Receive the Kingdom

In this brief passage of scripture, Mark 10: 2 - 16, Jesus reminds us that the kingdom is inclusive of all persons who are willing to take upon them the characteristics of a child and come expecting to receive God’s blessing of peace.

It is important to recall that Jesus said the kingdom was already there and people simply did not see it. He compared it to salt and to yeast…a small amount permeates the entire mass.

That is our challenge in today’s world as well. We cannot sit idle while there is need all around us. We should be anxiously engaged in many good causes. We are to be salt and leaven in our world today. We are a small group. But we all have a ring and sphere of influence. It is our mission to have an impact on our world…not so much the world at large as the world in which we live. Perhaps we could do more but if we even have a small impact on our world, that is making us a part of the mission of the church.

As I was thinking about this theme earlier this week, it occurred to me that as a small congregation, we do try to change our world. John and Sue are very involved in their community; Karan still has her hospice duties. As long time neighbors, Gene and Carletta have influence in their rural neighborhood, Bob has his PINCH group, and I have the Montgomery County Medical Clinic for which I do publicity. And we have the two Ministerial Alliances. Bob A has his classmate breakfasts. I know others of you have influence in your communities as well. Even those of you who have careers have an influence on the co-workers you impact. God leads each one of us into avenues of service and influence.

God’s peaceable kingdom is all around us. We are sometimes distracted and unable to see and recognize it. Last Sunday evening at our “Living the Questions” group, Richard shared with the group that we had each had an impact on his life. Richard is an avowed agnostic but when he recently had surgery, many of our group provided him with food while he was recovering. None of us would have ever known the extent of our influence if Richard had not shared that. He went on to say, he had not yet decided to attend a church but his ideas about Christian community had changed drastically since being invited to attend our group.

That’s how we make the kingdom visible in the world around us. Simple acts of kindness reveal it.

I am reminded of a story I heard recently about the church in Africa. The speaker, gathered with 2,000 people for worship. In a city where one third of the people are dying of malaria, HIV/AIDS related diseases, and schistosomiasis (a parasitic disease caused by flatworms), that fact did not keep a single one of them from waving palm branches, singing joyously and proclaiming the gospel message.

And what was the gospel message on that day? It was if Jesus were a Mozambican who traveled over the eastern highway mountains into Zimbabwe, he would see his people and know their need to be freed of political and economic oppression. And because of that, the Zimbabweans would greet him with palm branches, dancing and singing. That sermon on a pre-election Sunday was not just powerful, but probably the only time that Palm Sunday had ever made any actual sense to those people. Perhaps it’s not surprising that the minister was eventually arrested and imprisoned for his preaching. That church in Africa is all about heaven on earth, not heaven after death, it’s about salvation of the community, not about personal salvation, it’s about applauding the poor, but not poverty. It’s about daily bread and forgiving one’s economic debts as one’s debts are also forgiven. It’s about welcoming the stranger. It’s about listening to the ancestors, Jesus, in particular.

Once again, we first must become like children (or even Africans) who trust and obey, have no limits to their generosity, and have no prejudice or preconceived ideas about who belongs and who doesn’t. Jesus wanted his disciples to realize the importance of what it means to be humble and meek like a child and yet be adventurous and willing to travel into the “unknown” without fear.

This past weekend, I spent at John Whitmer Historical Association in Independence. I stayed, as I often do, with Paul parents. They shared with me some of the struggles they are having in their congregation at Stone Church there. I said to them, “I think I am happy that I belong to a small congregation. We are as close as family, we know when one another are hurting and are able to support one another in our struggles. But even as small as we are, we know we can still have an impact on our world…. They both agreed.

No, we are not a large congregation but that should not keep us from being able to discern the kingdom all around us and do those simple acts of kindness that are necessary to make God’s kingdom more visible.

As we approached the communion again Sunday morning, we were once more challenged to examine our lives, recognize where we have failed and come short of taking responsibility for helping another see the God within each of us and seeing the God within themselves. Let us look for opportunities to serve in our communities. Let us “Receive the Kingdom”.

The table of the Lord’s Supper symbolizes Jesus’ open welcome to the least and to all who would respond to his call.