The Rev. Luk De Volder | June 16, 2024
Good morning and welcome to Trinity Church. This morning we especially remember Polly Fiddler who past away just over a week ago by now. Polly and Andy have been at the center of parish for almost half a century with their outpouring love and care for all of us. We will miss Polly’s playfulness very much. She loved dogs because also because she saw dogs as God spelled backwards. Her creativity and playfulness has been so inspirational. Her playfullnuss will actually help us to talk about the Gospel today and it’s message of God’s kingdom.
Because talking about kingdom, government and power these days is such a laden and challenging topic. It is all so daunting and tension-filled. When Jesus started talking about power and kingdom, he did something playful.
To describe somewhat how Jesus dealt with it I want to share how much I am impressed by the power of the NBA best of seven winning team, the Boston Celtics. These past 8 days the Best of Seven have given us the most amazing basketball experience you can dream of. One particular moment, game 2, this past Sunday, that ended with a beautiful buzzer beater, had this amazing move by one of the top NBA players, Jayson Tatum. The moment I am zooming into is when Jayson Tatum was ducking and almost squatting right underneath the basket in the second part of the third quarter. The fantastical way he surprised his Dallas Maverick defense counterparts, was hilarious. Holding the ball while making himself as small as possible, he lifted himself up just a tiny bit. But it was just enough for two Dallas defense players to think that Tatum was on his way to the basket. So they both jump up to block Tatum’s attempt. But Tatum playfully faked his rise and remained low. And while the defense players were on their way back down, right then, Tatum decided to jump and launch himself, contrasting the dropping defense players with a flawless dunk that cried out “I’ve got you”. It was so beautiful to see Jayson Tatum play and the Boston Celtics win. And I am sure they will win the tournament tonight.
The playful humor in getting your opponent on the wrong foot is part of Jesus message today. His line, The Kingdom of God is like a seed, sounds so overly familiar to us and the imagery has been richly elaborated by many a preacher or almost overused in many Sunday school settings. But the surprise undercurrent of Jesus’ message is almost from a Tatum playbook.
Like today in America, also in Jesus country there were strong feelings about the Kingdom. Today, so many politicians appeal to that sense of being American. We are all Americans, but then they propose their view of what it means to be an American. Like in Jesus’ time, some wanted a theocracy, others a military empire. Some people wanted a new way of life with ideals of justice and equality, but with no tied to institutions, whether it was the temple or the monarchy, no ties to this dark world.
But then Jesus proposed his view on power. Like Jayson Tatum Jesus is keeping the game in suspense by holding the ball for a second. Jesus’s word came with a similar pause: The Kingdom of God … And the different fractions of God’s people waited for their own view to be endorsed.
So you can imagine the surprise or almost humorist shock when Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is like … a seed. Not even a tree, you know the sacred tree, imagine of wisdom. Not even a twig from Ezekiel. No, just a seed. The realm, the government, the power, the influencer, the dominion that Jesus is proposing, almost ridicules those approaches. But as mush as Jesus rallies to the extreme insignifance of power, his view of power is actually extremely revolutionary (non of these religious groups or fractions felt respected by Jesus, to say the least). But it presents so small, so innocuous, not to say “unmanly”. It has appeared so weak, so unimpressive that the seed model rarely has taken root throughout history.
What is so amazing about the Kingdom of God as an organic reality is that in this concept of God
The first amazing aspect of God’s realm as a seed it that it is uniting, it is cohesive, it brings elements together into a unifying dynamic. It relegates, it is religare, religion in its etymology. It binds together in safety, in a sense of home and rootedness. The seed takes root and provides life, shade, and beauty. Connection
Next, you don’t have to do all the work: like with a seed, you have to let nature, or in this case, grace to its work. That is very different than the sitting meditation whereby you squeeze yourself in a level of consciousness. No, here you surrender to the process. To expand on this surrendering and letting go: even if you do not believe in God, it is such a gift to yourself, to your community, if we have the capacity to step back, to make space, to take a wider view. Expansion.
Finally, the Kingdom seed is honoring a third core dynamic of the divine, by eventually creating growth and fruit, energy output and engagement. Seed creates seed. Bonum divisivum sui, is the classical expression: goodness seeks to multiply itself. Activism.
If only we could propagate this concept of religion, this vision of Jesus regarding the divine. These are the intrinsic dynamics or powers of the divine as reflected in the “Kingdom seed” concept, promoted by Jesus. They eventually became known (1) as church community to implement the connection part, (2) monasticism in the practice of giving up or giving away, or giving money to church or needy. And (3) the activism resulted in the sense of mission and outreach.
During the reformation there was massive attempt to untangle the Kingdom of God from the empire versions as church institution of sacred state, to secure the sovereignty of God, but we still have a way to go. Meaning, the sovereignty of God that Jesus proclaims here in the Kingdom seed makes this radical pledge that God’s kingdom is in your hands, not through the hands of a pope or a king, nor by turning yourself against the earth. The way of the seed shows that God’s power starts growing in everyone’s life, in everyone who welcomes the seed in your own ground, your own messiness. Everyone who allows the seed to grow, welcomes the power of God in your life, according to what seeds do: connecting with the earth, with the sun, with the context and community; surrendering to the growth process - one can not yell at a seed to make it grow faster nor pull the seedling in the hope it becomes more productive faster; and finally by welcome the fruits and make its goodness shared.
I think Jesus’ message is clearly keeping our familiar political rhetoric outside our church. But his message may require more consideration while we are in an election year and we are being subjected to many visions of America. What Jesus vision of power has to offer is highlighted by the journalist George Packer, who recently wrote: “ Democracy is also a fragile artifice. It depends less on tradition and law than on the shifting contents of individual skills - belief, virtue, restraint.” [George Packer, The Valley. Search For the Future in the Most American City, in: The Atlantic, July/August 2024, 54.]
If we finally can acknowledge more clearly that democracy is actually a very spiritual endeavor, than Jesus’ vision on power does come into play with the highest urgency. Because what if our common narrative in congress and in media would focus more on what is unifying, what is creating vision, what is bringing activism and agency?
Instead of focusing on the Boston Celtics with my ESPN quality of a basketball game commentary, I should have started my sermon with a seed or a seedling. To honor the late George Parikh who passed away less than a year ago: he often reminded us of his original Hindu tradition in which everyone is invited once a year to plant a seed as a spiritual practice. Maybe that is one practical way to welcome the power of God in your life.
To take this home, it can be so comforting to know that in all our struggles and all our stresses and all our frustration, the divine is seeking to come and help by just being a growth of goodness in a way that puts you in the hammock and God in the gentle breeze, the soothing drink, the beauty of summer.
The Kingdom of God is like a seed.