CHRIST THE KING: 26 NOVEMBER 2006
John 18: 33-37.... (Sermon 1: “Left-handed Power”)
Revelation 1:4b-8....
2 Samuel 23:1-7..
(And a private choice: Daniel 7: 1-18)
.. (Sermon 2: “King Among the Beasts”)
Psalm 132:1-18.
ENTRY INTO WORSHIP
Today is both the end and climax of the Christian year.
Today we indulge ourselves in a holy nonsense
which is in fact the most beautiful truth:
we celebrate the festival of Christ the King.
He had no troops and built no palace,
yet his rule is now boundless.
He had no throne and wore no crown,
yet as a king he is on his own.
The truth, grace and peace of Christ the King be with you all!
And
also with you.
OR
Grace to you and peace from the Holy One who always has been,
is today, and always will be.
Grace and peace from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born from the
dead and is now supreme above all the kings of the earth.
To Him who loves us, and has freed us from our
sins by his blood,
and has given us a new kingdom where we are
all priests to his God and Father,
to Him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen!
PRAYER OF APPROACH
Let our worship, loving God, reach up as tall as the humility of our King, and bend down as deep as his glory.
Keep us hushed in a stable, grateful among sinners, overawed as our feet are washed, adoring beneath a cross, and jubilant outside a empty tomb.
With his Spirit endowing us, may we serve
you boldly, effectively and merrily. To the glory of your name, and the
extension of his kingdom.
Amen!
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Come my friends, let us apply to the throne of grace, where more forgiveness awaits us than this world could ever contain. Let us pray.
Humble king of love, your grace reaches through races and nations, neither favouring the righteous nor despising the uncouth;
Lord have mercy.
Lord
have mercy.
Humble king of love, your hopes for us are not deterred by human rebelliousness. indifference or ignorance;
Christ have mercy
Christ
have mercy
.
Humble king of love, you find us in our wandering and save us from all that would cut us off from the light of God;
Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
God
of maximum mercies, we confess our sins to you, knowing that you see our need
much better than we do. Please forgive not only the sins we recognise, but also
the many to which the culture in which we live may have blinded us. Uncover any
private subterfuge, reprove our compliance with community evil, and bring us again into the blessed
condition of grace. Through Christ Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.
FORGIVENESS
Family of God, it is not your fate to carry loads of guilt, or to be obsessed with painstaking yet vain self-justifications. There is no one who pardons more completely than our God, and no Saviour whose peace is sweeter than that of our Christ. Receive into your heart and mind the rejuvenating life of the Holy Spirit.
Amen!
PRAYER FOR CHILDREN
Dear Lord Jesus,
if you were a king who lived in places,
we would never get to know you.
If you always had police and body guards around you,
we would never get near you.
If you wore a golden crown and sat on a throne,
we might not even like you very much.
Thanks for not being at all like that
Thanks for being born in a stable,
for having ordinary people around you,
and for wearing a crown of thorns.
Thank you for having a kingdom bigger than the universe
yet for being happy to live within our small human hearts.
Amen.
PSALM
Note: I find the set Psalm 132 not very suitable for Christian liturgy. I much prefer the song of
David in Samuel 23.
A SONG OF DAVID--2 SAMUEL 23:2-7
It is the Spirit who speaks through me,
God’s word is on my human tongue.
Truly the God of Israel still speaks,
the Rock of the faithful says to even me:
“When a ruler does the right thing by the people,
humbly with utter respect for God,
it is like the dawn of a bright, new day,
like morning with not a cloud in the sky
and like sun showers that green the earth.”
Only because of God my family will go on,
they are held in a covenant that will endure.
All things will dovetail into God’s plan,
by God my deepest desire shall prosper.
The godless are as worthless thorns thrown aside,
but not to be touched with bare hands.
Tackle evil with the iron head of a long spear
and let it be consumed at the seat of a fire.
© B.D. Prewer 2002
KING?
King is your word not mine;
Friend I am, and not very choosey,
pagans and prostitutes,
publicans and sinners,
grace is my kingdom.
King is your word, not mine;
Servant I am, no one beneath me,
feet washer and waiter,
serving the least,
love is my kingdom
King is your word, not mine;
Physician I am, all free of charge,
touching the leper,
expelling the demons,
health is my kingdom.
King is your word, not mine;
A seer I am, seeing God’s word
in mustard seed and yeast,
wildflower and ravens,
truth is my kingdom.
King is your word, not mine;
Tradesman I am, honing my craft,
familiar with wood,
hammer and nails,
grace is my kingdom.
©
B.D. Prewer 2002
COLLECT
Most holy Friend, you have given us a King like no other, crowned with thorns and enthroned on a cross. May he enlighten us and inspire us until we find wonder in simple things and glory in humble service. For through him, and with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, we rest our highest our hopes and our deepest longings. All praise and honour be yours for ever and ever.
Amen!
SERMON
1: LEFT HANDED POWER
Pileate said to Jesus: ”So you are a
king?” Jesus replied: “King is your
word, not mine. The reason I was born,
the reason I came into the world, was to bear witness to the truth.” John 18:37a
What kind of a king is Jesus? Or should,
indeed, we even call him our king?
When Jesus stood before governor Pilate, who had the power? Prisoner or judge? Who wielded the power derived from kings or emperors?
With the advantage of hindsight, we might say that Jesus had surprising power. But if we had been standing there near the judgment seat, I doubt whether it would have occurred to us that power lay anywhere else but in the hands of Pilate. It was the Roman procurator who handed Jesus over, first to be flogged, and then to be crucified.
The truth is both these men held power. But they were different kinds of power. Pilate’s power was the kind we are accustomed to see. But the power of Jesus was an odd thing; unusual, unexpected, and from the view point of many, it was a bizarre power. [Did you know that bizarre is an old Basque word from Spain which meant ‘beard”. Clean shaven folk of other lands thought these beared visitors were decidedly odd. So my friends, if you look at my countenance and call me bizarre, I won’t be insulted]
-----LEFT HANDED & RIGHT HANDED POWER--------------------------------------------------
The kind of power Jesus wielded was what I will call left handed power. The phrase is not original, it comes from the first robust prophet of the Reformation, Martin Luther.
The kind of power which Pilate exercised was right handed power. That is usually the kind of power indicated when the word is commonly used.
These two descriptions of power fit in well with contemporary understanding of the brain. The right hand is under the influence of the left hemisphere of the brain. This hemisphere specialises in logical, analytical thought, careful planning and scheming, and direct actions. The left brain is the “get these things done efficiently right now” fellow. Almost with out exception, our idea of a king relates directly to right handed power.
The left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain. This is the poetic, sensitive, romantic, imaginative, person-sensitive, intuitive and serendipity fellow. A hemisphere who deals with the seemingly insubstantial powers things like of faith, hope and love.
----THE VALUE OF RIGHT HANDED POWER------------------------------------------------------
Right handed power has been, and still is, very useful in some ways. It can plan and plant your vegetable garden at the right season, it can get your foot mended if you put a fork through it. It can plan and build a house, a motor car or a computer. It can organise you to lift a piece of meat with gravy on it to your mouth without gravy dribbling down your shirt. It can put your shirt in a washing machine and have it dried in time for the shirts next outing.
Right handed power can shape political ideas and put them into practice, or plot the downfall of political opponents and pursue their demise to the very end. It can chart the way economic factors shape a society, and give rulings in an industrial court. It can organise essential services like a police force, and carefully detect and hunt down a cunning criminal. That old ‘left brain-right hand’ partnership is able to genetically engineer foods, perform heart transplants, make high court rulings, send cameras into outer space, and find cures for diseases.
Right hand power, when it functions within humanitarian guidelines, can be a marked blessing.(But is it ever humanitarian without left hand power also being used?) . In the religious sphere there have been right hand heroes like Moses, with his military know how, his social and legal expertise, and his unsentimental application of authority. However, right hand power like that of Moses has grave limitations. It cannot produce and maintain good relationships, create friendship, and put itself in another person’s shoes. It cannot construct mercy, integrity, loyalty, good humour and love.
If we think for a moment about the parent child relationship, we can see the advantages and the disadvantages of right hand power. Most parents use a mixture of right hand and left hand power to bring up their children. Right hand power sets firm guidelines, and enforces them: “You shall go to school, clean your teeth, help with the dishes, and go to bed when it’s time. No, you can’t have a new pair of Nike joggers; yes, you may buy that shirt; no, you will not use your sister’s lipstick; yes you may have a second helping of ice cream.”
But if that is the only power used, the plight of the child is grave. They need all the intuitive, emotional nurture as well. As they grow up, right hand power becomes obsolete as a means of helping them. Just try telling your 17 year old to go to bed at 8.00 p.m., don’t listen to music, don’t be friends with that creep, and so on. You can give orders but it won’t achieve much. You can try shouting louder, and that is not very effective. You can try telling them to “shape up or ship out”, usually with the opposite result to the one you wish. You can even threaten to cut your young adult out of their inheritance, and it will buy you nothing but bitterness.
In relationships, which is 90 % of what life is all about, right handed power has a host of limitations.
-----LEFT HANDED POWER-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank God (literally!) for left handed power. Left handed power respects, trusts, and nurtures the inbuilt resources of the other person. It intuits what is going on and encourages or discourages without demanding. This power can forgive and restore broken relationships, it can envisage lofty possibilities for others. Left handed power will do bizarre things like apologising, repenting, or making costly self-sacrifices with no thought of personal reward
Jesus was the ‘supremo’ of left handed power. His parables are wonderful examples of it. The prodigal son and the father’s love. The good Samaritan being excessively caring. The vineyard workers who come late in the day being paid the full wage, the same as those who worked all day. His parables are about grace, and grace is a markedly left handed gift.
His deeds were left handed. They were grounded in love and self giving. He cared for others more than he cared for his personal reputation. He had meals with disreputable characters. he had time for prostitutes and adulterers. He was crazy enough to have respect for Romans and Samaritans, as much as he respected his own people. He refused to be bound by the multiplicity of regulations propagated by the right hand, religious power freaks.
The ultimate example of his left handed power is his embracing of cruel suffering and death. To throw one’s life away at about the age of 33, was an illogical and apparently fruitless thing to do. As Paul later wrote, the whole business of the cross seems gross stupidity to those who only trust right handed power. It is foolishness to some and a scandal to others. Jesus seemed to have wasted his life. Yet the results are greater than any other one life that this world has known. If this world is to have any future, it will only be in concord with Christ’s style of left handed power. Right handed power can limit injustice and abuse but it cannot redeem and recreate.
The right handed power of militarists, scientists, politicians, or of fundamentalist religions, will not bring the world safely through this century. We need more and more left handed power, where persons are respected, compassion is encouraged, justice is loved, and glad self-giving is prized far higher than survival of the loudest, toughest and greediest.
------CHRIST THE KING-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today we don’t celebrate Pilate and his power but Jesus. We celebrate “Christ the King,” crucified and risen. The only kingship which we honour is his left handed brand. It is a king with wounded hands that we celebrate.
Jesus has not changed . The one whom we, in poetic imagery, recite “sits at the right hand of God” does not alter his values. He has not had a change of mind. Christ does not now regretfully say: “ I tried that left handed power once and it didn’t work. Next time, ‘at my coming’, I will use right hand power to tidy up the mess.”
Only left handed power can tidy up the mess. Forgiveness, trust, respect, compassion, integrity, self giving love, love and yet more love. Christ is our king, our only legitimate source of power and authority. He is the way, the truth and the life.
In some cases you may fear that your tried left handed power, but it did not seem to work. It was the same with Jesus. It often did not seem to work. Yet it did profoundly work, and continues to do so at the very foundations of reality. With the hindsight of the centuries we can see clearly that it is the only thing that really works for the salvation of humanity. The left handed power of love is the only way ahead towards the fulfilment of individual and communal life.
If we are going to use the word “king” for Jesus, let us throw away the trappings and muscle of royal ‘pomp and circumstance’ and honour Christ as he really was and is and ever will be.
SERMON 2: KING AMONG THE BEASTS
Daniel 7: 1-18
John 18: 33-37
Strong nations like to identify with wild creatures. The American eagle, the Russian bear and British lion, the Chinese dragon. And within the minor league, we have Australia with its boxing kangaroo. ( Kangaroo? Don’t laugh! When that “old man kangaroo” stands up to his full 2 metres, his powerful claws can slit a man open from his chest to his crutch!)
Why birds and beasts? Why do we go to the animal kingdom for symbols to represent our nations? Maybe it is because nations put their trust in what they see as powerful animal characteristics? Maybe worldly kingdoms (to our shame!) seek to exploit or dominate the weaker realms by using brutish attributes?
Brute power, greed, stealth, cunning?
Such sub-human, brutish traits are regarded as “must have” virtues of politics, both national and international. Instead of political parties and nations drawing themselves up to their full spiritual stature, and using their highest potential of heart, mind and soul, they settle for employing those primitive traits we share with the birds of prey, wild beasts of the jungle, and the serpents in the grass. We opt for the lowest extremes. Human beings often act worse than wild animals ever do. We employ our physical power in savage ways that wild creatures rarely attempt.
In absolute contrast we have Jesus, who fully employs the highest and truest human attributes. He calls us into a unique kingdom where the most beautiful of human characteristics reign supreme. We sum it up by calling Jesus the King of love. He is the living truth of what it means to be fully human. The politics of love, which rule his high realm, eclipse the politics of worldly greed and brute strength
As Jesus stood as a prisoner before the
judgement seat of Governor Pilate, he tried to convey this higher realm by
saying: ‘My kingship is not of this
world....... You say I am a king? For this I was born, for this have I come
into this world, to bear witness to the truth.”
The contrast between the realm of Pilate and the realm of Jesus could not be sharper.
But who has got it right? When push comes to shove, who in fact is the real ruler of this world? The brutish man or the divinely man? The brutish kingdoms and their armies are represented by Pilate, while that lone love-realm is represented by Jesus?
In the final clash, who has the muscle?
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DANIEL’S DREAM
Let us look for some enlightenment from a dream. It is a dream from long ago. We find it recorded in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, chapter 7.
We are told that Daniel experienced this dramatic dream in which he recognised the history of the brutal times through which his people had survived.
He saw rising out of the cruel sea four successive beasts. Keep in kind the fact that in Hebrew imagination the sea stood for the godless chaos that was around before God took a hand in taming things. So out of the realm of godless chaos emerged these four terrible beasts. Each of these nightmarish creatures had ruled the world for a time.
The first beast was like an enormous lion with eagles’ wings. This clearly represents the Babylonian Empire. The national symbol of the Babylonian Empire was the mighty griffin. Under Nebuchadnezzar the Jews had been crushed and thousands of them driven off like cattle into exile.
The second powerful beast that emerged out of the godless chaos was a bear, which crushed all around it. In its massive jaws dribbled the bloody ribs of its last victim. The bear stands for the Median Empire which mercilessly crushed both small and large nations.
Then a third beast clambered from the cruel sea and claimed domination. This was a leopard with wings, the nation symbol of the Persian Empire. Although in the dream it was a beast, under King Cyrus the Persians did allow Jews to return to their homeland and commence rebuilding their temple. Things were on the up.
But not for long. The fourth beast made the others seem almost like pet guinea pigs in comparison. Listen to the description in the Book of Daniel.
Behold a fourth beast, terrible and
dreadful, and exceedingly strong.
It had great iron teeth, devouring and
breaking into pieces, and trampling
the remnants under its feet. It was different
from all the ugly beasts
that ever came before it.
Here we have the ruthless empire of the Macedonian Greeks, first under the ruthless Philip, followed by his even more ambitious son, Alexander the Great, and then under later successors. The Macedonians would tolerate no dissent. Armed with iron weapons, including the super weapon of that era, their 3 metre long lances, this beast ruled from Greece to Egypt, throughout the whole Middle East, From Egypt to Afghanistan and down into India. Later, under one of Alexander’s successors, the much loathed Antiochus IV, all Jewish worship and religious festivals were banned. In appalling sacrilege , a statue of the Greek God Zeus was erected in the temple at Jerusalem.
Such are the four beasts which came up out of the godless chaos of a turbulent sea to dominate the nations.. Their arrogance and cruelty is typical of what happens whenever the brutish attributes of human nature take precedence over the divine attributes.
Daniel was writing about his world. Yet is applies equally to all the brutish politics of our world, The Romans and the Moors, the Crusaders and French, the Ottoman Turks and the Spanish, the British Empire and Hitler’s Nazis.
The beasts were rampant when some of our forebears settled in Australia and proceeded to spasmodically massacre thousands of aborigines.
The brutish side of human nature is never far below the surface. It is what happened more recently with the ethnic bloodshed in Rwanda. It is what is happening when terrorist bombs slaughter civilians in Bagdad or London or Bali. It is what happens when a super power with the high public ideals such as the USA, incarcerates prisoners in Gutanamo Bay in Cuba so as to evade both the civil justice system and the Geneva convention.
The beasts emerge out of the oceans of chaos and employ their formidable strength. Those formidable jaws and their steely talons cause mayhem on earth.
Get this clear: There is no hope in the beasts. There never was and never will be. If the beasts are all we have to look forward to, then this world is doomed.
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THE SON OF MAN
Daniel’s dream did not end with the four great beasts. Something new happened, and this segment of Daniel’s dream was rampant with hope.
Daniel saw a shining throne and God, that Holy Being who had existed from before time began, sitting in judgment. The final beast with the iron teeth was destroyed and the others were stripped of power and confined.
Then a fifth Being arrived. Not this time from out of the cruel sea, but on the clouds of heaven. Not a beast, not even tame beast, or a cute one like a koala or a puppy. This fifth arrival looked just like a human being, and is described as “the son of man.”
In Daniel’s dream God looked upon this son of man with favour and joy. This man had no shame to hide or fear to feel in the presence of God. To this son of man was given rule over all peoples and their kingdoms.
His was not a temporary kingdom like that of the beasts. The realm of this son of man would never pass away.
Daniel’s vision meant that the future of the world is not committed to the ruthless arrogance superpowers or master races. It in entrusted into the hands of the one authentic human being. The son of man in whom divine attributes take authority over the brutish traits. A person in whom love and truth find perfect expression.
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JESUS, THE SON OF MAN
What a remarkable dream! What an astounding faith!
In the face of power politics and clashing armies, of brutal regimes and laws. This Daniel who lived a little before the time of Christ, could see through the clouds of war to the light on the hill. He could see that “Ancient of Days, that Holy God and the chosen son of man to whom authority would be given.
We Christians recognise the embodiment of the dream in the coming of Jesus our Christ. In Jesus, the only authentic ‘child of man’ to have graced this planet. Jesus our Messiah, renouncing physical power and completely trusting that loving God who created the human soul to be in God’s own image.
Look upon your true son of man, my friends. See your only valid human brother and your only authentic king.
Look at him.
See him being born in his royal apartments: a cowshed, straw, animals and wide-eyed shepherds.
See him undertaking his royal education: a refugee’s flight, a mother’s wise counsel, a carpenter’s shop, and a village school.
See him recruiting citizens of the new kingdom: Fisherman and tax collectors, little children and half-caste Samaritans. prostitutes, beggars and one demented woman named Mary of Magdala. He recruited the lepers and the lame, a Roman centurion and also a freedom fighter named Simon the zealot.
Hear him issuing his royal edicts:
Be happy if you are poor, yours is the kingdom of God.
Be happy if you are hungry, you shall be satisfied.
Be happy if you mourn your losses, you shall be comforted.
Be happy if you are merciful, you shall receive mercy.
Be happy if you are sincere, you shall see God.
Be happy if you are a peacemaker, you shall be called the children of God.
Now follow this son of man to his glorious coronation. Watch some soldiers plait a crown from thorns and thrust it on his head. Hear the hammering of nails and see him lifted up against the darkening sky.
Behold the son of man! Behold the true Son of God!
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WHAT HOPE?
What hope has this son of man of winning against the fearsome beasts that continue to emerge out of the sea of evil, and flaunt themselves? Every hope. In fact he is the one sure hope. All else will self destruct or be destroyed.
As in Daniel’s dream, so also the New Testament has no doubt about the ultimate outcome. The son of man is our certainty. Christ Jesus and his way, is the only path for humanity to go forwards. Indeed, Jesus , the true son of man, is the shape of the future. All else is at the worst, damned, and at its best only secondary.
Pilate
said to Jesus: “So you are a king?”
Jesus
answered: “You are the one who si saying that I am a king. For this one thing I
was born, for this one thing have I come into this world, to bear witness to
the truth. Every one wants the truth will hear my voice.”
My friends, on this festival of Christ the King, take your anxious eyes off the contemporary beasts that rage around the world. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the son of man in whom all purest hopes will find fruition.
God has staked his life on this son of man, who came not to throw his weight around, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for his sisters and brothers.
THANKSGIVING
Holy God, most awesome Friend, we give you thanks and praise for the unspeakable gift of Christ Jesus, regal in humility, royal in grace.
Wonderful the baby that shepherds adored,
the infant that Mary suckled,
the child that learned the hard lessons of life.
Wonderful the hands that touched lepers,
the arms that embraced little children
the fingers that anointed blind eyes.
Wonderful the smile that welcomed outcastes
the frown that rebuked the arrogant
the tongue that told parables of grace
Wonderful the courage that led him to Jerusalem
the faith that agonised in Gethsemene
the love poured out on the hill of Golgotha.
Wonderful the lips that gave the first Easter greeting
the wounds that witnessed to his reality,
the Spirit which he breathed on disciples.
Wonderful his humility, fitting him for God’s right hand,
the glory he shares with the ‘nobodies' of the world,
the promise that he is here for us to the end of time.
Most awesome God, help us to honour Christ our king through all the ups and downs of life. Finally, at the end of our time, may we honour him in our dying and then within the embracing mystery of our ongoing, let us praise him in your eternal kingdom.
All gratitude and thanksgiving, praise and glory be given to you for ever and ever.
Amen!
LITANY OF PETITION:
HEALER OF HURTS
Come to us, Healer of hurts.
Touch us with your fingers and we shall be saved.
Come to broken hearts and grieving spirits,
to wild anxieties and lost sanity.
Come Healer of hurts. / Mend us and we shall be whole.
Come to rocky marriages and sore divorces,
to sleepless nights and lost self-confidence.
Come Healer of hurts. / Mend us and we shall be whole.
Come to broken dreams and painful memories,
to betrayed values and lost opportunities.
Come Healer of hurts. / Mend us and we shall be whole.
Come to broken wills and dried-up love,
to abandoned hopes and lost faith.
Come Healer of hurts. / Mend
us and we shall be whole.
Healer of hurts, Lord of perfect wholeness,
Come to us with your holiness;
Come Healer of hurts. / Let
our reordered lives express
the beauty of your peace.
(Adapted from page 56, “Prayers For The Twenty-first Century”
“ © B.D. Prewer 2000© Open Book Publishers:
email- enquiries@openbook.com.au)
SENDING OUT
You are the sisters and brothers of the servant King. No humble task in beneath him, no mercy is withheld, no person is to him a waste of space.
May your faith be big enough to learn from him, and to daily welcome the indwelling of his humble yet resolute Spirit.
The grace of Christ Jesus be your only boast,
the love of God be your unfailing resource,
and the fellowship of the Spirit be your deepest joy.
Amen!