"Change your hearts and minds, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
These words of Jesus entreat us towards a radical change, a change within our own selves. At the time, they were a radical political statement, stating that God was more powerful than the mighty emperor, that the kingdom of God on Earth, right now, right here, was possible!
Here at Broadway, we use the word kin-dom, or kindom, to refer to the Heaven on Earth that we are called to create. I'll talk more about that during my sermon, this coming Sunday! I hope you come to church, or tune in on zoom!
The kindom of God is so similar to MLK Jr's "Beloved Community." The Beloved Community a community in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger and hate. Can you imagine that?
What can you do to create the Beloved Community, the Kindom of Heaven?
What can we do?
At the MLK Community Celebration on Monday, we created the "BUMC Love and Resistance Playlist." We created it on padlet, an interactive site that allows many people to contribute to the same thing, in real time. The image we co-created is colorful, powerful, and inspiring. Check it out!
The images on our padlet are videos you can click on to listen to. They exemplify Broadway's journey towards creating Beloved Community. Also, you will see boxes of texts titled "Beloved Community vows." These were vows that attendees spoke about ways they will work towards a better world for everybody.
My vow is that I will learn more about Restorative Justice. Restorative Justice is an alternative form of accountability for those who have caused harm. Inspired by the forgiveness of Jesus that calls on us to forgive others as well, and repulsed by the harm and trauma that prisons and jails perpetuate, I wish to learn ways to hold people responsible when they have hurt others, while still holding them in the love of community, and providing actual healing for the victims. My vision of the Beloved Community is a world without cages, a world where broken relationships can be healed by true accountability and forgiveness, and where everyone is free.
What is your vision of the Beloved Community? What will you do to help us create Heaven on Earth? What song will you listen to, for inspiration and strength, as you do this critical work?
Please write to me and share your answers to these questions! I'd love to hear all of your thoughts and ideas.
In the meantime, remember that you can create tiny versions of the Beloved Community in your own life, in your own sphere of relationships. How can you be accountable for your actions? When you've been harmed, how can you call that person into right relationship, instead of casting them out? How can you better show your love to the people you interact with in your home, on your commute, or at your place of work?
You are loved, in infinite measure, by God who loved us so much he became us. Know it. Feel it. Show it.
