with God and time. The kingdom of God is Kairos, and hence we pray on earth as it is in heaven one reality, one whole- and holi-ness. We should not wonder, then, at the fantastic images of God s revelation to John! God gave John the vision God broke into the world, shattering and transforming it, and prepared it to receive God 1 in the language we learned last week. No wonder John wrote the madness and glory that he did! So what is the kingdom of God? What, in all of the images and themes of Revelation can we extract as God s promise, God s real Kairos? In the kingdom, the home of God is among mortals. God lives with us, and we are God s people. God is with us, not just as a warm fuzzy feeling or an abstract belief far away, but in our very midst. In the kingdom, in life lived in the fullness of God, if you are crying now, God will wipe every tear from your eyes. If you are mourning now, you have to know that death will be no more. 1 From Living in God s time, a sermon preached October 10, 2004, at the Congregational Church of Campbell, United Church of Christ, quoting Mark Woodward, Kairos God s Time, October 9, 2003, in CowPi Journal, a weblog at abridged. Copyright 2004, Rev. Elane O Rourke, Congregational Church of Campbell. All rights reserved

3 I m not just talking about physical death, my brothers and sisters, though Jesus showed us that physical death is conquered once and for all. I m talking about the death that is guilt. I m talking about the death that is abuse. I m talking about the death that is shame. I m talking about the death that is addiction. I m talking about the death that is low self-esteem. I m talking about the death that is fear. It doesn t mean you ll never suffer. It doesn t mean you ll never struggle. But in the kingdom of God in a life lived in the full presence of God, in the new creation, in the new Jerusalem you need not live any longer alone and abandoned in a death of your own making. For Jesus Christ has conquered death, and God has shown us through him that we need not live in death. In the kingdom, the walls and gates that we put up to keep ourselves safe are no longer needed. When we live in the presence of God, we may be vulnerable, but we are always safe. When we live in the kingdom, the walls that we put up to protect ourselves from danger, from strangers, from destruction, the walls that we put up to protect ourselves from exposure, from honesty, from intimacy, in the kingdom of God the walls may still be there, but the gates are always open. We will be more vulnerable than we have ever been, but we will be safe. And everyone is welcome into the reign of God. John wrote that all the glory and honor of all the nations will come in, because everyone may approach the throne of God. The twelve tribes the warring nations, the families torn apart, the brothers and sisters killed and scattered, the ones we hate, the ones we hurt, the ones who hurt us all are welcome, and all live in the light of God, welcomed, healed, fed, nurtured, loved. Everyone even those cast out, even those who are shunned, even those who are talked about, even those injured, even those killed, even those whose spirits are worn down or shackled everyone is welcome. Everyone is healing. Everyone may enter those permanently open gates. Everyone is welcome in the reign of God. And there in the midst is God. In the kingdom, we are no longer distracted from full relationship with God. Our flesh is no longer a barrier. Our jobs are no longer a burden. Our health is no longer a detriment. Our kids are no longer the main focus. In the kingdom of God, our hearts and souls and minds and strength are fixed on the lamp that lights up the night sky. In the kingdom of God we live our lives focused on God, and the rest falls into place. Faith stops being a Yes to a belief system and becomes a spiritual practice, a way of life. God shall be in our midst, no longer a Sunday activity, but a 24/7 fullness of life and hope and real love. My brothers and my sisters, if the reign of God is not over there somewhere, not a heaven to aspire to but a reality of God s time in eternity (which is now), then God reigns. God rules. And the kingdom the kin-dom, the home of God where God s family may live together vulnerable, healed, and loved is now. Here. The kin-dom of heaven is within our reach when we choose to make faith not a statement of belief but a practice, a lifestyle, a way of life. Let us all pray together thy kin-dom come. Let us all live together thy kin-dom come. Let thy kin-dom come. Amen. Copyright 2004, Rev. Elane O Rourke, Congregational Church of Campbell. All rights reserved

4 Scripture: Listen for the word of God in John s vision: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And then I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them as their God; they will be God s people, and God will be with them; God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away. And the One who was seated on the throne said, See, I am making all things new. Also, the One said, Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true. Then the One said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolators, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Then one of the seven angels came and said to me, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And in the spirit the angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and God s servants will worship God; they will see God s face, and God s name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Copyright 2004, Rev. Elane O Rourke, Congregational Church of Campbell. All rights reserved

5 And the angel said to me, These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent this angel to show God s servants what must soon take place. See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Copyright 2004, Rev. Elane O Rourke, Congregational Church of Campbell. All rights reserved