Kindom as home.
Others in Christian
tradition would say, “Kingdom is home.”
Perhaps you can not hear the
nuance in the word when said aloud. Perhaps you have questioned my spelling
when reading emails or writing on my blog. Instead of kingdom, I prefer to use Kindom
– K.I.N. … D.O.M
In Advent, through the words
of the prophets and in Advent hymns we hear of the kingdom of God, specifically
the coming of the kingdom. We sing of justice, redemption, and freedom. We are hope
filled with
Isaiah’s description, to an
exiled people, of the return from Babylon, where the returnees participate in a
joyous procession to a land once again filled with milk and honey; where freedom
is a renewal of creation wherein health and wholeness are restored. The text
speaks of no need for fear. The description is of creatures – once enemies – grazing
together and lying side-by-side. Harsh wilderness is restored with blossoms and
life. The continuation of the prophet’s description
of kingdom comes from Jesus’ words sent to John the Baptist to take note of the
signs of healing and restoration, where the blind see, the lame walk. Jesus
expresses to John that God’s reign was being fulfilled presently in his time
and place.
Through Jesus, God’s reign
was being fulfilled, kingdom was present as kindom blossomed, from one person
to the next, from one group of disciples to the next; from one healed, seen, welcomed,
or encouraged to the next. The kindom spread with each confrontation with
leaders, each parable upending the operable economics of the day, each action supporting
the marginalized, and each instance addressing power by advocating for mercy.
Emmanuel, God-with-us,
changes the hopes of a kingdom to come, to a kindom present.
Reflecting on the work of
N.T. Wright, Will Horn, writes: “God comes to dwell with us, and Jesus’
resurrection launches a new creation that’s already underway. Ephesians shows
that God’s plan has always been to unite all things in Christ—and the Church is
supposed to be a preview of that new creation right now. … True spiritual
warfare, he says, isn’t about blaming people or seeing demons everywhere. It’s
about living faithfully as a united, Spirit-filled community that reflects
God’s future in the present.”
We read this morning from
the book of James. This is the early years following Jesus’ death and
resurrection. The community is living with memory of Jesus and people who knew
Jesus or someone who knew someone who knew Jesus. The scriptures are the Torah
(the Law) and the prophets. There is an understanding that Jesus is returning
soon, very soon. They are figuring out how to be kindom in the intervening time.
James encourages his community to cultivate patience instead of discontent. It
is no mistake the James talks about kindom using farm imagery. The community
has a precious crop, a precious story to share through the planting of seeds. The
precious crop requires early rain for growing and a late rain for harvesting.
Just as a crop does not grow overnight, neither does kindom. It takes furrowing,
planting, re-seeding, hoeing, weed pulling, watering, tending, the removing of
pests, all this before harvesting … to do it all again the following season. This
many centuries later James’ words are for us too, cultivate patience, strengthen
your hearts – meaning do not loss heart. God’s kingdom is already present through
Christ, so now reflect God’s future in the present by cultivating and being kindom,
just as Jesus taught.
Let us go back in time.
Imagine it is 30 years ago and we are in Los Angeles, California, (or any large
city over 2 million people). The city has areas -ghettos- where poverty is a
matter of course, education is basic, and job opportunities are few. Every day
life is filled with serious crime, fear of violence, gang fights and turf wars.
Public housing projects are trafficking hubs and unsafe for the families trying
to survive. Law enforcement is sporadic and unjust when it does arrive on the
scene. Mass incarceration is the prevailing tactic to clean up the streets. With
no options the cycle of poverty, to gang participation, to incarceration, to release
back to the ghetto, is repeated over and over again. There is no way out and
the rest of the city and country do not care.
To this actual area there comes
a Catholic priest filled with hope and believing in the promises of kingdom as
described by Isaiah. He looks over the streets and the wilderness and sees the possibility
of kinship. He gets to work with a patience and strength of heart, to cultivate
kindom. Over the years, individuals, volunteers, parishioners, faith groups,
neighbourhood members, organizations grow a community of kinship. Thirty years
later – today- kindom is present and
flourishing.
The farmer, as James
identified those working in God’s reign, is Catholic priest Greg Boyle, the
founder of Homeboy Ministries. In the wilderness, the neighbourhood blossomed with
the planting of substance abuse courses and addiction support groups, an 18-month
employment and re-entry program post-prison sentence with focus on healing and
developing work readiness skills, additional education services, tattoo removal,
anger management classes, parenting classes, and free wrap-around services with
the help of case managers and navigators. Healing included family reintegration
and social connection hubs. Thirty years and presently Homeboy Industries is the
world’s largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program. Talk about kindom!
Father Greg once said, “you
stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something
more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly, and the
badly behaved until bad behaviour is recognized for the language it is: the
vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they
can bear.”
Kindom as home.
Every generation, every
community, has had a prophet, a teacher, an activist, a reformer, a poet, a
critic--- a someone or someones who describe God’s future in the present. People
who with strengthened hearts spend their lives cultivating kindom: rooting out
indifference, digging in new perspective, rehoming discarded plants, weeding
out that which is not serving the garden, pruning judgements and boundaries,
and fertilizing all that is grace and mercy filled.
The ancient words of Isaiah
the prophet present a beautiful image of the kingdom of God. One that has been
waited upon for millennia. Through biblical story we encounter places and times
where the kingdom of God comes near. Through Jesus, God becomes present –
incarnate- in all future time and place. We live in that future time and place.
Kingdom comes as kindom. Kindom bursts forth in and from communities and
neighbourhoods that cultivate patience and strengthen hearts. This is not just
a past event or one that will come in a distant future, Homeboys Ministry is an
example of kindom presently happening, right now! What is happening here, right
now?!
Advent is a reminder to us
and this community that we are called to be living kindom, with patience to keep
on being a community that lives God’s future in the present. This is the heart
of Advent. The heart of Christmas. The heart of living as a people of faith.
Kindom is home.
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