And, we own another property. We do not own it by ourselves; we own it jointly with the 143 other congregations of the Pacific Southwest region. That other property is Loch Leven, our camp and conference center in the San Bernardino Mountains.
As members of a Pacific Southwest congregation, we are all property owners of Loch Leven. This past week I was at Loch Leven, counseling at a camp of 41 7th & 8th graders, including two from Bixby Knolls Christian Church...
In addition to youth camps, Loch Leven hosts a regional women's retreat each year as well as a regional mens retreat. Also, a number of congregations and other organizations within the region have retreats at Loch Leven, for recreation, fellowship, and spiritual growth.
At Chi-Rho camp this past week, the 7th and 8th graders explored what it means to live in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God s not an easy concept to understand, not even for adults. For one thing, the language is archaic. Few of us have ever spoken of living in anykind of a kingdom. For another thing, the language is metaphorical. Middle-schoolers are just beginning to understand this type of metaphorical language. When they were told that the kingdom of God isn't any particular place, but that it includes every place on earth, they agreed with that statement, even though they weren't quite sure what it meant.
In fact, a lot of adults aren't a whole lot clearer on what it means to live in the kingdom of God. Some of us aren't clear on what it means to live in the kingdom of God, even though Jesus began his ministry by saying, "Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand." Some of us aren't clear on what it means to live in the kingdom of God, even though most of the parables Jesus told are illustrations of what that kingdom is like. Some of us aren't clear on what it means to live in the kingdom of God, even though we pray, every week, for God's kingdom to come on earth, as it is in heaven.
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer of and for God's kingdom. In God's kingdom, God's name is hallowed above all other names. In God's kingdom, every person receives their daily bread; no person goes hungry, no person lacks the basic necessities of life, all people have access to adequate food, water, shelter, and health care. In God's kingdom, forgiveness abounds. We receive forgiveness, and we offer forgiveness to others. As Susan Gonzales Dewey pointed out to the campers, in God's kingdom we live in families of forgiveness, communities of forgiveness, churches of forgiveness, and -- perhaps most challenging of all -- a nation of forgiveness. God's kingdom is a kingdom of forgiveness.
In God's kingdom, people are given the power to resist temptation, to repent of their sins. To repent means to turn around or change direction; In God's kingdom, every person has the opportunity to turn from choices and attitudes that are destructive and whicvh lead to brokenness, and to turn to the way of Jesus, the way of healing and wholeness.
You may remember that the Greek word for healing and wholeness -- sozo -- is often translated in our Bibles as salvation. Whenever you read in the New Testament -- the Greek part of our Bible -- about salvation or being saved, you should understand it as salvation from the destructive ways of this world; salvation from the brokenness and fragmentation that exists around us. Salvation is finding healing and wholeness in a fragmented world.
In God's kingdom, it is quite obvious that the kingdom belongs to od, along with the power and the glory forever. The ways of God are the ways of the world. The economic justice spoken of by the prophets is a part of God's kingdom. The social justice preached by Jesus is a part of God's kingdom. The attitudes of the beatitudes are a part of God's kingdom.
This is what we pray for every week when we say the Lord's Prayer, the prayer of the kingdom.
Early in the week, the campers were asked to draw a picture of God's kingdom. Most of them chose to draw a picture of the earth. A day or two later, one camper said that the kingdom of God is present at Loch Leven.
Other campers agreed with her. In fact, I agree with her. It's one of the reasons why I spend a week every summer counseling camp. It's the reason why being a camp counselor is so important to me and my ministry. The kingdom of God is present at Loch Leven. Youth and adults go there to find rest from the world, and to be trained in practices that help make God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
This past week, I saw the kingdom of God when even the most socially awkward adolescent was welcomed and invited to take the last seat at a table of campers, instead of being told that it was saved for someone else, someone who, in the world that exists outside God's kingdom, is a whole lot cooler.
I saw the kingdom of God when one camper, upon hearing the story of Pentecost, blurted out in excitement, "Is that true?!?", and when another camper, so interested after hearing just a piece of the story of Joseph, read the whole thing in his free time.
I saw the kingdom of God when campers reached out to those who were strugglin, always cheering for them in competitions and really empathizing with them and doing everything they could to show support, instead of ridiculing or criticizing. Even when, in the midst of competition, a player's struggle caused a team to lose the competition, there was always support and encouragement.
This week, I started thinking of the property we own at Loch Leven as more than a camp and conference center. I started thinking of it more as a training ground. It is where people are trained to live in the kingdom of God; it is where people are trained to answer the call to make that kingdom come ... on earth, as in heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment