St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
November 26, 2017
Year A: The Last
Sunday after Pentecost – Christ the King
Ezekiel 34:11-16,
20-24
Psalm 95:1-7a
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46
“Available to the
Kingdom”
“The
Kingdom of God is available to you in the here and now. But the question is
whether you are available to the kingdom.”
As
most of you know, for the past few months the leaders of St. Paul’s and
Incarnation have been discussing the unification of our two churches early next
year.
Since
we still have a few big and kind of thorny issues to work out, I haven’t said
much publicly about it, yet. But, I’m happy to report that our “unification
Committee” conversations have been positive, cordial, and productive.
During
our meetings, I have felt God’s Holy Spirit present and at work, creating
genuine unity out of longtime division.
One
of the really nice side benefits of this process has been the opportunity to
think about what’s essential about our life together here, at St.
Paul’s.
What are the
distinctive core characteristics of our church?
What makes St.
Paul’s St. Paul’s?
If you’ve been
around for a while you know there have been a lot of changes here these past
few years but our core remains the same.
Here in church we
are formal, but friendly.
We are traditional,
but not stuffy.
That’s been kind
of our niche here among the Episcopal churches in Jersey City and I don’t see
it changing much no matter what happens next year.
As they say, “If
it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Since we are
formal (but friendly) and traditional (but not stuffy), our worship is very
similar to the way Christians have praised God for many centuries.
We observe the
liturgical seasons of Lent and Advent and the great feast days just as Christians
have for hundreds and hundreds of years.
If we could
somehow transport Christians from the earliest days to St. Paul’s, they’d be
confused and dazzled by lots of things, right? But, they would recognize the
basic shape of what we do here week after week, listening to the stories of God
and us and then gathering around the table and remembering Jesus blessing the
bread and the wine, offering himself to us, offering himself for us all.
But, one thing
that would probably puzzle the earliest Christians is the feast day that we
celebrate today on the last Sunday of the church year: the Feast of Christ the
King.
Christians from
the past simply took Christ’s kingship for granted, would have understood in
their bones, in their hearts, that since Christ is the King of kings and Lord
of lords then all the others who claim to rule – all of the Caesars past and
present – are pretenders, are frauds.
For the early
Christians this was all so obvious that there was no need to have a special day
to celebrate Christ’s kingship.
It would be like
sun worshipers setting aside a special day to remember and celebrate the warmth
of the sun!
Well, sure enough,
the feast that we celebrate today – the Feast of Christ the King – is, in fact,
one of the newest additions to the church calendar.
The Roman Catholic
Church only added it to the calendar in 1925 and then moved it to the last
Sunday of the church year in 1970 – and many other churches followed suit,
including, obviously, the Episcopal Church.
The feast was
added to the calendar because the Church realized that, unfortunately, a lot of
Christians were placing their faith not in Christ, but in other “kings.”
Back in the 1920’s,
the Church could plainly see that Christians
were trusting Communist “kings” like Marx and Lenin – Fascist “kings” like
Mussolini and, soon, Hitler – and many Capitalist “kings” who taught that money
and the newest product can and will make us so very happy.
That was a long
time ago, and it would be wonderful to say that nearly a century later we
Christians have learned our lesson, but of course that’s not true.
Let’s face it, so
many of us Christians still place our ultimate faith in the “kings” of today,
whether that’s a military or political leader who singles out certain people as
our enemies and promises a return to past glory, or maybe some new technology
that does indeed bring miracles but also presents new and serious problems for
us to figure out.
So, yes, I’m
pretty sure that our ancestors in faith would be surprised – shocked even –
that so many Christians fall for
these pretenders, but they wouldn’t be surprised by the basic problem - because
Christ is a king like no other and his kingdom is not the kind that the world
celebrates or even expects, even after two thousand years.
On this final
Sunday of the church year, our gospel lesson looks ahead to the last judgment,
when we will be judged on how well we served the King and his Kingdom.
And, perhaps to
our shock still even after all this time, it turns out that the Kingdom is
Bergen Avenue and Christ the King is out there right now, begging for change or
a bite to eat.
It turns out that
the Kingdom is the homeless drop-in center where Christ the King is hanging out
with his buddies, trying to keep warm, hoping for something more nutritious to
eat than a cheese sandwich.
It turns out that the
Kingdom is the nursing home where Christ the King is lying in bed, alone,
forgotten by his family and friends.
It turns out that
the Kingdom is among refugees fleeing from oppression and violence and Christ
the King is right there among them wondering what kind of welcome he will
receive from people who claim to be his followers.
It turns out that
the Kingdom is in apartments all around us, where Christ the King lives alone
and isolated, friendless, barely remembering the simple pleasure of breaking
bread with a brother or sister.
And, it turns out
that the Kingdom is right here at St. Paul’s, tucked away and easy to miss on a
side street, formal (but friendly) and traditional (but not stuffy), where all
different kinds of people meet just as our spiritual ancestors did and tell the
old stories, where we gather at the table and remember Jesus blessing the bread
and wine, offering himself to us, offering himself for us all.
I started today’s
sermon with a quote from the great and wise Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, Thich
Nhat Hanh. He’s obviously not a Christian but he certainly gets it:
“The Kingdom of
God is available to you in the here and now. But the question is whether you
are available to the kingdom.”
And, as the church
year draws to a close and as we find ourselves living during difficult days, days
not so different from the 1920s, when people put their faith in other kings and
other kingdoms, that really is the question for us Christians.
Do we make
ourselves available to the kingdoms of the earth, the kingdoms ruled by the
Caesars of today, by the many pretenders with their false and destructive
promises?
Or, do we make
ourselves available to the Kingdom of God, God’s kingdom that is right here and
now, a kingdom ruled by Christ the King who doesn’t live in a palace or a
mansion but dwells right here among us, most especially with the poor and the outcast?
“The Kingdom of
God is available to you in the here and now. But the question is whether you
are available to the kingdom.”
How we answer that
question will make an eternal difference.
And, who knows, if
we give the right answer, maybe some day we will be able to drop today’s feast
from the calendar – able to drop it because it will be obvious to everybody that
Christ is indeed our King – as obvious as the warmth of the sun.
May it be so.
Amen.
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