What Kind of Kingdom? What kind of King?
Some years ago, I got to see a real king. A real king in
person. 1976, in Seattle – Shilshole Bay Marina. The King of Sweden was
going to be part of a public ceremony by the Leif Erickson statue.
I was somewhat disappointed. Everyone on the dais wore standard-issue suits for the occasion. No pomp. No circumstance. No sash, sword, robes, crown, or scepter. Just a man in a nice business suit.
I complained about it to my mother. Her response?
Isn’t that nice! He’s
normal – just like us. He gets to walk around and hang with people – just like
us.
What a concept! A king who’s able to blend in and spend time
with people – just like us.
Some years ago – even further back in time: The Day the Earth Stood Still – a man has
come from far away to visit earth – to bring peace. He gets shot and wounded,
escapes from Walter Reed where he’s being cared for, and decides to spend time
getting to know what kind of people we earth people are. What he discovers is
that, for the most part, we’re scared.
We are fearful.
Scared of nuclear war; scared of communism; scared of things we don’t
understand; scared to change.
That was 50 or 60 years ago, and it seems like we’re still
scared.
Every time I turn on the news there’s a new health scare; We
see children being murdered in their schools, worshipers being murdered in
their churches and mosques; we’re getting older and access to healthcare seems
more and more to be at risk; friends and neighbors – people of color – being
swept up and detained without access to legal aid.
Fear is a normal,
healthy, human trait, but for many of us, that fear has gone into overdrive and
become HIGH ANXIETY.
When I was young, our family did not go to church. We went
occasionally, though, and in Sunday school I remember the teachers telling us
about Jesus. Jesus was a good shepherd. Jesus loved to have children sit in his
lap. Jesus told us God is love. But I couldn’t believe it. If there was a God, I was sure I was going to hell. I was sure I could
never measure up. No one ever told me God was mean. I never had people stress God was vengeful, and yet there was something about my own self-image that assured me I was beyond hope, beyond help, beyond God's ability to accept, let alone "save".
But then one day – I don’t know how; I don’t know why – it
hit me. I had my conversion experience. It’s not about me measuring up, but about God reaching down
and hauling me up.
If religion is about me trying to please God and never being
sure I’ve made the grade, our faith is about God who opens the door when we
knock and goes, “Wow,
What a surprise! Come on in!!!”
A young woman tells the story of going to confession. She
was in grade school. I don’t know what sort of sins or misdeeds an 8 year old
could confess – they should have bounced off the priest like kernels of popcorn
– but he looked at her through the screen and said, “You’re going to hell!”
I don’t know what sort of monster he was to say that to a
child (I can picture the sign over his booth: “Abandon Hope all ye who enter here”)
and while there’s a side of me that would like to think he went to perdition
when he died, I think God probably gave him a place at the Pearlie Gates, and
his job is to greet people as they arrive and say, “Hi. I’m Father Paddy O’Rourke*, and I was
wrong. Come on in!” * Not his real name
Jesus tells a story: Pearl
of Great Price. That’s the Gospel! God is this raggedy little merchant who
travels from place to place. Finds a special little jewel: “Ah, I’ve GOT to have that!” Sells all to acquire it. Sound familiar? Selling it
all? That’s Good Friday! Gaining the Pearl? That’s Easter Sunday, when the
oyster opens up and Christ comes out. The Gospel? YOU and I are the Pearl of
Great Price. And out there: More pearls!
“Go get ‘em,” says
Jesus. Remember the Great Commission? Go;
Make Disciples of ALL people; Baptize them (cleanse, forgive); and Teach them!”
As we close out Year A, I am reminded of Karl Barth, who summarized our faith
this way: ♪♪♪ Jesus
loves me
…♪♪♪ I suggest we go and do likewise, in Jesus' Name.
