"the kingdom of God is among you" (part 3)

Continuing an essay on four common misconceptions about the kingdom Jesus announced...


The next two common misconceptions about the kingdom of God focus more on its appearance (or lack of appearance) in the world. But these also seem to describe something much less than the kingdom Jesus announced.

3. The kingdom of God is present now only "in our hearts." This idea may have been drawn from Luke 17.21, which some have translated: "The kingdom of God is within you." And an "internal" kingdom does seem to explain why we don't see more evidence of the kingdom that Jesus announced.

But people did see and experience ample evidence of the kingdom of God in their midst at Jesus' time. People were healed, uneducated men spoke the deepest truths of God, and Jesus and his disciples lived amazing, miraculous lives. When Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them:

"Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'" (Lk 10.8-11)

Wherever they were, there the kingdom of God appeared in actual physical reality and spiritual power. They healed and taught and were fed and protected by the incredible power of God. And because of that power, the usual human limitations and social demands no longer controlled them; the upside-down kingdom existed where they stood, inside and all around them.

If that is not our experience, perhaps the reason is not that the kingdom can only exist now "in our hearts," but that we are not following Jesus like his disciples did, receiving God's kingdom with utter trust and faith, "as a child."

Continued...

"the kingdom of God is among you" (part 2)

Continuing an essay about four common misconceptions about the kingdom Jesus announced...


2. We are partners with God in the hard work of "building the kingdom of God." Again, I'm not exactly sure where this concept came from. Harkness even points out that the language of "building the kingdom" is unbiblical, but she still seems to emphasize our "efforts" and "working" and "struggle to create a new and divine order." And these ideas also seem very apparent in the Christian social justice movement. But I hear Jesus proclaiming the good news that the kingdom is God's gift to us. In the startling announcement of Jesus that "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand," and also in its final complete revelation, God's kingdom is clearly God's work, given to us. The writer of Revelation even uses the image of the kingdom of God as a city coming down from heaven (Rev 21). Whether we accept this prophecy as literal or figurative, the message seems clear: The future, full realization of God's kingdom will also be a gift from God. Not human work at all, but God's work, given to us:

[As the city was coming down] He who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."

...And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment." (Rev 21.5-6, my italics)

Relentless human effort, political struggle, and the burden of responsibility (for "building the kingdom") is very obvious in Christian activism. Overwhelming workloads and burn-out are common. Is this what Jesus called us to? Is this the good news of the kingdom of God, that we must work and struggle for years (centuries?) to build it? Compared to this, Jesus' actual words sound like incredibly good news:

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Mt 11.28-30)

God's kingdom isn't built by our efforts or through our struggling. It's offered to us now if we will receive it as God's work, God's gift, for God's glory. As Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." (Mk 10.15)

Continued...

"the kingdom of God is among you"

Here's an essay I just sent in to Jesus Manifesto, inspired by some of the recent conversations there...


"The kingdom of God is among you"
Four misconceptions about the kingdom Jesus announced

How Does the Kingdom [of God] Come? Its creation is a co-operative task involving both God and man. The pattern of a redeemed society is the thought of God. Its achievement is through the spiritual energy imparted by His spirit in human hearts, but its final consummation comes slowly through the joint efforts of God and man, working side by side, in the struggle to create a new and divine order and to make His will be done on earth as it is in heaven...

This statement appeared in Beliefs That Count, a book published in 1961 by Georgia Harkness, a prominent theologian in the Methodist church. It was used for adult Christian education. That was a while ago, but I find its description of the coming of God's kingdom quite contemporary, using images that I've noticed again and again while talking with Christians from a variety of backgrounds, Presbyterian, Catholic, Mennonite, and others. This statement also clearly illustrates two common misconceptions about the kingdom that Jesus announced.

1. The kingdom of God is coming slowly, gradually. I´m not quite sure where this idea originated. It may have been influenced by the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a popular Catholic theologian and paleontologist in the mid-1900s, whose theology was heavily influenced by the scientific evidence and theories about evolution. The idea also fits well with the ongoing work for social progress, which has had great success achieving scientific, technological, political, and economic improvements in small steps, over a long period of time.

But Jesus seemed to speak of the kingdom of God in a more immediate way, announcing that the long-awaited time of God's kingdom had arrived:

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." (Mk 1.15)

"If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Mt 12.28)

"The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Lo, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." (Lk 17.20-21)

This was (and is) startling good news, almost unbelievably good news. But Jesus´ amazing life demonstrated that something incredible was actually happening, that the kingdom of God was real and present. And he was inviting all of us into it, if we would only follow him. The life of the kingdom, the life that was seen in Jesus, could be ours—now. This announcement makes any ideas about a kingdom coming slowly and gradually seem like nothing in comparison, much less than the reality that Jesus demonstrated and offered us.

And if "slowly and gradually" refers to the fulfillment of the kingdom of God at Jesus' second coming, why say "slowly" when Jesus said "like lightning" (Mt 24.27) and "suddenly like a snare," with "the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Lk 21.27-35)?

Continued...

We're thinking of going to this free folk festival this weekend...

"do you want to be healed?"

Here's the letter I just wrote describing our recent retreat:

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.

One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"

The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me."

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. (Jn 5.2-9)

A little over a week ago we hosted a retreat on the farm for another group of guys from Emmaus Ministries in Chicago. After supper with others from the Plow Creek community here, and an extended group "listening session" the next morning to build intimacy and set the tone for our time together, we got into the focus for the weekend: The story of the man at the pool of Bethesda. To help everyone understand and identify with the paralyzed man, Heather introduced the story with a reading (that she had written). It began:

There are so many of us here; and we are all so dirty. How could I be clean—a man like me, who can't even raise his legs out of the dust? There is a woman who comes and washes me once a day, and brings a plate of food. My cousin's wife. She hates me, I can see it on her face. But she does what she has to do. She puts the food down by my mat, and she turns me over and washes me, while I turn my head away. At least I can still turn my head away.

And then she goes, and I lie here, looking up at the clean stone pillars all around me and the wooden roof-beams up above and the rows and rows of mats, all around me, all the stinking, useless cripples like myself. And beyond them, off to the right out of the corner of my eye, there's the water of the Pool, flashing in the sun. The pool where the angel comes, or so they say; and when the water stirs it means the angel is there, and if you can leap into the pool the moment the angel stirs it—if you can be the first one in, or maybe even the second—it will heal anything that's wrong with you. Anything. That's what they say.

There is no angel. It's all a mean lie, made up to torture cripples like me. Leap into the pool, cripple! Be healed! No, no, there is an angel, it's no lie. I've heard the shouts of joy, I've lifted up my head and tried to see through the crazy crowd to where the cripples are dancing, and I've seen. I think. But oh God in heaven, I will never be one of them. I never will.

(The whole reading can be downloaded here)

We chose the story because the guys who came this weekend were older, men who had struggled with addictions and life on the streets for many years. And they seemed to understand and respond deeply to the story of the man paralyzed for thirty-eight years. Including Jesus' unexpected question, "Do you want to be healed?" We talked about the reasons why we might hesitate to accept healing, why paralysis and suffering might become part of our identity, and it might seem easier to remain victims, rather than accepting the gift of wholeness and the higher expectations that go with it. The paralyzed man had had an excuse for not answering Jesus' frequently repeated call to "follow me." He couldn't walk. Then Jesus offered him healing, freedom from his bondage, but then also the choice whether or not he would follow the hard and perilous path Jesus walked.

We also discussed Jesus' selection of this one man, among so many, a man who had perhaps almost given up on healing after so long. But then Jesus usually chose the weakest and poorest, the most hopeless cases, who were more ready to accept God's gift of healing because they knew they could not help themselves. People not so different from the guys from Emmaus. We concluded by hearing Jesus ask each of us, "Do you want to be healed?"

It turned out that one of the guys that was here for the weekend is Muslim. We found a copy of the Quran in our library, with both Arabic and English text, and he borrowed it while he was with us. He even offered a prayer in Arabic during our closing worship time. But he was also quite willing to study this story of Jesus with us, and eagerly took part in the discussions. And he asked for our prayers as well.

Another one of the guys had been here for a retreat last summer, and brought news about the guys that came then. (Most now have their own places to live. One is currently in a live-in recovery program.) And we were so impressed by this man's enthusiasm and maturity that we're working on a way for him to come back by himself, for a week-long spiritual retreat later this summer.

The rest of the weekend was feasting together on homemade pizza and roast chicken, and fresh-picked blueberries from the farm, green beans, pink "Mountain Rose" potatoes, cantaloupe, and several kinds of breads made in the bakery here. Homemade strawberry jam that Heather had canned earlier this summer. And eggs from our neighbors' hens.

We also got to know the Assistant Ministry Director at Emmaus, who came with the guys and seemed very enthusiastic about the retreats after her time with us. She wants to come back herself. We're hoping to continue to build good relationships with staff in a number of different ministries, so they can offer our retreats to the people they serve.

Emmaus Ministries is planning to bring another group of guys in late August, which is a joy and encouragement for us. Please pray with us that God continues to help us build these relationships. And opens the way for more men and women in need to come listen for a healing word from God in the quiet and beauty of this place.

tomatoes are here

The day before yesterday we had the first fresh "tomato and mint pasta" of the season. We got the recipe from the Simply in Season cookbook; it's a variation on their tomato and basil recipe. We found the mint version more interesting and very good (and we have lots of fresh mint around here).

Ingredients  (serves 4)
4 large cloves garlic (minced)
2 pounds fresh tomatoes (chopped and drained)
1/3 cup fresh mint (chopped)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix and let sit at room temperature for an hour or two to mingle the flavors, then serve over pasta.

all in "the family"

Here's my comment on a recent Jesus Manifesto article on "The Family":


Jeff Shalet wrote an article for Harper's in 2003 (available here), in which he claimed:

The Family's only publicized gathering is the National Prayer Breakfast, which it established in 1953 and which, with congressional sponsorship, it continues to organize every February in Washington, D.C. Each year 3,000 dignitaries, representing scores of nations, pay $425 each to attend. Steadfastly ecumenical, too bland most years to merit much press, the breakfast is regarded by the Family as merely a tool in a larger purpose: to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they can "meet Jesus man to man."

As is traditional for presidents now, Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast this year. I think his comments there demonstrate a pragmatic understanding of faith and politics that is much milder but in some respects fundamentally the same as that of the Family: God works his purposes through the Power of the People.

For example, from Obama's NPB address [italics are mine]:

I didn't become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God's spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.

In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation. It is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity. As St. Augustine once said, "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."

So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead. For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God.

This view is also shared by many, many people (where the Family's view is a bit too extreme for most people). And that Augustine quote is a hugely popular one, always used with the emphasis on "work as though everything depended on you." Which is quite useful for those who want to harness the Power of the People.

(I think we should also work as if everything depended on God...)

way to go, Dave

I recently heard that Dave Mustaine, the singer/songwriter for the metal group Megadeth, became a Christian. Good for him.

I liked them a lot in college (classics like "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?"). And hearing the good news got me listening to them again, though it's the kind of music you have to be in the mood for...

My prayer this morning after the retreat, from Psalm 66...

For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
you laid affliction on our loins;
you let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us forth to a spacious place.


Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.

retreat this weekend

We're having a retreat this weekend, for a group from Emmaus Ministries (they also came for a retreat last summer). The focus for the retreat is the story of the healing at Bethesda, John 5.2-9. Here's the beginning of the dramatic reading Heather wrote to introduce the story:

There are so many of us here; and we are all so dirty. How could I be clean—a man like me, who can't even raise his legs out of the dust? There is a woman who comes and washes me once a day, and brings a plate of food. My cousin's wife. She hates me, I can see it on her face. But she does what she has to do. She puts the food down by my mat, and she turns me over and washes me, while I turn my head away. At least I can still turn my head away.

And then she goes, and I lie here, looking up at the clean stone pillars all around me and the wooden roof-beams up above and the rows and rows of mats, all around me, all the stinking, useless cripples like myself. And beyond them, off to the right out of the corner of my eye, there's the water of the Pool, flashing in the sun. The pool where the angel comes, or so they say; and when the water stirs it means the angel is there, and if you can leap into the pool the moment the angel stirs it—if you can be the first one in, or maybe even the second—it will heal anything that's wrong with you. Anything. That's what they say.

There is no angel. It's all a mean lie, made up to torture cripples like me. Leap into the pool, cripple! Be healed! No, no, there is an angel, it's no lie. I've heard the shouts of joy, I've lifted up my head and tried to see through the crazy crowd to where the cripples are dancing, and I've seen. I think. But oh God in heaven, I will never be one of them. I never will.

(The whole reading can be downloaded here.)