Saturday, November 20, 2010

Christ the King (c) 2010

The End of an Era

Introduction

What if God was our King? What if Jesus was the Lieutenant Governor? What does that even mean?

Just some questions to get you thinking.... today is New Year’s Eve in the world of liturgy – this is the last Sunday of the church year; and next week we begin Advent, we start over with a new beginning...

So this is our opportunity to reminisce a little, to think about what it all means, and to truly begin the New Year on the right foot.

“For the days are surely coming, says the Lord....” that is where we open our service today – wondering what tomorrow will bring, and what we would need to do to start over on the right foot.

Zechariah and the Promise (with the kids)

What would you like to be when you grow up?

Do any of you think your parents want you to be something special when you grow up?
My father wanted me to be a doctor – do you know why? Because he was a doctor....

What do you think Jesus father wanted him to be when he grew up?

Do you think Mary and Joseph expected Jesus to be a king? Do you think they knew he would be someone special?

I think that is really what all of our parents want for us, for us to grow up to be who we were meant to be, someone special who makes a difference in the world.... doesn’t matter if you are a prophet, or a king, or a doctor, or a painter.... you matter to the people who love you, and that includes God. That is why Jesus came, to remind us of just HOW MUCH we matter.

Waiting... Hoping

You know, there are those out there who think that what really matters is what God wants us to be when we grow up. Not just as individuals, but as a world... what is it that the world is supposed to be like, what is it that we were created for? What exactly will it be like when the day finally gets here that everything is perfect.

Writers have always called it “Utopia” and the images vary – instantly available food, scientific exploration, peace between the races, equality of the sexes, a purpose for everyone... that is the utopian vision of Star Trek, in case you didn’t see it right away.

Star Trek was just one of many visions of a perfect future – but make no mistake, it was a political ‘movement’ in the shape and guise of science fiction writing. The first inter-racial kiss, ever, on television... Star Trek... the first completely racially balanced cast on television... Star Trek Voyageur...

They were selling a vision of the future – and it was immensely popular... so what is your vision? What would you most like the world to be like.... is it in line with what you think the world SHOULD be like?

Enter the King

When Jesus was crucified there was a sign above his head. Rumour has it that it was the abbreviated words, which we see on a lot of stuff in church, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Or, in Latin, where there is no such thing as the letter J, You get Iesus Nazorene, Rex Iudeum. INRI...

Pilate asked Jesus during his trial, Are you the king of the Jews? And you might remember that Jesus was a bit cagey about the answer... you say I am, isn’t that all that matters?

You see, the problem was that the only possible way to get Jesus killed before sundown was to prove he was a traitor to the Roman Emperor. Someone who declared themselves King, was, by definition, a traitor.... it was this that Jesus was finally put to death for, political sedition...

Nothing religious, nothing to do with working miracles or forgiving sins... but inciting a new world order... trying to topple the Roman Government....

Kind of strange eh, if you think about it Jesus tried to change the government in the same way that Rachael and Emily try to change me. They just, be themselves, and as I watch them, I sometimes see a better way to be myself...

Jesus was all about living life differently. Make no mistake... that is dangerous.

What was the first thing that President Bush said Americans should do when the economy tanked a couple of years ago? Go Christmas shopping! Nothing was going to affect change more than the idea that people might want to save their money... it was a dangerous thought, it would change the world, and it just could not happen.

Go and spend what you have. Heck, I will send you an incentive cheque and you promise to use it towards a high def television... Just, whatever you do, don’t stop overspending... don’t stop being individualistic.... don’t stop competing....

2000 some odd years and the world keeps winning over Jesus simple message: Be nice, care for people and things, love everybody, be honest in all your transactions, be honourable, listen more than you speak, share....

That is the stuff that can topple governments... no, seriously.... Ask Karl Marx. Ask Lenin. Ask the guys down in Nicaragua who had the US invade them because they wanted to share....

~

Jesus had one sermon. Over and over again he talked about the Kingdom of God. He said, even now the kingdom is at hand. He said, the Kingdom of God is like. He sent the disciples out to preach the Kingdom. He often said, I want to tell you about the good news of the kingdom. In fact, throughout the four Gospels Jesus uses the term, “The Kingdom of God” a stunning 104 times; more than anything else he ever talks about. Almost everything he said was pointing to this “vision” of the kingdom.

So what is the kingdom?

Well – we actually know full well what Jesus was talking about. Everyone throughout the ages of Biblical History who was anywhere close to a prophet talked about it too.... a land flowing with milk and honey, the lion laying down with the lamb, no more hurting or killing on my holy mountain....

The problem is that far too many of us think that this is so idealistic that it must be talking about life after death... but it never was... it was always about what the world COULD be like.
What the world could be like if God was our King.

Or, to put it a different way – what if we put all of the things that we think of as divine, all of the qualities that we think of as good, all of the lessons that the religious prophets of every place and time have taught us; ahead of personal gain, ahead of fame and fortune, ahead of jealousy and envy....

What if.... what if we could have a revolution.... what if it started simply by making love more important than everything else?

~

Anyone know who Juan Mann is? He started a campaign a couple of years back that got him into a lot of trouble... the free hugs campaign. If you are on the internet go and look it up... but here is his story in his own words:

"I'd been living in London when my world turned upside down and I'd had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles; No one to welcome me back, no place to call home. I was a tourist in my hometown.

Standing there in the arrivals terminal, watching other passengers meeting their waiting friends and family, with open arms and smiling faces, hugging and laughing together, I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me. To be happy to see me. To smile at me. To hug me.

So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft, with the words "Free Hugs" on both sides.

And for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me. The first person who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning. How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident. How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug. I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling."


Everyone has problems and for sure mine haven't compared. But to see someone who was once frowning, smile even for a moment is worth it every time.

Shortly thereafter he was banned from the streets of Sydney. But instead of hugs, he went out and got signatures... and he got 10,000 signatures in a short matter of time. The campaign is still out there, still a powerful expression of what Jesus was all about – and still scaring a lot of people.

This is what Jesus died for..... to change the world... to make us put more value in love, to make God’s way of doing things more important... Jesus died for the Kingdom of God.

Wrapping it Up

So, I don’t know... Go out and hug somebody....

Or really spend this week thinking... think about what it is in this year that you want to change for next.... think about where you find yourself right now on the eve of God’s coming.... Think about what Christmas REALLY means; and what incarnational theology is all about... a hint, God was not just born in Jesus, God is borne in you....

But whatever you do – believe that there is a better way, There is!



Sunday, November 14, 2010

Pentecost 25 (C) 2010

The World Is About To Turn

A New Thing

"See, I am about to create a new thing!”

How many of you would believe that if, say, you told me something that was really going wrong in your life and I responded, “God says.... “

How many of us expect each and every day to be better than the one before?

I guess Remembrance Day, and Fall, and a whole bunch of things have just got me thinking.... Somewhere along the way I stopped believing that the glass was half full. Which is odd, as it is the only reason I got into ministry in the first place....

And I know that much of the time, I believe good things are just around the corner.... but not... not... enough of the time.

And because of that I don’t think I risk enough, or play enough, or enjoy what is right in front of my eyes enough... so how about it... do you agree or disagree?

Do you believe, wholeheartedly, with every fibre of your being, that God promises tomorrow to be better than today – and so it will be?

The Holy Mountain

So what is it we want?

I am going to be exploring that a little more with the kids - so for now, let’s talk about Isaiah...

Here is the thing that I find really interesting. This is ‘Third Isaiah”... perhaps a different author than we had at the beginning of the book; but certainly a different purpose in the third part of the book – this is the “after”

First Isaiah has the prophet warning the people that if they don’t smarten up and live right, something bad will happen.

Second Isaiah is the “I told you so” part of the book, written in exile while in Babylon. Actually, there s very little I told you so – there is mostly discussion about what it is like to be faithful to God, even when things are terrible... the poem, song, etc... “By the Rivers of Babylon”...

Third Isaiah – well – they have come home. Years later... and well, buildings are falling down, fields are fallow, and kids don’t remember their own history....

But see – God is about to do a new thing... we are home... and the world will be just as you always hoped... Peace, Justice, You, Health, Food, Home, and no more weeping!

Ah... but...

There is always a “but” isn’t there? Well, it is not such a terrible thing – but Isaiah points out that there is no sitting back and waiting for this to happen. God is doing it in our midst; God is doing it THROUGH us.

Perhaps this is where we always get stuck. It would be VERY, VERY nice to have someone come in and rescue us, would it not, the knight on the white charger, or the divine parent that can come in and sooth us while putting the world back together again.

And that is what some people really believe in; really hope for. Both God and the whole host of angels are going to swoop in and rescue us or at the very least, there will be pie in the sky when we die; to paraphrase a friend.

Of course, if we read our Bibles a little more closely we will see that those pesky miracle things are not only few and far between – they also take a whole lot of work on our part.

A quick example... God rescued the Israelites from Captivity in Egypt right? You remember the whole Moses and the Red Sea Miracle that cinched the deal... but consider what had to happen first: Moses agrees to speak for God. Moses returns to Egypt where he faces certain death as a killer and traitor. Then the people need to make up their minds to follow Moses. Then they need to pack everything up and leave everything behind and head out into the desert facing certain death.... then God interceded for five minutes to create a causeway.

Who is it that does most of the work?

So... that is the story that we fit into – that is the promise that is unfolding. We are jointly responsible for making the world what it should be... but there is a good question... what do we wish the world was like? I want you to think about that for a couple of minutes and then I will explore it with the kids.

God's New Creation

With the Kids

Start by drawing pictures of what would “be” in a perfect world - creating the perfect world as an idea.

Talk about how God wants to help us create this world filled with these things and more.

Repentance

We are, although some of us might be less prepared for it than others, coming to the end of another church year and the beginning of the Christmas season; Lights are up and carols blazing in the malls. People are digging out the decorations early this year too I notice.... perhaps we are just hoping to inject a little joy into a dreary fall.

From a religious point of view the Christmas season always begins in the same place – it begins with Advent... with preparing....

And Advent always begins in the same place as well. It begins with the story of John the Baptist.

And, for that matter, John the Baptist always begins at the same place – Repent!

When I went to Manitoba a couple of weeks back I went to a United Church Conference called TURN. It was a get together of all the people who are in decision making places within the social justice world of the church. It was a conference about our institutional repentance...

Which actually literally means, turning around... the questions being asked were these: What should the world be like? What is our part in creating it? How can we empower more people to join in? How can we begin once more to work towards the light....

The answer that John the Baptist gives us as we begin each year wondering what to do next, is to turn and face a new direction.... face God... and then, as Paul said to the Thessalonians, do not weary in doing what is right.

For the Days are surely coming....

But then... then we have Luke.

The world is meant to be a wonderful place – all puppy dogs and kittens and rainbows... Or as Isaiah might have put it, lions and lambs lying down together....

And God is there inspiring, pushing, even helping along the way...

It is, however, not yet.

And you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

~

London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't want the building; I want the site."

~

Or there is the classic Biblical apocalyptic vision which is not just in Luke but peppered throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation: Wars and rumours of war – rivers overflowing their banks with blood – the moon and sun being extinguished – Cats and Dogs living together – complete and utter chaos....

But here is the thing – do you know what the true definition of an artist is: “Someone who can create harmony and beauty from chaos.”

Think about it... Jazz musicians to individual voices in our choir, an artist with a mess of paints and a blank canvass, the potter with a lump of mud and some piles of minerals for colour.... Chaos, ugliness, emptiness....

See, we are reading a snippet, an exhortation, a warning perhaps... and it sounds awful... but then again... it sounds sort of like the world we live in... does it not?

And every time we get here, whether the Babylonians invade, or the stock markets crash the faithful voice of God echoes – ‘These things must happen first.... but see, I am doing a new thing...’

I watched the most amazing video this week. I shared it with all my clergy friends on Facebook which was talking about church. I will post it on all of our websites just to try and give you the opportunity to watch it this week – because you need to see it... it is... what church is...

And it ends with this line: “Church isn’t a community in the Sanctuary – but a Sanctuary in the Community.”

And there it is. That is us. That is UP TO US. We are called to turn towards God and risk being the sanctuary in the chaos – we are the artists of the new creation...

Conclusion

So what are you going to turn around in your life? What can we do as a church to turn towards what God would really have us be? I know – I am leaving this with more open questions than answers... but isn’t that the way it really is?