A different kind of king

Christ the King Sunday Year C

A sermon based on Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 23:33-43

In the name of Jesus; amen.

Rejoice, for Christ is king! Your Lord and king adore; rejoice, give thanks, and sing, and triumph evermore: Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; rejoice, again I say, rejoice!

Are you done being thankful yet? Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is over are you finished making your lists of all the things you are thankful for; are you done saying thank you?

I’m going to make an assumption and say no. I am going to assume that despite the fact that it is now past November 23rd and no longer Thanksgiving Day that we would all agree that the time to be thankful is not over. After all we are not just allowed to be grateful on one day of the year; it is simply that there is one day of the year that we specifically set aside to celebrate our thankfulness.

A similar thing can be said about this day, Christ the King Sunday when the church has specifically set aside a time to remember that Christ is King. Christ isn’t just king on this day, but on all days.

But, unlike Thanksgiving, Christ the King is a hard concept to really understand especially in a country where we don’t have kings or a concept of a monarchy. For us kings are found in fairy takes or in the history books of Europe. The closest we come to having a king in America is one who sells hamburgers and fries at Burger King.

The prophet Jeremiah describes the king as a shepherd, another hard concept to understand in our modern American world. For Jeremiah, the king as shepherd was a king who gathered the people together and ruled over them with justice unlike the kings he experienced in his lifetime. The king he waited for was a king who would bring the people together and care for them with justice and righteousness so that they would live in safety. For Jeremiah, the king was someone who served the people.

It is believed that in ancient European pagan cultures the king was required to give himself as a sacrifice for the people. When things were good the sacrifice of the king was sometimes a symbolic ritual, but when things were bad the ritual sacrifice of the king was not symbolic, but actual and the king was expected to go willingly to the slaughter for the sake of his people.

In our gospel today, Luke paints a picture of Jesus as king combining these two ideas of kingship; as the shepherd who gathers together in righteousness and justice and as the king who willingly gives himself as a sacrifice for the people.

This is supposed to challenge our notions of power and strength most often associated with kings and rulers.

The festival of Christ the King is a fairly young tradition. Pope Pius XI instituted The Feast of Christ the King in 1925. It was intended to proclaim God’s reign over a world wracked by one world war and facing another and to counter a rise of secularism. At the time, Pius XI witnessed the rise of dictatorships in Europe, and saw Christians being taken in by these earthly leaders.

Christ the King Sunday used to be celebrated on the last Sunday of October, but in 1969 the church calendar was reformed and now it is celebrated on the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, which is the Sunday before Advent, which is today.

It is an appropriate time to remember that Christ is king as we begin the journey into Advent and the Christmas seasons. Jesus isn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but rather he is placed in a manger in a dirty cave used to house animals during the cold nights. And Jesus doesn’t reign from a gilded throne, but rather from a cross used to execute criminals.

These seasons of the church year and its festivals and feast days are meant to remind us that God doesn’t operate the way that we expect people to operate. Shepherds were hired hands out to make a buck and earn the best living they could afford. And pagan kings that were meant to willingly go to sacrifice and appease the gods for the good of the people often dressed up slaves and criminals in royal robes to take their places.

But Jesus is king because he is the good shepherd who gathers the flock together and offers them safety. And Jesus is king because he willingly goes to the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.

Just as Pious XI instituted this special day in 1925 so that Christians could remember that Jesus was the true ruler of our lives we should remember that Christ is the ultimate ruler not because he received the most votes or because he staged a successful coup or because he inherited a crown, but because he is the one who gathers us in safety and judges us with righteousness, justice, and forgiveness.

And so we give thanks not just for turkey and family dinners or the presents under the trees that soon will be here, but for the gift of Christ who cares for us as the King of kings and lord of Lords. Amen.

The True Bread

Thanksgiving Eve

A sermon based on John 6:25-35

In the name of Jesus; amen.

My husband and I became friends while we were both at seminary after he invited me to come to his room to join him and several other students who had gathered there for a beer. He and his roommates had a suite on the first floor and that year it became the hang out for many of us.

As people started to go back to their own rooms and their apartments that night one of his roommates invited me to come back down to their room later on, “We watch M*A*S*H at midnight” he told me. “Come down and watch it with us if you’re awake.”

Sensing that these were great guys and that I needed friends I stayed up until midnight and went down to watch M*A*S*H with them and the rest is history.

Now the Hallmark Channel runs M*A*S*H reruns every night at the time when I am cooking dinner and so I watch it about every night while I am cooking dinner. About a week ago one of my favorite episodes was on and featured one of my favorite characters, Charles Emerson Winchester III.

For those of you unfamiliar with M*A*S*H it chronicles the stories of a Korean War M*A*S*H unit. It was supposed to be a comedy, but the reality was it took a serious look at war. In this one particular episode (entitled: "The Life You Save") Charles and another doctor, B.J. Hunnicut bring a soldier back from the dead while hiding under a jeep during a sniper attack. In the process Charles becomes obsessed with the idea of death and wants to know what happens after someone dies.

He questions the soldier whose life he saved, but the soldier can’t remember anything. Frustrated and desperate to know what happens when a person dies he takes a jeep and drives to an aid station on the front where the fighting is heavy and offers the medics there his help with another soldier who is mortally wounded.

Holding his hand while he dies, Charles begs the soldier to tell him what he is experiencing. “What do you see? What do you feel? Please, I must know.”

And the solider answers with a single word, “Bread” then dies.

Jesus has just fed the 5,000 using only enough food to feed a small family and has retreated to the other side of the sea. Many of those fed go looking for him and find him the next day and ask for more. They had experienced a miracle, what the gospel writer John calls signs in his gospel. They were hungry again and Jesus knows that this is why they have sought him out.

They wanted food; Jesus wanted to give them bread.

“It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

At this time of year many of us become uniquely aware of hunger. Despite the fact that tomorrow is about giving thanks our day will revolve around a meal. Our congregations have been collecting food for those in need so that they can have a meal. At Salem we receive phone calls on a regular basis asking for help to buy food. People need to eat real bread or they die.

Had Jesus not just fed 5,000 people with real food his words in this gospel reading for tonight would be empty words. Jesus didn’t just fulfill spiritual needs he fulfilled real physical needs as well. He fed the people because they were hungry and without food they would not be able to listen to his proclamation that he was the true bread that does not perish.

Jesus as the bread of life provides for our souls, but he also drives us to meeting the real physical needs of others. Those who believe in him eat and drink their fill and are sent out to be bread for others… real physical bread.

We are bread just as we are the body of Christ; called to offer ourselves to others in thanksgiving for what God, through Christ has done for us.

There is another television show I like to watch. It’s called Inside the Actor’s Studio with James Lipton. Lipton interviews famous actors in front of a studio audience comprised of regular people and students from the drama department of Pace University.

His portion of the show ends with him asking a series of questions that range from what is your favorite curse word to what profession other than your own would you like to try. The very last question he asks before turning the interview over to the students is “If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?”

Would that God’s word be for all of us, “Bread.”

And may our answer ever and always be, Thanks be to God! Amen.

Joy to the World!

Pentecost 25 Year C

A sermon based on: Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; and Luke 21:5-19

In the name of Jesus; amen.

There are times I wish I could be an apocalyptic preacher. I would pull out the fire and brimstone; preach about hell and all the things that would take us there. If I was an apocalyptic preacher I could pound on the pulpit, raise my voice and shout about the end of the world and all the woes of Armageddon.

If I was an apocalyptic preacher I could get really worked up, my face might turn red and I’d need to wipe the sweat from my brow. Maybe some of you would start to swoon or shout out “Amen.”

If I was an apocalyptic preacher all the tragedies of this world would turn into signs of the end time: reports of war, famine, natural disasters, plagues would turn into “I told you so’s” and “Get your houses in order because Jesus is coming” speeches.

If I was an apocalyptic preacher the day of the Lord would be a truly awful thing; it would scare the Jesus right into you.

Except that I’m not an apocalyptic preacher. I don’t believe that we can predict the end of the world or that floods and earthquakes are God’s way of reminding us that an even greater wrath is coming. I don’t have any trouble talking about trials and tribulations, I just don’t really believe that four horsemen are going to come and wreak havoc on us before a final judgment.

But I do believe in the judgment to come. It isn’t something that I take lightly or dismiss easily. I’ve never read the Left-Behind books or even seen the movie; I don’t subscribe to that type of thinking. I’m not a literalist about those things.

I know that the day of the Lord will come, that the sheep will be separated from the goats, and that Christ will rule over a new heaven and a new earth, but the how and when that will happen… none of us knows, only God.

The readings today are concerned with that time. Malachi prophesied about the day that was coming, “burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn then up… so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

Paul chastises people from the Christian community in Thessalonica who are so certain that the Day of Judgment is about to happen, any second now, that they have stopped working and relying on others for their food.

Jesus tells his disciples that the Temple, God’s very own fortress on earth, will be destroyed and that they will be betrayed, arrested, and persecuted by those closest to them before the end occurs.

And even the Psalmist writes that God will judge the world.

All of which makes me wish I was an apocalyptic preacher. All of which makes me wish that I could subscribe, even if just once, to that kind of preaching, but I can’t.

Malachi’s prophesy, Paul’s criticism, Jesus’ warning, and the Psalmist’s song don’t scream of wrath and judgment, but hope in the judgment to come.

A tree of arrogance and evil that is burned away so that no root or branch might come from it, a day of righteousness that rises with healing in its wing…

An exhortation to do what is right at all times while trusting that Jesus is still coming…

A promise that we will endure without losing one hair on our heads…

A song of God’s victory, steadfast love and faithfulness…

These things are words of hope for the things to come, not words of condemnation and worry.

These are texts that we read today are supposed to propel us forward to an eternal hope of what is to come and to take us into a season when we prepare to remember that Jesus Christ was born for us. Our hymn version of Psalm 98 is none other than Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king; let every heart prepare him room and heav’n nature sing.

If I was an apocalyptic preacher I could tell you about the day of wrath, but instead I can share with you the good news of the day of joy and thanksgiving to God; thanks be to God! Amen!

Resurrection

Pentecost 24 Year C

A sermon based on Luke 20:27-38

In the name of Jesus; amen.

In Seminary we often had small groups as classes. The idea was to get the information from the lectures in plenary and then have small groups with our professors so we could ask more in depth questions about the material we were learning about.

It was only natural that many of the questions we asked had to do with salvation and resurrection; after all that was the nature of what we studied in just about every class we had.

One professor, more than the others, typically found himself on the receiving end of questions about salvation. He was our Lutheran Confessions and Reformation History Professor and it was from him that I learned the most about Martin Luther.

And more often than not, when one of us would ask a question about salvation he would answer us in this way: “Why do you ask that question?”

It always frustrated us to no end, but we kept asking those questions and he kept answering us the same way, “Why do you ask that question?”

Well, I knew exactly why we asked those questions – because we wanted someone to tell us the answer! We wanted to know about heaven and life after death. We wanted to know what would happen to our loved ones and what would happen to us after we died.

When the Sadducees asked Jesus about the widow with the 7 husbands they were seeking a legitimate answer to what might seem like a ridiculous question. There was a law that said that if a man died and left his wife childless then his brother was to marry her and produce an heir for his dead brother.

The Sadducees, who didn’t believe in an afterlife, believed that immortality came through one’s offspring. Their descendants provided life after death for them. So, if a man died without children his life was truly over. At the same time, this law cared for women who had no status in society without a husband or children because it ensured that a childless widow was cared for.

It was a crazy scenario, but it was a possible scenario that one woman could marry 7 brothers and all of them die without one child being born. It’s also possible that while the Sadducees may have wanted to trick Jesus with their question that they too wanted to understand just what was going to happen after they died.

The first thing I like about Jesus’ answer is that he doesn’t respond by asking them, why they asked that question. The second thing I like about his response is that he doesn’t tell them it’s a stupid question.

Wanting to know what heaven is like and what happens to us and our loved ones after we die is not stupid.

What Jesus tells the Sadducees is that life after death is very different than life before death and can’t be measured by the things of life before death.

“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.”

For some people, the idea that marriage is not a part of the kingdom of the after-life is heavenly, but for others this statement can bring about a great deal of sadness. I want to know my husband after death and I know there are others who feel the same way about their spouses.

At funerals we often hear that we will be reunited with those we love; I have said these words myself when I have preached at funerals and I believe it to be a promise. But resurrection is far more than simple reunion with those we know in this life.

Resurrection is a transformation and it transforms us and our relationships with others. It is not a perfection of what we are in the here and now, but a whole new thing because once resurrected we cannot die anymore and we become like angels, children of God and children of the resurrection. We won’t need marriage to love our spouse in the afterlife because even love will be transformed into something greater.

The question that the Sadducees asked was not a stupid question; they were just looking for the wrong answer.

We can question and hypothesize about heaven and death and resurrection all we want. What happens after death is unknown to all but those who have gone before us and God, but the answer we should seek in this life (or age as Jesus referred to it) is how much God loves us and wants us.

God desires us so greatly that there is a promise of something else, something greater and more wonderful than any of us can imagine. We have been promised resurrection because God is a God of the living, not of the dead, or of spirits, or bodiless souls, but of the living.

Whatever might happen to us, we have been promised new life, life we can’t even imagine because it is that wonderful and it is ours.

Amen.

Saints of God

All Saint's Sunday Year C

A Sermon based on Ephesians 1:11-23 and Luke 6 20-31

In the name of Jesus; amen.

This past Monday I had lunch with my mother, husband, and another pastor who happens to be my mother’s best friend. The three of us met my mom for lunch after attending a meeting together. As we read our menus we got to talking politics and complaining about the things in the world we felt were unjust.

Deep into our conversation the waitress approached and asked if we knew what we wanted. I popped my head up from behind the menu and said yes. “Ok, what would you like?” she asked and without thinking, I said, “A just world.”

From the confused look on her face I could tell that she wasn’t expecting that particular answer.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, a holy day to remember those who have gone before us into heaven. But the Feast of All Saints is also a day to remember, as Paul says, “that in Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will.”

Today we remember that we are baptized and as such we are inheritors of a great promise: that we are God’s children, redeemed, and marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

This is no small matter; in fact, it is a great thing, an awesome amazing thing. We have been given a gift: “the immeasurable greatness of God’s power.”

My brother is a geek. I say that with all love, affection, and pride. As a geek, my brother has an affinity for super heroes; one of his favorites is Spider Man. If you don’t know the story of Spider Man it goes something like this. One day a teenaged boy named Peter Parker was bit by a radioactive spider which gave him super powers that mimicked the abilities of spiders. He could crawl up walls, shoot webbing out of his wrists, and he even had a special “spider sense” that warned him of danger.

At first Peter used his abilities for his own gain until one day he had an opportunity to use his power to stop a crime and didn’t. Later that same criminal killed his beloved Uncle Ben. From that moment on Peter Parker took on a second identity: Spider Man. In everything he did he remembered something his Uncle Ben told him, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

We aren’t super heroes, but we are children of God. We have been given this awesome gift of God’s love. We have been made into saints and as such we, like Spiderman have been given great power and great responsibility.

But I wonder, do you feel powerful?

In today’s gospel Jesus gives us a new way of understanding blessing and curse. He tells his disciples that those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed are actually blessed.

It’s a reversal of fortune in the eyes of the people who were listening and perhaps in our eyes too. I do not feel powerful when I am hungry or in mourning. I feel weak and powerless at exactly those times when I have the least and yet Jesus tells us that those who undergo these sufferings are blessed.

It is a new perspective on faith and God that God would bless us when we are at our weakest.

But this is exactly how God operates. We, who are sinners, are granted sainthood; a complete and total reversal of our status as men and women in this world. There is great power in that, power that is stronger than Superman’s ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound, stronger than Spiderman’s spider sense.

We are not superheroes, but we are children of God. We have been given the power of forgiveness and commanded to “do to others as you would have them do to you.”

We have power and that power is meant to be used for good, to work for justice, to care for our neighbor in need, to rejoice when we are blessed with good things by sharing with others. To speak out for those who have no voice and to speak out about our faith, faith that tells us that God redeems us and loves us and never leaves us.

I do want a just world, but I don’t need to be a superhero to work towards justice because I am a child of God. This is the Gospel message for today; the good news that is meant to give us power and strength… we have been gifted with it. God gave it to us; we have been marked with it, and filled with it to go out into the world to love our neighbor and to work for righteousness.

Amen.