Christ the King and Commitment Sunday – November 23, 2014
Texts: Ephesians 1:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace and peace are yours, from the
One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
Today is the last Sunday in our
Church Year, and the Sunday set aside as Christ the King Sunday. This
particular commemoration is a rather recent addition to our Church Year
Calendar – it was added in 1925, so less than 100 years ago. The goal of taking
one Sunday each year to focus on Christ as king was to remind the Christian faithful
that it is Christ who is our head, our sovereign, our king.
The problem, for me, is that kingly
language doesn’t really resonate with me. I don’t have a king – I never have –
and the kings (or queens) who are around today are not particularly powerful.
Even if they are influential, most monarchs today are figureheads – and a mere
figurehead is not how we should be thinking of Christ.
So, if Christ as king isn’t a
helpful image for us in 21st Century America, what image might we
use?
I look to the Ephesians lesson
today for one image: “[God] has made [Christ] the head over all things for the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all…” This is an image I can understand – the
image of a body, made up of lots of parts, with one head.
I am reminded of one of my favorite
episodes of “The West Wing.”[1] In
this episode, a large group of Chinese Christians stows away aboard a container
ship bound for the U.S. When they are discovered, they ask for religious asylum
here because – as Christians - they are horribly persecuted in China.
Throughout the episode, the White House staffers try to determine if the
refugees are actually Christians, or if they are faking it in order to gain
entry into America.
Finally, President Bartlet – a
faithful Catholic man, himself - sits with one of the refugees to have a
discussion with him. Bartlet asks him about how he came to faith, and how his
church practices its faith. The man answers these questions, talking about the
house church of which he is a member. Bartlet then asks, “Who’s the head of
your church?” Then man answers that the head of their parish is a man who has been
beaten and imprisoned many times because of his Christian faith. And then he
says, “The head of our church is Jesus Christ.”
It’s a fictional story, and yet it
rings with a loud truth. The Christian refugee in this story knows that Jesus Christ is the head of
the church, and that the body relies on the head for its very life.
Who is the head of our church? If
you say, “Pastor Kathi,” you’re wrong. I’m called to be pastor here at Our
Redeemer, and yes, that means I lead and I preach and I teach, and I do all
kinds of other things. But I am not the head of this congregation – the head of
our church is Jesus Christ. We are his body – made up of many parts (as Paul
writes in 1 Corinthians), but all connected – to one another, and to God.
I’ve learned more and more about
how my own body works – and doesn’t work – since being diagnosed with diabetes
last year. I’ve learned how the drops and rises in my blood sugar affect my
heart rate and my vision. I’ve learned that exercise keeps my sugar more balanced.
I’ve learned that consistent eating – rather than bingeing – is necessary.
It has taken time – and I’m still
learning! – but I’ve learned more and more how to keep balance as best as I can
so that my vision doesn’t get blurry, my heart doesn’t race, and my hands don’t
shake. I’ve committed myself again and again to the task of caring for myself,
so that I can fully live the life God has given to me: as a wife, as a pastor,
as a friend, and on and on.
As we commit to take care of
ourselves, so we also commit to take care of everything that God has given to
us. One of our offering prayers says it this way: “Blessed are you, O God,
maker of all things. Through your goodness, you have blessed us with these
gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have
gathered, in feeding the world with your love…”[2]
When we offer our financial
commitment and participation commitment to the life and ministry of this
congregation, we are certainly committing to the continuing care of our
facility and our property, and committing to ministry to the members and
friends of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. But, through these commitments, we are
also saying to God, “Use us, O God – use us to feed the world with your love.
Use us, O God, so that in your name, we may feed the hungry, give water to the
thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit
the prisoner.”
God can use us to do these things –
and so much more. My prayer for us is that we will continually remain open to
the ways God might use us – both in our service within this congregation, and outside
these walls.
“I do not cease to give thanks for
you as I remember you in my prayers.”[3] I
am thankful for your love, I am thankful for your spirit, I am thankful for
your commitment.
Amen.
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