Whizzing, whirling, and breaking forth in the Kingdom

How fast are you going right now? I’m mean right now, as you sit where you are.

How fast you say? Nowhere? You’re not going anywhere? 0 miles per hour?

Well, yes I suppose. You are sitting still. Unless of course you look at it in a different way. . . As the earth spins around on it’s axis, we’re all traveling about 800 miles per hour. 800 miles per hour – wow that’s pretty fast, huh?

Well, 800 miles per hour is pretty fast, unless you consider that planet earth is moving in its orbit around the sun at 64,800 miles per hour. And, then our galaxy, the Milky Way is moving at yet another 43,200 miles per hour.

Without even realizing it – without exerting the least effort – without even breaking a sweat on a steamy summer’s morning we’re whizzing round and round and all about at speeds we can’t even imagine. All beyond our knowing – all beyond our comprehension.

There are of course countless things happening to us and happening around us that we aren’t aware of. Light. Do you know that there are kinds of light that we can’t see. Light that the sun puts off, but that our human eyes can’t see. Some of that light is called ultraviolet, and some of it is called infrared. Some animals and insects can see this light, but we can’t.

Radiation. There are particles of radiated stardust rocketing down from space and pelting our bodies right now. Can you feel it? Of course you can’t.

Do you know that in our mouths there are millions of little organisms living and breathing, and eating? That’s why in the morning our mouths taste smell bad, because all those little organisms are eating away, and when something eats something else, there’s waste to be made – no little boys rooms in our molars!

There are so many things happening around us that we can’t imagine, so many things happening within us that we can’t comprehend, so many things happening to us that we have no idea. There is no much unseen, unfelt, unheard, unknown.

And the things that I’m talking about are just the things from the natural world – the world that scientists, biologists, and physicists study and tell us about.

But, there are other things too. There are things that no microscope, telescope, or Geiger-counter can pick up on. I’m speaking now of the things of the Spirit.

Angels, demons, powerful movements of the Holy Spirit, whispers from the throne of God. Who knows what’s going on around us, in us, with us – who knows of course, but God Almighty.

In this morning’s Gospel reading Jesus is talking about this world that we can’t see, or hear, or touch. He’s speaking about the Kingdom of God.
I was reminded of something a few weeks ago as I was reading. I was reminded of it, so I knew it already, but it’s always striking to ponder and think on: Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion. He didn’t come to start a religion at all. He didn’t come to reform a religion, or tweak a religion, or even undo a religion.

Jesus didn’t come to start a church either. He didn’t humble himself to be born in a lowly stable, and he didn’t humble himself by submitting to crucifixion to give us a church with bishops and priests and deacons. He didn’t come and die so that we could have church board meetings, or committees, or holiday bazaars. He didn’t come and die that we could build grand buildings like cathedrals and halls with newly refinished wood floors.

He came to show us how much God loved us. He came to give us a gift. He came to inaugurate the Kingdom.

What’s the Kingdom you might ask? Good question. Well, it’s like a little mustard seed that grew into a huge tree. It’s like a pinch of yeast that made a little bit of flour into a huge piece of bread. It’s like treasure found in a field, or an exquisite pearl. It’s like a net cast into the Sea that caught fish of every kind.

Amazing that as much as Jesus talks about the Kingdom in the Gospels he never tells us what it is. He tells us what it’s like, but never nails it down. But, one thing is clear: it’s of ultimate importance, it’s Jesus’, and he came to give it to us as a gift.

What’s also clear is that the Kingdom is not just something far away, or something that will happened a long time from now. The Kingdom is now. The Kingdom is the future. The Kingdom is heaven, it is earth, and everywhere where God dwells and reigns – which of course is everywhere.

While Karen and I were still living in Atlanta, the Diocese of Atlanta elected a new bishop. After the new bishop was ordained he was talking to one of his friends from another part of the country. His friend asked him how many churches his new diocese had. The new bishop said, “one.” The friend, of course, got a very odd look on his face. “A diocese with one church in it?”

The bishop replied, in Atlanta there is one church, with 152 missionary outposts for the Kingdom of God.

He may have been a new-be at bishop stuff, but he answered wisely. Parishes like the 152 in Atlanta, and the 118 in Maryland, and like this one, don’t exist for ourselves. We are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are outposts: each one just a part of the Church universal, a corner of the Kingdom of God.

But, that’s not even the important part of the bishop’s answer. It’s the missionary outpost that the truly important part. We are an outpost of the Kingdom of God with a mission. And this mission is simple: to help the rest of the world see God’s love, and to bring in new immigrants to the Kingdom of God.

Our mission is not to survive. It is not to limp along. It’s not to just keep afloat. Our mission is to bring people into the Kingdom, and to live into the ideals of the Kingdom.

Maybe you’ve heard that our church has been given $7,000 to do evangelism this year. We’re going to be using the 2nd most effective way to market ourselves: direct mail. (The most effective way is through television, but it’s also the most expensive!) Every household in the Lonaconing, Frostburg, and Grantsville area codes are going to get three pieces of mail from us in the next year to let everyone know that we’re here, that God loves them, and that they have an invitation to our church and to God’s Kingdom.

The idea of this advertising isn’t just to tweak people’s imagination at their mailbox, it’s to get YOU all talking to your friends and relations who will get these mailings. It’s getting you to tell your faith-story (like Tim did last week), it’s getting you to tell how much your parish helps you grow in your faith, it about you recruiting newcomers to the Kingdom.

Not so we can just grow. Not just so that we have more people in the pews, and more pledge-cards in the offering plate each week – but so that more and more people may hear and know of God’s love for them, and that they can fully realize that they have a reserved seat in God’s Kingdom.

There are things going on all around us – some we see, and others we don’t. We’re whizzing around at break-neck speed even as we sit in our pews. We’re being pelted with stardust. We’re bathed in unseen light. And God’s Kingdom is breaking out all around us, in us, and with us. Angels, archangels, all the company of Heaven, God’s Spirit, Jesus’ Presence, and the glory of God. Allow it to move in you. Move in it. And invite other to see, taste, and hear the love that God has for us, and for them.