Nov. 22 Sermon from Lou - Christ the King and the Jesus Movement
We are part of the Jesus movement. The Episcopal Church is a branch of the Jesus movement, and St. Paul’s is one of the outposts.
Most of you know that we have a new Presiding Bishop. Michael Curry was elected to serve a nine-year term at this summer’s General Convention held in Salt Lake City. It was the first time in the modern era that the House of Bishops elected a presiding bishop on the first ballot, and the House of Deputies ratified the election almost unanimously. It was an historic event. And it marked the transition from one history-making person, Katharine Jefforts Schorri as the first woman to serve as presiding bishop, to another, Michael Curry, the first African American to serve as presiding bishop.
Michael is an incredible preacher. And if you have never had the opportunity to hear or read one of his sermons, I encourage you to do so. The sermon he preached at his inauguration as presiding bishop at the National Cathedral on November 1 is very powerful, and can be read or viewed online.
Michael proclaims that we are part of the Jesus movement. He reminds us that Jesus did not come to start a religion or to give us a long list of beliefs. Jesus came as the culmination of the movement begun by the prophets and continued through John the Baptist – a movement to bring peace, love, and justice to a broken world. Jesus came, to quote Bishop Curry, “to turn our worlds and the world upside down, which is really turning it right side up.
Jesus came to show us what God is like. Jesus came so that God would know what it is to be fully human, experiencing the joys and sorrows of humanity, and even to experience death, death on a cross, and to destroy death. Jesus came to show us what to do, more than what to believe. It’s really quite simple: Jesus tells us to love God and to love our neighbor. Jesus tells us to remember him, make him present, and remember that he will come again in the breaking of bread and in sharing the Holy Communion of his body and blood.
It’s a little ironic to say that Jesus did not come to establish a religion, in that we and the church are the body of Christ. But our religion and our church are not static. This building is not a museum. We do not come here to escape from the world. We come here to be nourished and fed and equipped to return to the world, where we move, where we are on the way – acting, modeling, bringing the love of God through Jesus Christ to a world that cries out for love, peace, and reconciliation.
Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. It’s hugely appropriate. Our Gospel fast forwards us to Good Friday and tells us much about our leader, the leader of the Jesus movement. And through the history of this day we learn much about how this day proclaims an especially timely and crucial message.
It turns out that Christ the King Sunday is a relatively recent addition to the Church calendar. It was established by Pope Pius the 11th in 1925. The world was in turmoil in the aftermath of World War I. There was a depression. Mussolini had been in power in Italy for three years. Hitler’s Nazi party was gaining popularity in Germany. In retrospect, 1925 was probably like a picnic in comparison to the tragedies of the late 30s and the first half of the 40s, but the Pope thought it necessary to remind the world of what was truly important, who was really in charge, in the midst of very troubled times.
There is no doubt that we live in very troubled times. Unspeakable acts of horror have become common place. The downing of the Russian passenger plane; the bombing in Beirut; the vicious and deadly attacks in Paris; the storming of the hotel in Mali. We almost expect to hear of another tragedy everyday. We live in difficult and dangerous times. It is good to declare that Christ is King and remind the world of what is truly important.
Christ the King. When we think of kings and queens perhaps we think of despots of old or figureheads of today. Jesus of course is neither. Jesus is the king who comes not to be served, but to serve. Jesus is the king who comes to lay down his life for his friends. Jesus is the good shepherd who leads us in the path of righteousness and through the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus is the king of truth. Jesus’ kingdom is not from this world but it is very much for this world.
In the midst of unspeakable horror, we remember that we are part of the Jesus movement. Yes, I’m afraid that our country and other nations of the world will have no choice but to use greater military force to protect the loss of innocent life. Christians, Muslims, people of other faiths and people of no faith must be protected from those who would kill them due to some misguided and perverted notion of God’s will. And we will have to use care and caution in bringing refugees from Syria into our country, but we will certainly do so as the beacon of hope and new beginnings that our nation has represented to generations of immigrants, including most of our forebears.
As people of the Jesus movement we are called to proclaim by word and example the good news of God through Jesus, our King. As people of the Jesus movement we are called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. As people of the Jesus movement we are called to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being. We are called to be generous. We are called to bring hope and love and justice and reconciliation to everyone.
As Michael Curry would say, as people of the Jesus movement we are called to help turn the nightmare of this world into the dream that God has for all of God’s creation.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Amen.
Tags: Clergy Voices