Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

John 18: 33-37+Reign of Christ+November 24, 2024

A happy Reign of Christ day to you all. Some of you might know this day as Christ the King Sunday. King and Queens language has very little traction in my life. It’s a bit outdated for us here in America and sort of weird. I can only think of images from the Renaissance Festival. But around about 2016 when I was complaining about this very thing with a group of preachers at a text study, one of them told me the origins. Reign of Christ was added to the church liturgical world around WW1 as a counter voice to rising fascism. Well. That feels helpful and appropriate and who doesn’t need a bit more of that right about now? 

 

I texted my oldest child, Marley, what comes to mind when you hear the word Kingdom and they immediately texted back: decree, build, beheading.

What comes to your mind?

 

Kingdoms are typically defined by power and conquering and land grabbing and battling. Take all you can. And you should fear those in power and your neighbors who are likely collaborating with them.

 

So it’s strange, then, that Jesus talks so much about a Kingdom and invites us into one. 

 

As God’s people, we are about another kind of Kingdom. This one plays by different rules and has a much different vibe. Fewer decrees, not many beheadings. Jesus invites us to about a Kingdom where we aren’t grabbing for more land and power but our call is give all we can, all of it if we need to, and to love the poor. God’s Kingdom is not about battling and conquering, it’s about feeding the hungry. It is not about collaborating with those in power so that we might also gain status and power, it is about handing out forgiveness and mercy and blessings like they are free and unlimited. Because they are. 

The world’s sort of kingdom makes it so easy to want revenge, to dehumanize one another, to trash talk, to demonize anyone who doesn’t think like you or vote like you or agree with you. This energy and direction is easy and often we can make strong cases for justifying it. But the One who calls us to come and die so that we might find life never once said, “This is going to be a breeze.” But it’s also no picnic to be filled with hate and fear. That takes a toll on our bodies and our spirits. I do not want to trapped by my own hate and fear so I’m willing to travel the harder Kingdom path with you all. 

 

Christian faith allows us to zoom in and pay attention to how the Kingdom of God looks this week. 

 

Last Sunday morning, just before worship began, all the worship leaders were lining up in the narthex, the entryway. A dozen teenagers and adults in white robes, holding the cross, the Bible, hymnals, trying to remember the correct order for the processional. And then one of our youngest worshippers arrived. Susannah, age 2, resplendent in overalls and a red winter hat that came to a point like the cutest gnome in town. She confidently walked over and filled up a bag from the children’s area, slung it over her shoulder, stopped by the head usher and asked for, “animal crackers please”, held the little cup of crackers in her other hand and then picked out seats in worship for her family. This whole time her parents were about ten feet behind her, following. All the people in robes watched, held our breath, marveled. The pastors leaned in and said, “Feels like we can go home now. That was church.”

It’s not just that she’s ridiculously cute. She is. But it’s that she knows. She knows this place is for her and you are for her and God is for her. She is a small human, fully experiencing and pointing us to the Kingdom of God and this Kingdom is glorious. And there are snacks!

 

 

On Wednesday night, our fellowship hall was filled with tables of people eating dinner. It spanned at minimum 3 generations but I bet closer to 4. Which led to the choir gathering for rehearsal which isn’t just about singing. It’s about human connection and praying for those who are hurting and laughing with one another. 

 

After dinner, we started confirmation. The 7/8 graders were with me and our lesson was Women in Scripture. I had a moment of fleeting despair because I asked them to name every female in Scripture they could think of and for a half second, I thought, “Oh no, what if they can’t name any?” But come on. These kids reigned down names: Queen Esther, Sarah, Rachel, Martha, Mary, Mary Madeline, Ruth, Eve and many more. While we were doing that, Pastor Bradley and Deacon Ashley were with the 9th graders and their mentors and Pastor Lois was with the 10th graders and the visiting youth from Mount Zion Temple. While all this was happening, younger siblings ran up and down the hallways as parents chatted and connected. 

 

Three times this week, we have come alongside people as they say goodbye to their loved ones. Two funerals and a graveside committal this week alone. This, too, is the Kingdom of God.

 

It is a Kingdom built on Love. 

 

Christian faith also allows us to zoom in and pay attention to what is happening this week. But we also have the gift of zooming out and looking at the big picture. To remember and carry with us the big wide stories of faith. 

 

On the Sunday following the election, we gathered here in this worship space three times. Twice in the morning and then again at 5PM for Evensong. Pastor Bradley found prayers written on the Sojourners site and he adapted them for our use. One of them referenced our ancestor in faith, Miriam. Confirmation students, add Miriam to the list. If you aren’t familiar with Miriam, she was Moses’s older sister and she was a powerhouse. It’s worth your time to look up and reread her story in the book of Exodus. And Miriam’s story also gives us an example of a train wreck King called Pharaoh. Pharaoh was trying to annihilate, wipe out, God’s people. He decreed that all male babies born to Hebrew women should be killed at birth. But God bless the midwives.

 

The midwives resisted this death decree by not killing them and telling Pharaoh, “Oh, those women birth so fast we can’t even get there in time.” And then Miriam’s parents resisted by keeping her baby brother Moses alive, despite Pharaoh. Miriam was surrounded by what Civil Rights leader John Lewis would consider “Good Trouble.” So Miriam grows up and becomes a leader in her own right. But there is this one particular moment that those Eventide prayers referenced that has kept me going the last couple weeks.

Here’s the prayer: Along with the midwives, we hold on to the witness of Miriam, who in fleeing Egypt had the forethought to grab her tambourine, knowing that one day joy would be necessary. 

 

Miriam and her whole community were in a bad situation. Dire, really. But her faith told her that one day, there would be joy. Dancing. Laughing. So plan for it. Pack the tambourine.

 

 

Everything in this Kingdom of God, this Kingdom of love that we are wrapped up in means we resist the forces of death every turn. We are about life, no matter the circumstances. 

 

Church, even if you are tumbling headlong into fear, take comfort here: that lesson from Revelation serves us some Gospel Gold. “God is the Alpha and Omega.” The beginning and end. It’s possible that God being Alpha is easy for you: God is the beginning, who created all of us in God’s image. That’s beautiful.

But maybe you are having some trouble getting behind God being the Omega. The end. Maybe based on what you are seeing in 2024 here in the United States makes it hard for you to trust and to remember the Omega. 

 

If God is the end, then, in the end, we are not only okay but we are led and wrapped up in love. No matter the circumstances. It means we resist the forces of death no matter the circumstances.  Even as we are dying, even in death, we know God is bringing about Love. 

 

Humans have lived through so much. In hard times and times of ease, there is a powerful God who is for you. Especially when the world feels chaotic, take comfort here. 

 

Watch for Susanna arriving for worship and leading us to remember our place here in this community. Watch for our confirmation students, opening up their bibles and lives to one another and their neighbors. Watch of the mourners, who claim love in the end. Watch for Miriam, who invites us to  pack our tambourines. 

 

God’s Kingdom is one of Love. 

Love who is 

Love who was 

and Love who is to come. 

Love who is the Alpha 

Love who is the Omega.
Love who is the beginning 

and love who is the end. 

 

Your beginning and your end. Amen.