The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Today is the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the church year.
Next Sunday, we will begin a new church year with the First Sunday of Advent.
The readings and prayers for today give us a picture of the grand culmination of
all we have learned about God, Jesus, the church and ourselves during the
celebrations of the liturgy this past year.
We begin with the collect for the day. We pray that God will bring about the
union of all things in his son, Christ our Lord, and that our various divisions
may cease, making us a united people...united in Christ, with no further need
for one-upman-ship or wars or getting even or beating one another in any way. We
have already found that we have long ago committed ourselves to this goal in our
Baptism and Confirmation vows, when we promised to take Jesus as our Master and
our Lord. We promised to model our lives upon his, and to look for him in every
person we meet.
One of the things that perhaps we independent-minded Americans have trouble
remembering is that when we take someone as our master and Lord, we are actually
promising to do exactly as he tells us, not as we think we should do. Taking
Jesus as our Master and Lord means that we will put ourselves in the same
relationship to Jesus as Jesus, himself, put himself into in reference to
God...that relationship expressed in the Garden of the Passion as Not my
will, Father, but your will be done...and then going out to confront the
problems and the issues that are involved in that Will of God. This knowledge
may come easier to people from Europe and Asia, raised in variations of the
feudal system, but it's tough for us Americans to take in and make a part of our
life.
Jeremiah points out that many of the problems of the people of Israel were
due to the fact that their leaders followed their own ideas, rather than God's
ideas, for Israel. The outcome was, of course, the multiple invasions of the
land by other nations, the division of one country into Israel and Judah, and
the growth of various factions, each saying that their way was God's way, and
leading, in the end, to the kind of strife that put Jesus to death on the cross.
But, Jeremiah says, God himself will gather all the factions, sects and
political parties together, in the end time, and re-create them as one solid
nation, under the rule of a King devoted entirely to God. This King will be
Jesus Christ, we read in the Book of Revelation, and when that happens, the
whole focus of our life will be God himself.
Psalm 46 reminds us that our strength and our comfort is only to be found in
God, and that by trusting in God we come to our heart's desire, and our only
joy...being solely God's. If God is caring for us, loving us, protecting us and
helping us, what more do we need? All that love, healing, protection and help
are there for the asking. The trouble, again, is our desire to do for ourselves,
rather than to accept the gifts God wants to give us. This Psalm could almost
serve as a creed for those who trust in God!
Paul's letter to the Colossians reminds us of how God has made us able o
participate in these great and joyful mysteries. It is through our attachment to
Christ and our commitment to his ways that we have been freed from sin and made
able to join Christ in the perfect, joyful life of heaven.
Finally, we are given the picture of the crucifixion, with the penitent thief
acknowledging Jesus...on the cross...as King of the Kingdom of Heaven, and being
promised a share in that heavenly home and life. That promise is there for us,
too, if we keep our commitment to the Lord.
And then...what wonders await us! What joys will come to us! What happiness
will be ours, forever!
Amen.
