Sermon, Reign of Christ (A)

 SERMON - REIGN OF CHRIST 2020

 

         It is hard for us to realise that today is Reign of Christ Sunday - that this is the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar. Next Sunday is ADVENT! Yowsers. This year that never ends has certainly flown by!

 

         And we have gorgeous messages from the scriptures as we conclude our liturgical year... The assurance of care and compassion in Ezekiel ... the invocation of joy in the Psalm. The invitation to participate in a land of God's justice in the Gospel. 

 

         AH! How lovely... although, when we focus only on divisions of sheeps and goats, we might miss some of the beauty of this: did you ever notice, for example, that Jesus does not definitively condemn anyone? He uses the future tense: those that will not help look after one another WILL be sent away by the King, at the time of judgement. Not that they are being punished arbitrarily, but that they are experiencing the ramifications of their own actions. It's very similar to what Blane preached on last Sunday - that effective analogy of how life as a house party can in fact lead to an unholy hangover. There are consequences for our actions - and they are usually proportional. 

 

         Yet - and this is very important to realise too: we always have the chance to do the right thing. To show our love for God and for one another. It's in the big things we do; it's in the small things we do. But we are being always - ALWAYS - invited back to the flock, to loving service within our communities. 

 

         Which brings me to the New Testament reading from today. This letter to the Ephesians. I do like me a good epistle, a letter with a nudge. And, as with all epistles, we're invited to wonder what was going on in these communities, that inspired the writer to create and send this letter... and it was obviously of such high importance that the community kept it! 

 

         So... a little bit of an overview of this letter, of which we have a gorgeous selection for today's lections. It describes - passionately - the need for people to get along. Jesus, the Christ, in his death and resurrection, has established his followers as members of his body. As such, a significant aspect of their calling and mission is to act like it - they are members, connected, united, tied - of the same body. 

 

         And that's the main theme of the first 4 chapters of this letter. "be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

         The second part focuses on some practical, down-to-earth ways to live out a holy Christ-centered lifestyle: unity amid diverse gifts, instructions on ordinary life and relationships, and acknowledging that it ain't always easy - and the need for the spiritual protection of God. Lovely. Beautiful! Easy-peesy. Right?

 

         Well, not quite. Because this is an epistle. A letter with a nudge. So the passage we're starting off with today - this gorgeous accounting of the blessings that are revealed in the Gospel - is more than just a warm fuzzy. 

 

         Let's dive a bit deeper into this prosaic prayer with the nudge in verses 17 and 18: "I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which God has called you" 

 

         Some of you may be wondering - with a prayer that sounds that good, how is that a nudge? Well, if this epistle is being written to a community inviting unity, it suggests that there is DISunity. That there is a need for a coming together of the body of Christ.

 

         As the author asks for God's wisdom and revelation to become known as the community comes to better understand that divine presence, it hints that the spiritual journey has a ways to go. 

 

         And for someone to pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened suggests that a little too much darkness is creeping in - and taking root. 

 

         To pray that a community might know the hope that God has called them to, indicates there's some hopelessness in their midst. 

 

         Oooh! Now THAT's a nudge. And an invitation for the folks to consider who they are, and HOW they are, as they interact with one another. They are being invited - with a kindness, a gentleness (remember it's a nudge, not a push!) to prayer, and to action. 

 

         And of course, if we just kinda jump back to those sheeps and goats for a moment, we hear exactly how to do that. It's not ambiguous: it's giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty... clothing the naked, tending the sick, visiting the imprisoned.  

 

         And so the Ephesians journey... to heed God's wisdom, to open the eyes of their hearts, and to live in that astonishing and never-failing hope which sustains them. And through this they discover how working towards the common good is, in fact, a reflection of their faith.

         And so: we are invited to the same journey. A journey that includes some hard - but do-able - tasks... To find ways to nourish without judgement, and fill without criticism. To welcome the stranger - even CFAs with license plates from outside the Bubble! To clothe the naked - with attire and with dignity. To care for the sick: and to wear a mask and keep distance to try and prevent sickness. To visit (socially distanced, of course) the imprisoned - those jailed by circumstance or by loneliness. 

 

         We are invited - nudged, even, to continue on our Christian journey, knowing that it's a never-ending journey, though. That's part of the joy of the spiritual journey. It's not about reaching a destination, it's about growing in faith as the road continues. We'll stumble, of course - we're human. We'll make wrong turns, and we'll make right turns. We'll journey fast, and we'll journey slowly. We'll spend parts of our path alone, and others in great company. But: the spiritual journey can be what we make of it: a time to keep our focus on God: to always move closer to Christ. To recognise that it is a privilege to be here: guarded and guided by the Divine love. So let us journey forth; today, tomorrow, and every day. Let us journey towards the kingdom: celebrating community, seeking God, delighting in the Reign of Christ, or as the Psalmist says, serving the Lord with gladness, and coming into the divine presence with a (hummed) song.

Amen.