The Kingdom of God.
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14. Revelation 1:4b-8. John 18:33-37.
It’s been a difficult week in the Church of England so I hope you will excuse me if I begin with a joke.
What did the inflatable teacher at the inflatable school say to the inflatable child caught holding a pin?
You let me down, you let your friends down, you let your school down but most of all… you let — yourself down.
Sadly, the Church of England seems to have let a lot of people down this week. Not just those ordained women (like Edwina), many of whom feel that they are second class citizens because no woman can at present become a bishop. Not just the vast majority of people in the Church of England who believe that we should have women bishops. Even most of those who are opposed to women bishops believe that they are inevitable. The measure fell because provision for those who are opposed to women bishops was felt to be inadequate. But the people we really let down are the people we are supposed to be serving, the people of England. For most of them this is a no brainer. We have let the country down and as Archbishop Rowan said on Wednesday, we have a lot of explaining to do.
I knew that there was a possibility that the measure might not be passed by the General Synod’s house of laity on Tuesday. But when the measure was defeated I was surprised at the strength of my reaction. I experienced the ministry of women bishops in New Zealand twenty years ago. I was at General Synod when the vote on women priests went through. My wedding was conducted by a woman. My ministry has been hugely enriched by having women as colleagues. We have been waiting for this change for decades and it seemed that perhaps, once we had got through it, we could stop examining our navels and get on with the work of ministry and mission in this country. Instead, I felt ashamed of my church, especially when I tried to explain what had happened to my daughter Ellen.
Those who support the ordination of women to the Lepiscopate do so out of strong belief in the equality of men and women. They believe that in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female for all are one in Christ. We are all made in God’s image, and are all called to proclaim the word and works of God.
Those who support women bishops do so out of a deep theological conviction that this is a step closer to the kingdom of God. But part of coming to terms with what has happened involves recognizing that there are those who take a completely opposite view because of equally deeply held convictions. For them, this is not a step closer to the kingdom. All of us would love the church and the kingdom of God to be one and the same thing. But that’s not how it is. The kingdom of God does not belong to us.
The church should point to the kingdom of God. It should be a sign of the kingdom of God. At its best, it should reflect the kingdom of God.
But the church is not the same as the Kingdom of God. Not the church on earth anyway; because it is made up of people; sinful, partial, hurt, tribal people with only limited vision. The kingdom of God is always bigger than the church. They may overlap but they are not the same thing.
I would say that the gradual introduction of sexual equality legislation in this country is a sign of the kingdom. The church needs to recognise such signs and catch up.
But the kingdom of God is bigger still than the kingdoms of this world. It is the stuff of dreams and visions as we heard in our reading from Daniel. The kingdom of God may sometimes need the things of this world in order to come to fruition. And that’s perhaps particularly true for an established church like the Church of England. But the kingdom of God is not a political system. It’s not a blueprint for running a country. It should challenge and inspire political systems and even synods to do better but it is not of this world. We see signs of it out of the corners of our eyes but the kingdom of God also points us heavenward. We pray, your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven our differences will probably seem meaningless and we will all be able to see the bigger picture.
And the bigger picture today is that the kingdom of God belongs to Christ. Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the king. It’s a feast that was introduced by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a response to Mussolini’s fascism. It’s a reminder that Jesus is the one in charge. Not the church. Not synods. Not parliament. Not the media. But Christ.
In our Gospel, Pilate tries to narrow down Jesus’ kingship. Are you the king of the Jews? he asks. There is much in our public discourse that wants to restrict Christ’s sovereignty in our own time; to confine it to the private sphere; to make it the concern of just a few remaining religious cranks. And there are times, like this week, when we seem to conspire with this. Sometimes we forget that the Church of England is called to proclaim Christ’s sovereignty over the whole nation and that we are supposed to be the church for everyone.
Jesus’ kingship is like no other. Indeed, the language of kingship may be unhelpful in our current culture. The magisterial tones of Daniel have been taken by the church to refer to Jesus. But his kingship is not one of thrones and crowns and throngs of courtiers. Christ’s kingship is one of love and service and self-sacrifice. We need to remind ourselves again of the one who calls us; the one who is in charge of our lives and who asks us to be like him; the one to whom we all belong and in whom we are all one.
The kingship of Christ has profound implications for the way we live, how we spend our money and our time, our career choices and our voluntary work, the way we relate to other people and the way we worship. Jesus says, everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. Today is a reminder that we need to listen to Jesus’ voice. And renew our loyalty to him as our king. And perhaps that’s particularly important as we approach the season of Advent, when we prepare again for his coming.
Amen.
Rev’d Dr. Matthew Rhodes,
Area Dean.