The Great Unfinished Symphony

I don't know if you all know this, but this weekend we've been celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

You may have read that somewhere.

In case you missed it, it's what all the pops and booms were outside your house last night.

But marking this special anniversary during a time in our country's history that is so complicated reminds me of how Lynn Manuel Miranda describes the United States in his musical Hamilton.

He calls it a great unfinished symphony.

It acknowledges the beauty and greatness of this land and its people and the ideal by which we seek to govern ourselves.

But it also acknowledges that it's incomplete.

We've often fallen short of that ideal.

We are flawed and sometimes problematic.

And it reminds us that America is an idea.

It's not a static object.

It's something we're always searching and striving toward.

And I think there is something so beautiful and hopeful in that.

We are a great unfinished symphony.

And as good as a description as this is for the United States, I find it even more fitting to understand the kingdom of God.

Now, I'm not equating the U.S.

with the kingdom in any way.

Please don't hear me saying that.

In fact, as followers of Christ, as children of God, no matter what pride we carry for our earthly nations, our true citizenship is in God's kingdom.

It's where our ultimate loyalties lie.

I'm simply saying that this metaphor for the great unfinished symphony helps us understand the elusive and nebulous vision God has for all creation.

Because we often describe the kingdom of God as already and not yet.

Or we say it is our present reality and our future hope.

The psalmist sings, they speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power to make known to all people your mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

It acknowledges the alreadiness of the kingdom.

That God's glory and work are our present reality all around us.

But the psalmist goes on, your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

You see, God's kingdom is not a place.

It's not a land with borders and boundaries, it's an idea, a condition of the world and our way of living.

And the psalmist says it's something that we are searching and striving for.

Even into eternity.

Our seeking the kingdom has no end.

The fullness of the kingdom of God is not yet.

And so if the kingdom is not a place or a construction, what is it?

I mean, Jesus talks about the kingdom of God more than anything else in all of his teachings.

More than sin, more than prayer, more than heaven or hell, even more than love.

Jesus defines it when he teaches what we call the Lord's Prayer.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Kingdom is when God's will is done on earth.

And most of his parables describe the kingdom.

Jesus says the kingdom is like a father who welcomes back his son, even though he abandoned and insulted him.

Writer Barbara Brown Taylor calls the kingdom of God a topsy-turvy realm where all the structures and systems of the world are reversed.

Like when Jesus says the kingdom is like a landowner who pays all the workers a living wage, no matter how long they work.

It's like going to a party and intentionally taking the worst seat because the last will be first.

Or it's like throwing a party, and when all the cool, popular people don't show up, you go into the streets to invite those who have nothing to eat and no money or who've been forgotten and abandoned.

The kingdom is away.

It's living God's way.

When God's will is carried out.

You know, we get snapshots or glimpses of the kingdom.

That's the alreadyness.

When compassion is extended, when the hungry are fed, when the sick are cared for.

The strangers and forgotten are made welcome.

When justice is defined by mercy and equity more than retribution, when we see the good of our neighbors and the community as what is good for ourselves, when forgiveness and reconciliation are abundant.

When we choose peace over violence, when love is the economy and generosity overcomes greed.

These moments exist now.

We know them, we see them, we see them show up, not all the time, but from time to time.

I mean, Frederick Biegner says sometimes our striving for the kingdom is half-hearted and half-baked.

And so we only get glimpses or snapshots.

The symphony is unfinished.

But God calls us to keep playing.

The music must continue.

Like when Jesus says the kingdom of God is like yeast or a mustard seed that takes over dough or invades a garden.

It may start small, but it expands until it's all we know.

He says it's like a lost coin or a sheep that will search for until we find it, and we'll be willing to risk everything until we do.

Or it's like when you find a treasure.

And so you sell everything you have to buy the field where you found it.

It's giving up everything in pursuit of it.

The fullness of the kingdom will come.

Or the full symphony will play when all of this becomes the way of the world, the way of life, the norm or standard when all of this doesn't seem remarkable or special, but natural and instinctual.

And Jesus says, we must seek the kingdom first.

Above all our other strivings and desires, above all other constructs and ways, the kingdom must be our first priority and where we place our highest loyalties.

And when we do, as the psalmist sings, it will have no end.

It's everlasting.

Even in its fullness, the kingdom of God is an unfinished symphony, not because it's incomplete, but because it will never stop playing.

The music goes on and on, searching for resolution that will never come.

This is what hope is.

No matter how complicated and difficult the world seems, we have not come to an end.

God still reigns and is restoring all.

In you.

We live in the kingdom when the kingdom lives in us, when God's will comes to life in our lives.

We must be the compassion and justice and service and forgiveness, welcome and love.

That great unfinished symphony is playing in you.

Let us pray.

Oh God, you have set this world in motion.

And your reign is not one of dominance, but of love.

And your will for us is not of oppression, but of grace.

Your free gift of forgiveness, of trust, of belonging and love.

May your will be done on earth and in our hearts, just as it is in heaven.

Amen.