Colossians 1:11-20
The signs are everywhere. If you walk into any retail store these days, you will see them emblazoned in all shades of red and green. Home Depot and Lowe’s have rows of artificial trees adorned with angels and snowflakes. Foot tall (or taller) Santa figures nod their heads and wave benevolently when their cords are plugged in.
In short, the Christmas season is upon us. And for yet another year, we are about to short-circuit Thanksgiving because we are barreling down a course aimed directly at December 25th. Observe, if you will, the seasonal aisle at Shaw’s or Hannaford – or any area party store. Know that the ghoulish masks, wigs, and costumes of Halloween were still in their 60% off bins even as the candy canes and stocking stuffers took their place on the shelves.
Each year, all this pre-Christmas rigmarole makes me ever mindful of the fact that Thanksgiving seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to American holidays. And I wonder if, in our heart of hearts, we are not a bit embarrassed by Thanksgiving.
You see, I think the holiday deals with a part of us that we are a bit uncomfortable talking about. I mean, at Christmas, we can give someone a gift that says, “I love you.”
We do not have to say it ourselves. As the merchants tell us, we can say it with candy – or flowers – or a diamond.
But Thanksgiving is different. To really celebrate Thanksgiving, we have to look someone in the eye and say, “Your laughter everyday makes my heart sing. I am thankful for you.” “You helped me through a rough year. I could not have done it without you. I am thankful for you.”
Overtly expressing gratitude is hard for Americans, and so some of us watch football instead and overindulge when it comes to the turkey and pumpkin pie – neither of which is bad or wrong, but I wonder if those things touch at the heart of Thanksgiving – most particularly when Thanksgiving Sunday falls on a special day, as it so often does, on the church calendar.
Coincident with Thanksgiving Sunday this year – and most years - is a feast day that Pope Pius XI established in 1925 that we call Christ the King or Reign of Christ. It is the final Sunday of the church year before we begin anew in the liturgical season of Advent.
Next Sunday we will begin to remember Jesus once again as the Incarnation, as God’s dream for the world in human form. We will remember the baby born in a ramshackle stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem, the one who will grow up to teach us the ways of God, to proclaim to us the Good News of God’s grace, to be an example and role model for us by showing us what it really means to forgive, to reconcile, to love, to be peacemakers.
But we are not there quite yet – and that is what Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday is all about. As Christine Sine wrote in her blog, Godspace, Christ the King Sunday is “a day to celebrate and remember Christ’s kingship over all creation, as well as to remind us that all humankind must submit to Christ’s rule.” Perhaps a less intimidating way to put it is that we are called to accept Christ’s invitation to the Kingdom.
She goes on to say - “As you can imagine, this celebration, especially in recent years, has been a somewhat controversial day among those Christians who consider the language of kingship outdated or oppressive. For many, the images of kings and kingdoms conjure up thoughts of tyrants. But the kingship of Jesus takes on a very different form than does the kingship of earthly rulers… Jesus comes to us not as a great conquering military leader who oppresses and abuses the conquered. Rather, he comes as a servant king, the Prince of Peace, the One whose reign proclaims peace, justice, liberation, and above all, service. Jesus turned the whole concept of lordship and kingship on its head.” And surely that deserves our gratitude. Thank God that the Kingdom draws near!
Such a melding of Thanksgiving and Christ the King Sundays! Might it serve to remind us that we cannot truly rejoice in the human part of our Savior until we can also understand – and be thankful for - the divine? And so today we remember Jesus as the one who comes to us not only as the itinerant preacher, the story-teller, the wide-eyed lover of life but also as the one who comes in glory, the one who is, in the Apostle Paul’s words that we just read, “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 (our inheritance – remember those words because they are important), the...the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Wow! In short, today we remember Christ as the King. Now, most of us in the United States do not know much about kings or monarchs. They seem foreign and out-of-place in our individualistic and traditionally democratic society – no King Charles or Queen Elizabeth for us, better the characters of fairy tales and once upon a time in lands long ago and far away.
And yet (and here is the religious rub), in spite of a disturbing tendency these days to wrap Old Glory around the cross, the kingdom of God is not a democracy. It is a monarchy. In the Kingdom of Heaven, God is the source, and the Gospel message of love proclaimed by Jesus is that to which we pledge our allegiance. You see, when we made our choice – by baptism or confirmation or simply by becoming part of this faith community – when we made our choice to become followers of Jesus, we were sworn in as citizens of the Kingdom. A serious business that, not to be taken lightly, especially when the values of our culture and the values of God’s Kingdom do not always mesh – and we are often uncomfortably pulled in opposing directions. I mean, what’s a good citizen of the Kingdom to do when the culture says to shop until you drop because the one with the most toys wins, and the Christ the King says not to lay up treasures on earth?
What’s a good citizen of the Kingdom to do when the culture says to take care of yourself first when it comes to food and energy because there may not be enough to go around, and Christ the King says to share what you have and trust that God will provide all that is necessary for your wellbeing? What’s a good citizen of the Kingdom to do when the culture says to fear your enemies and even destroy them if that will keep you safe, and Christ the King says to turn your other cheek, to love your enemies, and to be, above all, a peacemaker? What’s a good citizen of the Kingdom to do when it seems like, in William Butler Yeats’ words, “things fall apart; the center cannot hold,” in short, when the world is going crazy? What’s a good citizen of the Kingdom to do? I think that the Apostle Paul has something to say about all this in the verses we read in his letter to the Colossians –
even if at first glance they seem a bit out there, airy fairy, convoluted, and difficult to understand.
As theology professor Mariam Kamell wrote, “I fear often that we read Paul’s “inheritance” language and think, “yeah, yeah, heaven, future, spiritual, other, but I have to live now,” when Paul clearly uses it for definite encouragement for the here and now. This change of identity and promise of an inheritance was meant as very real encouragement for the here and now, and I think we lose something of our enthusiasm and confidence when we over-spiritualize it or leave it solely as something for the future that doesn’t affect us now. Paul meant it to embolden and encourage his hearers,” not leave them scratching their heads, confused by his words, figuring he must be referring to something down the road, years or decades away.
Kamell goes on to say, “By inviting us into his (Christ’s) kingdom, we are partners and co-inheritors of all things made right, and so we should work for justice and the righting of wrongs; we should work for peace and reconciliation, but we do these things because we know that all of this will be done in Christ.”
That is what Christ the King/Reign of Christ 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 because someone greater than us is in charge, showing us the way. And surely that deserves our gratitude. Thank God that the Kingdom draws near! But there is more! As theologian Richard Fairchild wrote, “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.” But how? How do we live with that unfamiliar image of royalty? How do we live as if Christ the King is alive and well in our hearts? The story is told of a Guru meditating in his mountain cave. When he opened his eyes he discovered an unexpected visitor sitting before him - the abbot of a well-known monastery. "What do you seek?" asked the Guru. And the abbot recounted his tale of woe. At one time his monastery had been filled with many brothers doing God’s work. But hard times had come. People no longer flocked there to nourish their spirits, the church was almost silent, and there was only a handful of monks who went about their duties with heavy hearts. "Is it because of a sin that the monastery has been reduced to this state?" asked the abbot. "Yes", replied the Guru, "because of a sin of ignorance." "And what might that sin be?" The Guru replied with a question of his own. "Do you not know that one of you is the Messiah in disguise, and you are ignorant of this?" Then he closed his eyes and returned to his meditation. Throughout the long journey back to the monastery the abbot's heart rejoiced that the Messiah himself had returned not only to earth but to the monastery. How was it that he had failed to recognize him? And who could it be? Brother Cook? Brother Sacristan? Brother Prior? No, not any of them, for they all had too many defects. But then, the Guru had said the Messiah was disguised. Could those defects be part of his disguise? Come to think of it, everyone in the monastery had defects, but one of them had to be Messiah.And so, on his return, the abbot assembled all the monks and told them the excellent news. They looked at one another in disbelief. The Messiah? Here? Incredible. But, they realized with heavy hearts, he is disguised. But they looked around them anyway, wondering….So, maybe. What if it was him? Or him over there? Or...
One thing was certain. If the Messiah was in disguise, it was unlikely that any of them would recognize him. So they began treating everyone with special respect and consideration. "You never know", they said to themselves, "maybe he is the one."The result, of course, was that the monastery became vibrant and vital again, and the church echoed with the holy and joyful chant of monks who were aglow with the spirit of love.Imagine the world some day when all of us will look at everyone and say, as Christian author Thomas Troeger wrote: "Why, I'd know that face anywhere. It is the very image of the God who made us all." It is Christ the King – in disguise as one of us. And surely that deserves our gratitude. Thank God that the Kingdom draws near!
And so, as you gather around your Thanksgiving tables this week, be thankful for turkey and mashed potatoes, be thankful for the folks you’re sharing that meal with. Even be thankful for football – if you must!
But be most thankful that there is a Kingdom of God with Christ as its head, its king. Be thankful that we have chosen to be citizens of that kingdom through the church, through THIS church. Be thankful that no matter how crazy the world gets, things won’t fall apart. Through Christ the King, the center will hold – and we will help to make it so. Thank God that the Kingdom draws near! Thanks be to God!
