Christ's Kin-dom Now

November 21, 2021 + Reign of Christ + Last Sunday of the Church Year + John 18:33-37 + Pastor Michelle Sevig

Grace and peace to you from the one who was, who is and who is to come.

I often get stuck at the beginning of a sermon. I don’t know where to start. What will grab your attention and keep you, the listener engaged for the next 5-10 minutes? I promise it won’t be more than 10! 

I have the same problem with the dreaded e news opener or letters, emails or thank you notes. The hardest part is the beginning. I was taught to write, Dear_______, then an opening sentence, but what???

• Dear friend, how are you doing? Boring!

• Dear parents of those registered for the youth gathering, blah blah blah

• Dear Auntie, Thanks for the socks. It gets the job done, but it doesn't say much.

But John, who wrote the book of Revelation (which is really a letter written to the early Christians that was read aloud to the community) begins poetically: 

Grace and peace to you, 

from the One who was, who is and who is to come. 

• Grace and peace to you, people of God, who trust Christ and live in the presence of the Holy Spirit 

• Grace and peace to you who are broken hearted and grieving

• Grace and peace to you who are anxious and living in fear

• Grace and peace to you who are filled with hope for the future.

• Grace and peace to you from Christ, who was, and is, and who is to come.

Past, present, future–Alpha and Omega–the beginning and the end…the Reign of Christ, the peace of Christ has been, is and will be with God’s people-always. 

Today is a festival day that goes by a number of different names in various traditions: the Sunday of the Fulfillment, Christ the King, the Sunday before Advent, the Reign of Christ. It is the last Sunday of the church year. A time to look back. But it’s also a time to look toward a future with hope as we’ve been doing throughout November in our liturgy, the scripture readings and even our generosity appeal. 

Past, present, future–the Reign of Christ, the peace of Christ be with you always. 

The images of our first two readings are dreams of a future where everything has come out all right. Daniel imagines the ancient one riding the heavens. This mysterious figure receives dominion, glory, and service. It is a kingdom without end.

The book of Revelation pictures Christ as the royal ruler. The alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end. The first and the last. But this king is no king in the way we normally think. Everything is turned upside down, reversed, different from the norm. His rule is one of love. He does not have subjects but is a liberator. Defeat is victory. Loss is lifted high. Vulnerability is strength. Weakness is power. 

On this Last Sunday of the Year, we are given visions of a world redeemed. It is the hope that everything will be alright. That evil will be destroyed. That death always leads to resurrection. That true strength is not what we expect it to be.

And yet, we read the newspapers, or our newsfeeds on social media, and we do not see the same vision; do we? Instead, we see a society where guns and violence are used to settle differences, we see politicians so hungry for power that corruption has consumed them, we see a justice system that doesn’t work for everyone (especially not Black and brown people), we see divisions grow deeper as COVID continues to plague our nation. Many of us are anxious, worried about the future. Some days, a future with hope seems out of reach. 

Perhaps it’s a good day to hear from theologian Fred Rogers. “I’m fairly convinced that the kingdom of God is for the broken-hearted” Mr. Rogers knew what we also know on this day: that the kin-dom of God is not only a hope for the future, but also at hand now. 

Another familiar writer/theologian, Thich Nhat Hahh wrote: “The kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now. But the question is whether you are available to the kingdom. Our practice is to make ourselves ready for the kingdom so that it can manifest in the here and the now. You don’t need to die in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, you have to be truly alive in order to do so.” 

These words have taken on new importance and new meaning to me as I craft a funeral sermon for our beloved family friend Heidi, who is dying from cancer. When she asked me earlier this summer to preach at her funeral, she requested that I not focus on heaven. She wants me to remind people that the kin-dom of God is in the here and now. It is a way of being, not a destination.

And on Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday, we are reminded that we are invited to be active participants in Christ’s kin-dom now, not go to a promised one in the future. 

UCC preacher, Jennifer L. Lord says, “We who follow Christ are, in our very bodies, the reign of Christ. There is audacity in these words, because we know we do not always manifest the reign of God. When we say or sing in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Your kin-dom come, your will be done,’ we don’t ask for it to be so, we commit to being that kin-dom with our lives.”

But before we become overwhelmed at the task before us, we remember that the reign of God is initiated by the Person of Jesus Christ. We don’t take this journey alone. We serve as supporting characters to the One who is seated in glory, but who also loves us, frees us, and offers us grace and peace, and makes us who we are created to be. 

As we labor, we can be confident that our future is filled with hope because it is informed by the past. We sing of Christ, whose love and grace remain the same. Even as we arrive at this last Sunday of the church year, this day in which endings become beginnings, we bring our thanks for yesterdays. Our thanks for this present hour. And our thanks for all that is to be.

Christ is coming soon. We await the great Day of the Lord still to come. Yet Christ is here: in community, in service, in generosity. In word, music, and silence. In water, bread, and wine. 

And so we boldly sing of Christ our King–the one who was, who is and who is to come– “You, who walk each day beside us, sit in power at God’s side. You, who preach a way that’s narrow, have a love that reaches wide. You, the everlasting instant; you, who are our death and life.” 

May this Christ reign in our lives not only on this feast day, but all our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows too.