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Christ the King A sermon
preached by Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli at Capitol Hill United Methodist
Church November 26, 2006, Reign of Christ Sunday. Text: Revelation 1:4-8, John 18:33-37 --------------- There's a best-selling book on the market, written by distinguished scientist Richard Dawkins, entitled "The God Delusion." Evidently, this guy has made a career out of opposing all religions and all manifestations of faith; he argues that humanity will truly be on the path to progress only after all traces of religion are expunged. In reviewing his latest book, some scientists and philosophers acknowledge that Dawkins is a great scientist, but also point out that he doesn't know squat about religion. Regardless of whether he knows anything about it or not, the fact is that his book sells like crazy. What to make of this? It seems that there is often much frenzy and furor around new books such as "The God Delusion." Why do they get so much attention? Maybe the people who are buying this stuff are already anti-religious and are happy to glom onto anything that will inspire them to be even more anti-religious. Or maybe human beings buy books like Dawkins' out of our insatiable appetite for controversy and intrigue…our fickleness and our desire for something new… Perhaps part of the reason is found in the way that many folks understand religion in general and Christianity in particular. Whether it is actually taught as such or is only perceived so, many tend to think that there is no room for doubt or questioning in the realm of faith. That is to say, many believe that the only way to participate in religion is to blindly accept a list of statements about God and/or a set of rules for how to live. As a result, many people may flock to any opportunity to question the whole thing-folks may be so hungry for permission to doubt and challenge their perception of religion that they will buy anything that offers the chance-particularly when what they're buying is cloaked with some form of legitimacy. I was raised to believe that the only stupid question is the one you have and don't ask. And so I ask lots of questions. I have chosen to do my questioning within the realm of faith. And I'm not alone in this. I recently came across some statements of the chief rabbi of Britain Jonathan Sacks who said, "'to be without questions is not a sign of faith, but of lack of depth.' Jews are encouraged not only to ask questions about the meaning of faith, but to question God. 'We ask questions,' says Sacks, 'not because we doubt, but because we believe.'" But he goes on to point out that there are three conditions for asking rightly: "a genuine desire to learn; a readiness to accept the limits of one's understanding; and the realization that, when it comes to Torah [or Scripture], one learns by living and doing."(1) I will come back to these conditions for questioning later. But I'd like to pause briefly on something that gets said here week in and week out as part of my welcome to all who gather here for worship. I say that "no matter what you believe or doubt today…you are welcome to bring all of who you are into this place to be met by God who knows you by name and wants to have a relationship with you." Some have taken issue with this part of my word of welcome. However, I would argue that it is as important as anything we can say to folks who gather in this sacred space. It is an important word of permission welcoming those of other faiths and no faith to join this community for a brief time of unity as a gathered body, a body that encompasses the reality of all we bring. The fact is we always come with a mixture of belief and doubt, regardless of where we're coming from or what our experience of God and life is or what our religious background may be. It is important to state right up front, I believe, that you can-and should!-bring your doubts, your questions, your struggles, your everything into this place. And to hear the statement that God already knows it all anyway…and it's OK… God can take it… Today, we celebrate the end of the Christian liturgical year with the festival of the Reign of Christ. The proclamation that we make on this day is that Jesus Christ is the ruler of heaven and earth, that Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We proclaim that Christ is the King of the universe, sitting at the right hand of God. Over the years, as I have baptized infants and adults, as I have invited folks to reaffirm their faith, the question of Jesus Christ as savior and Lord is a common one: what does it mean? All of us, if we are baptized and confirmed have said (or our parents have affirmed) that "we profess Jesus Christ as savior" that "we put our full trust in his grace" and that "we promise to serve him as Lord." But, for many, it is a struggle to understand what it really means to say such things. For one thing, it is just so specific. If we say that Jesus is Lord what are we saying about those who don't profess the same thing? What of our Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim friends and family? Further, the language of "lordship" or "kingship" is pretty foreign to modern American ears and minds. What are we really saying? The only "royal" images we're really familiar with are those of Britain and those images are soaked in tabloid headlines and questions of wealth and needless tradition. I wonder whether people perceive Christ's "reign" as similar to the queen of England's rule: as a reign surrounded with the art and beauty of a tradition that is more antique than active, as hopelessly outdated and practically mute and needless. These are good questions, important questions. They are questions we should ask on this day of all days, as we come to the end of one Christian cycle and embark next week on the Advent, the beginning again, the anticipation of the birth of Christ… It is basically the same question Pilate asks of Jesus in the Gospel text for today. Pilate asks Jesus: "Are you the King of the Jews?" Are you the King? That's the question for us all. Is Jesus the King? And, if so, what does it mean for our lives? The Gospel story shows that Jesus doesn't deny his kingship, but rather interprets it differently than Pilate or anyone else did. Jesus says that his Kingdom is not from this world. Jesus says that his kingdom is not a political or military kind of rule. He is not seeking office or trying to save his own skin or position in the world of humans. Rather, says Jesus, "I came into the world to testify to the truth." (vs. 37) The truth to which Jesus testifies is the truth of his life, the truth of his being. That truth is the truth of God's love. That is what Jesus came to reveal. That is what Jesus came to testify to. Far from being exclusionary, the truth of Jesus is as inclusive as any in the world-in the universe! Because the truth of Jesus is the love of God for the whole world. The whole world. Whether folks accept that love or not, in Jesus we proclaim that the love is true… "for God so loved the world" (Jn. 3:16) that Jesus came to testify and live and love and save. Yes, Jesus is particular. But Jesus is also universal. Because of this, we can proclaim that "matter what you believe or doubt" God knows you by name and wants to have a relationship with you. And what about that bit about the reign of Christ being a practically unnecessary claim? Does it make a difference to claim Christ as King? Well, I was just having a conversation a few days ago with a woman whose nineteen year old son is struggling with alcohol addiction. He follows a gang of people who encourage his destructive behavior. What would happen if he chose to follow, to be ruled by, inspired by, supported and encouraged by the compassionate, exacting, loving person of Jesus Christ? When Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives, when Jesus Christ is King in our lives, we strive to make love dominant in all our relationships in response and obedience to the commandment to love as God loves us (1 Jn. 4:7-12). We learn to love ourselves and others just the same. This has political and social implications; it has personal and interpersonal implications. In short, it makes a difference in the way we live and love and serve. The power of Jesus' rule is fairly unorthodox in this world that tends to serve the bottom line, that is self-serving to the detriment of everything else, that resorts to fighting in order to obtain or maintain power. The reign of Christ exists as an alternative to these dominant worldly powers. The claim of Christians on this day, however, is that ultimately the power of love, the love of God revealed in Jesus, will prevail. Alpha and Omega…beginning and end… I don't pretend to be able to answer all your questions today about Christ as King. I haven't even begun to address all the questions I have on the subject. But I stand before you as one who has made it the work of my life to struggle with the questions and who has, in the midst, realized that while I continue to learn much from all the beauty and power of the religious traditions of the world, there is no other God whose power has so clearly been revealed to me as one who wants nothing more than to love me, to serve me, to challenge and push me to grow. There is no other God who has been willing to come into the world as one of us, who knows what it's like to be human, who has experienced the fullness of the pain and joy of that gift…There is no other God who has revealed a heart that is so full of self-giving love. In Jesus Christ, the God, the Lord, the King of my life has been found. In a world of competing claims and seductive intrigues I ask you to consider who you truly follow. I challenge you to find a better "ruler" than the one who came to love and to serve and who wants nothing more than for you to live healthy, strong, whole, self-giving, vibrant lives… So as you ask your questions about Jesus keep in mind those guidelines that Jonathan Sacks offers to us: as you ask have "a genuine desire to learn; a readiness to accept the limits of your understanding;" and as far as I'm concerned the most important one: "the realization that, when it comes to Torah [or Scripture], one learns by living and doing." (2) It is by living and doing that we learn what it means to say that Christ is Lord, that Christ is savior, that Christ is king. In the meantime, keep bringing your questions and your doubts. God loves you enough to take it…and wants you to bring it all and lay it before the feet of the one who has given all…Jesus Christ the King… (1, 2) Excerpts from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks's Haggadah, Continuum Press, found in The Christian Century November 14, 2006, Vol. 123, No. 23, p. 6.
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Sermons from other years:
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Capitol Hill United Methodist
Church is a Reconciling Congregation. |
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