Psalm 95.1-7a; Ephesians 1.15-23
It’s the end of the year, the last page of the calendar … Happy New Year!
And you’re wondering about my sanity?
Well, that’s a discussion for another day …
But it IS the end of the year … the church year, that is, the liturgical calendar … the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and the long season of Pentecost …
We’ve gone through one whole year of the liturgical calendar … it began last year, November 27, 2022 … the first Sunday of Advent … today, it’s the last Sunday of the liturgical year.
Christ the King Sunday … the capstone of the year …
Christ in the morning and Christ at night.
In all the in-between places, Christ is our light.
In this last year, we walked the dusty roads of Palestine … set our hearts upon the hope of the Prophets, longing for the peace of God, celebrating Mary’s joy, and the power of love - that’s the season Advent… and then Christmas, the Birth of Jesus … angels sing, wise men journey … to lay their gifts before the child of God, Mary’s son … that’s Epiphany … and then Lent and then Easter, and the long season of Pentecost.
Today, Christ the King.
the Alpha and the Omega,
the hope of the ages,
the peace that passes all understanding …
Christ, mild and meek …
Christ, strong and serious …
Christ blessing the children …
Christ overturning the tables …
That’s the story, morning glory.
And I’m sticking to the story.
We’re a part of that story … it’s our baptism, our calling, our purpose.
The moment of our conception, God was there.
Before our conception, before the foundation of the world, we were in the heart of God, forever and a day … we were in God’s mind, we were already a part of the work of Christ.
Call it Destiny, call it Providence, call it Love.
This is why worship is important …
Here in person, or via YouTube … being together, to hear the story - and in that story, to know who we are, what must be done, and where’s we’re going.
We’re all a little forgetful.
We are baptized but once …
But faith requires constant attention!
Faith is like a garden - always in need of care - we pull the weeds, add nutrients to the soil, water it every few days, and guard it against pests and rot.
The cares of the world press in upon us.
The sins of the flesh distract.
Enormous pressure to make money, spend money, buy things, stack it up in the cupboards, stash it away in closets, rent storage space, all for our stuff, until there’s no more room for anything else …
Nothing wrong with our material life - as long as it’s held in check by the goodness of Christ, to save us from the madness of ill-advised consumption, mindless consumption, as if happiness were just “one purchase away.”
What good does it do to gain the whole world, asks Jesus, when the price of such gain is the loss of the soul.
This is precisely the struggle of Jesus in the wilderness!
Jesus went out into the wilderness, alone - to think it through, pray about it, figure it out, ask the deep questions … not only his questions, but our questions, too.
The Tempter came to him - offered the shortcuts, the easy roads, the promise of fame and fortune.
make some bread, feed the crowds …
jump off a tall building and float to the earth.
“You can have it all,” said the Devil.
And the Devil was right! …
Jesus could have it all, all the kingdoms of the world … but at what price? the death of his soul?
History is full of these tragic stories … the great captains of industry, cartel heads, drug kingpins … politicians driven by greed, religious leaders driven by the lust for power, and the power of lust …the stuff of great novels, the tragedies of history …
Yes, we are material creatures!
We eat and drink, and even make merry now and then.
But it has to be held in check, guarded, guided, grounded … because we’re also spiritual creatures, social creatures, creatures with heart and soul … we yearn for God … we search for love, peace, wholeness, meaning … we want more than a house full of things … we want to know who we are … we want to live a life worthwhile.
The very last commandment cut into the stone tablets given to Moses, the last word from God: You shall not covet!
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.
It’s the last commandment of the Ten … God’s last word to Moses! The tenth commandment to protect the other nine.
God knows the power of material envy, I want, I need, I desire … it destroys the other nine commandments …
The man who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s home and beat her husband with a hammer … the four high school students who looted the locker room at the Rose Bowl … and white collar crime galore - market manipulation, obscene salaries, outlandish perks … and on we go: wars of revenge and conquest … Hamas & Israel, Russia & Ukraine … the bloodshed in Sudan … the loss of rain forests and wetlands, climate change, carbon overload …
From the back alleys of the poorest streets to the posh avenues of the gated communities, we see the deadly power of desire - the work of the Tempter, you can have it all, just bow down to me.
Here in this place: Christ the King … the way, the truth, and the life … it’s not easy to follow Christ, but it’s far easier than the hell of a consumer culture that robs us of life every day … a culture of desire pushing us downward - into fear and loathing … but it’s Christ who leads us upward - to faith and goodness.
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, wounded multiple times in the Civil War, upon recovery, returned to the field.
He said:
I owe the country three years service. It is a time when every man should stand by his guns. And I am not scared or hurt enough yet to be willing to face to the rear, when other men are marching to the front. . . . And I am so confident of the sincerity of my motives that I can trust my own life & the welfare of my family in the hands of Providence.
Great people … bow down to God, goodness, and grace … great people live for the sake of others, they march to the front … they are the heroes …
You are the heroes, the celebrities, the influencers … you march to the front, you do God, you love Christ.
Today, the end of the year … Christ the King Sunday … next week, Advent One!
Happy New Year.
Hallelujah and Amen.
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