I really enjoyed this piece by Diana Butler Bass today.
A reflection on kings and kingdoms, “Christ the Kinde Lord”:
“Kingdom” is a corrupted metaphor, one misused by the church throughout history to make itself into a political kingdom. Christians have often failed to recognize that “kingdom” was an inadequate way of speaking of God’s governance, not a call to set up their own empire. Isasi-Díaz argues that “kin-dom,” an image of la familia, the liberating family of God working together for love and justice, is a metaphor much closer to what Jesus intended. If that sounds more like contemporary political correctness than biblical theology, it is worth noting that the “kin-dom” metaphor echoes an older understanding found in medieval theology in the work of Julian of Norwich. Julian wrote of “our kinde Lord,” a poetic title, certainly, that summons images of a gentle Jesus. But it was not that. Rather, it was a radical phrase, for the word “kinde” in medieval English did not mean “nice” or “pleasant.” As theologian Janet Soskice explains: In Middle English the words “kind” and “kin” were the same — to say that Christ is “our kinde Lord” is not to say that Christ is tender and gentle, although that may be implied, but to say that he is kin — our kind. This fact, and not emotional disposition, is the rock which is our salvation. To say “our kinde Lord” was to say “our kin Lord.” Jesus the Lord is our kin. The kind Lord is kin to me, you, all of us — making us one. This is a subversive deconstruction of the image of kingdom and kings, replacing forever the pretensions and politics of earthly kingdoms with Jesus’s calling forth a kin-dom. King, kind, kin.
May our kind Savior and kin - bless and keep you in the days ahead.
Ruth
