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The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World
Now it’s curious. The Tug fork drains into the Big Sandy River, and the Big Sandy drains into the Ohio River. And down river a way, the Ohio drifts lazily past a little town called Louisville, Kentucky. And I wouldn’t want to make too much of this but it makes me wonder if there isn’t something in the drinking water in Louisville, something of the Tug Fork, that keeps us Presbyterians feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys.
We are talking tonight about the sixth Great End of the Church: The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. And there are some who would argue that it is the overt exhibition of the Kingdom of heaven that causes the whole world to feud like the Hatfields and McCoys. Writers like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens would prefer that Christians and Muslims, and any other religion that makes universal claims, just close down our kingdom exhibitions so that there isn’t so much strife. “Stop this forceful exhibiting, this exhibitionism, of the Kingdom,” they say, “It is competing views of the Kingdom of God that causes division. Kingdom of God people, you’ve had your chance. The religious relics of your past have been on display long enough. Time to shut down the exhibit, pack it up and store it away for good.”
They are making their case. I don’t agree with their conclusions. Seems to me we’ll always have a reason to fight, with or without religion. Still in our own denomination it is competing views of the Kingdom of God that causes so much strife among us. Our differences are deeply rooted, religious and culturally, politically. There is a Tug Fork running right through the middle of 21st century American Presbyterianism. And it isn’t helping our efforts to exhibit the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now there is nothing new in this. The twelve tribes of Israel didn’t get along that well, and either did the twelve disciples of Jesus. By the time they come to their final days with Jesus the disciples have postured and bickered, tried to outdo one another for a place of privilege in the king’s court. After all, Jesus has been talking about the coming of the kingdom. “Gotta push and shove your way into a cabinet position.” One of them has just risen from the table to reveal Jesus’ whereabouts to the authorities, to betray him. And so on one of their last nights together Jesus tells them that his time to be glorified has come and he says to them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
And to the degree that the disciples and the early church kept that commandment, the world knew that they were Jesus’ disciples, and the kingdom of heaven was on display in all its glory for the world to see. One of the teachers of the early church observed in the second century that “What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘Look how they love one another.’”
I sometimes wonder if we have settled for a revised version of that. When the world looks at us they might say, “Look at them feud like the Hatfields and McCoys.” Or at best perhaps they say, “Look how amicably they separate from one another. Look how they smile and how civil they are when they divide up their property and assets.”
The exhibition of the Kingdom of heaven to the world. We’re not entirely sure what the original authors of the Six Great Ends meant by that. But it’s not just about proclamation. We’ve already covered that. It’s not about worship or community and fellowship, we’ve discussed those. It’s not even limited to the promotion of social righteousness. We talked about that in September. Perhaps the exhibition of the kingdom includes all the other five ends, and summarizes them. So I am going to suggest this: that the exhibition of the kingdom has something to do with the unity of the church; that the unity of the church will determine the success of the exhibition; and that our disunity severely cripples us, and reduces the chance that our exhibition of the Kingdom will be received. At the risk of sounding a little like a TV preacher, I’ll say it like this: our disarray hinders the display of the kingdom of heaven.
I’ve really enjoyed being Moderator of the Presbytery this year because I have served with people who I think would land just about everywhere on the spectrum of Presbyterian life and conviction. We’ve carried on, and haven’t let differences prevent us from working together for the cause of the church in the Seattle Presbytery. The only thing I can figure is that there are a bunch of people who love this church enough to set aside our differences. We want to see it survive, be transformed, and thrive in the future. And we’re OK with the possibility of that our visions of the kingdom might not match. We could just separate and divide up the assets, but if we don’t stay together who will? I am not convinced that the blue states and the red states going to lead the way. In this divided culture, this war of cultures, if we don’t make peace and stay together who will? And if we don’t exhibit unity who’s going to show the rest of the world?
We come to the table tonight. I remember a Christmas Eve meal with my family a couple of years ago. We had just returned from a Christmas Eve service. And I was feeling kind of surly because attendance for Christmas Eve was down. Biggest night of the year, where was everybody? But we sat down around the table for our Christmas Eve meal, just the four of us, and one of my daughters said something that really bothered me. I snapped right back at her with a sharp comment. And there was tension at the table. Anyone of us might have stood up in a huff and stomped away from the table. But we stayed at the table, we stuck it out, besides the food was great, and eventually things calmed down, and we went in to watch White Christmas for the fifteenth year in a row.
It may happen to you this Christmas or Thanksgiving. Somebody will say something at the Thanksgiving table that offends you. Maybe Uncle Joe, who you only see once a year, for good reason, will say something that really makes you mad. He does it every year. And you may argue around the Thanksgiving table. You may even want to get up and stomp away to the TV room to watch football all by yourself.
My friends this is our Thanksgiving table. This is the Eucharist. So come, sit down at the family table. Join in the lively, sometimes heated conversation. I can promise that Uncle Joe will there. The sparks may fly. There may be tension at the table. But come, sit down, and above all, stay, and let the world watch the church in action. When they look through our dining room window perhaps they will say, “Look how they love one another, look how they stay at the table.” Then maybe they will see the exhibition of the kingdom of heaven for the world.
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Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 (Archive on Tuesday, November 27, 2007)
Posted by ken Contributed by ken
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