MY KINGDODM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD
26 Nov 2024, St Nicholas Church, Baguio City
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
At the Bible study of the National Office last Friday, one of our staff shared his growing up years as a boy living with his grandparents back in the 1970S. His grandparents were farmers and did not have much by way of material resources, their clothes were tattered and their home had the barest provisions. But what they had and what they gave him was an overflowing love and he cited some examples when this was concretely expressed. One of such instances was when he was wounded and had to be rushed to the clinic for immediate medical attention. This was way back in the 1970s when vehicles were very few and rental was almost un-affordable to most people in the rural villages. His grandfather could not afford to hire a vehicle and so he carried the boy in his back almost running up the two kilometer distance to the clinic. In his continuing reflection, our staff said that in an infinitely more gracious and loving way, this is what God does. And this is what our Lord Jesus Christ does. Indeed, what God has is an infinitely overflowing love for His children and creation.
We just celebrated Christ the King Sunday as we re-affirmed the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we believe that Christ, our King, has an infinitely overflowing love for us. To many of us Christians, however, we look at our king as being dressed in the best raiment and royal robe and we regard our king as riding in the best chariot or, in today’s version, in the best S.U.V. that money can buy. We refuse to imagine Jesus, our king, as being like the poor grandparents of our staff who wore tattered clothes and had only the barest of life’s provisions, and who will carry a sick person in his back as he cannot afford a vehicle rental. We want to imagine Jesus, our king, as wearing a royal diadem of the finest metal, having at his command the best material provisions of this world.
Yet, in our Gospel today, when interrogated by Pontious Pilate, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Lest we understand Jesus’ kingdom as being there somewhere “beyond the blue where angels beckon us and therefore we cannot feel at home in this world anymore” as if this world is that forsaken place nearing a well-deserved destruction, let us remember that, contrary to such understanding, the fact is that God so love this world and it was because of His love for this world that He sent his Son to save it. Of course, this world is part of God’s kingdom as heaven is part of God’s kingdom. According to Anglican theologian Bishop Tom Wright and I quote,
“God’s kingdom refers not to post-mortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another, but about God’s sovereign rule coming on earth as it is in heaven.” Unquote.
What Jesus was referring to is that his kingdom is a complete opposite of the ways of this world and hence his kingdom is indeed NOT of this world. The ways of worldly kingship are expressed in our imagination of a king sitting on a throne and wearing a royal diadem while coldly and despotically exercising power over his subjects. But the power of Christ, our king, is a “power under”, not a “power over”. As Jesus has exemplified and taught us, it is a power that lies in the bottom most pit of the human sphere that then lifts up humanity to salvation and reconciliation with God. It is a power that lies in an infant born not in a castle but in a lowly manger and a power that is in a person growing up in the ordinary day to day life of poor and simple folks. It is a power that serves no personal interest nor individual will but is exercised solely to advance the will of God. In order to participate in Christ’s kingship, therefore, we need to go under everyone and from there work with God to push everyone up to God’s salvation and reconciliation.
When Jesus said that in his kingdom his servants would fight to prevent his arrest by Jewish leaders, he was not saying that in this kingdom of his, to fight was exactly what was going to be done by his disciples. What he meant was that in his kingdom, the values that motivate people to act are completely opposite what the world knows and does. Jesus’ true disciples and followers do not fight, they love. They do not attack their enemies but they find way to love their enemies and consider them their friends and neighbors.
In one of the sermons last Sunday, I heard somebody say that Jesus’ kingship transcends all the kingdoms of this world. I like that formulation. But I do not feel comfortable when somebody says that Jesus’ kingship is not a political kingdom. I will respectfully disagree because Jesus’ kingship covers the entirety of everything in God’s universe. Of course, Christ’s kingdom is a political kingdom, as it is an economic kingdom, a social kingdom and a religious kingdom. Christ’s kingdom exists, grows and manifests itself in every aspect of life and non-life in this world and beyond. Hence, Christ’s kingship must permeate the political, economic, social and religious sphere and re-shape all of these into the Godly realm.
Now, having celebrated the Feast of Christ the King and having refreshed our understanding of the nature of his kingship, we are now again called to make that kingship continually unfold in our midst. Everyone has a role to play in the blossoming of Christ’s kingship. Our Church and our ECP Executive Council have tasks to perform in making Christ’s kingship a reality in our part of God’s vineyard.
Allow me to cite some of the practical things that we have done together to proclaim and pursue Christ’s kingship.
Last October 10 to 15, we hosted the Full Assembly of the Council of the Church in East Asia, with around 160 bishops and clergy and lay representatives participating from the Anglican Churches in East Asia plus Japan and Australia. It was a privilege to be able to provide an opportunity for them to experience the worship and fellowship and the life and work of the ECP and the IFI. We also turned over the mantle of leadership to the Bishop of Singapore who, along with other bishops, have been saying that the ECP and the IFI have set a very high bar for the hosting and management of the full assembly.
Last November 12 to 15, around 25 of us – bishops and clergy of the ECP – participated in the National Clergy Convocation of our Concordat Church, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. The convocation was an opportunity for the clergy to renew and strengthen their bonds of fellowship and service and to be inspired by each other in the pursuit of their respective ministries. I questioned myself why we in the ECP have not done a similar national clergy gathering. I remember that our last national clericus was sometime in 2015 or 2016. The reason why we have not done it again is because a national gathering requires a huge budgetary outlay and part of our institutional culture in the ECP is to rely on the National Church to cover these costs. Even if we continually preach self-reliance to our people and, in response thereof, our Episcopal Church Women and Brotherhood of St Andrew, our women and men organizations, respectively, are shouldering the costs of their national and diocesan conventions and other meetings, our clergy seem to think they are exempted and would balk at any suggestion for them to cover their costs in a national gathering. In the recent years, we in the ECP have embraced the asset-based church development approach or ABCD and have started sharing our own resources for our development and so it may be a good time to think about a national clergy convocation where everyone pays for his or her costs. Then we can reciprocate the invitation of the IFI.
Tomorrow, we shall be attending a meeting of three churches, the IFI, the ECP and the Iglesia UNIDA Ecumenical to look into the possibility of establishing a covenant of partnership for mission. Again, in terms of building up Christ’s kingdom, our default mode should always been towards Christian unity and so this exploration with the IFI and IUE for a tripartite partnership is an opportunity we must wholeheartedly embrace.
Earlier on September 10, we convened the first meeting of all our national commissions and they began discussing the roles and setting goals for this triennium. Except for the Commission on Finance and Stewardship which will be reporting now, we expect the other commissions to report at our annual corporation meeting in March of next year. But let me cite one particular concern that was discussed at the joint commissions meeting. Among Anglican provinces in Asia, you will see that Nippon Sei Ko Kai has its own Japanese prayer book and the Hongkong Sheng Kung Hei has its own Chinese prayer book. So, does the Churches in South Korea and even in Myanmar while the Malaysian dioceses use a BCP in Selako language. Except for NSKK and Myanmar, we became an Anglican province much earlier than these churches. Yet, up to now, we do not have a prayer book in our own language. Again, I will be the first to admit that my tongue twists at every utterance of a Tagalog word. But in our work at the Visayas Missionary Diocese and in our engagement with our Concordat church, I have come to appreciate the beauty of a Tagalog worship service and I have preached in a number of occasions in Tagalog. I guess it only takes a little adjustment in perspective and we can become appreciative of our very own language which embodies our unique thought forms and aspirations.
We acknowledge the work of our Diocese of Central Philippines in coming up with a Holy Mass in Tagalog that is now on trial use in the diocese. This is the foundational liturgical form and so I think that 90% of the work for the drafting of a Tagalog BCP has already been done. Our Commission on Liturgics and Christian Education is now working with EDCP to put the final touches in the Tagalog Book of Common Prayer that we hope to present at the next Synod for trial use and for final approval in 2030. Yesterday, our Council of Bishops agreed that starting 2025, we shall be holding Sunday masses in Tagalog in at least four occasions, which shall be on March 30, June 29, August 31 and November 30.
A couple of weeks ago, we received the very sad news that the Archbishop Canterbury has resigned following the issuance of a report by the Makin Review, am independent group that was established and commissioned by the Archbishop’s Council to look into the heinous abuses committed by a certain John Smyth, a barrister who was a licensed lay minister and volunteer director of a camp connected to the Church of England. This person had committed unthinkable physical, sexual and emotional abuses against young people from the 1970s and 1980s and upon discovery of what he had done, he fled to Africa in the early 1980s. It was revealed that he continued his despicable acts in Zimbabwe and South Africa until 2018 when he died. The Makin Review concluded that and I quote “despite the efforts of some individuals to bring the abuse to the attention of authorities, the responses by the Church of England and others were wholly ineffective and amounted to a cover-up.”
In his resignation letter, Arcbhishop Justin Welby said that when he was informed about these abuses in 2013 and had been told that the police had been notified, he accordingly believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow. Explaining his resignation, he said and I quote, “It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.” (Unquote) I have conveyed our collective prayers to the Archbishop and I ask that we continue to pray for him and his family.
What I read from the Makin Review report is that the abuses could have been stopped if only the Church of England could have done more to address the problem. What we can learn from this is that the world can become better, it can become more loving, more peaceful and harmonious if only we can do more. What we need to do more is something we must continually reflect upon and pursue.
In our case, it used to be that in our Canons, any complaint or charge against a clergy shall be referred to the “bishop of the diocese who shall endeavor to adjust the matter to the peace and honor of the Church.” This gave the impression that we are attempting to cover up any offense committed by our clergy for the purpose of preserving the honor of the Church. Hence, in 2021, we amended Title IV of our Canons to state that any adjustment or settlement or resolution of a charge against our clergy shall not only consider the peace and honor of the Church but also justice to those who may be aggrieved by the complained acts. Yesterday, at our Council of Bishops’ meeting, we also agreed that in case of settlement or service of penalty of any charge against a clergy which will allow the said clergy to apply for reinstatement to the ministry, an application for such reinstatement shall be subject to the express consent of the complainant. This is part of according justice to those who may be aggrieved by an abusive act of our clergy.
Next week, we shall have a consultation on safeguarding and we enjoin everyone to attend as we explore how we can further strengthen our systems and our communities to be able to prevent any commission of abuse both by clergy and lay employees, officials and ministers, whether paid or doing voluntary work.
Theologian Dr. Gregory Boyd says that the kingdom of God looks and acts like Jesus Christ, like Calvary, like God’s eternal, triune love. It consists of people graciously embracing others and sacrificing themselves in service to others. It consists of people imitating the Savior who died for them and for all people. It consists of people submitting to God’s rule and doing his will.
We cannot end our affirmation of the kingship of Jesus Christ without emphatically taking note of Dr. Boyd’s reminder that the kingdom of God consists of people graciously embracing and sacrificing themselves in service to others. On this note, we announce that our Banquet Fund has now reached Php 1.5 million pesos and it continues to be one of our ways of welcoming into our dining tables the economically marginalized especially at this time when our country is hit by a series of severe tropical storms that resulted in massive damages to affected communities. We make special mention of the clergy and lay employees of this Diocese, the EDNCP, for widely and continually contributing to the Banquet Fund as we also acknowledge everyone who contributed. As you know, your contributions are shared with those in need under our receivers-to-givers practice such that these contributions are used perpetually from one community to another and from one household to another. Let us continue to build this Fund as one of our concrete ways of hastening the unfolding of God’s kingdom.
Amen.
+BRENT H.W. ALAWAS
26 November 2024
