{"id":715,"date":"2017-11-29T10:53:17","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T15:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=715"},"modified":"2017-11-29T10:53:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T15:53:17","slug":"reign-of-christ-sunday-yes-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2017\/11\/29\/reign-of-christ-sunday-yes-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Reign of Christ Sunday – Yes Lord!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, Lord!<\/p>\n

\n

A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY<\/a><\/h2>\n

by Rev. James Eaton, Pastor<\/h2>\n

Reign of Christ\/A \u2022 November 26, 2017<\/h2>\n

Matthew 25:31-46<\/a><\/h2>\n

Click below to hear the sermon preached<\/h3>\nhttps:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/yes_lord.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

I love weddings and I used to officiate at a lot of them. There\u2019s all the fuss and planning and then on the day itself, little details that seem so important. I usually enter with the men and they\u2019re always nervous. We stand at the front, face the back and the bridesmaids sweep up the aisle, more or less as I rehearsed them the night before. I remember one whispering as she walked past, \u201cWas that ok?\u201d Then the organ changes, often getting louder, people stand and a woman in a dress she will never wear again sweeps into the sanctuary, walks up the aisle. It\u2019s regal, it\u2019s that moment which fulfills every time someone called her, \u201cprincess\u201d. So when I think about the opening of today\u2019s scripture reading, “”When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him..\u201d, that\u2019s how I imagine it. I know that doesn\u2019t match the text, I know it\u2019s the church that gets called \u201cthe bride of Christ\u201d, but still, I imagine that kind of regal entrance, light and music and everyone standing in awe. \u201cOpen the gates that the King of glory may come in\u201d, a Psalm we read on Palm Sunday begins: today is Reign of Christ Sunday\u2014open the doors, that the Lord of glory may come in. <\/p>\n

Now the scene shifts: once the Lord takes the throne, it\u2019s time for business and the most important business of any Lord is judgement. So Matthew imagines everyone\u2014all the nations of the world\u2014in one herd before him. What a crowd! We often say, \u201cEveryone welcome\u201d, around here but the truth is, we\u2019re not prepared for everyone; we\u2019re prepared for about 35 or 40 people. What would happen if everyone came? What would happen if one Sunday, we opened the doors and people flooded in, rushed in, so many that some sat even in the pews where no one ever sits and which therefore don\u2019t have visitor cards or even hymnals? <\/p>\n

All the nations, gathered. There are people who don\u2019t get along, there are different races, nationalities, black, white, asian, Catholic, Protestant, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, None of the above, Republicans, Democrats,. The word \u2018nation\u2019 is Matthew\u2019s usual term for Gentiles so for once, he means you and I. \u201cAll the nations\u201d means everybody. He means Jews and Gentiles, Romans, Carthagenians, and as we\u2019ll discover on Pentecost Sunday, the people from Cyrene, wherever that is. We\u2019ll learn from Matthew later that he means the people at the ends of the earth, wherever that is; I think it\u2019s near Buffalo. They\u2019re all there, everyone, all the nations, standing up, watching the great processional of the king of glory. I like to imagine there\u2019s an organist. I\u2019ve never been to a big assembly like this without an organist, so I assume there is one. If you prefer piano music or a full orchestra, feel free to imagine that, the text isn\u2019t clear.  <\/p>\n

All processionals come to an end eventually. The king reaches the throne, the followers file into the seats with the \u201cRESERVED\u201d sign taped to them and the last bit of the organ piece ring out and then fade and I imagine the liturgist, in the silence, saying, as i do every morning, \u201cThe peace of the Lord be with you\u201d and then everyone sitting down. I know this is entirely culturally defined but it\u2019s how I imagine it, my imagination only goes so far.  <\/p>\n

Now the king speaks, everyone strains to listen and this is what he says: move. Now, if I had been advising on this liturgy, the details of this gathering, I would have advised against this. It\u2019s always difficult to ask people in a congregation to move. One of the first things someone said to me when I came here was that they were not moving where they sat. Look at us today. There\u2019s no doubt we\u2019d all be warmer, we\u2019d all sound better, we\u2019d all feel better if we sat near each other but we don\u2019t. We\u2019re scattered all over. We\u2019re in our familiar seats. But that\u2019s what the king says. He has them divide up into two groups, like a herdsman separating the sheep and goats in a herd. Sheep and goats are herded together during the day but at night they are separated and the same thing happens here. Sheep on the left, goats on the right. Which are you? Which am I?  <\/p>\n

Now he turns to the sheep and tells them they are going to enter into his kingdom for reasons they don\u2019t understand. They fed him when he was hungry, they clothed him when he was naked, and so on. They don\u2019t remember doing it. They don\u2019t remember these acts of charity, they don\u2019t remember their donations to the food pantry, they don\u2019t remember being kind or doing these things. They did them but they were clueless at the time. They still are. Then he turns to the goats and the mirror image thing happens. They don\u2019t get into the kingdom because they didn\u2019t do these things. But they don\u2019t remember not doing them. They don\u2019t remember seeing him and refusing him food or clothing or the rest. They were clueless at the time. They still are. When it comes to what they knew at the time, the sheep and the goats here are just the same. The difference isn\u2019t what they knew, it\u2019s what they did. It\u2019s how they responded in moments when they didn\u2019t know what they were doing. The stunning fact about this judgement is that no one understood beforehand what would make a difference.<\/p>\n

There is an old song with the refrain, \u201cWhere are you going, my little one? Where are you going my little one? Turn around and you\u2019re two, turn around and you\u2019re four\u201d. It expresses that wondrous, sad, joyful truth that the paths of our lives wind in unpredictable ways. One day in 1964, my mother took me to a new church, Pine Hill Congregational. I met Nora Clark, a Sunday School teacher, the wife of the minister, Harry Clark. No one knew these two people would shape my life profoundly or that 53 years later, we would still be sharing our lives. Nora became for me a conscience. Whenever I’m not being the best me, I hear her voice in my head saying, “Now Jim…”<\/p>\n

What is true of individual lives is true as well of our life together. Today is the last day of the church\u2019s liturgical year, the calendar of worship. It\u2019s called, \u201cReign of Christ\u201d Sunday and it ask: where are you going? What do you hope to accomplish? What is your goal? And the truth is, we don\u2019t know where we are going, we only know that along the way are these occasions when we can say \u201cYes, Lord\u201d or \u201cNo, Lord\u201d. We don\u2019t know what we are doing; we don\u2019t know how it will turn out. But we know what Jesus has said: feed the hungry, heal the sick, bind up wounds. Love your neighbor; love God. The challenge of Christian life is these little moments, day by day, when we can say yes, Lord, yes Lord, by doing what he says.<\/p>\n

Almost fifty years ago, I was an awkward sixteen year old at church camp, a shy kid with a little gift for lifting up poetry and drama in a way that brought my friends together in worship. I lived in books; I read plays. My heroes were writers and playwrights and I thought it would be an amazing, incredible thing to move to New York and be a writer. At the same time, I was beginning to be part of the movement for peace that focused first on the Vietnam War and racial injustice. I thought we could save the world and i wanted to be part of it. In that moment, lying on a dock in Northern Michigan where you can see stars hidden in the city, where the universe seems close, I heard in my heart the call of God to become not a writer or an activist but a minister. It wasn\u2019t a suggestion: it wasn\u2019t a command. It was a confidence that this was what would shape and define my life. It has ever since. <\/p>\n

Perhaps because it\u2019s so long ago, perhaps because this is almost certainly the last church where I will ever bear the title of pastor, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot recently about what I\u2019ve done, what I\u2019ve tried to do, successes and failures, what I want to do still. This image, this parable, is it: this is where we are going, this is our goal. If the reign of Christ is our hope, this is what it looks like, and it turns out that it isn\u2019t about what we believed, it\u2019s about what we did. Our theology doesn\u2019t matter as much as our practical ministry. We don\u2019t know what difference giving a coat to someone or inviting them to come worship where they will be accepts and welcomed will make. But the surprise of this parable is that it does make a difference. Sometimes a lot is made about the ultimate fates of the sheep and goats in this story: some going to paradise, some to hell. But I think what\u2019s really at the heart here is the surprise of how much difference what they did when they didn\u2019t know what they were doing made. \u201cWhen did we\u2026Lord?\u201d They ask over and over: both sorts ask. \u201cIf you did it to one of the least of these\u2026 you did it for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Reign of Christ is often celebrated with pageants and processionals. But the real processional is when Christ comes into us and we say, \u201cYes Lord\u201d. \u201cOpen the gates that the king of glory may come in\u201d\u2014they open when we look and see the face of Christ in others. They open when we hear him say, \u201cYou give them something to eat,\u201d and do it. They open when we hear him say, \u201cLove one another,\u201d and we do it. They open when do what he says.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, Lord! A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY by Rev. James Eaton, Pastor Reign of Christ\/A \u2022 November 26, 2017 Matthew 25:31-46 Click below to hear the sermon preached I love weddings and I used to officiate at a lot of them. There\u2019s all the fuss and planning and then on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[101,109,108,3,13,1,2,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-after-pentecost","category-matthew","category-scripture","category-sermon","category-theology","category-uncategorized","category-worship","category-year-a"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":729,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions\/729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}