The Realm of God
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The dominion of God, the realm of God has come near, is at hand; change your hearts and minds; believe in this good news.’” — Mark 1:14-15.
I want to start by reviewing a couple of fairly well known terms. The globe on which we live is called a planet. The hot gaseous body, what we call the Sun, around which that planet circles, is known as a star.
While, in terms of human definitions, there were once nine planets circling that star called the Sun, having relegated the former planet Pluto to a different status, we now have decided there are only eight planets in our solar system. (I suppose what that proves is human definitions are merely temporary agreements.)
The galaxy in which that star called the Sun travels is called the Milky Way. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. Scientists say this galaxy, that spiral, is between 100,000 and 120,000 light-years in diameter.
Needless to say, that begs the question: what is a light year. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. And a light year is the distance light travels in a human year— and to be precise we count a human year as being 365 and ¼ days. So, translated into miles, a light year is about 6 trillion miles.
Now, we humans think we have identified that there are about 170 billion Galaxies in the universe. And our Milky Way is probably smaller than average. All these numbers are mind-boggling, are they not?
I am sure many of us remember the late astronomer Carl Sagan on the television series Cosmos saying there are billions upon billions of stars. But what we need to understand is Sagan was probably underestimating the number, by far.
So, let me see if I can help make the numbers I’m talking about, if not a little less mind boggling, perhaps a little easier to grasp. [The pastor has used a box of salt at the Children’s Time to illustrate change. That was done by pouring salt into a glass and adding water to it. The taste of the water became salty but the substance of the salt changed. The pastor leaves the pulpit and retrieves that box and then pours the contents into a clear glass vase. The pastor empties a box which had just a little salt in it.]
Now there really wasn’t a lot of salt in that box. So here’s another. (The pastor gets the second box and starts emptying it into the vase. As the pastor does so, the pastor walks up and down the isle, box of salt being emptied into the vase.) This will take a while. I was hoping you weren’t going anywhere for at least a couple of minutes.
(Having finished, the pastor says:) So, lets presume each of these grains of salt is a star, like our Sun— each gain of salt is a star like our Sun. We’ve already established our galaxy may be 120,000 light years in diameter and just one light year is six trillion miles, right?
So, if each grain of salt was a star like the Sun, how many boxes of salt would it take to equal the number of stars not in the universe, but just in our own galaxy, the Milky Way? You can make a guess. Call out a number.
How many boxes of salt it would take to equal number the stars not in the whole universe, just in our Milky Way galaxy if each grain of salt was a star? Any guesses? No guesses? (Slight pause.) 22,000 boxes, like this. And that’s just in our galaxy. (Slight pause.)
To put a more precise number on it, scientists think our Milky Way galaxy may contain as many as 400 billion stars. That’s a lot of salt. (Pause while the pastor returns to the pulpit.)
And these words are from the Gospel known as Mark: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The dominion of God, the realm of God has come near, is at hand; change your hearts and minds; believe in this good news.’” (Slight pause.)
If all those aforementioned numbers are not just mind boggling for you, but make you feel like you are but a tiny piece of the universe, welcome to the club. The truth of the matter is, we are a tiny piece of the universe. Whenever my ego gets the best of me— and I don’t think there are any exceptions to the rule: ego can get the best of us all sometimes— when I need a quick fix for that, I go back to the reality of these numbers.
On the other hand, what Jesus says here is this: God is with us. And perhaps that should be a boost to the ego. God is with all of us and each of us even though the universe is so vast it defies understanding.
But I also think we need to recognize that we are a part of the realm of God. We need to recognize God invites us to be a part of that (quote): “good news.”
Now, please notice, the Christian belief is this: Jesus is the embodiment of the Good News. And, to be clear: the good news Jesus claims to preach is that the realm of God is at hand and we are invited to be participants. (Long pause.) That alone is mind boggling, is it not? (Slight pause.)
Earlier in the week I had a conversation with some parishoners about this passage. They were troubled by the words later in the reading, troubled by the apostles leaving their family to follow Jesus. Is that not irresponsible at best, unloving at worst?
Well, yes, if we understand the passage in a literal way. You see, the writer of Mark, by telling the story in this way, and we, by looking at it in a literal way, may be reading things into the episode with a different take than Jesus might have had.
Here’s the question to ask: is this an apocalyptic episode, a story about the end times or is something else indicated? (Slight pause.) Mark, among all the Gospels, especially concentrates on the apocalyptic nature of the Jesus story. Why?
Mark is written early enough so that many think the end times are about to happen. After all, they have seen the resurrected Jesus.
So, when Jesus says the realm is at hand, the writer of Mark takes it to mean the apocalypse is near, the world is about to end. A resurrection has happened, has it not? So if that’s the case, leaving loved ones is neither irresponsible nor unloving.
But in fact, a prediction of the apocalypse is not what Jesus addresses. (Quote): “The dominion of God, the realm of God has come near, is at hand; change your hearts and minds; believe in this good news.’”
These words can be taken in exactly the opposite way, as not apocalyptic. Rather, God is inviting us to participate in the continuing story of the dominion. So, the question becomes: is this a prediction of the end times and/or should it be taken that way? (Slight pause.)
I want to suggest that our opening hymn today answers that question with these words. “Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.” The fact that the embodiment of the realm of God is born does not mean that end times have come.
The fact that the embodiment of the realm of God is born means that we are to be empowered and emboldened to spread the word that the good news— the good news Jesus addresses— is with us. It means that we are to be empowered and emboldened to understand that the presence of God is near.
It means that we are to be empowered and emboldened to understand that the hope of God and the peace of God and the joy of God and the love God offers is available to all people. But first and foremost, it means that we are to be empowered and emboldened to understand that we all need to be participants in the realm of God. (The pastor leaves the pulpit and goes to the glass vase with the salt in it and lifts it high and says this:) After all, Jesus says God is with us, even to the end of that unfathomably large universe. Amen.
01/22/2012
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Speaking of light years, I presume most of us know who Buzz Lightyear is. I want to suggest that we need to have a Buzz Lightyear outlook on life. Life is a grand adventure. Which is not to say life fails to be dangerous. But it is a grand adventure. Now, the Christian outlook amends that a little. Life is a grand adventure in the realm of God. Which is not to say life fails to be dangerous. But it is to say life a grand adventure in the realm of God.”
BENEDICTION: Through God’s grace, by being attentive to God’s will, our deeds and our words will change our world for we will discover ways to proclaim release from the bondage of narrowness. Let us seek the God of Joy. Let us go in peace to love and serve God. Amen.
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