November 20, 2011
Christ the King Sunday
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46
Today is the last Sunday of the season after Pentecost. It’s called either “Christ the King Sunday” or its more PC version “Reign of Christ Sunday.” Advent starts next Sunday, and with it the beginning of a new Church year. So maybe we can think of our celebration brunch later this morning as a sort of New Year’s Eve party for the parish.
I always feel surprised and a bit overwhelmed on December 31 as I think about New Years’ resolutions, so I think it is very kind of the Church to give us an entire week to get ready for the beginning of the new liturgical year. I sometimes get ready for a new year in three parts – past, present and future. I look back at where I was when the year began and think about all that has happened -- what has gone well or maybe not so well. And I think about who I am now and what is important to me. And then I think about what I would like to add or change in the coming year – who I would like to become. That three part format seems to be well-suited for us as we stand on the eve of Advent and the new church year as well.
I don’t know how many of you read the Virginia Episcopalian magazine that comes from the Diocese. This month there were short articles by both Bishop Johnston and Canon Susan Goff that both spoke about Advent using the concepts of past, present and future. Susan wrote about Advent as being a time for us to “wait in three tenses” (past tense, present tense and future tense). And Bishop Johnston wrote that during Advent we prepare to meet Christ in three ways – Christ who came and dwelt among us as the Word made flesh, Christ who comes to us daily in our lives of discipleship, and Christ who will come again in glory.
That past, present, and future can all be so beautifully wrapped together is something of a mystery to me. Which is perfect, because my favorite definition of Advent is from Godly Play, where we talk about Advent as “the time to get ready to enter the mystery of Christmas.”
This definition actually led to a brief moment of theological panic when I read Bishop Johnston’s article, because in it he warns that Advent is about much more than “getting ready for Christmas.” Egads! Have we been leading our young people astray?
But after my initial moment of worry, I realized that “getting ready to enter the mystery” of Christmas is very different than just “getting ready for Christmas.” The last thing we need is more time to get ready for Christmas. We as a society spend way too long getting ramped up for that. When my family was in Disneyworld two weeks ago, they’d already decorated the place for Christmas and began shutting down the parks early so that they could charge a different group of people to enter in the evenings for the magic of Mickey’s Special Christmas Party. Shortly after our return, my kids unfurled a giant roll of white banner paper and began writing their Christmas lists. And I haven’t ventured inside a Mall recently, but my guess is that they’ve already gone there too. There’s a lot of getting ready, but my guess is there’s not a lot of mystery-entering going on. That takes stopping and breathing and focusing to do.
This morning, and this coming week, is a little time to stop and smell the mystery. A time to think about how we want to spend the upcoming season of Advent. How we might go about opening ourselves to the mystery that we’ll wait for in three tenses.
Our readings this morning give us a lot to chew on, with plenty of mystery and past, present, and future all on display that might help as we get ready to get ready to enter the mystery of Christmas as Advent begins next Sunday.
The Past. In our readings this morning we get prophecies and proclamations about Christ who is the King over God’s people. They’ve started changing the name of this Sunday from Christ the King to the Reign of Christ largely because of the many negative connotations that go with the word “king” for so many of us. And yet in a way I wish they wouldn’t change it because that word makes so abundantly clear what a different sort of kingship’s Jesus embodies. He showed his power in humility, his chosen-ness in welcoming the unloved and unlovable, his strength in the way he gave himself to others. Maybe this Advent can be a time for us to contemplate what it means to have a God that shed everything to come among us in such a strange and simple way, modeling what true love and real power really look like.
The Present. Our Gospel reading opens our eyes to Jesus present smack dab in the messiness of human life, even (and especially) including the hungry the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. We encounter Jesus, and have an opportunity to minister to Jesus, in the people around us. Maybe this Advent can be a time for us to purposefully slow down and learn to live and love more fully.
The Future. Ezekiel’s vision of what might be is one of the most beautiful in the Bible. God promises to search for and find the sheep that have strayed or been scattered, to bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. And then God will set up a shepherd for the people who will guide them and feed them with good pasture. Jesus is this shepherd, and the sheepfold is gathered only in part, healed only in part. This vision has begun but it is so far from complete. Maybe this Advent we can think about what role we’ll play in bringing about this holy sheepfold. How might we help search for, heal and strengthen our fellow sheep.
As we say in Godly Play when we talk about the Church year, for every beginning there is an end, and for every end there is a beginning. We get these images of Christ the King just before we begin again with the Christ child, God Immanuel. And so the circle continues.
We have another week to get ready to get ready to enter the mystery of Christmas. And Bishop Johnston is right. The time ahead of us isn’t just for waiting or getting ready. It’s for rethinking, reimagining, and reengaging in all the many places where we might encounter that mystery.
So here's to a blessed New Year’s Eve week!
Christ the King Sunday
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46
Today is the last Sunday of the season after Pentecost. It’s called either “Christ the King Sunday” or its more PC version “Reign of Christ Sunday.” Advent starts next Sunday, and with it the beginning of a new Church year. So maybe we can think of our celebration brunch later this morning as a sort of New Year’s Eve party for the parish.
I always feel surprised and a bit overwhelmed on December 31 as I think about New Years’ resolutions, so I think it is very kind of the Church to give us an entire week to get ready for the beginning of the new liturgical year. I sometimes get ready for a new year in three parts – past, present and future. I look back at where I was when the year began and think about all that has happened -- what has gone well or maybe not so well. And I think about who I am now and what is important to me. And then I think about what I would like to add or change in the coming year – who I would like to become. That three part format seems to be well-suited for us as we stand on the eve of Advent and the new church year as well.
I don’t know how many of you read the Virginia Episcopalian magazine that comes from the Diocese. This month there were short articles by both Bishop Johnston and Canon Susan Goff that both spoke about Advent using the concepts of past, present and future. Susan wrote about Advent as being a time for us to “wait in three tenses” (past tense, present tense and future tense). And Bishop Johnston wrote that during Advent we prepare to meet Christ in three ways – Christ who came and dwelt among us as the Word made flesh, Christ who comes to us daily in our lives of discipleship, and Christ who will come again in glory.
That past, present, and future can all be so beautifully wrapped together is something of a mystery to me. Which is perfect, because my favorite definition of Advent is from Godly Play, where we talk about Advent as “the time to get ready to enter the mystery of Christmas.”
This definition actually led to a brief moment of theological panic when I read Bishop Johnston’s article, because in it he warns that Advent is about much more than “getting ready for Christmas.” Egads! Have we been leading our young people astray?
But after my initial moment of worry, I realized that “getting ready to enter the mystery” of Christmas is very different than just “getting ready for Christmas.” The last thing we need is more time to get ready for Christmas. We as a society spend way too long getting ramped up for that. When my family was in Disneyworld two weeks ago, they’d already decorated the place for Christmas and began shutting down the parks early so that they could charge a different group of people to enter in the evenings for the magic of Mickey’s Special Christmas Party. Shortly after our return, my kids unfurled a giant roll of white banner paper and began writing their Christmas lists. And I haven’t ventured inside a Mall recently, but my guess is that they’ve already gone there too. There’s a lot of getting ready, but my guess is there’s not a lot of mystery-entering going on. That takes stopping and breathing and focusing to do.
This morning, and this coming week, is a little time to stop and smell the mystery. A time to think about how we want to spend the upcoming season of Advent. How we might go about opening ourselves to the mystery that we’ll wait for in three tenses.
Our readings this morning give us a lot to chew on, with plenty of mystery and past, present, and future all on display that might help as we get ready to get ready to enter the mystery of Christmas as Advent begins next Sunday.
The Past. In our readings this morning we get prophecies and proclamations about Christ who is the King over God’s people. They’ve started changing the name of this Sunday from Christ the King to the Reign of Christ largely because of the many negative connotations that go with the word “king” for so many of us. And yet in a way I wish they wouldn’t change it because that word makes so abundantly clear what a different sort of kingship’s Jesus embodies. He showed his power in humility, his chosen-ness in welcoming the unloved and unlovable, his strength in the way he gave himself to others. Maybe this Advent can be a time for us to contemplate what it means to have a God that shed everything to come among us in such a strange and simple way, modeling what true love and real power really look like.
The Present. Our Gospel reading opens our eyes to Jesus present smack dab in the messiness of human life, even (and especially) including the hungry the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. We encounter Jesus, and have an opportunity to minister to Jesus, in the people around us. Maybe this Advent can be a time for us to purposefully slow down and learn to live and love more fully.
The Future. Ezekiel’s vision of what might be is one of the most beautiful in the Bible. God promises to search for and find the sheep that have strayed or been scattered, to bind up the injured and strengthen the weak. And then God will set up a shepherd for the people who will guide them and feed them with good pasture. Jesus is this shepherd, and the sheepfold is gathered only in part, healed only in part. This vision has begun but it is so far from complete. Maybe this Advent we can think about what role we’ll play in bringing about this holy sheepfold. How might we help search for, heal and strengthen our fellow sheep.
As we say in Godly Play when we talk about the Church year, for every beginning there is an end, and for every end there is a beginning. We get these images of Christ the King just before we begin again with the Christ child, God Immanuel. And so the circle continues.
We have another week to get ready to get ready to enter the mystery of Christmas. And Bishop Johnston is right. The time ahead of us isn’t just for waiting or getting ready. It’s for rethinking, reimagining, and reengaging in all the many places where we might encounter that mystery.
So here's to a blessed New Year’s Eve week!
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