Christ The King Sunday:
“Coming Full Circle…in Hope and Trust!”
Rev. 1: 4b-8, John 18: 33-37
November 22, 2009
I’m singing in the reign (sign with reign)
Sing…..
I'm singing in the rain
Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'
I'm happy again
I'm laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin',
Singin' in the rain
Dancin' in the rain
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
Dee-ah dee-ah dee-ah
I am not making light of the things in your life that trouble you…no covering up, shutting up, shutting out of the way things really are….or life will cave in on you at some point. But within the reality of the life you live, can you find an authentic, true way to still be able to sing?
Singing may depend on what it is that you allow to reign over you.
The blues from the clouds of your life or the blue in the sky above?
Do you stay stuck in the muck of life? Or, do you put energy where there is clarity?
God is ruler of the universe…our creator uses it all…nothing wasted, all connected.
Do you fragment yourself off into parts and then get lost in the clutter…..or do you use all the truths of your life, align them….to point yourself in a new direction.
Do you see what you’re allowing to rule in your life?
Can you see the reign of Christ? Pilate is asking you: What is truth?
Jesus is telling you that those wise enough to know of the kin-dom from which he comes, hear his voice and know truth. Each of us has a piece of the truth. Forming the bigger Truth is about joining our truth to the truth of others, seeing and choosing. Something you can’t do in isolation with only your perspective on what is happening. You know, like the argument you had yesterday. What are the truths in that argument?
You need the perspective of the person you argued with to see the reign of Christ…..for they have a piece of truth, too! Something they said to you was truth! Can you handle it?
We each have the power to build up the reign of God, or tear it down. In every thing we do and say our real faith is revealed, our understanding of whom Jesus is, who God is....is revealed. Many of us are still stuck in the notion of kingdom, of eye for an eye, of it being someone else's responsibility to change things, of thinking there is only one right way or only one truth…and it’s your way or your truth……or we think of ourselves victimized, powerlessness. Instead of claiming our power, we complain or turn on people (like the Pharisees turned on Jesus). When we act powerless, shirking our role in the way things are, we reveal we don't understand the teachings of Jesus....or maybe that's we don't want to understand them!
We each have the power to build up the reign of God, or tear it down. But before you can build up or tear down, you have to be able to see it....to see that everything we do affects the reign of God....the kin-dom....how we handle arguments, disappointments, anger and fear, stress, play, money.
Yeah, sometimes it does sorta’ feel like we asked to make lemonade out of lemons.
Buying a beautiful bouquet of long stemmed…thorns, and smelling the roses.
If you can’t begin to do this, you can’t begin….to fully, freely live.
I know you have done exactly this, see the bigger truth, in some part of your life. And at that moment you felt really alive. Not part of the progression of the living dread.
In that moment, that part of your life had moved through Lent entering Easter…maybe now in Pentecost (Spirit with you, held in community to sustain your energy) and Greening.
But is there a part, an aspect of your life that is still left out of the reign of Christ?
In the dark? In the tense place of not knowing how to move forward…not sure what truth is? Ah…that part be in Advent….and what great timing!
What is truth?
I think in our deepest, purest self each of us knows the truth. It’s just so hard to face and even harder to do anything about. But….it will set you free. God so longs for you to be free!
You see we may be so sophisticated we think we don’t want a king/queen….but we need one! Wow! Do we ever need one! We need a powerful new truth to rule our lives.
And that power is already within you. Jesus’ power is in you. And your power is in the truth revealed in you about you. God trusts you to rule your own life with dignity and grace in the light of truth….which brings freedom. If you’re not feeling free, you’re not living true. Jesus only rules through you!
And the good news is….God never gives up on any of us, any situation…in our family in our church in our world…until the truth is known and freedom is released. God outlasts what is wrong. God is the Alpha and the Omega, who is and was and will be.
The crises and the problems that beset us do not define us. The truth empowers us. This is our hope made really, real….for those who believe.
God encircles us in hope before and beyond all the times of our lives. It is hope built on trust that there is more than what seems to be….and we’ve experienced it in our own lives. We know it’s true.
Isn’t it ironic! Jesus is put to death because they were afraid he was a king. Jesus is born into the world’s hope that he would be that king!
Life happens and Christ still reigns.
It’s Christ The King Sunday. Will you let him be? Ask yourself:
What enduring hopes do I celebrate as gifts from God?
What eternal truths shape my daily life?
How am I an expression of hope into the world?
Don’t just talk the faith, walk it. Don’t just sing, dance!
You know, there is an additional verse to that popular song…singing in the rain…
It says:
Why am I smiling
And why do I sing?
Why does September
Seem sunny as spring?
Why do I get up
Each morning and start?
Happy and head up
With joy in my heart
Why is each new task
A trifle to do?
Because I am living
A life full of you.
I'm happy again!
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!
I'm dancin' and singin' in the rain...
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