The Text for this sermon can be found at [ https://soundcloud.com/tigerowl/christ-the-king-13 ]
Have
you ever wondered,
How
is it that we find ourselves reading scriptures and telling stories and
remembering with great admiration someone who was seen as a criminal and put to
death? I find it a bit intriguing that
we end the cycle of the church year remember the crucifixion and the final
hours of the Man we call Christ, Christ the King. Most of us have heard the story or at least
parts of the story, where one of the crimes committed by Jesus of Nazareth is
that he is reputed to be called the King of the Jews. Yet it was the Jews and their religious
leaders who asked the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate to Crucify him. During his
interrogation the incessant question was what kind of King are you.
Our
king is mocked and treated with great dishonor in his final hours. He is even crucified along with two other
confessed criminals. One of them is
disrespectful enough to offer the teasing statement, “Are you not the Messiah,
the predicted savior of the Jewish people, then save yourself and save us as
well. His partner in crime is not nearly
so mocking and is somewhat rebuking as he tells his other guilty partner that
perhaps it might be wiser to fear God, since the punishment that they expect is exactly the same. They too are to die on a cross. He admits that he is to receive what he
deserves, but Jesus, in his eyes has done nothing wrong.
The
second criminal has a request. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom.” For those of us who are
baptized and church attenders, we firmly believe that these are the benefits of
being members of the family of God. We
want to be remembered in all of the aspects of our lives. We want to be remembered in the fun times
like a couple of Saturdays ago when we gathered together to eat and laugh and
dance at the Chuck wagon dinner. I’m not
sure that everyone was ready to be a part of the “square dancing”. Yet there was an image that I won’t forget,
when we looked at the squares on the dance floor of Wagner Hall, the couples
were not always male and female, they were not always older folks or younger
folks, the squares were fully mixed with young and old. It was a community affair. For one of our members it was her first experience
with an older version of an inter-generational activity of good fun, reminiscent
of old time country stuff when communities really did gather.
There are times when we are the family
of God gathered together to mourn our losses.
On the first Sunday of November we remembered those from this family of
God who have died in the past year. Just
yesterday I heard a stunning lecture of how Martin Luther spoke about death
being a time for sleep, until the day of Jesus Christ, the King, should come.
There are families who have suffered
illnesses this year and we have individually and collectively held the hands of
those in the middle of their worrying.
Collectively we have served one another as the family of God. We have lived our lives in the Kingdom of
God, while fully aware that our king is not here on earth, but with God.
Our King is a great warrior, but the
battles that are waged are the ones his disciple, his foot soldiers, fulfill in
our collective role as servants. You,
the gathered people of God, are the ones who have served the Thanksgiving meals
to those with no other place to go, you have been the ones to deliver those
meals, and this year we are the ones who are preparing to serve more than twice
the number we served last year. You are
the ones who bring the necessities for kingdom living to those who have food
needs. You support those who take yarn
that are gifts that come in without asking and from them prayer shawls and lap
blankets are made to serve those who are in need of additional warmth.
You are the ones, who as a church,
supports the work of the Community Outreach Corporation as they serve young
people in the after-school program, and the summer day camp. We as a community of God gathered in Christ’s
name serve those who are new to this country with language instruction to
assist them in living in a new and in some ways a strange new country.
Our support gives a hand up to those
choosing to improve their education with courses at Harcum College. We are the ones who share our faith with the
youth in this congregation through the Children’s Church and Confirmation. You are the ones who support the staff who
keeps the ministry alive seven days per week.
That’s probably a lot more than the
criminal expected when he said “Jesus remember me when you come into your
kingdom.” In many ways the Kingdom in
which Jesus leads us is really more emblematic of the Shepherd who watches over
his flock. Our shepherd watches us,
protects us, guides us, and in many ways teaches us, what it means to be his
fellow servants serving others. We
become the assistants for the shepherd who lives with us and comforts us and
supports us in the ministries that we encounter.
We
become the servants of the King, which means we become servants of the
Community. It is not often that we think
of ourselves as disciples, but we are the ones who are going through the crowds
in this neighborhood sharing the loaves and the fishes. It may look like turkey and all the fixings,
but none the less it feeds those who are hungry for food.
We
still have another assignment from our King.
We are also called upon to feed the spirit with the word of God, that
resides deep within the souls of those who share God’s love.
I
have a wish for the coming year. It is
that we find ways to share our faith easily and gracefully. For those who feel that they might be tongue
tied, God will loose it. For those who
are bashful, God will give you confidence, for those who say they have no story
to tell of God’s grace and goodness, look again down deep inside, for there are
pockets of God’s grace that we are reluctant to share.
For
all we are asking is that you share with someone else, why you are a Child of
God. In the next week may you all be
blessed.
AMEN.
