the reign of God available now

"...as a progressive Christian reflecting on the themes of the “Reign of Christ” and the upcoming themes of Christ’s (first and second) coming during Advent, I will conclude with a quote adapted from John Dominic Crossan’s book God and Empire:

The Second Coming of Christ is not an event that we should expect to happen soon,violently, or literally. The Second Coming of Christ is what will happen when we Christians finally accept that the First Coming was the Only Coming and start to cooperate with its divine presence.

In other words, on Reign of Christ Sunday, we are invited to remember that the “Kingdom of God” or “Reign of God” — to which Jesus constantly pointed — is as fully available now and always as it was 2,000 years ago. The question that remains each Reign of Christ Sunday is whether we will choose to live as if the one who reigns is not Caesar, but God."

from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/carlgregg/2010/11/preaching-reign-of-christ-sunday-as-a-progressive-christian/

When Jesus returns

 

It doesn’t really matter what we do
in our own finite occupation of planet earth;
so one theory goes.
All the pollution and the global warming
and the depletion of the fishing stocks
and the extinction of the various species;
not our problem.
And all the refugee camps in border regions
and the ragged children on the smoking garbage mountains
and all the repression and the fear
and the greedy corporate exploitation
and all the political lies; about these things
we need have no concern.
Because Jesus is coming back.
Yeah, Jesus is coming back
and he’ll wave his hand,
his magic Holy Spirit hand,
and the new heaven will replace the old,
and the new earth will take over from the old,
and everything will be clean and sparkling
and smell like a pair of shiny new shoes,
fresh out of their box.
Or so one theory goes.

© Ken Rookes

When Jesus returns

It doesn’t really matter what we do

in our own finite occupation

of planet earth, so one theory goes.

All the pollution and the global warming

and the depletion of the fishing stocks

and the extinction of various species;

not our problem.

And all the refugee camps in border regions

and the ragged children on the smoking

garbage mountains and all the repression

and the fear

and the greedy corporate exploitation

and all the political lies; about these things

we need have no concern.

Because Jesus is coming back.

Yeah, Jesus is coming back

and he’ll wave his hand, his magic

Holy Spirit hand, and the new heaven

will replace the old, and the new earth

will take over from the old

and everything will be clean and fresh

and smell like a pair of shiny new shoes

just out of their box.

Or so one theory goes.

© Ken Rookes

And another that provides something of a comment on the gospel for Sunday that some of you might enjoy. 

All things in common

Forget the wonders and signs;

they’re always dodgey and ambiguous,

they prove nothing.

The story is still amazing,

but with qualifications;

all these Christians,

as they eventually came to be called,

cashing in their retirement investments

and giving the proceeds away,

keeping things in common,

sharing as any had need.

The “Jerusalem experiment,” so-called;

it couldn’t last.

This failed attempt at socialist spirituality

proves, according to some,

that all socialism is a failure.

But it wasn’t the love and the sharing

that didn’t work, it was the theology.

It’s easy to give your stuff away

when you are convinced that Jesus

is about to re-enter the earthly sphere

to set up the kingdom

that he failed to establish the first time.

Perhaps tomorrow, next week;

certainly by next year!

As I drive north through Epsom

a presumptuous billboard

confidently assures me

that Jesus’ second coming

is as certain as his first.

But I am a theological sceptic

as well as a socialist,

and remain unconvinced;

wondering if, maybe, the purpose of story

is to challenge me to be faithful and generous,

even if Jesus never returns.

© 2011 Ken Rookes