Sunday November 20th, 2022 Worship

Hello! So nice to be here! I am…
LCM update, invitation to bring dinner, donate
Ok, Christ the King Sunday.
Last day of the liturgical year, before we start all over again with Advent.
Did you know that CTK is a modern addition to the traditional church year?
Established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI, and didn’t become part of the Protestant calendar after the Vatican II council in the 60s, and we Lutherans pretty much ignored it until the late 1970s!
We always think of these traditions as solid and ancient, right?
But just like our church and worship and beliefs, our traditions evolve over time, responding to the world around them and needs of people in each age.
So why did the Pope in 1925 decide that a new festival Sunday celebrating Christ’s kingship was in order?
Well, think for a second about what was happening in Europe in 1925.
Russia had just gone through the communist revolution, and closer to home, the roots of fascism were taking hold in Italy, Spain, and Germany.
And we all know how that turned out.
Sadly, we are seeing a resurgence of this history today in many of these same places…
The pope back thenrecognized that a statement needed to be made, a reminder to the people about power and authority, both in heaven and on earth.
He saw these abusive leaders and government systems and thought, we need to remind Christians (which all these Europeans claimed to be!) about who is really in charge here, what being a king meant for Jesus and what his kingship is all about.
Because, as we know, that kingship is very, very different than the examples we find on earth (even democratically elected ones!).
And, as we know, these problems are still very much with us today.
And that’s why we get the readings we do today.
They actually are the perfect trio to Christ the King Sunday and fit together like a 3-act play:
There’s a beginning, a middle, and the end.
Establishment of the problem, hope for a fix, and moral of the story.
So let’s explore.
For the first Act, we heard from the prophet Jeremiah.
This section of Jeremiah is focused on the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonian empire and the failure of the Israelite leaders of the time.
And Jeremiah really lets them have it!
Woe to the shepherds (kings) who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
He’s calling them out for failing to keep God’s people safe.
The earthly kings have failed… But, God says, don’t despair: all is not lost.
“I myself will gather the remnant of my sheep together, and they shall once again be fruitful and shall prosper.”
All may be lost now. But God promises to be faithful, and promises a future.
Then, Act 2: Colossians.
Fast-forward to a post-resurrection world.
The author of this letter to the Christians in Colossae presents a very royal picture of Jesus Christ:
Just look at this:
“His glorious power has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
Whew! Talk about kingship!
That is what we call a “high Christology”- Christ is kind of like a divine Superman, all powerful and almighty, king of kings and lords of lords!
He is the literal “image of the invisible God,” the God we can see and know and worship and bow down to.
A king indeed.
And yet…
What does Christ’s kingship, he who is the literal image of God, look like?
Enter: Act 3: Jesus on the cross.
If we didn’t already know the story, this is NOT where we’d expect the next step to be from the glory of Christ above all things.
Jesus is the King, the one promised by God who would gather and save the people, and here we find him… on a cross?
Mocked and dying, side by side with criminals?
I think it’s easy for us to forget how absurd this story really is.
What kind of successful leader just, dies?? As a political prisoner, executed by the state?
And we come here today and proclaim him as king!
That’s exactly the message that we hear today on Christ the King, and every Sunday.
It is the paradox that lies at the heart of our faith:
Christ is God. Christ died. And somehow, that death leads to new life.
When we proclaim that Christ is King, that doesn’t just mean glory, laud and honor.
It means that Christ is a king unlike any other.
This is a king who heals people, who gathers a community, who loves that community.
This is a king who stands for justice for the widow and orphan, the weak and oppressed, who ruled by seeking love and equality, not importance and influence.
This king, promised so long ago, is unlike anything humanity could ever have imagined.
And it is absolutely this kind of King that we needed: One willing to put his own life at risk for the sake of the lost and the lonely and the least.
A king eager to forgive and love from the very cross.
A king who came back, not in violent triumph but in quiet meals with his friends, wounded and yet alive.
As we hear in Revelation and the liturgy: For the lamb who was slain has begun his reign.
And that reign is one of humility, sacrifice, forgiveness and love.
So try to remember that.
Whenever you hear Christ called King, remember what that really means.
Not a king with jewels and gold.
King of our hearts, our hands, our service to others, who gathers us into community, feeds us, and sends us out for the sake of the world.
Thanks be to God. Amen.