Taking Control (Matthew 4: 1-11)

 Jesus was about to face a difficult ordeal, a showdown with Satan, a dogfight with the devil, a tussle with the tempter, a brawl with beelzebub. For this, he would need to be prepared.

This confrontation would be the ultimate test of Jesus’ physical, mental, and emotional strength. 

If you were about to undergo such a strenuous struggle, how would you prepare?

If you knew you had one year to prepare, what would you do?

If you knew you had 40 days, what would you do? How would you get ready?

Would you try to improve your physical strength? Would you start training, going for walks, hikes, runs? Would you start lifting weights, building muscle so you could be strong enough to survive?

Would you eat healthy, to help get in shape? Then, the day before, would you, maybe, eat as if you were about to run a marathon? A bunch of carbs, a little protein, and maybe a piece of fruit? …all to get your body in the best possible shape, to face the challenge that was coming?

How would you prepare mentally and emotionally?

Jesus, before he met up with the devil, fasted. Not what I would have chosen! Jesus fasted for forty days. No carbs, no protein. Nothing. By the time the devil came around, Jesus was famished!

This fasting is reminiscent of the fast Moses undertook when he met with God on Mount Sinai. In Exodus 34:18, it says that Moses “was there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water.”

I don’t know how literally we should take the 40-day length of the fast, or that the fast included not drinking water as well as foregoing food. 

A person can’t live more than a few days without water, especially in a desert wilderness. The number 40 is clearly symbolic, as it not only refers to Moses’ fast, but also the 40 days of rain Noah endured, and the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that the Hebrews experienced on their journey to the promised land. 

And at the end of each of these 40-day periods (or, 40-year periods), there was a sort of rebirth, a reawakening, a re-creation. At the end, there was new life.

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Easter is coming; Easter, the end of our 40-day journey through Lent, is coming. 

But today, on the first Sunday of Lent, that journey is just beginning. 

How should we prepare for the journey that is to come?

Many look to Jesus’ fast as a model to follow. Few follow it literally, but many do give up at least some types of food during Lent. During her Wednesday online prayer, our General Minister Terri Hord Owens mentioned that a friend of hers was giving up Diet Coke for Lent. Our General Minister said she could never do that!

Some people give up chocolate, or at least, talk about giving up chocolate. Some give up meat for Lent, or at least on Fridays during Lent, as a reminder of the fast Jesus undertook, and as a reminder of the even greater sacrifice Jesus made for us.

But there is another reason to fast during Lent. Jesus fasted to the point of being famished, which to him seemed like the right way to prepare for his encounter with the devil. But why is that a good way to prepare for an encounter with the devil?

It’s because when Jesus fasted, he was demonstrating control over his body’s urges and desires. The urges and desires of our bodies (like hunger) are not bad, unless they end up controlling us, taking control of our lives.

The devil came to Jesus with three temptations, but Jesus didn’t really need the devil to bring those temptations to him; those temptations were already with him. Those temptations were already within him. 

The desire to eat, and satisfy his hunger; the desire to test God’s promise to protect him; and the desire to have the power to bend the nations to his will.

Jesus fasted as a way of strengthening his control over these desires. Jesus fasted as a way to take control of his life. Jesus fasted because he didn’t want these desires to control him.

And at the surface level, fasting can surely do that for us. How often do our cravings take control, and dictate what we eat and what we drink? Too often, our eating habits show that we are not in control of our own lives.

The apostle Paul wrote: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” I think Paul wrote that as he was chowing down on his third donut of the day.

I still have one niece who sells Girl Scout cookies, and so of course we bought a bunch of boxes, and I told myself I wouldn’t eat that many. Yet, there they were, right there in the cupboard, the package already opened… It’s so hard to just walk right by without eating one. Or five.

And you think: “Am I really weaker than cookie? Is my self-control really overpowered by a Thin Mint? God help me if I ever meet the devil in the wilderness…”

There are many reasons to give something up for Lent; and there are many reasons to take on something new during Lent. Taking control is only one of those reasons; but I do think it is a significant reason.

It’s not just limited to food. Sometimes I feel like my phone controls me. We know that social media is designed to make us lose control. Every like, every interaction, every notification, is designed to give us a small boost of dopamine, so that our brains just can’t wait to get the next one, and the next one, and we keep checking our phones even though we just checked our phones. 

It’s just so hard to put them down.

It’s the same science behind how casinos get you to keep gambling. 

Some friends of mine give up social media during Lent. They give up facebook for Lent, for example. For some people, that is a very hard thing to give up. For younger people, it might be TikTok that is hard to give up. Friday morning, I heard on KNX that, according to Twitter users, the number one thing they are giving up during Lent is… Twitter.

It’s all an attempt to take back control. 

If you can control your desire for a Girl Scout cookie or a piece of chocolate or an afternoon on social media during Lent, that can train you to take control over other areas in your life. It can help prepare you and train you to resist other, more demonic desires. It’s a way of strengthening the control you have over your own actions.

Last week, when Zander was in town, he mentioned that he’d like to start taking ice baths. If you don’t know, it’s just what it sounds like: you take a bath in a tub filled with ice. 

It sounds crazy to me, but articles I’ve read talk about how ice baths can prevent muscle soreness, help your body cool down after a workout, boost your mental health, improve your sleep, reduce risk of injury, and boost your immunity. 

It’s also an exercise in control. Because that ice water is so cold, your body and your mind want so badly for you to get out. It’s a test of how well you can control that instinct. I saw one guy on instagram settle into an ice bath with absolutely no expression on his face, demonstrating his complete control over his body’s reaction to that ice cold water.

I told Zander if he tries that, to let me know how it goes, because that is a test of one’s control that I will NOT be attempting! 

But I do know that it is a goal of philosophers and sages to control how they react to what goes on around them. You can’t control what happens to you, they say, but you can control how you react and how you respond to what happens.

But it takes practice. It takes discipline. 

If we go to Matthew’s gospel, and flip just a few pages over to chapter six, we come to some instructions Jesus gave about fasting. And then, after he gives instructions on fasting, Jesus says: “Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

The connection between this and fasting is that if you learn to control your body through fasting, then you can also learn to control your stuff, and what you spend your money on. Because just as some people have no control over what they put into their mouths, others have no control over what they spend their money on. 

As the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Why do you spend your money on what does not satisfy?”

True satisfaction comes from wholeness. It comes from justice. It comes from shalom. What you spend your money on can either help build up God’s kingdom of shalom, or it can build up that which is not good for people, that which destroys the earth, that which works against what is just.

Every day, we face the temptation to spend our money and spend our time on things which detract from God’s kingdom. Every day, we face the temptation to act in ways that work against justice, against peace, against having a livable, sustainable world.

We say we want a world of peace; we say we want to help those who are oppressed and colonized; we say we want to do what’s right for the planet… but our actions show that, too often, the temptation to do what we say we do not want to do is just too great.

If we could only find a way to have a little more control…

Now things get more and more complicated, because of the hidden and indirect ways our actions affect others around the world. Most of the time, we don’t even realize what we’re doing. Most of the time, we aren’t even aware of how our spending habits influence the decisions made by rulers and corporate CEOs concerning the justice and equality (or lack thereof) of millions of people around the world…

But that’s no excuse to not exercise control in the things we are aware of, the things we can change. 

Be intentional in the things you do. Be deliberate in the choices you make. Learn how you are being manipulated, by food, by convenience, by social media, and all the other forces and powers that have neither your best interest nor the interests of the world at heart.

And pray daily to God, for strength, for awareness, and the ability to identify and resist the temptations you face. No human is self-sufficient; no person can do it all alone. We need each other, and we need God, to help us take control, and live into the identity and the calling that God has given to us.

Lenten Fast (Matthew 4:1-11)

1. Forty Days

In the midst of a forty-year journey through the wilderness, Moses spent forty days atop Mount Sinai.

After his baptism, and before he began his ministry, Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, where he fasted, and where he was tempted.

Throughout the world, Christians have now begun a forty-day journey through the season of Lent, a season that ends with Holy Week, and Easter Sunday.

In the wilderness, Jesus engaged in fasting as a spiritual practice, so naturally, the first temptation was food. The first temptation was meant to lure him away from that practice, lure him away from a life of faith.

So it is with many of the temptations we face.

Just like Jesus, we, too, are called upon to face our demons; to confront the temptations which lure us away from the path we are called to follow…

This season of Lent is a holy time. A sacred time. A kairos time.

It is a time when Christians are invited to sort through their lives, and draw deeper to the source of their faith.

It is a time when many Christians return to one or more of the ancient spiritual practices, or renew their commitment to these practices… I’m talking about practices like: prayer. Worship. Study. Silence. Stewardship. Service. And fasting. 

Anything that helps direct one’s focus on a life of faith is a practice that can be enriched during this season of Lent.

2. Black and White

One thing I did last year, and which I’ve begun doing again this year, is sharing only black and white photos on my instagram account. This is not your typical Lenten fast, but I found it helpful. 

I enjoy taking pictures here in Long Beach as well as on my hikes, and some of them I share on facebook, but instagram is the place where I share most of them. 

...And during Lent, all the photos I share are in black and white.

This decision does have its drawbacks. I went on one hike last year through the poppy fields during the height of the superbloom. Bright, orange hills covered with poppies, for miles! Well, pictures of golden poppy fields just don’t work all that well in black and white. 

However, a lot of photographers like black and white. Black and white removes the distractions of color, and allows you to focus more on subject, the textures, shapes and patterns, and composition. 

This is actually a picture I took just a few weeks ago, while hiking through an area that burned in a wildfire last year. In this picture, color was a distraction. The shape of the tree, it’s stark beauty, it’s contrast against the clouds in the sky, all show much better in black and white.

This picture shows that even though black and white is limiting, it can also be liberating.

And that’s what Lent is all about. Finding practices that remove the distractions in our lives; practices that allow you to focus more on things you may have overlooked. 

For me, this is a type of fasting. 

3. Spiritual Gain Train

But why fast in the first place? Why did Jesus fast? Why did others in ancient times fast, and why do people still fast today?

Fasting, like other spiritual practices, is a spiritual workout to strengthen the muscles of faith. And that really is a good analogy. In exercise, we make our bodies do hard work. And sometimes, there is even a little bit of pain, during and after exercise. 

But the pain we experience after exercise is actually the feeling of our muscles recovering from tiny tears and injuries they sustained when they were pushed to their limits… and as those muscles recover from that, it’s as if the muscles say to themselves, “Well, we’re going to make sure we’re ready for that next time!” So as they heal, they add a little mass, making them stronger than they were before. 

The apostle Paul actually makes a comparison between physical training, and spiritual training. In 1 Cor. 9:24-27 Paul writes: “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we [train to receive] an imperishable one.” 

And again, in 1 Timothy 4:7, Paul writes: “Train yourself in godliness.” And that word train, in Greek, is gymnaze, which refers to physical exercise, and is related to our modern word gymnasium.

Because muscles need time to recover, a workout must be followed by a period of rest. Likewise, practices like fasting are meant to last only for a set time. 

When the fast is over, your spiritual muscles continue growing and getting stronger.

I pulled a book about fasting from my bookshelf to help me prepare for today’s sermon, but before I opened it and re-read parts of it, I searched online to see what the internet had to say about fasting. 

One internet article I found said that today, millennials are twice as likely to fast during Lent as boomers. Boomers go to church more, but millennials fast more.

That was interesting.

4. Fasting Is Manly (Who Knew?)

Another article I found came from a surprising place: the website artofmanliness.com, which had an article about fasting by Brett and Kate McKay that actually had a lot of good things to say.

First, the article talked about reasons people fast. 

Fasting, it said...

...Teaches that discomfort is not always bad

...fasting Strengthens the will

...fasting Intensifies prayer (praying “give us this day our daily bread” takes on new meaning when one is fasting!)

...fasting makes you aware of your everyday abundance, and fosters gratitude and humility

...fasting gets you out of a rut and re-asserts your humanity. The article explains this by saying, “You feel a hunger pang, and you ignore it. You always eat at noon, but today you’re not going to eat at all. You hear your phone ping, and you disregard it. You see your phone on your dresser, and you walk on by…[in this way] fasting communicates a profound freedom.” I don’t have to do things the same way, day after day. I am not a slave to my habits. I’m not a slave to my cravings. I’m not a slave to my phone. I am in control. I can change things around. I can try new things.

Fasting also builds solidarity with the suffering.

(Reading this, I wondered: Is it possible for me to “fast” from my white privilege? Probably not. But fasting can help make me aware of the privileges I have... and how I can use that privilege to empower those who are under-privileged or oppressed.)

Then, inline with what I said earlier, the article suggested that we consider fasting from anything that’s detracting from our higher priorities and needs to be rebalanced in our lives.

Then the article listed a number of ways you might choose to fast. You could fast from any and all devices with screens (television; smartphone)

You could fast from sports or hobbies.

You could fast from talking.

You could fast from Social media (or the internet altogether).

You could fast from News.

You could even fast from sharing pictures in color.

5. Incarnational Spirituality

One good thing about actual fasting is that it incorporates the whole body into worship. We’re called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body; fasting includes the body part of that. 

This is hard for us. We tend to neglect our bodies and their connection to a life of faith. 

And we here may be among the worst of all Christians when it comes to this. Most of us don’t even raise our hands in worship very often. We don’t get down on our knees in prayer. 

When we worship God, we tend to neglect or ignore our bodies.

We do often walk forward for communion, which I love, because it is a liturgical moment that puts our bodies in motion. But how else do we incorporate our bodies in our spiritual lives?

What if fasting involved walking, instead of driving, to any place that is within a 20-minute walking distance? Walking can be a wonderful spiritual practice. Thich Nhat Hanh has said that the real miracle of living isn’t walking on water; it’s simply walking on this green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment, and feeling truly alive.

Just walking like that, in the moment, can be a

wonderful spiritual practice.

There are many other types of fasting. A year or two back, Pope Francis made some suggestions for possible fasts. “Fast from hurting words,” he said. “Fast from complaints, and contemplate simplicity. Fast from grudges, and be reconciled. Fast from pessimism, and be filled with hope.”

And, we heard a few weeks ago from Isaiah 58, which says that a proper fast is 

“to loose the bonds of injustice,

   to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

   and to break every yoke...

to share your bread with the hungry,

   and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them,

   and not to hide yourself from your own kin.”

There are more important things than giving up food… Any practice or discipline that helps you remove distractions from your life, and focus on what’s important, can be a spiritual fast... Anything that turns your life toward God, toward spiritual things, can be a fast worthy of this season of Lent... And any spiritual practice that incorporates the whole body can be an especially meaningful spiritual practice.

Origin Story (Matthew 4: 12-17)

1. A Creature of the Night

Once upon a time, a boy named Bruce Wayne was born to Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, two very wealthy and charitable Gotham City socialites. Bruce grew up in Wayne Manor, and led a happy and privileged existence until the age of eight, when his parents were killed by a small-time criminal named Joe Chill.

That night, Bruce Wayne swore an oath to spend his life fighting crime. He engaged in intense intellectual and physical training; however, he realized that these skills alone would not be enough. "Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot", Wayne remarked, "so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible ..." As if responding to his desires, a bat suddenly flew through the window, inspiring Bruce to become Batman.

Every hero has an origin story, and Batman’s origin story is one of the most interesting. The origin story is history, but it’s more than history. It explains the motivations and actions of the hero that person becomes. It helps us understand the “why” behind everything that hero does.

Often, origin stories are not the first story we hear. Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27, but his origin story didn’t appear until Detective Comics #33.

For other comic heroes, it might be years before the origin story appears.

2. Repent, the kingdom has come near

Do you ever think of the Christmas story as Jesus’ origin story? It’s been a month now since Christmas, when we heard the story of Jesus’ birth, in the manger, surrounded by shepherds and angels, and visited by the magi…

But like many origin stories, the stories of Jesus’ birth actually came later. The earliest Christian writings we have are the letters written by Paul, and they don’t mention anything about Jesus’ birth.

Of the gospels, the first written was the gospel of Mark. Mark, also, does not mention Jesus’ birth. If we think of Jesus’ birth as his origin story, then we have to wait a little longer for that story to come along.

The gospel of Mark actually starts with John the baptist, and the baptism of Jesus. For Mark, the story of Jesus’ baptism is enough of an origin story. 

Jesus’s story, his ministry, begins at his baptism. It continues during the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. The origin story concludes when Jesus declares: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the good news.”

Well. Matthew - written several decades after Mark - extends Jesus’ origin story further back, by describing, first, Jesus’ genealogy, and then the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth. 

Matthew then includes Jesus’ baptism, his time in the wilderness… and, as we heard today, his declaration “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” which is almost the same statement Jesus speaks at the beginning of Mark’s gospel.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

So even though Matthew and Mark present Jesus’ origin story in different ways, they both have that statement, about God’s kingdom, and they both have the call to repentance. For both Matthew and Mark, that statement marks the conclusion of the origin story, and it prepares the reader for all that is to follow. 

Repent - a word that means, change your heart, change your life.

The kingdom of God (or, the kingdom of heaven) - a phrase that means the world as it should be, as God desires it to be. The beloved community.

Has come near - a phrase that means it has arrived. It is now beginning.

So: Repent (change your heart and life) because the world God desires has now begun…

3. BKCC’s origin story

Bixby Knolls Christian Church’s origin story centers on the last Sunday in January, 1946. On that day the first worship service took place here, on this property, though the sanctuary in which we worship today wasn’t built until 1963.

At that opening worship service a statement was presented… that statement said that this new church “will strive to serve the whole community. While it is a congregation affiliated with the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), it will not practice a narrow denominationalism, but welcomes into service those of all other religious bodies who may wish to worship here … This church wishes to serve you, your home, your children, and the community. ‘The world at its worst needs the church at its best,’ and this church will attempt to measure up to the day and the needs in which we live.”

Like Jesus’ statement to repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near, this statement is important. 

It was meant to guide the ministry of this church in the years that followed.

This statement is rooted in the origins of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). While our congregation is celebrating 74 years of ministry, the movement of which we are a part began over 200 years ago, in what was then a rural Ohio River Valley.

4. Campbell, Campbell, & Stone

It began with two immigrants from Scotland, a father and son named Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and an American-born man named Barton Warren Stone. You can see their images, in the stained glass windows of our narthex, and in the stairway by the office. And, the x-shaped St. Andrew’s cross in our chalice logo is there to honor of the Campbells’ roots in Scotland.

To simplify and shorten this origin story, Stone and the Campbells separately decided that the contentious divisions in the church between denominations was contrary to God’s desire, and they all wanted to do away with such divisions. In a sense, they wanted to restore the church to its roots, and draw upon the church’s original origin story in the book of Acts. 

In 1832, their separate movements united into one. Their churches, they decided, wouldn’t bear the name of any denomination, but would simply be “Christian” churches. We would be a fellowship, a movement - but not another divisive denomination.

The movement grew and expanded. It spread throughout the United States and Canada, and to places like Puerto Rico and the Congo...

Things started changing in the 20th century.  For one thing, the denominations stopped fighting and started working together.

Our own movement saw its own changes. In 1968, we officially reorganized, and accepted the label “denomination,” not to distinguish ourselves apart from others, but so that we could be better organized, and so that we could more easily work with all those other denominations that were now working so well with each other.

Drawing upon this history, we have today an identity statement which says we are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. 

That statement also clarifies that we are part of the body of Christ - not the only part - and that we welcome all to the Lord’s Table, as Christ has welcomed us.

The original vision set forth at the founding of Bixby Knolls Christian Church - and the original vision of Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton Warren Stone - have grown and evolved over the years, but these origins still make a good foundation for the open,  inclusive ministry that we are today, a ministry that is affirming of all people, people of various ages and genders, races and nationalities, sexual orientations and gender identities.

5. Kingdom Come

A look back at our congregation’s history shows how we have carried this vision forward, learning and growing along the way.

In 1979, when BKCC was just a little more than three decades along, a time when female preachers were rare, this church supported the ordination of Jo Ann Westerlund, who had come here as a student ministry intern.

In 1983, we became a Shalom Congregation. Also in the 1980s, we joined with other congregations in resettling Cambodian refugees coming to southern California.

Even back then, the people of this congregation understood the importance of extending welcome and hospitality to immigrants and refugees.

For many years, BKCC has had a partnership with the South Coast Interfaith Council. In fact, this congregation’s openness to interfaith work is something I myself have learned from.

For many years, BKCC extended grace and love to those in the LGBTQ community, even as our own understanding was growing and evolving. This was not done in spite of our faith, but because of our faith.

In 2013, BKCC realized that it was important to let our community and world know that this is an important part of our identity, and the church voted to officially become Open and Affirming.

Today, even though we are a smaller congregation, BKCC is one of the few racially diverse congregations in a nation where the vast majority of churches are still segregated by race. I’m not saying we’re perfect in that regard, but we continue to learn how we can be better neighbors to one another, and better welcome people no matter how alike or different they may be. We still have some learning to do in this area, but at the same time, I believe that we have something to share and something to teach others when it comes to diversity in the church.

We are multi-racial. We are intergenerational. We are gay and straight. We are American-born and immigrant. We are people whose brains are wired in all sorts of different ways, allowing us to see and respond to the world in different ways…

And we continue to extend a wide welcome to all people, in membership as well as in leadership, as we allow God to use us to help build that kingdom of heaven on earth, that new world which God desires.

It is the world in which all people find healing, wholeness, and salvation.

It is the world in which the poor are lifted up, and the hungry are filled.

It is the world in which even creation itself finds healing.

It is the world in which foreigners and immigrants are welcomed and loved - a world in which every neighbor, no matter who they are, is loved.

This is what we celebrate today: that God has continued to work in us, helping us grow, transforming us so that we can be about the work of transforming the world. God’s Spirit is at work, changing our hearts and our minds, leading us to repentance, and building - through us - God’s kingdom of shalom on earth.

Thanks be to God.

Sermon: "You Don't Have to Wait" (Matthew 4: 12-17)

In choosing our scripture reading for today I’ve jumped back a bit in Matthew’s gospel, to the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry: right after he was baptized, right after he spent those forty days in the wilderness. Coming out of the wilderness, he heard that John who had baptized him had been arrested. He went to Galilee, and began his own ministry by proclaiming the message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Two weeks ago I preached about the kingdom of heaven; I attempted to answer the question: “Where is the kingdom of heaven?”  And I talked about how the kingdom of heaven is not somewhere far off, but right where we are.

Well, today, instead of asking “where?” I’m going to ask “when?” When is the kingdom of heaven going to arrive?  

A lot of people in Jesus’s time were waiting for the kingdom of heaven to arrive. They expected the kingdom to come right where they were, but they didn’t know when it would come. Their present kingdom - the kingdom of Rome - was oppressive and corrupt and dominating, and the people wanted something better - they wanted a kingdom more in line with God’s vision for all of creation.

The people were hoping for a Savior who would come to establish this new kingdom. When Jesus arrived, they believed he was the one. When Jesus began teaching about the kingdom of heaven, people asked him: when will this kingdom happen? When will the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, become a reality? How long will we have to wait for the world to change, to be more in line with God’s vision? How long?

Two weeks ago, the question was, “Where is the kingdom of heaven,” and the answer was “right here.” Today the question is “How long will we have to wait for the kingdom of heaven.”

And the answer Jesus gives is, “You don’t have to wait.” He said, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is in your reach - all you need to do is grab hold of it.”

Pretty deep, isn’t it?

Think about it:

We dream of a far-off paradise. The grass is always greener somewhere else.

We dream of a far-off future in which we finally get our life together, when things finally come together.

We dream of heaven - the most far-off place, the most far-away-in-the-future realm of existence we can imagine.

We can’t imagine heaven being anything like this world in which we currently live.

The distance between here and the kingdom of heaven seems so great. It’s too far away. It’s too far in the future. And it never seems to be getting any closer.

Heaven seems to be waiting:

Waiting for God to act

Waiting for us to get our act together

Waiting for the right job to come along, or the right lover

Waiting for world events to straighten out

Waiting for people to stop being so mean to each other

Waiting for an end to poverty and hunger and war

Waiting for an end to racism and white supremacist rallies

Waiting for the right president to come along

Waiting for everything to become perfect

And for as long as we have to wait, heaven feels very far away.

But Jesus says you don’t have to wait to live in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says heaven is within you! Heaven is within you and among you. And when Jesus announces God’s kingdom, he says that it is at hand, that it is present, that it has now begun. You can live in the kingdom of heaven right now, if you so choose.

In the gospel of Mark - I’m jumping around now, but I’ll get back to Matthew in a moment - we read that “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God - (that’s what Mark calls the kingdom of heaven) - the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” (Mark 1:14-15)

Or, as the Common English Bible puts it, Jesus says: “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” Change your hearts and lives, because God’s kingdom is arriving right now!

In Mark’s gospel, Jesus’s words are like the announcement you hear at Disneyland as the train is pulling into the station: “You’re attention please! The kingdom of heaven is now arriving. A-a-a-l-l-l-l aboard!”

And right away, you can see the kingdom of heaven arriving down the track. It’s already here! All you need to do is climb aboard.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah when he says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

These things -- good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed -- are signs of the kingdom of heaven. When these things happen, the kingdom of heaven has arrived.

Well, immediately after Jesus reads these words, he announces that “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4: 18-21) Today is the day that the poor will have someone preach good news to them. Today is the day that someone will proclaim release to the captives and freedom to the oppressed. Today is the day that the kingdom of heaven has arrived. All aboard!

Back in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus lists those who are blessed in the kingdom of heaven: In the kingdom of heaven, blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn; blessed are the meek; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful; blessed are the pure in heart; blessed are the peacemakers…

We know those statements. We call them the beatitudes.

In the kingdoms of this world - in Caesar’s kingdom - such people are not blessed, but in the kingdom of heaven, the blessings are theirs.

Then Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for the kingdom of heaven. More specifically, he teaches them to pray that the kingdom of heaven will come on earth as it is in heaven.

It’s kind of a weird phrase, because “the kingdom” and “heaven” are interchangeable terms. We’re praying for heaven to come to earth as it is in heaven. It kind of plays with our idea that heaven is far away: heaven is on earth, as it is in heaven.

May the kingdom of heaven come on earth as in heaven.

In other words, the disciples are told to pray for heaven to come to earth right now.

In other words, without delay. Pray that the kingdom of heaven will always be arriving, always be present, always be here, ready for you to climb aboard.

So many look at the world today and say, “this is not heaven. This world is not heaven. This world is hell! If the kingdom of heaven is on earth or is coming to earth, it must be waiting…waiting for all those things I already mentioned… waiting for an end to war, an end to violence in the streets, an end to racism and white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan...

How can heaven possibly be present in the midst of all this? How can Jesus talk about the kingdom being present when all this is going on?

But Jesus knows very well what it’s like to live in a tumultuous time, a time when evil is present and is destroying people’s lives.

As I said, Jesus lived in a society that was under the rule of the Roman Empire. The Jews had once been their own nation with their own king, but now they were under the rule and control of a foreign emperor. And this foreign emperor was ruthless. He was violent. Yet he insisted that he alone was the giver of peace, the king of all kings and the lord of all lords, that he was the Father of all the people of the Empire, the one who provided them bread, the one who provided him life. And in return, he demanded their loyalty. He insisted that they obey and comply and even worship him.

Those who resisted: they were silenced. They were made into scapegoats. They were crucified. Their cities were destroyed.

Some of those in Jesus’s time believed it was best to comply. They collaborated with Rome. They followed the official party line, and said that faith was a matter of personal piety, not social justice and reform. They taught that one day, God would restore Israel and free the Jews from Roman rule, but until that day came, people just had to wait. And maybe, if they behaved themselves and followed all the religious laws, God would move up that day and they wouldn’t have to wait as long for the kingdom of heaven.

Others couldn’t wait for God to act. Rome needed to be resisted. They openly advocated for revolution, despite the risks. They were determined to restore God’s kingdom by any means necessary.

The one thing both groups had in common is that they believed the kingdom of heaven depended on Caesar being removed from power, that the kingdom of heaven could not be established as long as Rome was in charge.

In the same way, there are those today who believe that the kingdom of heaven has come closer than ever before because Donald Trump is president, while there are others who believe that the kingdom of heaven is now farther away than ever because of Donald Trump.

But the truth is: the kingdom of heaven does not depend at all on Donald Trump, just as the kingdom did not depend on Caesar. That was Jesus’ message: the kingdom is at hand, and nothing Caesar does can hinder it or delay it. God’s will will be done.

The kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, is already present, right now. It is within you. It is among you. You have the power to make the kingdom of heaven a reality right now, if you so choose.

When YOU go out of your way to show kindness to a stranger, the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

When YOU go out of your way to lift up someone who is down, the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

When YOU go out of your way to welcome someone who is far from home, refugees and immigrants, and show them great hospitality, the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

When YOU feed someone who is hungry or care for someone who is sick, the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

When YOU go out of your way to demand justice for those who are oppressed and those who have had their rights taken away from them, the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

When YOU confront your own racism, your own privilege, and work to build a world where authority and privilege and rights are shared equally among all people of all races, a world that does not tolerate the fearful, hateful demonstrations of white privilege we’ve seen in Charlottesville, then the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

When YOU orient your life toward God - repenting of your own desires and using all your life energy and all your resources to help create a world of wholeness - the kingdom of heaven is made real and present.

And what about that life after death, what we usually think about when we think about heaven? Jesus doesn’t really say much about that. We read in the Bible that his resurrection will be our resurrection, that love has conquered death… but we also hear Jesus say: don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself.

Worry about today. Focus on heaven in the present. The train is in the station! Climb on board! The kingdom of heaven is in your reach. You can decide today whether you will to live in the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of Rome.  Every day, you have that choice and that decision to make. Will you choose to live in the kingdom of heaven? Will you choose to live in the kingdom of love? Will you choose to live in the kingdom of God?