St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
November 20, 2016
Year C, Proper 29:
The Last Sunday after Pentecost – Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Canticle 16
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43
The Crown
It’s
always good to be here together on a Sunday but it was especially good to be
here last Sunday at our 10:00 service.
I
had the privilege of baptizing three beautiful babies – Martin, Louisa, and
Aria – and the church was absolutely packed.
It
was packed with a lot of people who came for the baptisms and it was packed
with a lot of or own parishioners and it was even packed with some people who
picked an especially good Sunday to check out St. Paul’s for the first time –
it was packed with over 200 people, which I’m guessing is some kind of record
for a non-holiday Sunday.
We
weren’t expecting quite so many
people so we ran out of bulletins pretty early on and the ushers asked for
hardship pay - and I was so discombobulated that I forgot to carry my reading
glasses with me during the gospel procession! Fortunately, I was still able to
read the words, but just barely!
It
was quite the day. In fact, more than one person said to me that it felt like
Easter. And so it did.
Even
on a day when a lot of people were still stunned by the election results, it
really did feel like Easter – that holiest day, that day above all days, that
day when we celebrate that God makes a way out of no way, that God turns death
into new life, and the day when God reveals Jesus to be what he was all along
and will be forever: Christ the King.
And,
now, here we are today on the last Sunday of the church year.
It’s
the Feast of Christ the King.
And,
you know, the church isn’t as crowded as last week but it still feels like
Easter to me, so…
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Last
week, in addition to going to church a lot, I also binge-watched a new series
on Netflix called, The Crown.
Maybe
some of you have seen it or heard about it?
The Crown is about the early reign of
Queen Elizabeth II, when as a young woman she succeeds her father and has to figure
out how to be a monarch while at the same time still be a woman and a wife, a mother,
a daughter, and a sister.
It’s
very well done and I enjoyed it very much but as I was watching I thought how
the Queen has spent her long life surrounded by fabulous royal luxury, the jewel-encrusted
crowns, the grand palaces, the servants always present to meet every need or
whim, the elegant clothes, the people forever bowing and curtseying in her
presence, the adoring crowds cheering and waving flags, and all the rest of it.
She
is surrounded by all that royal luxury but, in fact, has less control over her
own life than we do over our lives.
She
is surrounded by all that royal luxury, but, in fact, has no real power at all.
But,
it’s just the opposite for Christ the King.
Christ
the King was a craftsman from a backwater town who we’re told didn’t even have
a place to lay his head.
Christ
the King hung out with all the wrong kinds of people, shared God’s love with
all the “losers,” shared God’s love with tax collectors, with a woman caught in
adultery, with the Samaritan woman at the well, with the lepers and the blind
and the possessed, with a bunch of fishermen and his other unimpressive
followers.
Christ
the King shared a vision of God’s downside-up kingdom in which somehow it’s the
poor and the hungry and the mournful who are truly blessed.
Christ
the King was rejected by just about everyone, was abandoned by his closest
followers and friends, and left hanging on the cross, dying the death of a
criminal.
Christ
the King died wearing not a jewel-encrusted crown but a crown of thorns, dying
a shameful death under a sign mocking him as the “king.”
And,
that seemed to be the end of the
story: Jesus seemed to be just another nobody, crushed by a brutal empire that
cared only about power and wealth.
In
the eyes of the world, Jesus wearing his crown of thorns was a powerless loser.
But,
you know, we gathered around the font last week - and we come here and gather
around the Table each week - because that’s wasn’t – that isn’t – the end of
the story.
God
makes a way out of no way.
God
turns death into new life.
And,
on Easter, God reveals Jesus to be what he was all along and will be forever:
Christ the King.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
To
the world, Christ the King seemed
powerless but in fact the power of God was uniquely present in him.
And,
Christ the King didn’t use the power of God to amass great wealth or worldly
power but instead he used the power of God to teach and to heal and to love.
Christ
the King gave away the power of God, gave it all away, gave away the last few
drops hanging on the Cross.
And
now Christ the King reigns, and since we are the Body of Christ on
earth, here’s the thing: that same power of God flows in and through us.
I
don’t know about you, but I feel God’s power each time we gather here and I
especially felt it last week when so many of us were here and so open to God’s
Spirit that was so obviously present, and is here right now.
That
same power of God flows in and through us, flows when we serve hot food to cold
people, when we reach out in love to someone we don’t know and maybe even
suspect, when we give to others so much that it actually hurts a little, when
we stand up for those who are threatened, when we let it go and try to forgive.
Now,
you don’t need me to tell you that we live in a dangerous time with disrespect,
hatred, greed, and fear on the loose. And, the powerful of the world in their jewel-encrusted
mansions and towers no doubt look at us as they looked at Jesus, look at us as nobodies,
as powerless losers.
But,
they’re quite wrong.
Yes,
we live in a dangerous time, but if we remember who we are and to whom we belong,
life may not be easy, but, in the end, we’ll be OK.
So,
my prayer is that we’ll be faithful to Christ the King.
My
prayer is that during these difficult days we will continue to respect and love
and give and hope. My prayer is that we will stay together and stick really
close to the other “losers” of the world. My prayer is that we will try to live
every day as if it really were Easter, that holiest day, that day above all
days, that day when…
God
makes a way out of no way.
God
turns death into new life.
And,
God reveals Jesus to be what he was all along and will be forever: Christ the
King.
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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