A Glimpse of the Kingdom

I don't get a glimpse of a royal kingdom very frequently, but I did at the recent wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Oh, I saw the British royal kingdom, certainly; but I also caught a glimpse of another kingdom. Read on to find out what it was.

Don’t we all love fairy tales? Maybe that’s because they can lift our spirits and fill us with hope. Who doesn’t love to read about an ordinary person who marries royalty and lives happily ever after? “Maybe that could happen to me!” we think; and we keep on reading! There’s a good reason why stories like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White have been popular for such a long time. We don’t have royalty here in our country, of course, so we keep an eye on our cousins “across the pond.” When we look at the British royal family, we catch a glimpse of a kingdom just like the ones that are at the center of all those fairy tales: a kingdom with a queen, princes and princesses, men and women with stately titles. That must be why so many of us got up at an insanely early hour to watch the fairy-tale wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. If you didn’t get up at 6:00 a.m. (or even earlier), I’ll bet that you watched it later on one of the many reruns of the event. We all want a glimpse of the kingdom!

And it didn’t disappoint us, did it? From the first arrival of the beautifully-dressed guests to the very last glimpse of the newlyweds as their horse-drawn carriage disappeared into the castle, it was a grand affair! There was Queen Elizabeth, ruler of the kingdom for 66 years, sitting next to her husband, Prince Philip. Next to her were three generations of princes and princesses, some of whom will sit on the throne of Britain one day. The wedding included all the dignity and tradition of a monarchy that dates back almost a thousand years! And the backdrop of all of it was the glorious Chapel of St. George: part of Windsor Castle and built in the 13^th century. Yes, the royal kingdom that we glimpsed was awe-inspiring in its splendor. But at that wedding, I saw another kingdom that was even more awe-inspiring. Through the event that was intended to celebrate the power and tradition of the British monarchy, I caught a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.

Now, let’s be clear. The British monarchy is very different from the Kingdom of God. Monarchies exist, after all, to set royalty apart from commoners. But this wedding threw aside the walls that divide us, and invited all kinds of people to celebrate together, commoner and royalty alike. And isn’t that what God’s kingdom is all about? In God’s kingdom, we’re not divided but united through the Spirit in love and peace. In God’s kingdom, all people are welcome no matter what their gender, race, religion, or nationality. That’s what we glimpsed at Harry and Meghan’s wedding. We saw old and young together: a royal couple who are in their 90s next to pageboys and bridesmaids who are not yet old enough to really understand what was going on. We saw European and African all together celebrating God’s presence in music, liturgy, and sermon. We saw both women and men sharing in the leadership of worship. We saw three different Christian traditions – Anglican, Episcopal, and Eastern Orthodox – setting aside their differences and joining together in worship. We saw cultures and traditions blended as British royalty and the descendants of African slaves sat shoulder to shoulder. We saw even those who have passed into glory included, as Meaghan’s bridal bouquet included Princess Diana’s favorite flower. As Bishop Michael Curry said so appropriately in his sermon, “…the power of love is demonstrated by the fact that we are all here. Two young people fell in love and we all showed up.”

We did indeed. Men and women, black and white, young and old, British and American and African and Asian and all kinds of people from all over the world showed up, both in person and through television and the internet. We came together not to quarrel with one another, but to demonstrate the kind of love that the fullness of God’s Kingdom will offer us one day. And it all happened on the day before Pentecost, the day celebrating God’s ability to unite us through the Spirit. Oh, it certainly wasn’t the fullness of God’s kingdom. Many of the Brits were a bit uncomfortable with Bishop Curry’s African-American style of preaching, and only the upper class was represented at the ceremony; the guests were all well-dressed and affluent. But it was a start; and every good thing has to start somewhere! In this world of divisions – race vs. race, faith vs. faith, culture vs. culture – it was a breath of fresh air. And when the God’s kingdom comes in fullness, it will truly be the fairy-tale ending that we all yearn for! May God’s Spirit continue to blow into our broken communities with its power of healing and reconciliation, and open our eyes to even more glimpses of God’s Kingdom!

The Whisper of Hope

Why do many churches celebrate Memorial Day during Sunday morning worship? It doesn't seem to belong there. Maybe it has something to do with sacrifice, the presence of God, and hope...

Memorial Day is a day when Christianity and the ways of the world crash headlong into one another. We cannot escape the reality that at the heart of Memorial Day is war: violent, bloody, and destructive. On the other hand, at the heart of Christianity is Jesus’ way of peace. The two simply don’t fit together. That’s why many churches don’t give Memorial Day even a nod during their worship on this last Sunday in May. Memorial Day isn’t a church holiday. It has nothing at all to do with Jesus. And Christians already have a day when they remember the saints who have gone on to glory: All Saints’ Day, which we celebrate on the first Sunday in November.

Why, then, include Memorial Day in our worship? It’s a good question. Christians are called to renounce violence in all of its forms; and Memorial Day recalls some of the worst bloodshed in human history. Names like Chickamauga, Flanders Fields, the Battle of the Bulge, Midway, and the Tet Offensive send a chill up our spine. But even as we remember those names and deplore the violence that is associated with them, we also recall the sacrifices that were made during those bloody conflicts. The men and women that we remember on Memorial Day laid down their lives for a cause that was far bigger than they were.

Some of you may be familiar with the letter that Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2^nd Rhode Island wrote to his wife Sarah before the first battle of Bull Run. Filmmaker Ken Burns highlighted this very letter in his epic series on the American Civil War. Here is what Major Ballou had to say: “Indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps to-morrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battle-field for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged; and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution; and I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help to pay that debt.” Millions of other men and women have echoed his sentiments; and on Memorial Day, we give thanks for their willingness to sacrifice their lives on behalf of others whose names they would never know.

But where is God in all of this violence? The ancient Israelites had an answer. They were convinced that God not only went to war with them, but also fought on their side! You heard what Deuteronomy has to say about that in the scripture reading this morning (20:1-4). “When you go to war, don’t worry when your enemy outnumbers you and points their weapons in your direction; because God is right there fighting with you!” I’m not so sure that they're completely right about all of that. After all, everyone who goes to war believes that God is fighting on their side! Abraham Lincoln wrestled with that very issue during our American Civil War. His opinion was that, “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. My concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God's side.” Are we on God’s side? That is a tough question to answer; and one that we should always be asking ourselves, especially when we engage in armed conflicts. Regardless of the answer, though, I am certain that God is there whenever a man or woman offers himself or herself as a soldier or a sailor or a pilot – whenever anyone puts himself or herself in harm’s way for the sake of others. The ancient Israelites got that absolutely right! Whenever someone is willing to die for others, God is certainly there, giving courage and comfort and the deep peace that comes from knowing that you are doing the right thing, no matter what the cost may be.

God is there with something else, too. God is there with hope. Oh, certainly the hopes that you will survive the battle and that your side will be victorious. But these are very human hopes. I believe that God puts another kind of hope into the hearts of those who are at war: the hope that soon, humanity will realize that war is not the answer to our problems. It is the hope that maybe the next life that is sacrificed will be the very last one. Sometimes that hope is only a whisper, especially in the heat of battle; but it is a whisper that cannot be silenced. That hope was whispering amid the musket fire at Bunker Hill. It whispered as the wind blew away the smoke from the cannons during Pickett’s Charge at the battle of Gettysburg. Hope whispered in the mud-filled trenches of World War I, and as the men waded ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day during World War II. It whispered amid the napalm and Agent Orange in the tropical jungles of Vietnam; and it is still whispering on the dry, desert wind of Afghanistan.

Hope will never be silenced; and one day, its whisper will grow to be a thunder as men and women from every nation, region, and ethnic group demand that war stop, and with it, all of its sacrifices. There will be no more “might-have-been”s as the potential of young men and women are cut short. There will be no more grieving mothers and fathers who have to bury their children. There will be no more lonely sons and daughters who grow up with only the picture of a parent who was killed in a faraway place when they were infants. We look forward to what God promised through the prophet Isaiah: “No more shall the sound of weeping be heard, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime… for they shall be blessed by the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:19, 20, 23) We cling to that whisper of hope, not knowing when it will be a reality. And while we wait for God’s promise to come to fulfillment, we pray three things: may God protect those brave women and men who are putting their lives at risk for our sake right now; may their courage and unselfishness fill us, too; and may God’s kingdom of peace come soon. Those are my prayers. On this Memorial Day, I invite you to make them yours, too.

The Spirit's New Creation

My sermon yesterday focused not on the fire that danced upon the heads of the disciples on that first Pentecost, but on the wind that filled the room before the fire appeared. What was that wind, anyway?

The disciples assumed that everything was about to be resolved. After a shameful death on a cross, their Lord had been resurrected; and they had seen him with their own eyes! His resurrection proved that Jesus was God’s Messiah, so surely he would now restore Israel’s political power. That was, after all, what everyone expected the Messiah to do. But when Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” he answered, “Don’t worry about that. You just sit tight and wait for the Spirit.” (Acts 1:6-9)

The disciples must have been very confused! One minute, the resurrected Christ was standing in their midst; and the next minute, he was ascending into heaven without taking any political power at all. In fact, he had only given them some vague instructions about waiting for “the Spirit.” What did that mean, anyway? What were they supposed to do now? Wait… on what? All they could do was to get together and try to understand what had just happened. They probably wondered how they could possibly go on without Jesus to lead them, and teach them, and inspire them? And then the wind blew in (Acts 2:1-4).

Imagine, for a moment, that you have just settled into the porch swing on a fine summer day with the morning newspaper, ready to tackle the daily crossword puzzle. The newspaper is in your lap and the pencil is on the table in front of you as you take one last sip of coffee. But before you can start with “1 across,” a wind kicks up. It comes out of a clear, blue sky, with no warning whatsoever: a gusty wind that sends your paper, your pencil, and your plans flying into next week. This wind isn’t just a summer breeze that fans your cheek, gently rustling the leaves on the trees. Oh, no – this wind is powerful! That’s the kind of wind that blew in on that first Pentecost.

We know that wind! We’ve seen it before. That same wind blew over the waters of chaos when the cosmos was formless and void, and God called creation into being. That wind blew into the dry bones that Ezekiel saw in a vision, and all those bones came rattling to life. Many years later, that wind blew into the womb of a young girl in Nazareth, and the Messiah was conceived. This wind is the wind of God’s Spirit; and it blows away old things and creates new ones! When it gusted into the house where Jesus’ disciples were gathered, it blew away all their expectations that Jesus would set up any kind of political kingdom. Instead, it created a new kind of community that was based not on the power of oppression and fear, but on the power of love.

That community is still with us. It includes people of every race, gender, language, and culture. Its people care not only about themselves, but about every other human being. And the only power that counts in this kingdom is the power to help others to become who God intended them to be! We call it the Church of Jesus Christ: created by God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, and re-created through the power of the Holy Spirit. And thanks be to God! The wind of the Spirit that blew the Church into existence is still blowing! It blows into old, stale congregations and breathes new life into them. It blows people out of established careers into the ministry of Jesus Christ. It blows the love of others into hearts that have cared only for themselves, and sets those hearts on fire for mission. The Church is a brand new kind of community based on love: God loves us, and through the Spirit, God has given us the ability to love one another. What a miracle this day has brought! Let’s all celebrate that miracle on this day of Pentecost!