Reflections on the Reign of Christ, 2018

11/24

With Father Clyde and Ecclesia in Marcus Garvey Park

After two days of freezing cold and another drenched in rain, it's a beautiful day again as I head to Marcus Garvey Park to lead worship with the gathered Ecclesia congregation. Precious and Marcos go out into the park looking for others to invite to break bread with us, liturgically and in a real meal. Father Clyde uses the asperges to bless the ground as holy

Holy ground

and the service begins. Here is my reflection on Christ the King Sunday...

So it's the end of Thanksgiving weekend...a holiday that seems to bring out something good in people. As usual, churches I know like my neighbor First Corinthian Baptist, Broadway Presbyterian, Trinity Lutheran...all putting on fine meals. On Tuesday I saw a truck form the New York Giants delivering turkeys to 116th street in Harlem.

the Giants deliver food

On my way to my sister's I saw a sign advertising Sweet Mama's  soul food restaurant on 145th offering a free Thanksgiving buffet from noon until 3. And my musician friend Paul, like he does every year, took his accordion to play for the folks waiting in line at Goddard Riverside for their dinner. Something about the day! And some of that remains with us even today.

In the church year, today is Christ the King Sunday, or Reign of Christ Sunday as we hear now these days. It marks the end of the year, the crown of the year, you might say. And it's a door we walk through to get to Advent. It's the one of the few church holidays I know that is named for a theological  idea not an event.  

And we are introduced to the day today through the story of Jesus' encounter with Pontius Pilate who interrogates Jesus about kingship. In the end, Jesus claims his kingship but not in a way Pilate could understand. Jesus maintains his is not a geo-political kingship. Not

 about territory. (At the  end of the day, he is crucified as a political revolutionary...)

Jesus has a strange claim. His kingship is about truth. "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." he says. But what is truth? (Well, that's another conversation with Pilate I'm not getting into today. )I don't want to get deep and philosophical. I'm looking for the heart of the matter. And for that, I recall that in another place on this scripture Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life..and for me, that's pretty much it. If we walk in Jesus' footsteps, if we follow his path, we will walk in truth and we will come  to know what is true. As we walk with him day by day, it will become clear. 

What this kingship is about is authority, not geography.  Who has the ultimate authority in your life?  That is the question. And it has profound implications. In a conversation, I used the expression in this day of Trump....and my friend said, NO, it is not the day of Trump, it is the day of Jesus. It is always the time of Christ. Trump may be the President, He may be the elected leader of the US. But he does not control our time. Or our hearts. Or minds.

It is simple to say, not so easy to do. We don't want Jesus to rule our country, we want him to rule our hearts. And we declare that all creation is under his dominion.

It's a cliche, I know, but we always need to ask ourselves, what would Jesus do?  As we live in his kingdom, we begin to receive the wisdom and courage we need to begin to change both ourselves and the world around us. 

Amen..

Following the sermon, we share the Eucharist,  and then a lunch, prepared by our friends at Riverside Church. One by one the congregants slip away, out from the park, back to wherever we live our lives.  

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John

Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (Jn 18:33-37)