Rehearsing the Kingdom and Saint Peter's Keys

On my drive out to Pilgrimage worship* last night, I was running on empty in terms of blogging ideas and thoughts to bring to our Discernment Circle. I expected one of those nights that really feel like "practice" - willing my way through an experience when I'd rather be working on music or reading the Brin blog or eating popcorn in a hoodie and track pants. I didn't get what I expected. A couple of bits worth sharing emerged from the group.

Last (because it's shorter), we have started talking about being "Kingdom-rehearsers" or "Realm-practicers" in reference to the way we try to "live into" God's Kingdom through worship and everything else. This is just a slightly different way to talk about our role as "stewards," which we focus on. Being a steward is much more than making a tithe, and much more than being stewards of our non-monetary gifts; it is full caretaking of Creation in the Master's absence. It is rehearsing the Kingdom until it arrives.

First, our reflections on Luke's Transfiguration story (this past Sunday's lectionary text) led us to talk about Peter, and specifically when Jesus entrusts Peter with "the keys to the Kingdom." A pilgrim noticed that, in light of everything Jesus has taught and embodied about God's Kingdom, Peter is being given the keys so that he can open the Kingdom's gates. This is in contrast with the Saint Peter of a thousand jokes, who sits at the gates of an afterlife-heaven and excludes everyone who doesn't measure up to a certain moral standard.

I think we learn a lot from jokes; too often I don't laugh at jokes, because I'm aware of the kernel of truth that makes them funny. But I think that for many people, Christian and non-Christian, the Saint-Peter-of-jokes is an image that is taken to be true.

(This is of particular local concern; my congregation is St. Peter's UCC of Kansas City.)

So the wider discussion turned towards Christian imagery, the broad and narrow paths described lately by Marcus Borg **, and the need for the broad powers of empire, economy, and elites to twist and pervert Christian images in an attempt to take away their power. For example, the radically inclusive and "narrow" image of Peter being given the keys to the Kingdom in order that he might unlock the gates is twisted into an exclusive, afterlife-based, moral-code-enforcing "broad" image - not only that, it comes packaged in a Trojan horse of humor. Of course, the cross is huge; I think of the Crusaders hacking their way through the Holy Land, apparently oblivious to the irony of being agents of empire and carrying the quintessential image of Christ, crucified by empire, as their standard.

The whole story of Jesus has been through this process too, and it's the reason CrossWalk America exists; to witness to our hearing of this Word. Jesus' story - in its subversiveness, critique of the "broad" status quo, ambiguity, and openness - must be twisted, perverted, and domesticated by the powers of empire, economy, and elite precisely because it is a powerful story. What might people do, if they hear this story of unconditional eternal love, of communities built on rehearsing God's Kingdom? For those in "broad" power, this story is a real threat. If you wanted to keep your power, you'd probably turn it back into legalistic, other-worldly religion as fast as you could.

The good news is that in every case, even the presentation of the twisted version of the image carries with it the seeds of the true one. The cross on the Crusaders' shields and armor was already a critique of their deeds. The jokes about Saint Peter point back towards the story of Peter, the keys to the Kingdom, and their real purpose. The story of Jesus - even when it is told as a form of exclusion, graceless judgment, or moral condemnation - turns readers back to the gospels, where the Good News waits for them. Amen. -h

* The Pilgrimage is a house-church worship experience my congregation holds on Sunday nights. I've talked about it from time to time, but if you've discovered this blog in the past six weeks, click here for the "order of worship", here for my "Primer" post., and by starting here and reading forward, you'll catch most of what I've written about the story so far.

** Are you tired of me linking Borg's new book yet?!? Well, have you read it yet?!?