Let us pray: May the truth of God’s loving grace be made known and may it enter our hearts and minds today. Amen.
Have you ever heard the song, “Our God Reigns”? It’s goes something like this:
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him (or her)
Who brings good news, good news
Announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness.
Our God reigns; our God reigns!
Our god reigns, the reign of God, the kingdom of God, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, what are these things? what do they mean? This last Sunday after Pentecost is also known as “Christ the King Sunday.” As I understand it’s history, this celebration was to emphasize that Jesus was to be the only king, or ruler of our lives, firmly established over, above and beyond all earthly power, especially in light of past kings and rulers who behaved in ways that were the polar opposite of Jesus’ life and ministry. So, does God reign in our lives? Well, God is, after all, God. But… I would say that God is in charge of our lives, to the extent that we allow. You see, God is not forceful, not a tyrant, but rather God waits patiently and persistently to be asked to have control of our lives. God does not “Lord it over us”, that’s not how God operates. While God can be described as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” I’m not sure how helpful this is to our understanding of God, especially in this day and age. Yes, God is definitely all-powerful, omnipotent, having created all that is and continuing to create all that will be. Yet, God in infinite wisdom created us humans with free-will, the power to choose to love and follow.
And it’s only then, only when we realize our need to cede power, to give up our control and surrender our will to God’s, that we invite God to take charge. To surrender is one of the hardest things to do. Author and activist Holly Whitaker offers: “Surrender is the strongest, most subversive thing you can do in this world. It takes strength to admit you are weak, bravery to show you are vulnerable, courage to ask for help. It’s also not a one-time gig; you don’t just do it once and move on. It’s a way of existing, a balancing act. For me, it looks like this: I pick up the baton and I run as far as I can, and I hand it over when I’m out of breath. Or actually maybe it’s like: I’m running with the baton, but the Universe is holding on to the other half of it, and we have an agreement that I’ll figure out the parts I can and hand over the parts I can’t.”
(Holly Whitaker, Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol (Dial Press: 2021), 158–160.
It’s certainly NOT looked upon favorably by society. To admit failure, “I can’t do this on my own!” To ask someone else for help, is too hard for many people to do. And yet…when we offer our power, our lives to God, admitting and reaching for help from others, it is then that we can be transformed, set free to live into who we truly are. We are reminded in our collect for today that God wills to restore us, to restore ALL THINGS through Jesus. God’s will is restoration. Let that sink in for a moment or two. God’s will is restoration.
Where do you need restoration in your life?
Where do we need restoration in our society and in our world today?
We are very clearly divided, held captive by polarization and demonization by all sides. How will? How can this distance between us be bridged? When might we return to caring for each other, to listening, agreeing to disagree, and returning each person to the dignity they are due as people created in the loving image and likeness of God? As our collect tells us, it is only under the “gracious rule of God” that the peoples of earth divided and enslaved by sin may be freed and brought together again. Under God’s way of governing our lives we are offered love, forgiveness, and care. Under the sustaining watch of God we are intimately known and valued, freed from our feelings of unworthiness, inadequacy or insufficiency. This is the truth that Jesus speaks about today in our gospel lesson. And this is the truth that Jesus is. There are things in this world that are true, like the laws of physics, and there are truths that help us understand how our world works. If you get between a mama bear and her cub, she WILL attack you. If you crash into a tree when you’re on your phone you WILL receive a ticket and your insurance WILL go up. This is intellectual truth, common sense truth, the kind of truth that we use to help make sense of our world. And then there is THE truth, capital T-R-U-T-H. This truth is revelatory. It changes everything about how we act and behave, and it informs who we are, shaping our identity. When Pilate questions Jesus he explains that his kingdom is not from this world. Jesus is a king, for want of a better word, not in the sense of forced allegiance and tyranny, no, the kingdom, or a term I prefer, the KINdom, is not of this earth, not something that we can recognize or understand as having to do with positions and systems of power and hierarchies. Remember, Jesus totally upends all of those kinds of notions with his life and ministry to those OUTSIDE of power, Jesus’ kindom is all about people, all people, over power, over riches, over position. All are involved and included, all are kin. The power structures that we’re used to looking for and participating in have nothing to do with the Kindom of God that Jesus is demonstrating. Pilate asks “So, you are a king?” Jesus doesn’t answer, other than to say the reason he was incarnate was to testify to THE TRUTH. Through Jesus’ teaching and examples, we hear and see a deeper, everlasting truth. In Jesus, the truth of who God is, and who we are, is revealed. The God who was and is and is to come, the Alpha and the Omega, since before the world began, for everlasting, this timeless, eternal truth that Jesus represents points us to God. Biblical scholar Emilie Townes explains, “God truly is a God of love and grace, who wills the blessings of creation in our lives.” (Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 4, p. 336)
This great truth is revealed in Revelation when we hear Jesus described as the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood. Jesus loves us in the present, here and now, whoever we are, and Jesus freed us, -ED, past tense, by the amazing example of the unconditional love of Jesus’ death, we have been set free. Although his death occurred in the past, the ripples of its effect continue throughout time. The truth that Jesus shows us, in the flesh, is the truth about the nature of God. God is love and grace. And we are invited to hear this truth and to enter into a relationship of seeking this truth in ourselves, and with those around us. We are encouraged not just to take this truth in and think on it, but rather, like Jesus, to do something with it. To send its echoes reverberating throughout our world. Emilie Townes puts it well.
“In Jesus, we learn that truth is a stimulant for faithful living and witness, rather than only a matter for contemplation.” (ibid)
Siblings in Christ, members of the Kindom of God, seekers and pilgrims all, may the truth of God’s restoring and freeing grace, through Christ and in Christ and with Christ, empower you to follow, to relinquish your power and your lives to God’s gracious rule this day and for the days to come. And may the truth of God’s loving and gracious nature reign forever and ever. Amen.
