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Jesus! Jesus of Nazareth, who was
known as the Shepherd and Teacher, called Master and Friend. Some would say
he was Elijah or one of the Prophets. It was clear that He was God’s
messenger; a worker of miracles. They came to think of Him, at least those
closest, as the Messiah, the Christ. This son of Mary and Joseph was also of
a royal line, a son of David He was called and thus King, or set to music,
King of Kings.
This day, Christ the King Sunday, may be new to some of us, sandwiched
between Thanksgiving and Advent with which we are more familiar. Often we
skip over it, when it has for us, particularly when we will celebrate a
baptism, much power to inform and inspire us.
When the church calendar was established, the first great event was Easter.
It was the resurrection of Jesus Christ that taught all of His followers to
re-interpret all that they had been taught and experienced about Him. So
with Easter established, it was easy enough for those making out the
calendar to count forty days until He ascended. And then fifty days until
Pentecost. And then following Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Now
that God was present in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they established a
Sunday called Trinity Sunday. It was generations, hundreds of years, before
celebrated Christmas. One of the church fathers said, “Well, He could never
have been ministering to people like us, He could never have died and been
raised again if He had never been born… we need to celebrate His birthday.”
And so we established Christmas. And then a season building up to that we
called Advent.
And so now you get the feel of the “flow”. The church year begins the first Sunday in December. Four
Sundays of preparation, then Christmas. Next Epiphany, when the wise men
came and the Gospel was available to gentiles. And then the baptism of our
Lord, which was really the beginning of His ministry. Transfiguration, which
was when Jesus glowed with the presence of God, and appeared with Elijah and
Moses. Then we make our walk through Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and the
season of Easter. Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. And then we enter
into what, in the church, we call Ordinary Time… June, July, August. I have
a personal theory that when Jesus returns, it will be August or early
September because we have a big gap in the church calendar there and it
simply makes sense.
In the Fall, many of the holidays are appropriate to what is going on in us
spiritually. World Communion Sunday, the first Sunday in October.
Reformation Day, when we celebrate the strength of scripture in our
following as protestants. All-Saints Day when we celebrate the goodness of
those who have gone on ahead and now the last Sunday in the church calendar,
Christ the King.
Now, Jesus lived in a time when they knew all about kings. And why, then,
Christ the King in this place? Well, it does seem a culmination; all that
life of Jesus with us at first and then doing things for us and then leaving
us. Christ before us and now Christ within us leading to that day when we
acknowledge ourselves all as His subjects. You and me… not merely of the
church,
but of all the world.
In 1925 the Pope, then Pius XI, wrote an
encyclical, which is a paper focusing the attention of the Catholic
Church on the importance of this image of
Christ as King. And from that, he stressed, and I suppose the rest of
the church took on, this notion that we should celebrate the end of our year
by proclaiming Christ as King.
Considering what impact that should have on us, he wrote that Christ should
rule in all of us. In our hearts, because Christ is love and because we all
know that justice should reign in the world. That all people should have
enough and that no one person should have so much at the expense of another.
He should rule in our wills because He inspires us; He died for us and He
re-united us with God. And He should rule in our minds as well to bring us
the truth and in our bodies to control our behavior and to inspire our
fitness. Christ should reign in us and in this notion of Christ as King,
we find the power for our lives to be changed.
Once upon a time there was a sergeant in the British Army. He was a tough
guy. He went into the military right out of school. He learned to survive by
being rough. He adopted not only the manner of the military, but also the
language of the military as he experienced it. The poor man was unable o say
even a single sentence without some “blue” word in it. Blankety-blank and
blankety-blank and bleep-bleep would have been his dialogue on a regular
basis. One day this very military, tough and profane man was called to the
CO’s office and was told of all things that the king wanted to come to their
base and wanted a tour of the enlisted quarters and wanted somebody to take
him through a typical day. About an hour’s worth of time spent together and
the commanding officer said to this sergeant, “You are the man that I want
to lead him around.” With his typical language, the sergeant said, “I cannot
do that blankety-blank blankety-blank. It would never work.” The commanding
officer gave no ground: “It’s you and I want you to be ready.” So, the weeks
passed and there was general snickering around the base. Everyone was
thinking, “The CO cannot be serious that the sergeant is going to lead the
king around on a tour. Boy, the king is going to improve his vocabulary!”
And the day came and everybody waited with smiles on their faces. The two
were introduced and the king fell in beside the sergeant. And for almost
sixty minutes, the sergeant guided the king through the mess hall, the
barracks and the routine of the day. And not one profane word came out of
the sergeant’s mouth. Everyone was amazed and they congratulated the
sergeant. Time passed and it was about three weeks later when someone said,
“Sergeant, the king is gone now. You can get back to normal… I haven’t heard
you curse in several weeks.” The sergeant replied, “I don’t intend to.” “How
is that possible?” the other man asked. The sergeant said, “Well, now I get
up every day as if the king was walking beside me.”
In this notion of being present with the King, we find the power to
change those things within us that we need to change; to live on a higher
plain; to rise above what we have settled for. And to truly be His subjects
and to honor Him in the way that we behave. There is potential in this and
it comes to us, it seems to me, in two ways.
Now, consider me a name-dropper if you will, but I once received an
invitation to have tea with the Queen of England. Let me tell you about
that. I was on a pulpit exchange. The minister from Scotland had come to
Alpharetta Presbyterian Church… a wonderful place to visit in July and
August when it is 95 degrees. And I was enjoying Edinborough in the 60’s. An
invitation came to the house; and invitation to Jean, our daughter Carmine
and me. ‘The Lord Chamberlain has been commanded by the Queen to invite you
to tea on such-and-such a day at
Holyroodhouse, which is the palace there in Edinborough. Now, it was
exciting for me. But for the women, who had to go out and buy hats and
gloves, it was an occasion! We hired a taxi to take us there and he let us
off in the parking lot. Flashing our invitations, we entered through the
gate onto this expansive lawn. And there was the palace! At the time, we
were living in a house that we described as three, two and a door. You know,
three windows on the second floor and a window on either side of the door on
the first floor. Well, the queen lives in a seventeen, sixteen and a door.
There was a massive tent the size of a football field where we were fed and
two bands; one on either side of the palace grounds. One would fly a flag
when it was their turn to play and then they would lower the flag and the
other band would raise their flag and play. It was splendid. We feel into
line about twelve-deep thinking that at least we would get a glimpse of her.
One of the royal archers, dressed just like Robin Hood with green tights and
a bow in one hand said, “When the queen descends those stairs, as soon as
she is in the grass, you may swing around.” Which we did, putting Jean and
Carmine on the front row and me on the third row, having given away my place
as ministers must. Anyway, the queen was as close to me as I am to the cross
on the table here. Because Jean and Carmine were talking and someone heard
their southern accents, one of the members of the royal family came over and
talked to them because he was on his way to Alabama to represent the crown.
All of that happened because we received an invitation and opened it. In
much the same way, the King invites you and me to come, not just for tea,
but forever. An invitation comes to be His subject and it is for us simply
to accept and receive all that goes with it. And if grace is not your way;
if law is your way, then in Acts remember that passage where the people are
confronted with what they have done. Feeling their own unworthiness, they
ask what they should do and the leader replies, “Repent and be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” If you
feel unworthy of opening the invitation, then follow the command of Christ.
On this day when we celebrate a baptism, realize that this is your
invitation to be baptized also. Not today, but when the time is right, come
and talk to me or to Susan or to Carolyn or to Brent. It is that simple and
that profound. If you would be the King’s person, then
come in His name and be claimed.
In that same passage that confronts the people, Peter goes on to say, “The
promises of the King are for you and your children and for all who hear the
call.” It will soon be time for us to baptize Anders, and in the course
of that ceremony, after the parents have answered the questions and the
Congregation has responded, we will call him by certain names: Child of the
Covenant, Lamb of the Fold and today, citizen of the Kingdom of Jesus
Christ.
So it is with all of us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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