a beautiful mess

lost symbols of the kingdom, a conversation i’ll be kicking off with the belmont high school community, will start this sunday morning. i am quite excited to jump in the mix and work with tyler merritt and crew.

the low-down is basically a walk through matthew’s accounts and the various uses of the truly epic and oft-misunderstood phrase, “the kingdom of heaven/GOD.”

taking a page out of the rabbinical school of study, we’re first looking closely at the law of first mention(s) – both in the first and new covenants, considering the radical* birth of the kingdom of heaven/GOD and the inherent questions it raises for us today.

i am using the word ‘lost’ because as much as yochanan (john), yeshua (jesus), and the apostles used the phrase [kingdom of heaven/GOD], it seems the body of christ has largely swept it under the gospel-rug. and make no mistake, yochanan was certainly not the first one to coin that phrase: it stems from a history of empire and power and spheres of power or control; what may also be described as the dome of a king: a kingdom.

i am also using the word ‘lost’ because many of the symbols themselves have been, in a sense, lost unto us 21st century sojourners of the way: followers of the christ. we read his parables, we envision his symbols, then our minds go blank as we search for a mustard seed and plant around our neighborhoods in suburbia, and finally (most of us) skip – er, skim – the rest of the chapter, taking refuge with a familiar verse from psalms. note the bit of sarcasm…

we live in such a dome today. a nation of boundaries governed by a modern-day king-of-sorts: a president: one who presides, sits in front of.

it would not be far-fetched to say that we find our legal citizenship in the kingdom of america, for example.

so, does it matter and what does it mean that there exists another kingdom in the very midst of the one we’re in? how are we to make our living in light of this reality? etcetera and ellipsis.

Q/ what is the most recent conversation you have had regarding the “kingdom of heaven/GOD?” or do you find that you are not having very many conversations at all about it?

*radical. used here not to elicit images of mohawks or lady gaga; rather, in reference to the word’s origin, from radish: of or having roots. that is, being radical or, going back to the roots, to the beginning.