Thousand Acre Church

I was reading Facebook status updates today when I came across an update from a very smart friend who has been a pastor in the Boston area for several years.  He’s frustrated by the response from some of his friends to recent posts which mentioned hot political topics.  His response is to refocus and deflect discussions on political topics during the extent of the Advent season.  He said, “Why focus on the kingdom of this world, when for 17 days we can all focus together on the Kingdom of God.”  I started to post a response to his update and realized that it might serve me better to process my thoughts on the blog.

Here is what I started to post in response to my friends comments:

If the kingdom of God didn’t bear on the kingdom of this world, then Herod wouldn’t have plotted to have the wisemen to spy out where Jesus was born.  Advent is the season of anticipation of the coming of the true King.  COMON!!!!   This is not a cute story about a cutsie baby laying in straw surrounded by mooing and bahhhing animals!!!  This is not a message of a spiritual guru’s birth and yet another path of spiritual enlightenment without much regard for temporal and earthy circumstances.  This is a message about the God who created a whole universe and created people to share it with.  It is about a God who made promises to his people to save them from very real temporal suffering.  It is a God who came in flesh to experience that suffering and declare his victory over sin and death in a renewal of his beloved creation.  Advent is an underground message that threatens the “powers that be” and invites my allegiance to the new King, a King with a commitment to suffer on my behalf and models how we are to suffer on behalf of our neighbors.  When I examine my life in light of this Advent message, I have to choose.  I can submit to the way the world is, the powers of this world, and their conventional manner of ruling OVER their subjects.  But, God help us, we can also embrace the invitation to follow the true King of all of creation as he renews his world through suffering and service UNDER his subjects.

Advent is a risky season.  It is the remembrance of God’s people whispering the good news (substitue gospel if you’d like) and the hope of a new King, a King greater than the Romans and more deserving of their loyalty than Herod.  It is the celebration of the birth of the King whose way of ruling threatens the authority of the kingdoms of this world to the point at which they will plot to assasinate this baby King.  Its a season of HOPE placed in the coming King that knows that your allegiance will involve bearing a cross.  This HOPE is vindicated in his resurrection from the dead and his demonstration of power over the forces that other kings use to keep us in line and orderly, namely sin and death.  This is the season.  Focusing on the Kingdom of God requires thinking about the kingdoms of this world.  I would encourage my friend to let the focus on the Kingdom of God realize its fulfillment in engagement with the kingdoms of this world.  Political discussions included.