
The Kingdom Kaleidoscope
By way of a sermon this morning I gave this poetic response to this morning’s Gospel reading from Matthew 13.31-33; 44-52 (the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 27th July 2014)
A cascade, a cascade
of word images tumbling one over another
Simile after simile –
the Kingdom of heaven is like this, is like that,
is like the other;
something completely other…
Jesus holds up a Kingdom kaleidoscope
for those who have eyes to see;
it is a heart-and-mind-changing vision
of the world turned upside down and
God-ways up.
For those who have ears to hear
these little stories
there is much to think about.
He throws them out, indiscriminately
scattering images before us
like a sower sowing seeds
trusting that some will land in our soil
and take root.
They are riddles,
teasing our ears with truths told
sideways and slant, sideways and slant:
stretching our imaginations;
confounding our reason;
expanding our horizons;
catching us by surprise
with unexpected meanings.
The Kingdom comes on earth as in heaven;
it is amongst and amidst
the everyday, ordinary tasks of our lives.
God’s work is to be glimpsed in our work –
so Jesus says:
in sowing, kneading, banking, trading, fishing,
even scribing…
The Kingdom is the seed of a weed:
tiny, hidden, sown-unknown and grown
along with the corn,
becoming something so much bigger
than seems probable.
Birds come to roost and rest and make
their nests in its branches…
in the middle of the farmer’s field a hungry flock
now making themselves at home
amongst the crops.
The Kingdom is a culture of yeast.
A woman mixes the leaven into the flour
where hidden away in the dough
it lives and works and slowly grows
It raises the whole loaf and gives its life
as the bread is baked and broken for the feast.
To discover the Kingdom is to find
hidden treasure and to experience
the joy of unexpected, unearned riches,
suddenly yours if
you will trade everything
to own the place the treasure hides.
It is just like finding a gemstone –
much-prized and precious, much-prized and precious;
you would sell everything, give all you have,
to be able to keep this Kingdom jewel.
And holding that pearl of great price
you would find yourself
in a beautiful poverty;
made utterly poor by the giving to receive.
This Kingdom is like a net:
weaving, wending and working
to gather everyone in – all are welcomed.
We are a mixed bunch;
we are good and we are bad
together caught by God’s Grace.
In God’s good time and in God’s gentle justice
all will be sorted, sieved and saved.
Do you understand? The teller of these tales asks.
Yes… our hesitant and hopeful reply.
Do you really understand?
Yes. Really? If so, then…
Be writers of the Kingdom
on the pages of your own lives;
Be tellers of truth stories
for those who are hungry for good news;
Be beggars showing other beggars
the way to the banquet’s open door;
Be livers of a Kingdom life
filled with old wisdom and fresh hope…
That others may see and hear and awakened be
to the eternal possibilities of new life.