Beverley and I have already talked about what we are going to do tomorrow night as the election results (hopefully?) come in. We are going to watch movies. Here’s our list: The Big Lebowski, Sideways, and Waiting for Guffman. By the time we have watched those three, we think, or maybe hope, what we have known as the 2024 election season will be at the end. We don’t have cable or satellite, so no constant news coverage for us. We have been like most people over the last year of election and political mania: surprised, disappointed, frustrated, sad, angry, shocked, and desperate. For me personally, the things I haven’t felt from this election season are peace, hope, joy, or promise.
Of all the days to flip back through Resident Aliens, today is the day. It was published in 1989, and it is just as pertinent now as it was then. If this provocative work by William Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas is anything, it is a reminder that Christians belong to another kingdom. This kingdom to which we belong is not of this world or any government, politic, or system this world has ever or can ever produce. We are, in fact, resident aliens, living in a strange place as a colony of people who cannot make any sense of what we see around us. What does make sense to us is the kingdom of Jesus, a kingdom that is shaped by Jesus’ life and transformative saving work.
I don’t know if I have ever felt so much like a “resident alien” living in an unrecognizable culture as I have over the past few years. I am confused by so many things.
A couple of weeks ago I heard a new song by The Porter’s Gate. The Porter’s Gate is an ecumenical group of artists and theologians, and often their music is featured on the daily audio devotional Pray As You Go. The song is titled The Kingdom of Jesus, and it has been a holy corrective to the dimness this election season has brought to my soul. I want you to listen to the song, and as you do, notice the lyrics. May these words (and the beautiful singing of them) be a little light in your soul these days.
Remember, whatever happens tomorrow, we don’t belong to this culture. We follow a different leader, and we live by a different ethic. On many days that sounds so challenging, but this week it is about the best news we can hear.
Click here to listen to The Kingdom of Jesus.
v. 1: To what shall we compare the Kingdom of Jesus if not a seed?
It's small, it's sewn, it's tended and grown and it's sturdying you and me
Its branches never break and its fruit never withers
Chorus: His Kingdom is not of this world or of any kingdom whose ruler's face is on a penny
He comes to make all things bright and put a new wine in us
He's chosen the small things to outlast the great
The meek and the merciful to shine through the hate
Though it seems some days that Hell and its gates are prevailing
Oh say can you see the kingdom within us is the Kingdom of Jesus?
v. 2: To what shall we compare the spirit of the hour if not a sword?
It frees us, unites us, it slaves and divides us and violence, help us Lord
Chorus: Oh His Kingdom is not one of slander or rage
but one that is ruled by the Lamb who was slain
And is worthy of wisdom and honor and glory and strength
No pain, no division, no public disgrace will compare with seeing the smile on His face as He welcomes the poor as children with places at the table
Not a death, nor threat, nor power can ever separate us
from the love of God forever in Christ Jesus
Everything shall pass away but not the Word that's within us,
no, it's the Kingdom of Jesus