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Author: Kevin Pettit
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’; for, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” Luke 17: 20 – 21
This morning, while reading the excellent book by John B. Cobb, an eminent process theologian, titled “Beyond Dialogue: Toward a Mutual Transformation of Christianity and Buddhism”, I ran across the following statement:
Nirvana names the Buddhist goal. In this way it corresponds to the kingdom of God in Jesus’ proclamation. But despite some tendency to interiorize the kingdom and to view it as an external reality, the kingdom remains future. If it now exists, it does so proleptically. It is anticipated as the final consummation that God will give. Nirvana, on the other hand, is primarily nontemporal. The individual’s realization or attainment of Nirvana may be the future, but what is attained or realized is unaffected by this. Nirvana is primordial and ultimate, beyond all time and change. (p. 86)
After looking up the definition of the word “proleptically”, I reflected upon this paragraph and remembered that in the Gospel of Luke 17, verses 20 – 21, Jesus was asked when God’s rule would come to the earth. He answered clearly “[t]he kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” Many Christians might understand the kin-dom of God as somewhere we go after death. I believe that this anticipation of a blessed (and eternal) future is understood by many as the only just compensation for the pains and struggles experienced presently.
However, as a scholar whose religious understanding has been molded importantly by Process Theology and who is attempting to attain certification in process studies from the Cobb Institute, I embrace (while wrestling with) an understanding of the kin-dom of God which is different from the more common one elucidated by Dr. Cobb in the quotation above. As I have experienced life, growth, and recovery, I understand the kin-dom of God to exist right now, in the midst of all our pain and struggle. To me, God is the possibility and process of greater expansion, enlivenment, and balance. God is the Divine Lure that leads all reality to greater manifestation. This Divine Lure is involved in the binding of two hydrogen atoms to an oxygen atom forming a stable water molecule, one of the bases of all life. This Divine Lure is involved when a planet forms to circumnavigate a stable star at a distance which might be conducive to the growth of life forms. It is also this Divine Lure which encourages we humans to form fructuous groups that work to alleviate the pain and suffering of others, one goal of faith communities of all natures.
It is this Divine Lure, so essential to the betterment of reality, that I understand to be permanent, even eternal. It is this essential quality of advancement that I name as the Divine Process that is “primordial and ultimate, beyond all time and change.” This is my God, that I worship each Sunday! Thus, do I understand Nirvana and the Kin-dom of God to be quite similar and can be understood to name the same concept. It seems that it is primarily the process of attaining Nirvana or the Kin-don of God that differs so greatly between Buddhism and Christianity. Now there’s the rub!
Prayer: Oh, Divine Source of unending advancement, I appeal to you today for the fortitude and endurance to accept the challenges which face me. Help me to follow your Divine Lure to transform these situations into possibilities for the enactment of the growth that you always foreshadow. Hear this prayer as an acknowledgement of my position in life and also as an expression of my intentions to accept your help in working to manifest your kin-dom. Amen
