Seek ye first the kingdom of God? #Unitarians in Ringwood gathering in May 2021

On 9 May 2021 we held our second gathering for reverence on Zoom, which took the topic “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”. After the welcome words, and the lighting of the chalice candle as usual, we were given some minutes of silence to privately focus in on what matters most to us and how we have lived up to that recently.

There were two readings from the book of the Hebrew prophet Samuel.

In the first reading the Hebrew peoples ask Samuel to institute a kingship and appoint them a king.  In the second reading we heard about the dilemma of Jonathan (servant to the king Saul and friend to David, of Goliath fame) when he was asked by David for protection against Saul.

Then there was a reflection on the two texts, and why they had been chosen to address the theme. There was a time for silent meditation; and then the opportunity to share intentions, concerns and hopes — during which tea lights and other candles were lit.

In the absence of any physical ritual that could be carried out together, Zoom allowed us to speak aloud together one of the formal set of words becoming traditional for the end of our gatherings:

We are aware, and we affirm, that we do not find our peace in the certainty of what we confess,

but in the wonder of what befalls us and what we are given;

that we do not find our destination in indifference and greed,

but in vigilance and in connection with all that lives;

that our existence is not fulfilled by who we are and what we possess,

but by what is infinitely greater than we can contain.

(Extract from 2006 Confession of Faith of the Dutch Remonstrant Church)

The reflection on the two texts against the theme “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” follows.

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“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”

Jesus of Nazareth speaks often of this kingdom, and for some of us that resonates or intrigues enough that it warrants some reflection. But I haven’t chosen a single reading where these words are said by Jesus. Why?

A gathering of ordinary Unitarians
 (some years ago)

Firstly, and foremost, it’s because these words aren’t given special status merely because a specific someone said them. Unitarians don’t pay attention just because someone deemed to be an authority says something.  Today we are reflecting on “seeking first the kingdom of God” but not because Jesus said so.  We are reflecting on it because to someone in our gathering it meant enough for them to put it forward as a topic for our time together.

Secondly, the readings from Samuel place the words “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” which are reported to be words of Jesus (in the books of Matthew and Luke), within the context, within the tradition, in which Jesus was raised and lived.  Traditions are important to Unitarians, because Unitarians set great store on ideas being tested for meaningfulness in a succession of lives, in lived experience within a group.  Unitarians don’t generally ascribe to the idea of a revelation arriving as a form of words, some divinely dictated prose or poetry, containing unworldly secrets no one could otherwise know.  Even mainstream Christian groups recognise that words and ideas, the very language that forms the basis of all inspiring scripture, exists within a context, within a tradition.

Thirdly, I have chosen these readings because just as “seeking first the kingdom of God” was spoken within the context of a tradition, so too that is how we hear it. We too stand within a tradition, both as Unitarians and as people growing up in the West.  Our tradition is one of the Bible, its stories, its sayings, parables and psalms and associated hymns and carols, cribs and crosses; but also a tradition of Paganism and science (some of which rubbed off into Europe from the Islamic knowledge-base of the Moors), myths, pan-European history, art, architecture, customs, certain ways of doing things —  even our political system. Traditions aren’t ‘pure’; they’re not closed off.   In the Bible itself we find Canaanite, Babylonian, Greek, Egyptian, and Roman influences, images, and ideas. These were the cultures and worlds — the traditions — that the people of the Bible, including Jesus, moved in. 

We shouldn’t be surprised, then, that our Unitarian tradition is open to Hindu, Earth Spirit, Buddhist, Taoist, Muslim, Jewish, Humanist, and many many other influences. What makes a tradition isn’t its ‘purity’, or its single source: a tradition is made by having a living thread of continuity.  We are not adrift, we are not unfocused scavengers here and there: we have our tradition.  And the choice of readings helps reflect that.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”

In our first reading (1 Samuel 8: 4-22a) we find Samuel being asked by the people to give them a king. Since their escape from Pharaoh, and in the days before they went back into slavery, the Hebrews were a people under God, a people of extended families managing their own affairs, with Judges who would arbitrate using God’s law to decide between standpoints when it was less clear who was in the right and the wrong. 

That way was failing as the people grew more numerous and new Judges became corrupt, so the people asked for a king. 

We see the kingship, the kingdom of God being placed on the one hand, and another kingship, another kingdom being placed on the other. We see the people turn away from God, his kingship, and his kingdom.

What we don’t see is any talk of heaven, any talk of reward and punishment in a future life. The kingdom is “here and now” choices, “here and now” ways of living.  

The kingdom of God is presented in opposition to the kingdom where the king takes the best for himself and his servants, where the king takes away the best of the land and puts people’s sons and daughters to work for his benefit not their own. 

The kingdom of God isn’t offered as a future time and place, away from all the injustice and exploitation we see around us: it is a choice we are asked to make now, a way of living we are asked to embrace here. 

In this first reading it is clear that the kingdom of God, which Jesus the carpenter’s son asks us to seek, isn’t in the clouds — it’s in the dust of the everyday.  This would have been well understood; those who heard Jesus speak would have heard him within this context.  

Just the everyday life
 in which we are asked to seek the kingdom

If you are in any doubt, ask yourself why the Romans would condemn a man to death — the penalty for leading a non-violent rebellion against the state, against the Kingdom of Caesar — if all Jesus was talking about was heaven?

The kingdom we are seeking within our Unitarian tradition isn’t heaven, isn’t a place to defer justice to.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”

In our second reading (1 Samuel 20: 1-23) we have moved on a few years from the time when people asked for a king.  They were given King Saul.  But power, and possibly guilt, has slowly driven Saul mad, and the kingship is passing bit by bit to David. 

We join the story with Jonathan trapped in the middle. Jonathan’s father Saul is the rightful king, and Jonathan is bound to him by just ties of loyalty and filial love, but he is not blind. Saul is increasingly erratic and violent. Now David comes to Jonathan and asks for his help.

What David is asking could be seen as treason to the king, a violation of the laws of the kingdom, a betrayal of Jonathan’s father and the natural hierarchy.  But following the rules as laid down does not take Jonathan to where we leave him in this story. 

Jonathan pauses; and in that moment another kingdom breaks in, another rule of how to live.  Jonathan does not ask himself what the law says, or what custom dictates: he asks himself where does LOVE lead, what does RIGHT ask of him in this moment. 

Jonathan seeks first that other kingdom, that other way of living life, that kingdom of God. Yes, he knows the rules of the world he lives in, the laws of cause and effect, and he is not blind to what his choices could mean for him; but FIRST he asks himself what is RIGHT, what is LOVING, and then decides his course in this world, here and now. 

The kingdom of God isn’t an easier option we could follow instead of living in the real world; the kingdom of God isn’t a realm where we get to make well-intentioned choices and be free of any difficult consequences. 

What is right, what is loving, means nothing if nothing changes; it means nothing if things get worse while we wrap ourselves in good intentions. 

First, we make space for God’s kingdom, the rule of right, the rule of what is loving, then we make our choices to make that present in the here and now. Every time someone does that seeking, that kingdom is a little closer at hand for all of us.

Within our Unitarian tradition we can hear that call, we can make our choices; not adrift from the needs and the realities of the world, but here and now. 

The door to a fairer better world for all may be closed but we can knock; the way to Paradise may be lost but we can seek. The kingdom is always at hand.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”.

How much do we think we are worth? Really? #Unitarians

Three related occurrences have happened to me in the past ten days.

Firstly, I was a bit piqued by something I read about a liberal stance towards society.  I read an item that said that a liberal focuses on individualism, freedom, justice and tolerance.  So far, so good.  But this is what was said about a liberal’s attitude towards justice: “A liberal says that people should get what they deserve.  Those who contribute a lot to society should get a lot back.  Nobody has to contribute, but those who don’t won’t get much back from society in return.”

I think of myself as a liberal person and something about this made me feel uncomfortable.

courtesy Redbubble

Secondly, using the Ringwood Unitarians' Twitter account, I came across a twitter thread:

Tweep 1: “Never ever let your dreams stop you from doing what you want. Show the world you can do things that people think are impossible! Disabled people can do anything if you put your mind to it!”

Tweep 2: “Sometimes. But quite a lot of us have conditions or disabilities that mean we can't fulfil those dreams. We aren't less for that. We aren't less for not being able to prove to people that disabled people can do things they thought they were impossible.  Our value is in who we are.”

Tweep 3: “Yup. Not in what you do.”

And thirdly, I took part in a discussion today in the context of the Southern Unitarian Association, in which we were deciding the amount of grant that should be extended in a certain case, by reference to precedent.  It was tempting to say a reduced amount should be given, owing to the differing circumstances.  But in the end, the question boiled down to whether one person was worth more grant today than had been another person a few years ago.

Put together, these three incidents put me in mind of the parable of the landowner of the vineyard, as told by Jesus of Galilee and reported in the book of Matthew, chapter 20 verses 1 to 16.  Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven — for which you may prefer to read ‘paradise’ — is like a landowner who one day hires people to work in his vineyard at various times.  At the end of the day, those who worked all day during the heat of the day expected to be paid more for their day than those who had stood in the market place, un-hired, during the heat of the day and who only worked an hour or two in the vineyard.  But the landowner paid them all the same, and challenged the grumblers, reminding them that they had got the agreed terms for their labour.

What are the agreed terms for our existence?  Is what we are due from life in any way at all contingent on what other people get from life?  Are we really to be measured against each other using some measure of worth?

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Having dangled three occurrences before you, I will now satisfy your curiosity:

1.    I did some research and I found that the description of liberalism I had come across recently had been written in 2017 and had been completely re-written by its author in 2020.  The later version now expresses the characteristics of liberalism in terms of “freedom”, “freedom ‘from’” and “freedom ‘to’”.  https://www.simplepolitics.co.uk/explainers/liberalism/

2.   I was Tweep 3.

3.    The Southern Unitarian Association decided to grant the same amount in the immediate case as had been granted in the preceding case.