The poor are invited to the feast. Luke 14:15-24 |
Once
Jesus was asked when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The
kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they
say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is
among you.”
Luke 17:20-21
It is time for my annual reflection on Kingdomtide and why it matters.
Luke 17:20-21
It is time for my annual reflection on Kingdomtide and why it matters.
Yesterday
was the First Sunday in Kingdomtide.
At
least that’s what it was when I was growing up. In the old United Methodist
liturgical calendar the Sundays from the end of August to the beginning of
Advent were known as the season of “Kingdomtide.”
It
was a time to reflect on the biblical promise of the Kingdom of God and to ask
ourselves what the world would look like if we were serious about building the
Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus preached the “good news of the Kingdom of God.”
For
Jesus, the Kingdom of God was the Gospel. He announced that God was already at
work in the world, and we were invited to live in the new reality that God was
creating.
The
idea of Kingdomtide as a liturgical season began in 1937 and lasted for barely
half a century. Kingdomtide just never caught on. Initially, it seemed to have
a lot going for it, not the least of which is that stretching out Pentecost,
and counting the Sundays after Pentecost, is pretty boring. It also made sense
because the fall lectionary texts emphasize building up the Kingdom of God.
And
after all, Jesus’ whole message was about the Kingdom of God. That was what he
called “the good news.”
But
the season of Kingdomtide was doomed by the combined weight of liturgical
purity and the concern (which I share) for looking beyond exclusively masculine
terms for God.
God
is not a King.
When
the “new” United Methodist Hymnal was published in 1989, Kingdomtide was gone.
I didn’t notice the change for several years. When I saw my error, I briefly
surrendered to liturgical conformity and abandoned the season. But it was not
long before I changed my mind.
How
can we abandon the only liturgical season that is focused on what Jesus
actually taught?
Whatever
we call it, we need to do it.
Some
time in the middle of the last century one of the great preachers said that our
most important task is keeping the idea of the Kingdom of God alive in the human
spirit.
In the hyper-competitive winner-take-all culture of the twenty-first
century, that task is even more urgent. Notions of economic justice, concern
for the poor, non-violence, and simplicity are often seen as naïve or
un-American.
We need to reclaim the language of Jesus.
The
Kingdom of God is a profoundly political idea. But it does not translate
directly into what we popularly associate with “politics.” It is not about
political parties or political labels.
As
Robert Bellah wrote, "Politics are never ultimate, never absolute.
We can and must fight the good fight for a better republic and a better world.
But our hope does not depend on any political outcome. Our faith and our hope
derive from Jesus Christ, who survives all nations and all
politics."
In these deeply troubled times, it is easy to feel hopeless, but it is precisely in times such as these that we need to be grounded in Jesus’ message.
In these deeply troubled times, it is easy to feel hopeless, but it is precisely in times such as these that we need to be grounded in Jesus’ message.
When
his disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he told them to pray first
for the Kingdom of God to come on earth. Two thousand years later, that should
still be our first concern.
Thank
you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel
free to share on social media as you wish.
*A version of this post was first published on September 1, 2011.
Great post. Holds up well over the years. Picking up for UM Insight. Thanks!
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