Found in Translation

What a great title. Unfortunately I didn't make it up and ironically I didn't steal it from Brimas' Blog. I posted this last summer on that same blog and although I don't really think it's a good post, I was referring to the Kingdom of God language and how I was beginning to see it pop up in mainstream Christianity. I discussed the Willow Creek Leadership Summit and some of the statements made there by Rick Warren. (by the way--The views and opinions of Willow Creek are probably not shared by The Dude) I also mentioned Brian McLaren's blog and his new book The Secret Message of Jesus (Due out April 4).

So fast forward to today to the latest Sojourners email and the article titled Found in Translation, by Brian Mclaren. In it he discusses language of the Kingdom of God and how that language may need to be adapted to the culture to make sense in our world today.

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, his language was charged with urgent political, religious, and cultural electricity. But if we speak of the kingdom of God today, the original electricity is largely gone, and in its place we often find a kind of tired familiarity that inspires not hope and excitement, but anxiety or boredom.

Why is kingdom language not as dynamic today? First, in our world, kingdoms have given way to republics, democracies, and democratic republics. Where kings exist, they are by and large anachronisms, playing a limited ceremonial role in relation to parliaments and prime ministers, evoking nothing of the power and authority they did in Jesus’ day.

Another ironic point (for me) is that this same topic came up in my 6:30 am bible study yesterday. I was ranting about the problem with the American church while we were discussing the idea of being born again from John chapter 3. I was complaining about the same thing that McLaren seems to hit on in the first sentence: the language we use today in the American Church (with exceptions of course--I know I'm generalizing) isn't the exciting, political, revolutionary language meant by the Kingdom of God. We talk about 'Heaven' and 'Salvation' as far off realities separated from this life that really don't have much to do with how I live my life here and now as long as I have 'accepted Jesus in my heart' and live out some form of conservative American morality (forgive the polemic). I think the message of the Kingdom should shatter any ideas we have about 'going to heaven when I die' (thanks NT Wright) and should challenge us to see our role as the people of God in a new light.

Sorry for the rambling...now to my point...

Here is a list of the six metaphors McLaren says 'have special promise' for translating the message of the Kingdom to our own culture:

1) The Dream of God - This language suggests a more personal, less mechanistic relationship between God and our world. It would resonate, for example, with a mother who has great dreams for her child, or an artist who has great dreams for a novel or symphony he is creating.

2) The Revolution of God - For people like Martin Luther King Jr., attuned to fighting injustice, corruption, oppression, racism, and other forms of social evil, the “revolution” or “revolutionary movement” of God naturally flows from the metaphor of the dream of God for creation....perhaps we need a modifier in front of revolution to show how the goals and tactics of this regime are radically different: the peace revolution of God, the spiritual revolution of God, the love revolution of God, the reconciling revolution of God, the justice revolution of God. In these ways, we get much closer to the dynamic hidden in Jesus’ original language of kingdom of God.

3) The Mission of God - The Latin term missio dei has long been used to describe God’s work in the world. Its etymology (the root miss means “send”) reminds us that God sends us into the world to be agents of change: We have a task to do for God. True, there is more to the kingdom than mission; being in relationship is essential to life in the kingdom, so kingdom life is not just doing work. But this metaphor still has great value, as long as we complement it with more relational language.

4) The Party of God - Jesus often compared the kingdom to parties, feasts, and banquets. Today we could say that God is inviting people to leave their gang fights, workaholism, loneliness, and isolation and join the party, to leave their exclusive parties (political ones, for example, which win elections by dividing electorates) and join one inclusive party of a different sort, to stop fighting, complaining, hating, or competing and instead start partying and celebrating the goodness and love of God.

5) The Network of God - A promising new metaphor works with the idea of a network or system. God is inviting people into a life-giving network. First, God wants people to be connected, plugged in, in communication with God, so God can transfer to them what they need—not just information but also virus-debugging software, along with love, hope, empowerment, purpose, and wisdom. As well, each person who is connected to God must become integrally connected to all others in the network. In this way, the network of God breaks down the walls of smaller, exclusive networks (like networks of racism, nationalism, and the like) and invites them into the only truly worldwide web of love. The network becomes a resource for people outside the network as well, and of course, people are always invited to enter the connectivity themselves.

6) The Dance of God - In the early church, one of the most powerful images used for the Trinity was the image of a dance of mutual indwelling. The Father, Son, and Spirit live in an eternal, joyful, vibrant dance of love and honor, rhythm and harmony, grace and beauty, giving and receiving. The universe was created to be an expression and extension of the dance of God—so all creatures share in the dynamic joy of movement, love, vitality, harmony, and celebration. But we humans broke with the dance. We stamped on the toes of other dancers, ignored the rhythm, rejected the grace, and generally made a mess of things. But God sent Jesus into the world to model for us a way of living in the rhythm of God’s music of love, and ever since, people have been attracted to the beauty of his steps and have begun rejoining the dance.

Despite what you or I may think of these 'new' metaphors, I think that McLaren is doing the important work of imagination in order to see God's Kingdom become a fuller reality. What metaphors can we come up with in our own communities to convey the idea of reconciliation, peace, love and justice to the culture? Brian has the last word here:

There are many other metaphors we could explore. In a sense, Jesus’ creative use of parables sets an example for us to follow. It inspires us to ongoing creative communication—seeking to convey the kingdom through the symbolism of words as he did in the short fictional form of parable, and also in poetry, short story, novel, or essay. But it doesn’t stop with the symbolism of words. People have been inspired to express the kingdom through the symbols of space and form, color, and texture—in architecture and interior design. They have used the symbolism of movement and gesture in dance and drama. They’ve used the visual languages of painting, sculpture, collage, flower arranging, or gardening. Even the symbolic language of taste can express the kingdom in cooking. Come to think of it, we might say that the kingdom of God is like an arts colony.