In every congregation I have known, including this one, we pray each week the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. And in that prayer is the petition that “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Today, I would like to explore with you what that prayer might mean. What does it mean to pray for the kingdom to come? What is the kingdom of God? And, on this Sunday when the church celebrates Christ the King, what does it mean to say that Christ is king? And what kind of King might he be?

Let us begin by looking at the word for “kingdom” in the New Testament. The Greek word we translate into English as “kingdom“ is Βασίλειο. “Kingdom” is not a bad translation, but it is more accurately translated as “dominion.” Or “realm.” Or “reign.”  In other words, it is not a geographic place but a sovereignty. The kingdom is wherever the king has sovereignty.

So, now that we know that the kingdom is not a place, we need to know that it is also not temporal: not a time. For example, in Mark’s version of the story, the primary statement of the message of Jesus is “The Kingdom of God has come near.” (Mark 1:15) The Greek word literally means “has drawn close,” something that has already happened. The verb occurs 14 times in the Greek perfect tense in the New Testament, which expresses “extreme closeness, immediate imminence – even a presence (‘It is here’) because the moment of this coming has happened (i.e. at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry).

It seems clear then, that “near” is to be understood spatially rather than temporarily. Not near like “tomorrow,” but near like “close by.” In other words, the reign of God is now confronting us as a present reality. It is, as Luke says, “among you.” (Luke 17:21) Its powers are at work in your midst, as Matthew says. (Matthew 12:28) And this is so because in fact, the reign of God, his kingly power, was already present in the man Jesus. But it is also true that this reign is hidden, veiled, not obvious to the naked eye, because people are looking in the wrong direction. That is why Jesus calls for repentance, which literally means to turn around. People need to make a U-turn because they are looking at false powers that are not the divine presence of the reign of God.

The powers that be always push back. The powers that be, whether the ancient Roman Empire that executed Jesus, or the powers that be in every generation who claim sovereignty, don’t want their sovereignty called into question.

So, if this kingdom of God seems elusive to you, you are in good company. Recall how Jesus describes the kingdom of God in his parables: It is like a treasure in a field (Matthew 13:44); it is like leaven hidden in three measures of meal (Matthew 13:33); it is like the grain of mustard seed which is smaller than all the other seeds (Matthew 13:32). Elusive, but active. Hidden, but real.

And it is not just the things Jesus said in his many parables that showed the hidden nature of God’s reign, but also the way Jesus acted. Think about those whom he favored. Was it the rich and powerful, the well-connected elite in society? No, it was the last, the least, and the lost, of society. Sinners, prostitutes, lepers, people possessed by demons. It is true that Zacchaeus was a rich man, but as a Roman collaborator he was despised by everyone. It is true that Nicodemus was a powerful religious official, a member of the Sanhedrin, but recall that he visited by night to avoid being seen with Jesus.So, by both his words and his behavior, Jesus displayed the veiled nature of the reign he had begun when he came into the world.

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, writers in the New Testament tried to capture in words his elusive but very real sovereignty over all things. For example, our lesson for today from the Epistle to the Ephesians claims:

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

What do you think the Roman emperor thought about that claim.

Jesus’ kingdom, as he said to Pilate, although it is in, it is not of this world. (John 18:36) In case you’ve ever wondered the “kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom of God” means the same thing. Mark, Luke and John call it the “kingdom of God,” whereas Matthew, a Jewish Christian writing to a Jewish Christian congregation, kept the Jewish tradition of never speaking the divine name, because it was too sacred to be said out loud. So, it is a distinction without a difference.

By whatever name the Kingship of Jesus, his realm and reign, his sovereignty and dominion, are something of a lost cord in our Christian proclamation, perhaps because in our interfaith and multicultural world we don’t want to claim too much. John Calvin and others held to the view that Jesus held three divine offices: Prophet, Priest and King. Prophet by his teachings, priest by his atoning sacrifice, and King by his being raised to the right hand of God the Father. Our tradition has done pretty well with the first two roles, but not so well with the royal role, and least not in our theology.

But our hymns have done much better! In addition to the three good hymns we sing today, think of these: “All Creatures of our God and King,” “the King of love my shepherd is”, “Crown him with many crowns,” “Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king,” to name just a few.

Now that we have an idea of what the Kingdom of God is, we might explore what it is not. First of all, the Kingdom of God is not the establishment of a Christian polity. Back in April I wrote a letter to the New Yorker magazine. I had read an article in the magazine titled “Under God: How Christian is Christian Nationalism?” It was a good article. I agreed with most of it, but I was upset that the author didn’t say that many, perhaps most, Christians, did not subscribe to Christian nationalism. So, I decided to write a letter. I had to Google how to write a letter to the New Yorker to find out how to do it, and I did it. I had never written a letter to the editor before, and I got back an email saying, we get hundreds of letters each week, we appreciate your submission, but, basically: “fat chance.” But lo and behold! they published it, and I want to share it with you.

It was titled Church and State: “I was glad to see Kelefa Sanneh’s article on Christian nationalism, a movement that I believe betrays both the Constitution and the Gospel (“Under God,” April 3rd). As Christians exit Holy Week, we would do well to recall that Jesus was the victim of a state execution for challenging the powers that be. The Founders of this country rightly feared a national church. I wish that Sanneh had mentioned the robust rejection of Christian nationalism by many, perhaps most, practicing Christians. The organization Christians Against Christian Nationalism, for example, has put out a statement, signed by thousands of Christians across the theological and denominational spectrum who reject this movement on religious grounds.” (The New Yorker, April 24 & May 1, 2023. Letters)

I received many appreciative responses. So, what is this Christian nationalism that I don’t like? Christian nationalism is the idea that the kingdom of God should be established in the state. That is, Christianity should be the established religion of the land. Our laws should be based on “the Bible” whatever that might mean, and so-called “Christian values.” This, of course, violates the First Amendment, to the Constitution, which protects religious freedom. The Founders rejected the idea of a state church. They had seen how the religious wars in Europe that had led to decades of bloodshed and hatred. They had a new idea: religious freedom. Religious freedom they said, is “the right of all persons to believe, speak, and act – individually and in community with others, in private and in public in accord with their understanding of ultimate truth.”  This acknowledgement of religious freedom as the first right protected in the Bill of Rights points toward the American founders’ understanding of the importance of religion to human, social, and political flourishing. Freedom of religion is protected by the First Amendment through its Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause, which together form the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment. The first clause prohibits any governmental “establishment of religion” and the second prohibits any governmental interference with “the free exercise thereof.” These clauses of the First Amendment encompass “the two big arenas of religion in constitutional law. Establishment cases deal with the Constitution’s ban on Congress endorsing, promoting or becoming too involved with religion. Free exercise cases deal with Americans’ rights to practice their faith.” They are sometimes in conflict and have to go to the courts to sort it out. So, Christian Nationalism directly contradicts the Founders commitment to the Separation of Church and State. In our country you are free to be a Christian, but you can’t mandate that others must be.

But, as I have said, Christian Nationalism also betrays the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of his kingdom and sovereignty. Recall what Jesus said to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world?” If you establish a state religion where religious law decides what everybody can and cannot do, you are replacing the sovereignty of Jesus with the sovereignty of the state. And what then keeps the state from limiting freedoms based on the states’ interpretation of Scripture? Restricting the rights of non-Christian groups, for example, like the Muslim ban of the former President’s administration, which was clearly unconstitutional. Or restricting the rights of women to make their own choices about their reproductive health. Or restricting who can and cannot get married. Or deciding how history is taught in public schools or which books must be banned in public libraries. My mother was a librarian. She may have put a book on a high shelf, but she never banned one. She said, “banned boos are the best books, because they threatened someone’s prejudices.” I have read them all. A state church could forbid teaching evolution in science classes. These examples are not hypothetical, but real policies pushed for in certain places today in America.

Many Christian Nationalists in America seem to admire strong men, like Victor Orban in Hungary, Vladimir Putin in Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, who use religious nationalism as a bludgeon to stigmatize and persecute minorities, and limit immigration to their own groups. Christian Nationalism prefers autocracy to democracy and would restrict the right to vote for certain groups.

And the support here in America for an authoritarian leader like the former president, by right-wing Christian Evangelicals, despite his persistent immoral behavior and his unapologetic public bigotry, calls into serious question how “Christian” we can call these Christian Nationalists who support him. “Christian Nationalism” seems to me to be a coded phrase signaling white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. It’s racist and encourages violence against the Other, those outside their own group. We saw many crosses and flags during the violent Capitol riot on January 6, that attempted to overturn the legitimate results of a fair and free election. Sinclair Lewis said, “When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”

Christian Nationalism is not the kingdom of God that Jesus preached and embodied. Jesus reached out to the outcasts, the reviled and the dismissed. And he became one of them, dying on a Roman cross with forgiveness on his lips. The idea that we could create a state-sanctioned religion, claiming Jesus’ name, but based on privilege, power, race and wealth denies everything he was. It is blasphemy!

Our Gospel lesson from Matthew 25 gives us the test for whether we are fit for the kingdom. Our deeds toward the neediest among us are the ticket to entering the kingdom.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. . .Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

That’s the test. To love as Jesus loved. To serve as Jesus served. His kingdom is not of this world, but it is in this world, until he comes to reveal what is now hidden.

I recently saw a lovely example of living for the kingdom. I don’t know if any of you saw the obituary in the New York Times for Sally Darr, the exacting chef and owner of La Tulipe, a popular 1980’s French restaurant in Greenwich Village, very near to where I once lived. Her husband was a Congregational minister and activist. She said, “I wasn’t eager to meet a clergyman, and I asked him if he believed in pie in the sky and all that. He said, ‘No, I believe in heaven on earth,’ and that’s what he devoted his life to.” Let us do likewise.

“Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Amen.

(I preached this sermon on November 26, 2023 at the United Congregational Church in Little Compton, RI. To see the service on YouTube: