Reign of Christ - C

Not Someday but Now

Introduction

There are ideas and concepts we all struggle with. I really want an answer, that is one of my problems. I am not good just leaving things alone and letting it all work out. The same comes to my understanding of God... I want there to be answers, I want there to be a plan, I want to know why things happen.

Of course, whether I am talking to God or my girlfriend... Life does not usually go according to plan.

How about you, do you make plans or have expectations? What happens when they don't work out the way you expected?

The real problem is that plans actually make things worse. Not always, but often. And the reason is simply that nothing really works out according to plan. It is a rare day indeed when.

 Things happen eh way you thought they would.

So we go through life disappointed, in large and small ways.

God is coming to establish the kingdom on earth. That is what the people of Ancient Israel thought, and they were disappointed when Jesus did not raise an army to take over the Roman Empire.

Jesus is coming back to establish his Kingdom said Paul; going so far as to even say that we should sell all out possessions and just wait... As the years passed by the disappointment set in.

In 1900 the churches all said this would be the Christian Century and the whole world would be converted by 2000 bringing about the Kingdom of God, a world filled with peace and happiness...

See, expectations get us into trouble.

So what is it that Jesus was talking about? What did he mean when he talked about this so appalled Kingdom? How come it isn't here?

With the Kids

Follow the leader.

The Righteous Branch

 It all starts with a problem. Right? You join Alcoholics Anonymous when you are looking for a solution to your drinking problem. You go to the doctor when you feel sick. You look to God for help when you do not know what else to do.

Israel has always been a piece of real estate that people fight over. Unfortunately it is sort of a gateway between the East and West and has a port on hyena Mediterranean, no matter who you were owning Israel gave you access to shipping...  So 4000 years ago it was the Assyrians, en the Babylonians, then the Romans, then the Ottoman Turks, then the Christians, Then the Palestinians... Everyone has fought against the  Jewish people.

It must have seemed impossible after generations of warfare to hope for peace. But that is what they did... When no one else would see  to help they turned to God. And they prayed and they prayed and the prophets came to the people and said. Do not worry... god has heard your prayers... God will raise up a leader who will bring us peace and goodness and harmony...

Still, they waited. And so it was no wonder that when Jesus came he confused them... What kind of a King is this who talks about peace and seems to love everyone... What type of Kingdom does not bring happiness to the subjects? What kind of army do theses rag tag bunch of fishermen and tax collectors make?

Still... He said the right sort of things... It was confusing.

Remember Me

 So here is the really stark reminder... the crucifixion. In the eyes of world, in the eyes of the Roman’s, in the eyes of his followers and friends he seems to have failed in his mission by this point because Heaven has not come down to earth...

But... what if they are just seeing it wrong?

Here is the thing that everyone, from Jeremiah through Paul missed; the thing that Jesus tried to correct. The Kingdom of God is not a dream for the future. In fact, like I said at the beginning of the service, it is when we think we need to wait, to hope that things get better, that we miss what is right in front of our eyes.

“The Kingdom of God is among you,” Jesus said.

In other words, look around. God is everywhere, God’s Kingdom is everywhere, what you are looking for is right here right now. Ever heard the expression that you are missing the forest for the trees? This is sort of what I am trying to say. We are looking so hard for some imagined future that we fail to see all the good things that are happening right now.

“The Kingdom of God is within you,” Jesus also said.

Which is to say that God is within you, God is working through you, and you are creating your own future.  Don’t sit around and wait for someone else to solve your problems, and certainly do not think that if you are negative then you will ever find the positive.

We have all met people like that, the ones who cannot be happy no matter what, the ones who only see the negative. If they won a million dollars they would say, now everyone will be asking me for cash…

You have probably met the other ones too, the people who are so confident that you feel like you can do anything when you are with them, or are so enthusiastic that they make you feel better…

So what if the Kingdom is something like this? A state of mind? What if when we feel God is with us and the world is good, just like God said, we create a little bit of perfection right here, right now?

 Contemporary Reading: Yours the Praise

by Jim Burklo

Fire who burns inside the mountain

Earth who feeds the trees

Sea who sprays up like a fountain

Wind who sighs the leaves

You, the source of inspiration

You the beauty bring

Yours, the power in creation

Yours, the praise we sing

Seeing the Beauty

I said a lot about all of this way of thinking when we were in the season of Creation this fall. But I wanted to read you the poem and have you at least give it some thought. This has been a real eye opener for me this week… here is what I always thought, Jesus came with a plan, and it did not go well…

But in some conversations with people I trust and respect I came to see a different idea… Jesus did not have a plan; Jesus had a way of life. He was living faithfully no matter what happened. And in doing that, he helped to bring about a way of being, he helped to model a way of being that really does have a lot of power.

In the modern world we might call it the power of positive thinking. In the old days they would have said that we need to have faith.

However you look at it, what we need to be doing is seeing God’s beauty, God’s love, God’s kingdom in everything and in everyone….

Conclusion

So next week we start preparing for Christmas. It is one of our biggest festivals, it is the time when we celebrate the birth of the person who came to show us the way.

And he did. He talked about how the Kingdom was like a treasure you find in a field, or a lost coin found in a house. How it was like yeast which rises the dough… for Jesus the Kingdom was the power of God rising up inside of us to empower us.

Well, that way is still a valid thing to choose to follow, and today we have been thinking about where it might lead. I invite you to take some time this week and consider how God is at work in you, and to consider how you see the Kingdom all around d you.

Remembrance Day

Contemporary Reading:      "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream"

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was filled with men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again

And when the papers all were signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands end bowed their heeds
And grateful prayers were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing round and round
And guns and swords and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

"The Dream of Peace"

What They Did

Some of the most amazing Remembrance Day poetry

comes from Canadians. We seem to have an inherit understanding

of war and peace.

William Bedford is a poet who was born in Ireland but spent most of his life here in Canada.

Of Battles Past, Battles Now and Battles Yet to Come

Vimy Ridge.

The Battle of Britain.

The Battle of the Atlantic.

Hong Kong.

Dieppe.

Sicily.

Juno Beach.

The Falaise Gap.

The Liberation of Holland.

Kap Yung.

These are just some of the battles long ago

that are etched in Canada's collection memory bank.

Battles lost and battles won,

in blinding snows and blazing sun.

Sadly, we now add new names to our memory bank.

Kosovo.

The Gulf.

Khandahar.

Sadder still, there will, inevitably, be future battles

and more names to remember

on each chilly November morn.

But remember them we shall.

Remember them we must.

In World War 1,

595,000 Canadians enlisted.

60,000 died and 155,000 were wounded.

Worldwide, 8 million soldiers died.

In World War 2,

1.1 million Canadians enlisted

with 42,000 dead

and 54,000 wounded.

Worldwide 25 million military personnel

and 30 million civilians died.

Canadians have given their lives in service in Korea and in peacekeeping duties around the world.

And in our recent memory, 158 Canadians have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002.

These aren't just statistics.

These are real people - people like you and me - who faced horror, made grave sacrifices, and, whether killed or wounded or not, each and every one of their lives was dramatically changed forever.

When Jesus said,

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God," these are the people he was talking about.

Jesus also said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Why They Did It

It's not simply enough though, to call these people heroes, which they are.

It is important to remember why they did it.

And when we strip aside all the politics of war that come from governments and public discourse,

we find men and women who faithfully put themselves in harm's way.

Men and women who believed and continue to believe that the world could one day be filled with peace.

Men and women who work harder than we can imagine to get us one step closer to that vision.

Their vision is not unlike Jesus' vision. When Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God and how we are to build it, he was talking about this peaceful, just world that they imagine.

In Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 14, he described it this way:

"The kingdom of God is not about what we consume.

The kingdom of God is about

righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who serves Christ in this way

is pleasing to God

and approved by humanity.

Let us, therefore, make every effort

to do what leads to peace and enlightenment."

What We Are Remembering

So, on Remembrance Day, we are remembering the people who were courageous on our behalf.

But we are also remembering their dream...

the dream of peace.

It's the dream of people dancing in the streets and guns and swords and uniforms being scattered on the ground that is so wonderfully described in the song Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, that I read to you earlier.

How We Can Dream

And their dream is our dream.

We don't remember so that we can glorify war.

We don't remember so that we can hold on to Hollywood-scale images of violence.

We don't remember so that can dwell on horrific situations.

No, we remember so that we can continue the work of peace that they have begun.

For we too are to be peacemakers.
As Jesus was about to die,

he said that it was his peace that he was leaving with us.

Peace is now ours to protect and ensure.

We might not all be called to join the Armed Forces,
but we can bring peace in our own ways,

in our own corner of the world.

Conclusion

Tomorrow I want you to go the the Cenotaph.

I want you to make a conscious effort to take two minutes of silence at 11 am.

And, when you do,

don't fill your heads with images of soldiers storming foreign shores

or tanks rolling through Middle Eastern streets

or bombs exploding in muddy trenches.

Instead, I want you to take that time to dream,

to imagine peace.

Imagine what that might look like. 

Then you will truly be remembering.

I leave you with an image of the dream of peace. It's a poem called "My Living Dream" and it was written by Richard Doiron from Moncton, New Brunswick.

A world infused with tender loving care,

this is the dream that occupies my days,

the thought I think that translates into prayer,

that peace be known in endless sorts of ways.

I will not rest while yet I have this dream,

for what's a dream but that it's realized?

(The middle road and not the far extreme,

this is the sign that says I'm civilized!)

Diversity's what sets the fields aflame,

a lesson, there, for all the world to see,

the universe that calls us each by name,

that we'd behold the way it ought to be!

I'd live my dream - a brotherhood so broad!-:

which one of these is not a child of God?

What does your dream of peace look like? 

Remember them we shall.

Remember them we must.