Christ the King

from Helen

May I speak in the Name of God: father, son and Holy Spirit.Amen

Today we celebrate the end of the kingdom season as we approach advent. This Sunday is like New Year's Eve for us in the Church. Next week will begin our new Church year. I always think that it's quite interesting to think about the differences between the celebration of advent Sunday and New Year's Day, although on advent Sunday we start a new leaf as we get ready to welcome Jesus at Christmas. There I said it the C word... I am sure that you have all bought and wrapped presents by now......

Today though our New Years Eve is a celebration as we think of Christ the King. This Sunday used to be called the Sunday before Advent but actually Christ the King is a day which will be celebrated throughout the Anglican Communion and I am glad that it is. 

On this day we think of our King, the ultimate King - Christ Himself, who turned upside down all conventions of kingship by being born in poverty, by being crucified and then by rising from the dead. Forget who's the king of the castle think of the King enthroned in splendour who will judge us all. Certainly this is what the gospel reading this morning encourages us to do. 

The problem is that we are so used to the God who loves us that judgement doesn't sit comfortably. The thing is though that we have been prepared for judgement and the end of times in our gospel and epistle readings over the last few weeks. We have been looking at 1 Thessalonians which warns of the imminent arrival of Jesus and the need to be ready ! In our gospel readings we have been working through Matthew 25:31-46 which is known as the judgment chapter of Matthew. We have been encouraged to get ourselves ready to greet Jesus, not to be like the foolish bridesmaids who ran out of oil and not to be like the tenant who hid his talent in the hope that would please his master. Then in our gospel reading today we heard of the call to reach out to all those in need because in so doing we are welcoming Christ Himself.

I remember as a child the songs we sang in school. I remember enjoying Jesus hands are kind hands - although for some reason I always thought that the words included Jesus washing up the dishes!! I also remember when I needed a neighbour were you there. This song was based on the gospel reading we have heard this morning and to be honest I never really liked it, I always got a little scared that God was going to judge me and also that I needed in life to make sure that I had ticked off my list helping the poor, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the prisoner...... The bit I missed was that the gospel reading is about those things yes, but it is also about the kind of behaviour our King expects of us. 

If you turn to Jesus you turn your life around to mirror His. This means doing everything that Jesus would do, this means reaching out to those in need, those whom no one seems to care for and surrounding them in love. It isn't a checklist it is a way of life. As we imitate Jesus we become more like Him.

There is a story about the President of the Unites States Calvin Coolidge who invited some people from his home town for a meal at the White House. Understandably these people were keen to get everything right and so they copied everything that the president did. When coffee came the president tipped some coffee into his saucer, they all did this, then he added some milk and sugar they did this as well and then they watched as he took his saucer and put it on the floor for his cat !

Imitating someone else with no idea of what we are doing can be very dangerous and make us look very stupid.  Thankfully our epistle reading (Ephesians 1:15-19) this morning was great in its description of Paul praying for the Christians that they would know wisdom and revelation; not to rule the world but to see more of God. He prayed that they would know the hope to which they had been called and the riches that would come from knowing Jesus. Not riches in a worldly sense but riches that would make life better, the best it could be. By fixing our eyes on Jesus, Christ the King we can live life to the full. We can enjoy the inheritance that is ours, a big inheritance - the inheritance of salvation. This is all we need. 

To imitate someone means to become like them, it changes our whole way of being. This is what Christ the King offers - life in its fullest, not a life based on riches and palaces but based on knowing Him, knowing life and then as we try to be more like Him so we will not turn the needy away and we will see people as Jesus sees them and as He sees us. 

There is a wonderful story about a Christian speaker called Tony Campolo who was in Haiti on his way to his hotel when three girls around the ages of 15 or 16 propositioned him for $10 each. So he told the girls that he would pay $30 asking them to meet him at his hotel room in 30 mins. He then went inside the hotel and asked them to send every single Disney film that they had to his room and he also asked for four huge ice creams to be sent. The girls arrived and had the chance to forget about the misery and exploitation they suffered as they ate ice cream and watched Disney films. 

For one moment those girls got to forget poverty and selling their bodies and enjoy being children again. It was an amazing act of kindness and extravagant love.  

This is what it means to be part of the kingdom of Christ the King who gave His everything for us. We are called to give our everything for Him. When someone is in need we reach out with love, when someone asks us to help we help them. At the judgement we want to be welcomed in as followers of Christ the King knowing that His kingdom is the best and it is for ever. 

It’s not easy to follow Jesus and it isn't easy to get everything right - and I am so pleased that Jesus doesn't expect us to but it is easy to let ourselves be loved to enable God to love us and hold us close to Him. 

We worship the king who is both meekness and majesty, we worship a King who loves everyone and whose only command is that we will love one another as He has loved us. AMEN