Recently, a pastoral colleague shared with me the concept of “one sermon,” that each preacher has basically one sermon that they preach. For example, the late Rob Heberer always preached that Jesus is God, often ending up in the upper room with Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. The message that I generally preach is that everyone belongs in God’s…something.
Historically, and in the gospels, we reference the kingdom of God or of heaven. So usually I preach that the kingdom of God is at hand and all are welcome in it. “Kingdom” has fallen out of favor, especially in progressive circles, for at least two reasons. One, “kingdom” implies a king, not a queen, and reinforces the patriarchy. God is neither male nor female (or perhaps is both male and female, or perhaps is genderfluid). To identify God as a king limits our ability to perceive God’s feminine nature. Two, modern Western society has moved beyond concepts of royalty in favor of democracy. Sure, Great Britain is formally the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” and its constituent countries acknowledge the sovereignty of their queen, but the real power rests in Parliament.
So “kingdom” has too much baggage. What else can we use? Many people use “kin-dom” instead. Because of its similarity, when I’ve used it in my sermons, people in the congregation probably heard it as “kingdom.” But the implication is that we are part of God’s kin, God’s family. I used to like it and use it a lot, but the novelty kind of wore off. It’s a made-up word that seems more of a distraction than anything else.
“Family” might work. It would certainly fit the Biblical narrative. Historically, all governments were extensions of the family. Individual nuclear families comprised a clan; clans comprised a tribe; tribes comprised a nation. The king or emperor was considered to be like a father to his subjects. Unfortunately, modern families have decayed. We are less connected to our families now than they were in antiquity, back when children inherited property or learned a trade from their parents. Mobility has meant that our families have scattered to the winds without the same sense of intimacy that we should have with God. Also, while I have been blessed with three wonderful, loving families—my family of origin, my family by marriage, and the family of which I am the father—not everyone can say the same. Some people have suffered abuse and neglect from the people who should love them the most. Others, particularly people who are LGBTQ+, have been rejected by their families. One answer to that is to say that God’s family is the ideal to which human families aspire. True enough, but the word can trigger a lot of bad memories.
I don’t have a good answer, but perhaps some synonyms for “kingdom” will work. “Realm” or “reign” aren’t bad. “Realm” connotes a place, so maybe the “realm of heaven” makes sense. “Reign” connotes an action, so perhaps we can celebrate Christ’s reign rather than Christ’s kingship. “Dominion” has some of both connotations: both the place and act of God’s rule. We just need to be wary of the slippery slope from dominion to domination or domineering behavior. “Commonwealth” is perhaps the democratic counterpoint to a kingdom, but there is no connotation of anyone being in charge. “Protectorate” has potential—God as our sovereign and our protector.
What about “nation”?
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
Philippians 3:20-21
We hear a lot about white Christian nationalism lately [1],[2]. The problem in many corners of the Christian church is that people equate the United States of America with the kingdom of God. We are not tasked, though, with taking political power and using it to impose our interpretation of God’s will on our fellow Americans. That was actually one of the three temptations Jesus encountered in the desert. He chose to reject the path of worldly power. We too are tasked with submitting ourselves to God’s reign in our lives. We are not to think of ourselves as Americans first, but as Christians first. Perhaps if we proclaim the coming nation of God we will remember to set aside our American nationalism and let Christ be our president, our supreme justice, and our commander in chief who wages peace throughout the world.
Jesus came to grant all people citizenship in God’s nation.