Christ the King

I speak in the name of the one, true and living God: Creator and ruler of the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

Today we celebrate The Reign of Christ or Christ the King.

What is Christ the king of?

How is this different than other kings?

How is Christ different than King David?

King David is the chosen one, the favoured of the God of Jacob. … Both Matthew and Luke talk about Christ being the Chosen one, chosen directly by God.

King David is the anointed of the God of Jacob. … Christ is the Messiah which means the anointed.

King David is the king of all Israel and of Zion, God’s holy city. … Christ is the King of the Jews and the ruler of the kingdom of God.  Christ is the king in the new Jerusalem or Zion.

You would almost think that King David and Jesus Christ were kings in exactly the same way.  The same words are used to describe them both.  They are even in the same royal line.  Jesus is a son of the house of David, a member of David’s royal line.  Jesus is a direct descendant of David.

Can anyone think of ways in which King David and King Jesus are different?

King David had a palace. … Did Jesus? … Not on Earth anyway.

King David had at least nine wives.  Two of which he took from their husbands.  Michal was promised to David (essentially married) and then given to Pelti as wife and taken back by David.  Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, David took as his mistress and when she became pregnant he set Uriah up to be killed and took Bathsheba as his wife.  David’s wife Abigail was the widow of one of David’s enemies.  David also married Ahinoam, who may have been Saul’s wife.  Finally, David married Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, Bath-shua, .  We know very little about these wives except that they bore sons for David.  David also had concubines.  We don’t know how many.  David was busy.  Who his wives were and how he came to have them was clearly an issue.

The Bible says absolutely nothing about Jesus’ love life.  In Jesus’ time it would have been very strange for a Jewish man of his age to be single.  It was absolutely expected that a man would marry and have children to carry on his name.  Usually when something is unusual or out of the ordinary, the Bible tells us. … Since the Bible doesn’t tell us, I’ll leave it up to you to make your own decisions and to think about what differences those decisions make in how we see and understand Jesus. … It is clear that there were usually women around him.  There were often children there.  Jesus was obviously comfortable with both.  Jesus treated all whom he met and all who travelled with him as his own family.  Even those who follow him after his death are his family.

King David had many subjects.  These subjects had to obey his decrees or they would be punished.  King David had his enemies killed or killed them himself.  All of King David’s subjects lived in the boundaries of his kingdom.  When King David died, he stopped having subjects.  His kingdom passed to his heir.

King Jesus has many subjects.  These subjects are asked to obey his teachings and his example.  These subjects are asked to love him and to love one another.  These subjects are asked to love their enemies.  King Jesus died so that we no longer need to be punished.  King Jesus’ kingdom has no boundaries in either space or time.  Jesus shares his kingdom with his heirs.  All of creation shares in the kingdom of Jesus.

Okay, does anyone remember the key similarities between the kingdom of David and the kingdom of Christ?

Both are chosen by God.

Both are the anointed.

Both are king of God’s people.

Both are king of Israel and of Zion.

How are they different?

David’s kingdom is very physical.

Christ’s kingdom is spiritual.

David is very concerned with the continuation of his line (lots of wives and children).

Jesus is also very concerned with the continuation of his line but in a very different way.  Jesus’ ‘son’ is the Gospel.  Jesus sired a message of forgiveness and hope for all.

David’s kingdom was limited in time and space.

Christ’s kingdom is the Kingdom of God.  It is eternal.  It is everywhere.  It is for everyone.

Why Just Why Are We Here

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

What a gloomy bunch of readings.  I have to admit that I found them almost entirely uninspiring this week.

I sat for a while with our first reading from the first book of Samuel.  Hannah is a great character.  Maybe I could find something in her that tied in in some way to this community.  Perhaps something about being happy with what we have rather than despairing because of what we don’t have.  There was some promise there, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

Our canticle and gospel both talk about destroying things to make way for a new, better creation.  I could have talked about this.  I have talked about this at least a few times in the past.  It is a painful topic and if I felt you needed to hear it, we would be talking about it.  But I don’t think you need it.  You all understand the need for renewal and the counsels of this church are talking and praying about what needs to be done in this parish.  Preaching a sermon on it would just be unnecessary pain.

Well, that leaves our reading from Hebrews.  “Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.”

It’s always nice to hear that I’m useless.

‘But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.”  For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.’

What is this all about?  The part about a single sacrifice for sins is clear.  We talk about that all the time.  Christ gave up his life on the cross to free us from the power of sin and death.  And then he didn’t have to do it again, because that sacrifice was not just for those who followed him at the time, but for all who were yet to come.  If was for everyone, including all of us.

But that last sentence.  “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”  What does that mean?  One of the odd words, “perfected,” I’ve talked about before.  Does anyone remember what it means to be “perfect” in the Bible?  It means to be whole or complete.  So to be perfected means to be made whole.

That leaves just one more odd word: “sanctified.”  Does anyone know what sanctified means?  It means to be made holy.  It can also mean to have your sins forgiven.  So when we rewrite that sentence in everyday language, it is: “For by a single offering he has made whole for all time those whose sins are forgiven.”

And whose sins are forgiven?  Ours.  So who is made whole?  Us.

So why do we bother to come here?  Why do we say the confession and why do I pronounce the absolution?  We don’t need to.  By the grace of God we are already forgiven.  Nothing we do here can make us any more whole that what Jesus already did for us.  So why do we do it?

We do it to remember.

Think back to last week.  Do you remember what it means to remember?

We do all of this to make Jesus’ sacrifice new in our lives.  We do it to experience again the grace of God.  We do it so that the hope of the resurrection can lift our hearts and inspire us to do great things in God’s name.  Or much more likely, we do this to open ourselves to God so that God can do great things through us.

And we do all of this so that we can inspire and push each other to be the best that we can be and to follow God’s call every day of our lives.

“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

This we ask in Jesus name.  Amen.

I speak to you in the name of the one who died so that we might be free.  Amen.

What does it mean to remember?  Is it as simple as recalling something to mind?  Recalling them names of our family members and friends who once fought for their country?  Is this why we gather on Remembrance Day?

There are two main words used in the New Testament which we translate as “remember.”  The first word means to be mindful of … to keep in mind.  It is an ongoing act, not something that we do every once in a while and then forget about until next time.  The second word means to make new in our minds.  We are to take the old memory and renew it in our lives, to make it current.

These two “remembers” are what today is all about.  We are not just calling back to mind the sacrifices that were made for us, we are making those experiences new.  And unfortunately, we are adding more memories to the collection.  We do this so that we can properly give thanks to everyone who has served, who is serving, and who will serve in the military to protect our freedom and the freedom of other people throughout the world.  We do this so that we can continue to understand the full cost of that freedom and to offer our support.  We do this so that others may be inspired and moved by the dedication and calling of so many brave and courageous people through the years.

I would like to finish by reading a poem that has shown up for the last few Remembrance Days.  I think it does a great job of explaining why we gather each year at this time.

A Poem for Remembrance Day

"The inquisitive mind of a child"

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in town today.
The poppies, child, are flowers of love.
For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood, my child.
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.
For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are my fears for you my child.
For the world is forgetting again.

Letting Go

I speak to you in the name of the one true and living God; the Alpha and the Omega; our Source and our Sustainer.  Amen.

What does it mean to have visions?

What does it mean to have vision?

Is Martha or Mary the better disciple?

How are they different?

Why do we fear death?  What is it that we fear?

Why do we have such trouble letting go of things that we no longer need?

Why have we all become hoarders?

How do we know when it is time to say goodbye to something that has been important to us; to our parents; to our community?

How do we then acknowledge the tradition it represented?  How do we grieve its passing?  How do we let it go?

There have been so many losses in this community.  In my time here I have buried 29 people and watched as two other members of this parish were buried.  I have seen the death of one legion branch.  I have seen people move away.  I have prayed as the fisheries continue to struggle and the parks cut back; as people lost their jobs.  I have sat with you in this church and its counsels looking at our present struggles and our hope for the future.

How do we know when it is time to let go?  This day, the Feast of All Saints, is a day when we honour those who came before us; when we honour those who have built what we call the church and those who continue to work within and for God through his church.  We honour them when we use what they built to work for God’s purpose here in this community.

All of you have a very difficult task ahead of you.  You are going to have to look at everything you have in this parish and prayerfully ask that question.  Are we using this to honour God?   I expect that sometimes the answer might be “no.  We are just trying to preserve the memory of what it used to mean.”  If that is the answer, it does not honour those who came before and it does not honour God.

I pray that you will have the support you need from God and from the diocese to mourn their loss; to remember their traditions and their meaning to this community; and to let them go so that you can move on worshiping and serving God for generations to come.  Amen.