Looking Ahead to November 24, 2024 -- Reign of Christ Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
• Psalm 93
• John 18:33-37

The Sermon title is King?

Early Thoughts: What does it mean to talk of God/Jesus as our king?

I think that is a question about authority and loyalty. I also think it might push us to reconsider how we currently assign those things.

Jewish  Scripture is, at best, ambivalent on the question of whether or not kings are a good thing for society. I think it in fact leans heavily to the side that human kings "like other nations" are not a good thing for the people of Israel. The people of God do not need a king like other nations because they already have a king to whom they owe total loyalty and from whom authority flows -- that would be God. At their best the human king is seen as God's anointed/chosen (sometimes, as in Psalm 2:7, also described as Son of God) and acting as God's surrogate.

In the Apocalyptic parts of Scripture we also find this insistence that God is the proper King, source of authority and owed our loyalty. When the world is changed then God will rule over the world.

And then we have Jesus. All three of our hymns this Sunday will have us singing about Jesus, the Messiah, as Lord and King. A relatively common Christian understanding of Daniel 7:13-14 is that it is talking about Jesus, particularly the Risen Christ. This is not a Constitutional Monarchy being discussed [which makes sense since the ancient world had no concept of a Constitutional Monarchy like we find in Canada and other nations today] but a King with full authority and power.

In a world where kingship has largely taken on a totally different understanding what does it mean to proclaim God/Jesus as Lord and King? In a world where we try to flatten the distribution of power where do we place authority? In a world where we are constantly told we have to be loyal to our country, or community, or 'our people' or even our church where does the Reign of God that extends beyond all human divides come in?

This is the final Sunday of the year, a day when we explicitly name that we are part of, and waiting for, the Reign of Christ/Kingdom of God. I think that taking that seriously means thinking seriously about things we largely took for granted in the days of Christendom.

In a Christendom world there were assumptions made. It was assumed that the king (or other form of government to some degree) was still God's chosen and anointed. Part of the coronation of Charles III included an anointing with oil by an archbishop. It was therefore assumed (generally) that the King was owed your loyalty and that to rebel was not only disloyal to the realm but an affront to God. This is part of why it was such a big deal that England and France (in different centuries) executed their properly installed monarchs.

I think assumptions are dangerous. Human kings and governments are prone to error, to say the least. AS we have move to different understandings of government and have moved out of a Christendom-defined worldview I think we can start to challenge some assumptions.

I think the first assumption is about loyalty.  We hear a lot about loyalty these days and are liable to hear a lot more.  President-Elect Trump showed during his first term and has continued to show that he expects his appointees to be loyal to him personally even when their role (and even their oaths of office) are to loyal to the US Constitution.  Sort of a modern-day equivalent of l'etat c'est moi (I am the state) from the days of France's monarchy. That is an extreme example but there have always been voices in many countries calling that people prove their loyalty in some way.

Maybe the voices are wrong. Maybe the ultimate loyalty for people of Christian faith is not to any country, political party, or leader. Maybe our loyalty is meant to be given to God and God's Reign/Kingdom first and foremost. Maybe our call is to be a citizen of God's Country/Reign/Kingdom first and a Canadian (or British or French or....) 2nd. 

The loyalty question leads almost automatically push us to consider authority. What does it mean to say that God has authority over us? Maybe the authority question, in a world where we are increasingly encouraged to claim our own personal autonomy and authority, is in fact the hardest part of seeing God/Jesus as king. Who or what does have authority to guide or direct us? To influence our decisions?  To tell us where we have gone wrong? Why do we grant them that authority?

Christian Scripture and tradition have long proclaimed Jesus, the Risen Christ, as our King (king of kings and lord of lords one might sing). Pilate passes on the accusation that Jesus is a king in opposition to Caesar (and Jesus sort of evades the question -- or at least moves it into a different realm, different type of kingdom). But Scripture and tradition have also proclaimed that Jesus is a different type of king, a Servant King who is among us "as one that serves". In this world what does it mean to talk about the Kingdom or Reign of God or Christ as King? How do we show we are loyal to God's Reign? Where do we cede authority to God?

ANd what do we do when the systems of power that govern our lives act in ways incompatible with our understanding of being a loyal citizen of God's Realm?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 17, 2024 -- Proper 28B, 26th Sunday After Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Daniel 12:1-3
• Mark 13:1-8

The Sermon title is Is the End Near?

Early Thoughts: This past weekend I was thinking of a quote from the movie Hope Floats (which may make a re-appearance on the first Sunday of Advent when we consider seeking hope in the midst of chaos):

Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.

 It is my firm belief that really life is a series of endings and beginnings (with more than a few continuings thrown in for good measure). That can be both exciting and distressing. IT can lead us to explore a brave new world or it can lead us to weep and wail, to tear our clothes and mourn.

Maybe not this particular preacher

Our Scripture readings this week come from a genre of literature called apocalyptic. Apocalyptic literature often leads to discussion of the 'end times'. It is also not a part of Scripture that many United Church folks spend a lot of time talking about. Talking about the end times conjures up images of the street corner preacher with a sandwich board and a loud voice calling everyone to repent before it is too late.

However it is undeniable that talk about the end is a part of our faith story. In both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures there are predictions of what will happen when God transforms the world and what currently is will come to an end. So we really should talk about it at some point.

I see at least two things that need to be part of our discussions. First is to ask what we mean by 'near'. Scripture does not tell us how to know exactly what near might mean. The apocalyptic literature in Scripture can, and has, been used to describe almost every era of human life in the last 200 years. And given that Christianity talks about the coming of the Kingdom of God in terms of the 'now and the not yet' that is not really surprising. If God is, as I believe to be true, constantly at work transforming and changing the world the the end has come, is now, and is yet to be. So maybe near is not the best term to use unless your vision if of some cataclysmic event where everything will be changed in a flash.

The other question is based on remembering a couple of hymn lines: "In our end is our beginning..in our time eternity..in our death a resurrection", The Christian story of cross and empty tomb reminds us that endings open the door for a new beginning. I also remember that all good things come to an end, that nothing human is in fact meant to remain the same forever. Change is, as they say, the only constant. 

As God's Reign grows to full flower in the world some things must end so that the new thing God is doing can start to grow. Some things have to end so that others can begin. In a finite world, where energy and resources are limited, the only way to grow is to die.

So the end being near might be a good thing. It might be a cause for celebration as well as a cause for concern. Talking about endings may bring sadness as we prepare to say good-bye to something we hold dear. But talking about beginnings may bring hope and promise (as well as a bit of anxiety). As we celebrate the coming of the Reign of God the end is indeed near...but so is the beginning. Thanks be to God.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 10,2024 -- Remembrance Sunday, 25th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper27B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 146
• Isaiah 61:1-4 
• Luke 4:16-21

The Sermon title is Peace, A Transformed World

Our reflection prompt for this week

Early Thoughts: Peace. What does that look like? How do we get there?

One of the markers of the Reign of God/God's Kingdom (or Kin-dom if you prefer) is that this will be a time of peace and harmony. Isaiah and the other prophets point to this with images like the Peaceable Kingdom in Isaiah 11 or when both Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 talk about turning swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and then going on to say "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more". In the Sermon on the Mount, as part of the Beatitudes, Jesus says that the Peacemakers will be blessed. 

The Reign of God is also a Reign of Peace. It is a transformation in how we live with our neighbour. It is a world where all has been changed. It is a time when the hearts and priorities of humanity have been transformed.

I am one of those people who believe that peace will never come from a show of strength. It does not come from the use of force to crush those who disagree. I believe that peace comes with justice (by which I mean social justice). Unless we have a just world we will never have a peaceful world.

All 3 of our Scripture readings this week echo this call and hope for justice. They share images of release and liberation, of healing, of God's special concern for those on the margins. This is the transformation the Jesus announces at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus is, in the Gospels, all about proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has come (indeed in Mark's Gospel that is precisely how he begins his public ministry). With Jesus God is at work bringing transformation to the world.

Next Monday we are invited to pause for 2 minutes at 11:00. In that pause we honour those who have been sacrificed by a world that does not yet know what peace could be. In that pause we recognize that the transformation has not yet happened, or at least has not yet been completed. Some days it seems unlikely that the transformation to a world where peace and justice are the rule and norm could ever happen. It would be easy to write it off as a utopian pipe dream.

Another CHatGPT creation

But we are called to be people of hope. We are called to remember that God is not done with the world yet, that God continues to work in, around, and through these often-flawed children that God loves. We are people of a dream, God's dream. In Scripture we see the stories of people trying to sort out how God would have them live. But we also see in Scripture a picture of what is possible. God proclaims that there WILL be a day when peace and justice are not only possible but a reality.

It will take transformed hearts and minds and souls. It will take a radical change in human priorities. It will look very different from how the world looks now. But it IS going to happen--someday.  Peace will break out. Justice will flow like a river. And we shall be living in the full-blown Reign of God.

May it be so.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 3, 2024 -- Proper 26B, 24th Sunday After Pentecost

All images created using ChatGPT

For the month of November we are building toward the last Sunday of the Church Year, a day when we intentionally talk about the Reign of Christ/Christ the King. I encourage us to take this month to reflect on what it means to procalim the reality of God's Kingdom in the world today.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Leviticus 19:33-34
• Ruth 1:1-10, 19-22
• Mark 12:28-34

The Sermon title is Love the Migrant, the Refugee

Early Thoughts: The heart of what it means to follow Jesus is to love your neighbour with a very broad definition of neighbour.

9 Years ago, in the middle of a Federal election we had the leader of a federal party talk about "old stock Canadians", a phrase which caused a fair bit of reaction and discussion. Earlier this fall the premier of Alberta talked about Albert only wanting to accept immigrants who "share our values". In the current US election there have been a LOT of comments/discussion about immigrants and how dangerous they are (most recently one candidate referred to the US as an occupied nation that he would free with the largest deportation program ever). The former British government developed a scheme whereby refugee claimants would be sent to Rwanda.

How we respond to migrants (economic migrants, people looking for a change/second chance, and refugees) has probably been an issue for human civilizations since the beginning. In countries like the US and Canada which have been built through immigration there have been long debates over who is "acceptable" as immigrants. In recent years asylum seekers/refugees in general have been largely seen with deep suspicion both in North America and Europe. [And we have to note that skin colour/country of origin has often or always played a BIG role in determining if people should be welcomed with open arms or not.]

So it is that this year as I mused on what to do with the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself my mind went to the question of those who come from away. Really it is a focusing on one aspect of the question Jesus is asked in Luke 10:29 "But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?". Is the economic migrant, the refugee, the newcomer truly my neighbour? Am I really supposed to love them like I love the people I grew up around? The people who are like me? 

Pretty sure Jesus would say yes.

The stories of Scripture show us that those people were also concerned with how to treat migrants, newcomers, and those from away. And while there are parts of the story that are not friendly to those who are 'not like us' (eg. the people who returned from exile in Babylon were told to put aside the foreign wives they had acquired while in exile) there are other parts of the story that talk about caring for, acting lovingly toward, the stranger, the outsider, the migrant.

Ruth was an outsider. She married into the people of Israel because her husband's family were economic migrants to Moab and settled there, building a life.  Then she herself became a migrant when it was time for what was left of the family to return home. Poor Naomi is an economic migrant or refugee twice in the story.

Levitical law tells the people (who as the story goes were a whole refugee people fleeing one life for a better life) treat the outsider well. A big part of that argument is "for you were aliens in Egypt" . You know what it is like to be mistreated so do better when you have the chance.

Then Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbour as we love ourselves and the. Jesus tells us to love our enemy. Jesus tell the story of the Good Samaritan to answer the question about who is my neighbour. Jesus tells us that others we will know we are his followers by our love.

THere are many concerns that go into the immigration discussion. How does population growth impact housing and public services is a big concern. We can't pretend there are not details to sort out to make it work. We also can not, as people of faith, followers of Jesus, try to limit ourselves to only accepting the 'right sort' of people. We have to care for the refugees and migrants. We have to push for them to have the same standard of living and opportunities as the rest of us.

Most importantly we can not allow ourselves to be led in to thinking they are a problem to be solved or a threat to be neutralized.

Jesus never promised that loving friend neighbour or enemy would be easy after all.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 26, 2023 -- Reign of Christ Sunday

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
• Matthew 25:31-40

The Sermon title is Care for the Sheep

Early Thoughts: At the end of the Gospel of John Jesus has a shore lunch with Peter. In that scene Jesus repeatedly tells Peter to look after the sheep. Maybe that is a big part of how we are called to be in the world...to emulate the Good Shepherd.

So how do we do that?

The Ezekiel passage for this week describes how God is like a Good Shepherd. It talks about all the things that the shepherd needs to do to take care of the sheep (which in this instance is referring to the people of Israel). Speaking through the prophet, God promises to ensure they are fed, that their wounds are cared for, that the lost are found, that the weak are strengthened and those who have too much are held to justice. Then there is the promise of the shepherd from the line of David....who might that be??????

In chapter 10 of John's Gospel Jesus explicitly refers to himself as the Good Shepherd. While the Gospel does not explicitly refer to these words from Ezekiel I have little doubt that at least some of Jesus' hearers would catch the reference. Jesus is the one who will do what God promised to people in exile long ago.

And then after Easter Jesus tells Peter to carry the work on. Which could easily be read that we are all to do our part in caring for the sheep (even as we are also called to remember that we are sheep, following the Good Shepherd ourselves).

So how do we do that?

Enter one of my favourite passages of Scripture, almost certainly my favourite section of Matthew's Gospel. Here, at the end of the eschatological discourse, Jesus make explicit what we are to do. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick and imprisoned. Clothe the naked. Welcome the stranger. And whenever we do that for anyone -- nothing about if they are a part of our community or not, nothing about if they deserve it or not, nothing about all the various ways we have to decide whether someone is worthy of our help, anyone -- it is as if we are doing it for Jesus. 

That is how we care for the sheep...by caring for them. Seems like such a simple equation doesn't it? That is how we respond to the care given by the shepherd.... by passing it on.

What would it look like if that was indeed the marker of Christian community? Jesus said that all people would know we are his disciples by our love. Love, as I have said before, is a verb. People will know we are Jesus' disciples not by the hymns we sing or the theology we spout. They will know by how we live out our love for neighbours, friends, family and enemies. Care for the sheep, any of the sheep. It is how we live into the Reign of God
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 20, 2022 -- Majesty of Christ Sunday

The Scripture readings this week are:

• 2 King 24:8, 11-17
•  Psalm 47 
• Matthew 27:11-14, 27-37

The Sermon title is Destruction, Death, Majesty?

Early Thoughts: Reign of Christ, Christ the King, Majesty of Christ. What images do those terms evoke?

Now, how does the destruction and looting of a city, thousands being dragged off in exile, or a beaten peasant hanging on a cross fit in with those images?

I am going to guess there might be a bit of a discrepancy.

To follow Christ means we have to embrace a series of paradoxes. I think that the last Sunday of the liturgical year really highlights that. We refer to this Sunday using titles like I listed up above. They are titles that tend to evoke power. Words like Reign, or King, or Majesty draw our minds to grand ballrooms, Buckingham Palace, pomp and pageantry, horse drawn carriages, people bowing in respect and fealty.

And yet Christ is a King on a cross. Christ's majesty is shown through death and and empty tomb. No pomp. No gilded carriage. No grand palace. Over the centuries that have followed you will find the people bowing in respect and fealty but certainly not in this story of trial and execution.

Christ has a different form of majesty, Christ is a different type of king with a very different type of reign.  The Majesty of God's Kingdom is seen in death and resurrection. The Majesty of Christ is seen in a specific approach to life and love, not in pomp and pageantry.

Sometimes we need to see how destruction and tragedy might (not always but might) lead to something new.  In the moment it will not feel like it. In the moment it feels like defeat and disaster. But sometimes God can lead us to new hope and possibility, maybe even majesty?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 21, 2021 -- Reign of Christ Sunday

 This Sunday is the last Sunday of the Church year. On November 28th we will begin a new Church Year with the first Sunday of Advent. Many people follow the example of our Roman Catholic siblings and refer to this last Sunday of the year as either Reign of Christ Sunday or Christ the King Sunday.

The Scripture Readings we will hear this week are:

• Mark 1:9-15
• Luke 4:14-17
• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
• Luke 4:20-22

The Sermon title is Jubilee, Shalom, Reign of God

Early Thoughts: Jesus was all about the Kingdom of God. In both Mark and Luke he starts his public ministry with proclamations about it.

In Mark Jesus is quite explicit. The Kingdom of God is near now. In Luke it is not quite so explicit but at the beginning of his public ministry Jesus reads in synagogue. The passage he reads describes what life will be like in the time of God's favour. Then he closes the scroll and says that these words have been fulfilled. The time of God's favour is now. The Reign of God has begun.

I have often wondered if we tend to get the idea of the Reign of Christ or the Kingdom of God wrong. I suspect that we hear that monarchical language and we think of a society sort of similar to what we know, just with God in charge (remembering that as part of Christian faith Christ is God, so we are not talking about two different rulers here). And the fact that the festival of Christ the King was first declared by the Pope in part as a response to the dwindling of political power for the Papacy does not help that percerption.

But what if the Kingdom of God, the Reign of Christ, is more of a time for us to say "and now for something completely different"?

This fall I have been reading a book called Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision. In this book Randy Woodley talks about something he has encountered in North American Indigenous peoples called "The Harmony Way". Woodley suggest that this resemble the way of Shalom that we meet in the Hebrew Scriptures. The short form translation of Shalom is peace, but the term is much deeper than that. It is a peace based on justice and abundant life for all. The English mystic Julian of Norwich spoke of a time when "all matter of things be well". A society living out Shalom is that very time.

What would that deep peace and justice and abundant life for all look like? What might it look like when the Reign of God becomes fully real around us? That is what I think we are invited to explore on Reign of Christ Sunday.

Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming that the Kingdom is near, or even here. We also know that it is not really her in full power and wonder. We live in what is traditionally called the "now and the not yet". And so we wait for the fullness of time, the fullness of God's Realm. Are we ready to imagine what it might look like?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 22, 2020 -- Reign of Christ Sunday

 We have reached the end of the Liturgical Year. And still the Reign of Christ has not come in full glory. But we look for signs of it breaking into our lives as we transition from one year to the next.

The Scripture Reading this week is Matthew 25:31-46

The Sermon title is Which Did You Do?

Early Thoughts: How were and are you an agent of the Kingdom of God? Would you be a sheep or a goat?

It can be hard to tell sometimes. Sometimes you have to look closely, or so I have been told, to pick out the sheep from the goats when they are mingled together. Moving from the literal to the metaphor of the parable, sometimes we are sheep and sometimes we are goats.

WE live in a world where we are often told that the secret to passing the final test is to be a "good person". Some define that be the religion you follow, or the form of religion you follow. Some measure goodness by what you have accomplished in life. Jesus, it seems, measures it by how we supported and loved our neighbours.

When we are called to account for our lives, the parable suggests, we will not be asked about how often we prayed, or our understanding of various Christian doctrines, or even if we call ourselves Christian. We will be asked if we fed the hungry, or visited the lonely, or comforted the afflicted. No mention of worrying about "accepting Jesus as Saviour and Lord" as some Christian groups insist is mandatory for acceptance. No mention of having lived a sinless life, no mention of having been an unrepentant sinner either. No mention of anything other than how well we lived out the commandment to love our neighbour.

Makes for a pretty basic test doesn't it?  One single question. Mind you it is a pretty hard question when you get right down to it.

Christians declare that the Kingdom or Reign of God is both present and yet to come. We live in the Kingdom and we wait for it to break forth. On Reign of Christ Sunday we embrace that dichotomy. One definition of the church is that we are to be a testing ground for the kingdom. To me that means we are called to live as if we are citizens of a different type of place, a place where love is the rule and norm, a place where all our choices are made considering how they will impact our neighbours.

SO part of being a sheep (in a good way, not the way it is often used in current discourse) may well be to wear a mask and keep our distance and limit our outings as we collectively work to end the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of being a sheep is to be a good steward of the "stuff" in our lives. Part of being a sheep in a democratic society is advocating for a system that ensures all have basic needs met.

Are we sheep or goats? Being a sheep might come at a cost. Then again so might being a goat.

--Gord