“Long, long ago, the Emperor of the Far Away Lands sailed through the Strait of Nobility, across the Sea of Virtue, and landed on the shores of an uncharted land. He placed the Venerable Charles Schultz in charge of this new country, and sailed back to His Lands. Charles Schultz soon passed away from a case of depression, but before he died, he set his now-famous son Charlie Brown as the ruler of this land. After Schultz’s passing, Charlie Brown declared the land to be a Kingdom and took on the title of King.
However, soon his duties of King conflicted with his many appearances around the world in numerous newspapers, TV stations, and parades, and he realized he needed help.
So, he called upon his two advisers: Sir Marcus and Sir Evan, and he gave them titles- Marcus he dubbed Potentate of the Kingdom and Evan he named Duke of the Kingdom. He placed them as Stewards of the Kingdom and left The Kingdom in their hands. And they have ruled virtuously and nobly ever since..”
In the Fall of my Sophomore year at Baylor, my roommate and I were setting up our room and came across a sign he had with a verse from the book of Esther: Perhaps you have come to The Kingdom for such a time as this. Esther 4:14
We wondered where it should go, and as we talked about placing it at the entrance of the room, we started imagining what if we called our room The Kingdom? And so it began.
Over the next year or two, we had special events for our friends who soon became members of the Kingdom. We watched movies, played games, feasted on good food. It was always fun, but nothing compared to that first event: The Christening. It was so new to everyone, and in addition to games and food, we had a christening ceremony. I hit play on my iPod playlist of classical music and began speaking about Charlie Brown* and how the Kingdom came to be. As I spoke, suddenly some triumphal tune filled the room and everyone realized how strangely wonderful and wonderfully strange the whole affair was. That was the point where my roommate decided things were a little too weird for him and I decided that it was just my type of weird.
The Kingdom gatherings were few, only a dozen or less. But they were special times for my special group of friends, and I will always think fondly of The Kingdom.
* I got the poster of Charlie Brown years ago at a garage sale. As we talked about the Kingdom, it started as a joke that Charlie Brown would be king, and then it became reality. I crowned the king and gave him his scepter during the Christening, which made the whole event even greater.