Kingdom Life (Version 1)

A List from Romans 12 (taken from the New Jerusalem Bible):

Never pride yourself on being better than you really are.
Think of yourself dispassionately.
When you give, you should give generously.
If you are put in charge, you must be conscientious.
If you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.
Love without any pretense.
Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good.
Let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression.
Regard others as more important than yourself.
In the service of the Lord, work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit.
Be joyful.
Persevere in hardship.
Keep praying regularly.
Share with any of God's holy people who are in need.
Look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.
Rejoice with others when they rejoice.
Be sad with those in sorrow.
Give the same consideration to all.
Pay no regard to social standing.
Meet humble people on their own terms.
Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.
Never pay back evil with evil.
To the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone.
Never try to get revenge.
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink.
Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.

These are some difficult things to live out, but some of the absolute most important. What if we were to really take these instructions from Paul seriously? It's not easy.

It feels so natural to hate our enemy, and to look for ways to protect ourselves and get revenge. It's natural to consider a person's social standing and make judgments and decisions based on it.
It's natural to become so absorbed in your own life that you don't notice when others are rejoicing or weeping. It's natural to want to pay back evil for evil. It's natural to desire power. It's natural to let our relationships strain, rather than to lay down our agenda, gather up humility, and seek peace and reconciliation.

Jesus Christ himself shows us that there are richer and better ways of doing life. When he prays, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven," he's praying for us, his followers, that we will be the hands and feet that bring hope and new life to the nations--not just a promise of life in heaven, but a new life now. Kingdom life. Selflessness. Goodness. Mercy. Love. Peace. Healing. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Kingdom life is not just what we have to look forward to. It has come, and it is coming. Look around you; God is doing his work of reconciliation at this very moment. It's his passion. It's beautiful.

There are a few things that reading this Romans 12 passage made me think of. Yesterday, I read an article that re-inspired me to pray for the leaders of our nation. Sometimes I get lazy about it, because frankly, I just feel so disappointed in the choices they (and we the people) are making and I start to feel overwhelmed. What if we, the people and leaders of the U.S., actually took the things that Jesus taught seriously? What if our money and energy was spent "giving our enemy food when he is hungry; giving him something to drink when he is thirsty" rather than in defense of our (elusive) freedom? Rather than immediate retaliation against our "enemies" can we instead consider mastering evil with good? To be at peace with everyone, as much as we are able? I desire this for the leaders of our nation, but these things are grass root. They have to start at the most basic, individual level. Change happens from the bottom up, rather than from the top down.

Is being the most powerful and rich country in the world really a blessing from God? I once heard my professor explain that "to bless" someone means to put it in its proper place. We bless God. He blesses us. If we were truly in our proper place (where God desires us to be), then the fruits we would bear would be things like peace, love, patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness, self-control. Does that sound like the way we use our power in the world? I do think it's possible to be in our proper place and to have some sort of position of power. Hierarchy is natural and helpful. But love and protection of power at others' expense is not from God. If we really believed that we were blessed by God, we would be so humbled and thankful that we could not help but be a blessing to others (didn't God bless Israel so that they could be a blessing to the nations?). Pass it on. Not horde it for ourselves. And we would live in a way that thought of ourselves dispassionately.

Maybe you can already see the conclusion I'm coming to with this. I don't believe that we are a powerful nation because God has ordained it this way. I believe we are a powerful nation because this is the way our broken world works. If we have money, we have power. If we have power, we feel safe. Everyone wants to be the powerful nation. Power is passed around, and trades hands throughout time. It's what we do with the power that matters. Whoever holds power also holds great responsibility to those who do not hold power. It seems to me that Romans 12 gives us some great guidelines for our relationship to others, and much of it has to do with valuing and loving the other more than you value and love your own life.

It's my prayer that we, the people who profess Christ as our King, will allow his peace and love to reign in our hearts, so that the Kingdom of God on earth (what is beautifully described by Paul in Romans 12) would truly come.

Kingdom Life (Version 2)

From Romans 12:

Never pride yourself on being better than you really are.
Think of yourself dispassionately.
When you give, you should give generously.
If you are put in charge, you must be conscientious.
If you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them.
Love without any pretense.
Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good.
Let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression.
Regard others as more important than yourself.
In the service of the Lord, work not half-heartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit.
Be joyful.
Persevere in hardship.
Keep praying regularly.
Share with any of God's holy people who are in need.
Look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them.
Rejoice with others when they rejoice.
Be sad with those in sorrow.
Give the same consideration to all.
Pay no regard to social standing.
Meet humble people on their own terms.
Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom.
Never pay back evil with evil.
To the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone.
Never try to get revenge.
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink.
Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good.

In my own life, I feel that these are some of the most difficult things to live out, but also some of the absolute most important. What if I were to truly take these instructions from Paul seriously? How would my life be different?

It feels so natural to hate those who hate us, doesn't it? And to look for ways to protect ourselves and get revenge. It feels natural to consider a person's social standing and make judgments and decisions based on it. It feels natural to become so absorbed in our own life that we don't notice when others are rejoicing or weeping. It feels natural to want to pay back evil for evil. It feels natural to desire power. It feels natural to let our relationships strain, rather than to lay down our agenda, gather up humility, and seek peace and reconciliation.

Last fall in our chapel services we went through a phrase from The Lord's Prayer each week. Since then, I have been struck by many parts of the prayer, one of them being "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven." In my experience, this prayer has been avoided because we haven't been quite sure what to do with the phrase--hasn't the kingdom already come? Why should we continue praying that prayer? It seems to me that yes, the kingdom has come and exists in the hearts of his followers (Luke 17), but also that through his followers, the kingdom continues to come. The will of God is to make all things right; to reconcile all things to himself; to bring all things together through the redemptive work of Christ. This is as it is in heaven. When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that the Kingdom of God would come, and God's will would be done on earth as in heaven, I believe that he's teaching them to look for ways to continue bringing the Kingdom of God right here on earth. They would be the hands and feet that would help usher in new hope and healing and new life to the people around them. And this was not just a promise of new life in heaven, but new life in that moment. Kingdom life. Selflessness. Goodness. Mercy. Love. Peace. Healing. Forgiveness. Reconciliation. Patience. If we are not careful, we can over-spiritualize the Kingdom existing in our hearts, while people around us are hungry, angry, addicted, lonely, afraid. But as Christians, we must remember that the Kingdom continues to come in very tangible, familiar ways, and Jesus calls us to be a part of it all. Kingdom life is not just what we have to look forward to. It has come, and it is coming. Look around you; God is doing his work of reconciliation and restoration at this very moment. It's his passion. It's beautiful.

The things Paul describes in Romans 12 are not natural for us. But I get chills as I imagine my life transformed by the spirit of Christ, being able to think of myself dispassionately; to give food and drink to the person who desires to harm me; to come outside of myself and rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep; to persevere in hardship; to give generously; to love with no agenda; to eagerly desire peace.

As people who profess Christ as our King, I pray that we can allow his peace and love to reign in our hearts so that the Kingdom of God on earth (as is so beautifully described in Romans 12) would truly come.

Giving, Never Taking

You are the giver of all good things.
All good things are sent from heaven above,
rain and sun, day and night, justice and righteousness,
bread to the eater and seed to the sower,
peace to the old, energy to the young, joy to the babes.
We are takers, who take from you, day by day, daily bread,
taking all we need as you supply,
taking in gratitude and wonder and joy.
And then taking more,
taking more than we need, taking more than you give us,
taking from our sister and brothers,
taking from the poor and the weak,
taking because we are frightened, and so greedy,
taking because we are anxious, and so fearful,
taking because we are driven, and so uncaring.

Give us peace beyond our fear, and so end our greed.
Give us well-being beyond our anxiety, and so end our fear.
Give us abundance beyond our drivenness,
and so end our uncaring.

Turn our taking into giving... since we are in your giving image.
Make us giving like you,
Giving gladly and not taking, giving in abundance, not taking,
Giving in joy, not taking, giving as he gave himself up for us all,
Giving, never taking.

From Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth

Embracing the Other

Yesterday, a Graduate School of Theology alumna from several years ago was invited to come and speak to the current GST students. The topic of conversation was "Believable Futures of Church of Christ." Her name was Kim. She grew up in a small Church of Christ in Texas (120 members... large for Nebraska, small for Texas). It was an older, more conservative church where there were not many others her age. Her experience in that church was very positive, as she was doted on by about 20 sets of grandparents every Sunday. When she entered Middle School, her parents put her into a baptist school--that was the first time she learned that different people read the bible and interpret it in different ways. She had some great teachers and great friends in that school. So, once in Sunday school at church, she asked her teacher who was one of the older men if her baptist friends were "saved." His reply to her was, "no, they are not."

That conversation was a really important time for Kim in her journey of faith. Even at 13 years old, she wondered how it could possibly be true. I had a similar experience to the one that Kim described growing up. My church was loving, with lots of built-in parents and grandparents. And I learned in a Wednesday night class in middle school all of the ways that other traditions were not following the bible, as compared to how the Church of Christ reads and interprets the bible most correctly and therefore are probably the only ones who will be saved. I had a really good friend who attended the local Congregational church. I struggled with the statement my class teacher made, with this friend particularly in mind. I could not believe that she was not saved! It just didn't feel right.

A couple of things that Kim said stuck with me. First, as she continued to reflect on the answer her Sunday School teacher gave her, she was struck by the words of Jesus, that we are able to judge a tree by the fruit it bears. So many of her baptist friends bore the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It was that realization, along with other events in her life I'm sure, that allowed her to explore the possibility that maybe different people read and interpret the bible differently; that things are not so black and white. I was refreshed to hear her recall that passage from Matthew 7, because it really does call into question (for me, anyway) the legalities that we expect people to submit to in order to be true Christ followers, and really... Jesus himself makes it much more simple and beautiful. A good tree bears good fruit! Instead of worrying about the label a particular group of Christians has on their building, and instead of worrying about where a particular friend or loved one worships on Sunday morning, wouldn't it be much more simple and beautiful if we all paid attention to the fruits we and others bear?

Kim graduated from ACU with her BA Biblical Studies and her MDiv. Along the way, because she had to take preaching classes, she realized that she was actually a very gifted speaker. Because she could not find her place in the Churches of Christ with this gift, she has since been ordained as a minister into the Episcopal church, where her gender is not an issue. This was one of the reasons she was invited to speak to the GST students. There are many women like Kim who are gifted beyond teaching children and cooking for potluck. Some of them who have realized this have the opportunity to blossom within safe contexts of people who affirm their gifts. They see hope for new possibilities for a partnership for women and men in the life of the church--but they wonder if they will ever find this partnership and freedom within their own Church of Christ heritage. So, some wonder, like Kim, if its best to find another place where their gender is not an issue. Others feel bonded to their heritage, like family, and they choose to stay, but perhaps with feelings of confusion, sometimes hurt, and sometimes hope for a better future.

Kim also mentioned the Church of Christ's strong-held conviction in the priesthood of all believers. We are adamant that we don't need a hierarchy of church offices, because all are equally ordained and have equal access to God. I wonder why we believe in the priesthood of all believers, but only certain parts of the priesthood apply to women? Priests had more duties than to be a mediator for confession of sins.

I think Kim had some great reflections to share. She really is gifted. The conversation about women and men partnering in the church (avoiding the term "women's roles") is something very close to my heart. I fall into the category of loving my heritage, and have no plans to "leave", for lack of a better term, but I do hope and pray that I and other women can navigate the waters with gentleness and love, and find ourselves in a place where our gifts can be valued and used for the building up of the church, right here in our own C of C heritage. Men and women need each other. Churches of all kinds need each other. May God give us grace and open arms to embrace the other.