RVCC Pastor's Sermon

Sermon - November 25, 2007

“This May Knock Your Socks Off”

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Colossians 1:11-20

For us who are gathered here this morning, today is probably first and foremost the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the Sunday that the preacher should be darn glad that anyone is sitting in these pews because, after all, many are still digesting their Thursday meal or amusing themselves in airports waiting for hours for the crew to arrive, so that their flight can finally take off and bring them home.

Yet, for the church, today is a special day. It is a time for finishing up old business, for it is the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, and today is known as Christ the King Sunday.

Next Sunday we will remember Jesus once again as the Incarnation, holiness becoming human, just like us, to teach us the ways of God, to proclaim us the Good News of God’s grace, to be an example and role model to us of what it means to forgive, to reconcile, to love, to be peacemakers.

But we are not there quite yet. Today, we still have unfinished business because we can not truly rejoice in the human part of our Savior until we can also understand the divine.

And so today we remember Jesus as the one who also comes in glory, the one who is, in Paul’s words, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…the one who is before all things, and in him all things hold together…the head of the body, the church...the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” In short, today we remember Christ as the King.

Now, most of us do not know much about kings or monarchs. We have little, if any, experience with them, and so for us they are the characters of fairy tales and once upon a time in lands long ago and far away.

However, in spite of our lack of first hand experience, I think we can all agree that, unlike a democracy where we the people have a significant say in how we are governed, in a monarchy, the ruler tells the people what to do, and they obey – or pay the price for not obeying.

Now here is the religious rub, and hold onto your socks because this may come as a shock. In spite of our tendency these days to wrap our flag around the cross, the kingdom of God is not a democracy. It is a monarchy. In the Kingdom of Heaven, God is the source. God tells us how we are to live – not the other way around. There is no rationalizing, no wavering for political expediency, no cultural bias in the Kingdom of God.

And this is important for us to understand because when we made our choice to become followers of Jesus, we were sworn in as citizens of that Kingdom. And I would submit that that is serious business, not to be taken lightly, because the values of our culture and the values of God’s Kingdom do not always mesh.

I mean, what’s a good citizen to do when the culture says - shop until you drop because the one with the most toys wins, and the kingdom says not to lay up all these treasures on earth?

What’s a good citizen to do when the culture says - take care of yourself first when it comes to food and oil because there is not enough to go around, and the kingdom says to share what you have and trust that God will provide all that is necessary for your wellbeing?

What’s a good citizen to do when the culture says - fear your enemies and even destroy them if that will keep you safe, and the kingdom says to turn your other cheek, to love your enemies, and to be, above all, a peacemaker?

What’s a good citizen to do when it seems like, in William Butler Yeats’ words, “things fall apart; the center can not hold.” The world is going crazy.

Perhaps we good citizens need to look to our source, to God’s inspired word, for answers. Perhaps there are clues in Scripture. Perhaps there are clues in the simple Christology that Paul sets forth in his brief letter to the Colossians when he writes about our spiritual evolution, an evolving that began when God first created an ordered universe out of chaos and will be fulfilled through Jesus the Christ when all of that creation is brought together as one.

Paul would say that is what Christ the King Sunday is all about. It is a day when the church reminds us that – fear not - there will be a time when the center will hold, and things will no longer fall apart.

And, until that time, what are we supposed to do? I believe that we – you and I – are meant to simply continue our journey, trying our utmost to do so in trust and in great high hope.

Not easy, but we are meant to follow Paul’s advice and – this is very, very important: “We, with Paul, are meant to name Christ not only as the King of the Universe, but also as King of our lives - of our hearts.” (Richard Fairchild) Imagine – something so vast as Christ in his glory we are meant to take so personally.

Christ the King: Surely the true image of that royalty is not what the early Jews sought over 2000 years ago. It is not the battle scarred monarch, the spiller of blood. It is not the rich and famous one who served by all the world’s little folks. It is not the one proclaiming might – be it military, economic, or personal – proclaiming might makes right.

Sermon - November 25, 2007

“This May Knock Your Socks Off”

By Rev. Nancy Foran Colossians 1:11-20

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Colossians 1:11-20