Something to look forward to

This is my sermon from last Sunday, second Sunday in Lent:

To what can we compare the kingdom of God?  We know is something we Christians look forward to, a day when we will return to a peace we once had.   Long ago, humanity lived in peace and harmony with God in the Garden of Eden, but then we fell to temptation, thirsting for the forbidden fruit of knowledge.  And since then, humanity has thirsted to return to that Kingdom of God.  Even if we don’t all call it that, each of us has desired something more, longed for a sense of peace.  We have desired to make it back to God’s Kingdom.So to what can we compare that kingdom of God? We look forward to it like the coming spring.  We contemplate its wonder during Lent as we think about the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for us, so that we could return to God.  We look forward to a day when Jesus will return bringing a new heaven and new earth. Michelangelo painted one idea of the Kingdom of God upon the Sistine Chapel.  If you go there, you have to stand looking straight up and all around to appreciate it.  It is magnificent, with vibrant colors and splendid images  … but that is not the Kingdom of God.  It is simply paint on plaster. And to what does Jesus compare his Kingdom?  A tiny seed, so small it would fit on the head of a pin, and yet when it grows, “it grows larger than any garden plant. It even puts out branches that are big enough for birds to nest in its shade.”  Long after humanity fell from the Garden of Eden, Noah was sent by God to save it.  God told him to build the ark and he did.  God told him to collect the animals and he did.  And then God made it rain for 40 days.  And Noah, his family and all these animals floated upon the earth made sea, waiting anxiously for calm, they waited for peace. The Bible tells us that Noah released a raven to look for land and that bird was no fool.  As soon as it was released, it flew out of the ark and looked around, but there was no shelter out in the water.  There was no hope for that raven alone out in the sea.  It saw no land so it simply flew back and forth around the ark.  This week, I thought of this raven while watching the seagulls follow the ferry back from Arran Island, lingering in the wake of that huge vessel.  Eventually, Noah realized that this raven was going nowhere so he decided to release a second bird, a dove.  He set this dove free and it sailed off.  but at first, it found no place to set its foot.  So it returned to Noah.  After a week, Noah released it again, and this time, the dove flew out of his sight. This time, the dove flew higher and higher, well beyond the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and reaching to heights of the sky.  The bird finally saw what Noah had hoped it would.  It found an olive tree, the symbol of peace, and from its branches, the dove took a leaf back to Noah, as if to say, ”Look!  There is shelter here!  Everything is going to be alright!” Then Noah knew that he and his family, in fact the entire human race, would survive.  They had found peace after the storm. But they did not yet make land in the Kingdom of God.  They returned to earth and resumed life here, rebuilding humanity.  Noah’s family became the ancestors to Abraham, and Moses and King David and Jesus, you and me, and all of humanity in fact.  There are over 5 billion people on earth just now, and generations before us and generations to come, all of us, looking for peace. Colossians tells us that:  Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first-born, the first-born of all creation; …  He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Jesus is God in human form.  He is the gesture from God to tell us, not only would we survive the flood, but that we would have everlasting life.  The epistle shows us that Jesus died to give us the kingdom of God, the one we have right here.  We all look forward to a place of peace, but Jesus wants us to understand that the kingdom is already here and it is strong and it is a place that can provide shade and protect for those in need… The kingdom of God does not belong to us.  The kingdom of god IS US!  Christ died on the cross to bring forth his kingdom.  It is through Christianity that billions of people out there may find peace and protection.  From the lonely teenager to the homeless person; from those suffering from the ravages of war to your next door neighbor, all God’s creatures need peace.  And Christ offers that peace, not just to us, but to everyone, as if to say,”Look!  There is shelter!  Everything is going to be alright!” God’s kingdom is all around us and we are in it.  As members of the kingdom, it is up to us to make sure others know we are here.  It all comes from this little seed.  It is this tiny idea that a man had to die in order to give everlasting life to billions and billions of people, to anyone who wants it.  Do you believe that? I believe that. We have to nurture this kingdom, even in the little ways, in order to make it visible to those lonely people lost in the sea of nothingness who are searching for shelter.  The kingdom of God is not just coming in the future.  It is here now, every second that we breathe. In this Lenten Season, we look forward to the coming of our Lord, but how much do we remind each other and the rest of the world that the Kingdom of God is already here!  The final days when we will ALL find peace is yet to come, but the opportunity to offer peace to each other is right now, here, today and everyday.   Billions are looking for it, so pass the peace.  Like the olive leaf, passed from the dove to Noah, showing him the proof that humanity would survive, even your smallest gesture can grow into something larger than you or I could ever imagine.   May peace be with you.  Amen.

by Erin Buckner, 17 February 2008