Scriptural Basis
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 (NRSV)
Matthew 25:31-46 (NRSV)
As Professor Dumbledore said at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: "Another year gone."
Today, we mark the end of another Liturgical Year in the Church.
Next weekend begins a new Liturgical Year and the Year of the Gospel of Mark.
This Sunday is traditionally known as Christ the King. More modernly called The Reign of Christ Sunday.
The celebration of the last Sunday before Advent as Christ the King was determined by Pope Pius XI in 1925 "as a way of affirming the sovereignty of Christ in the midst of a troubled world. As we know from human history, the image of king or sovereign is a "mixed bag": for some it conveys positive attributes of the ability to bring about justice and to encourage the well-being of those under the king's authority. For others, the image of king is spoiled by dictators throughout the ages, and the patriarchal tyranny of male domination. For this image of Christ as king to be helpful, therefore, it is important for us to understand the nature of Christ's kingship." (Welcome to the Church Year: An Introduction to the Seasons of the Episcopal Church, by Vicki K. Black, page 123).
The image of "domination" is particularly painful for us in 2011. The presidential campaign of Rick Perry began with a prayer service led by a new brand of Christianists called the Dominionists. These individuals want to see American politics and all world governments to be shaped into the idea that the Christian Religion is to be dominated by ultra-conservative Christianist ideals. Abortion must be made illegal. Homosexuality must become illegal and punishable under the law. Any other religion including Judaism or Islam must be converted to Christianist thinking, or be suppressed or oppressed. Serving the poor and the disenfranchised is not even on their radars.
Reading into the Scriptures for today's feast of the Reign of Christ a little more closely, we see that Jesus is not a king or dominant figure that wishes to be known as condemning or judgmental. Jesus Christ the King as conveyed in the readings is understood as a gentle shepherd who desires justice and equality for all of God's people.
In the reading from Ezekiel, God has some words for the shepherds who have not led God's people very well. God searches out all who have been scattered and lost because of oppression to be found and led to places where they can feed on the goodness that God has prepared for them.
Today is also the Day of Remembrance for Transgender People. The transgender members of our society and the Church remain scattered, broken and often left to fend for themselves. Even among the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities, the transgender communities are often marginalized and scandalized as they struggle through medical issues, extreme violence and brutality for their gender identity/expression. Jesus Christ the King and our Shepherd seeks out transgender people and many others who are oppressed and victimized to bring healing and wholeness. Jesus calls on all who worship and believe in the Christian expression of Faith, to embrace Jesus in the transgender women and men both young and old, by recognizing God's presence in them.
The Gospel reading is probably my favorite. It's words are both relieving and challenging to me and my faith life. I understand from this awesome reading that I am among those whom Jesus challenges the Church to recognize himself in. Yet, this reading challenges me to see Jesus in people that challenge my own sense of being comfortable in my own box. God the Holy Spirit challenges me to open wide my Pandoras Box and see Jesus in every person who is different from me. Jesus reminds all of us in this parable that Christ's reign is present in all people. To fail to see another person as being the presence of Christ the King and Shepherd, is to neglect Jesus himself.
The Occupy movements that have swept the nation and the world are calling on our financial institutions to do much more than change their practices. The Gospel message of Jesus and the Occupy movements are about the need for a fundamental system change. The economic hardships by which so many people are suffering as a result of financial investments that have gone bad can no longer be overlooked as if there is no need for a transformation in our markets and political institutions. The extreme pain that people all over the world are enduring, can no longer be just a matter of the haves vs the have nots. People are losing their homes, jobs, retirement savings, health care and equal rights protections. These and many other hardships requires that everyone from the 99% and the 1% need to come together and have the conversation about what we can all do different to make the world a more equitable place for every person. The 1% can no longer just collect billion dollar profits at the expense of the 99% losing everything. The 99% can no longer site politely by and just watch everything they have worked for go down the drain, while the 1% get richer by gaining more political and financial power.
Bishop Mark S. Sisk of New York wrote in an Episcopal News Service Commentary:
Likewise for lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people, there can be no doubt that those who are attempting to keep us from equal rights feel that they are doing a faithful and noble thing. However, because LGBTQ people are among God's people whom God shepherds, it is not prudent nor a faithful matter to deprive us of the opportunity to marry the person we love, seek job security or protect LGBT youth from bullying in our schools.
States like Arizona and Alabama seriously threaten our national security when they write and pass immigration laws that are designed to racially discriminate against individuals just for seeking a new and peaceful home. When an American political institution passes such laws we also fail to welcome Jesus Christ in the stranger who has come to live in our land.
As we close this Church Year that has taken us on this long and difficult journey through Matthew's Gospel, we are invited on this feast of Christ the King to know and understand Jesus as the loving and intimate revelation of God. In Psalm 100 today we sang the words: "For the Lord is good: God's mercy is everlasting; and God's faithfulness endures from age to age." Jesus has communicated to all that God's goodness and mercy is present with all whom God has created and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. Sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, gender, race, religion, class status, wealth status, language, employment, culture, education level etc are not there for Christians to make exceptions for who can be marginalized or oppressed. When we truly understand that Jesus is present in all persons, then perhaps we will be more faithful in serving Christ in all people, rather than trying to convert God into our own image of how we think God should be in others who are not like ourselves.
In the Name of God who is + Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.
Prayers
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 (NRSV)
Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.
Matthew 25:31-46 (NRSV)
Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, `Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, `You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."Blog Reflection
As Professor Dumbledore said at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: "Another year gone."
Today, we mark the end of another Liturgical Year in the Church.
Next weekend begins a new Liturgical Year and the Year of the Gospel of Mark.
This Sunday is traditionally known as Christ the King. More modernly called The Reign of Christ Sunday.
The celebration of the last Sunday before Advent as Christ the King was determined by Pope Pius XI in 1925 "as a way of affirming the sovereignty of Christ in the midst of a troubled world. As we know from human history, the image of king or sovereign is a "mixed bag": for some it conveys positive attributes of the ability to bring about justice and to encourage the well-being of those under the king's authority. For others, the image of king is spoiled by dictators throughout the ages, and the patriarchal tyranny of male domination. For this image of Christ as king to be helpful, therefore, it is important for us to understand the nature of Christ's kingship." (Welcome to the Church Year: An Introduction to the Seasons of the Episcopal Church, by Vicki K. Black, page 123).
The image of "domination" is particularly painful for us in 2011. The presidential campaign of Rick Perry began with a prayer service led by a new brand of Christianists called the Dominionists. These individuals want to see American politics and all world governments to be shaped into the idea that the Christian Religion is to be dominated by ultra-conservative Christianist ideals. Abortion must be made illegal. Homosexuality must become illegal and punishable under the law. Any other religion including Judaism or Islam must be converted to Christianist thinking, or be suppressed or oppressed. Serving the poor and the disenfranchised is not even on their radars.
Reading into the Scriptures for today's feast of the Reign of Christ a little more closely, we see that Jesus is not a king or dominant figure that wishes to be known as condemning or judgmental. Jesus Christ the King as conveyed in the readings is understood as a gentle shepherd who desires justice and equality for all of God's people.
In the reading from Ezekiel, God has some words for the shepherds who have not led God's people very well. God searches out all who have been scattered and lost because of oppression to be found and led to places where they can feed on the goodness that God has prepared for them.
Today is also the Day of Remembrance for Transgender People. The transgender members of our society and the Church remain scattered, broken and often left to fend for themselves. Even among the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities, the transgender communities are often marginalized and scandalized as they struggle through medical issues, extreme violence and brutality for their gender identity/expression. Jesus Christ the King and our Shepherd seeks out transgender people and many others who are oppressed and victimized to bring healing and wholeness. Jesus calls on all who worship and believe in the Christian expression of Faith, to embrace Jesus in the transgender women and men both young and old, by recognizing God's presence in them.
The Gospel reading is probably my favorite. It's words are both relieving and challenging to me and my faith life. I understand from this awesome reading that I am among those whom Jesus challenges the Church to recognize himself in. Yet, this reading challenges me to see Jesus in people that challenge my own sense of being comfortable in my own box. God the Holy Spirit challenges me to open wide my Pandoras Box and see Jesus in every person who is different from me. Jesus reminds all of us in this parable that Christ's reign is present in all people. To fail to see another person as being the presence of Christ the King and Shepherd, is to neglect Jesus himself.
The Occupy movements that have swept the nation and the world are calling on our financial institutions to do much more than change their practices. The Gospel message of Jesus and the Occupy movements are about the need for a fundamental system change. The economic hardships by which so many people are suffering as a result of financial investments that have gone bad can no longer be overlooked as if there is no need for a transformation in our markets and political institutions. The extreme pain that people all over the world are enduring, can no longer be just a matter of the haves vs the have nots. People are losing their homes, jobs, retirement savings, health care and equal rights protections. These and many other hardships requires that everyone from the 99% and the 1% need to come together and have the conversation about what we can all do different to make the world a more equitable place for every person. The 1% can no longer just collect billion dollar profits at the expense of the 99% losing everything. The 99% can no longer site politely by and just watch everything they have worked for go down the drain, while the 1% get richer by gaining more political and financial power.
Bishop Mark S. Sisk of New York wrote in an Episcopal News Service Commentary:
But the fundamental issue is not that the laws of capitalism are flawed; the fundamental issue is that we are flawed in our attitude to them.The Archbishop of Canterbury also wrote an exceptional commentary about the Occupy movements. You can read that commentary here.
There can be little doubt that capitalism is a productive way to order economic life. But we need to remember, as the protestors have reminded us, that that is all that it is -- an economic system based on the entirely reasonable propositions that capital has value, and that supply and demand are the most efficient way to set prices. Capitalism is of no help at all in determining what is morally good -- that is something that must instead be determined by the community's wider values.
And there should be no question that when an economic system fails to reflect those communal values, it should be modified and governed until it does. To say, as some do, that any attempt to control or guide our economic system is neither wise nor possible is to admit that an economic system has decisive control of our lives. For a Christian, such an admission would be nothing less than to yield to idolatry. (Though I do not claim deep knowledge of other religious traditions, I suspect that this is true for them as well.) God alone is the One, and the only One, to whom we can concede such ultimate authority. For the non-theist to make the argument that the laws of economics are immutable is to concede that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. That is the same argument that those in the grip of various kinds of addiction make: "I am not in control, my addiction made me do it."
Likewise for lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people, there can be no doubt that those who are attempting to keep us from equal rights feel that they are doing a faithful and noble thing. However, because LGBTQ people are among God's people whom God shepherds, it is not prudent nor a faithful matter to deprive us of the opportunity to marry the person we love, seek job security or protect LGBT youth from bullying in our schools.
States like Arizona and Alabama seriously threaten our national security when they write and pass immigration laws that are designed to racially discriminate against individuals just for seeking a new and peaceful home. When an American political institution passes such laws we also fail to welcome Jesus Christ in the stranger who has come to live in our land.
As we close this Church Year that has taken us on this long and difficult journey through Matthew's Gospel, we are invited on this feast of Christ the King to know and understand Jesus as the loving and intimate revelation of God. In Psalm 100 today we sang the words: "For the Lord is good: God's mercy is everlasting; and God's faithfulness endures from age to age." Jesus has communicated to all that God's goodness and mercy is present with all whom God has created and redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. Sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, gender, race, religion, class status, wealth status, language, employment, culture, education level etc are not there for Christians to make exceptions for who can be marginalized or oppressed. When we truly understand that Jesus is present in all persons, then perhaps we will be more faithful in serving Christ in all people, rather than trying to convert God into our own image of how we think God should be in others who are not like ourselves.
In the Name of God who is + Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.
Prayers
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well¯beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 29, Book of Common Prayer, page 236).
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, page 101).
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, page 818).
God of justice,
Thank you for reaching through unjust leaders and systems
to remind us that justice is still a possibility in our lives.
Guide us as we follow your lead to build communities
of peace, equality and justice for all. Amen (Prayerfully, Out in Scripture).
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