Christ the King

Our readings for Christ the King Sunday are:

1. 2 Samuel 5: 1-3
2. Psalms 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5
3. Colossians 1: 12-20
4. Luke 23: 35-43

• Servant king
• What do you look for most in a leader?  Is it maybe someone who is successful in getting resources and defending your turf, someone who is sympathetic to their people's issues, what then?
• What has to be in place before someone has the right to lead others?
• How is God's leadership of His people different from the types of leadership that we encounter in day to day life?
• Is it true that the "good guys finish last?"

• Remember
• The Jews looked upon the Temple as their tangible link to what we would call salvation history.  They went there to remember who they were, who their God is.
• At the same time, it's easy to cling to things.  Maybe that first Ford Mustang that you had as a kid, or you're reluctant to sell your house and move when a job opportunity offers itself, ...  How can we be ready and willing to change when it's needed?
• How do we tell what/who to hold on to versus what we can leave behind?

• Moving the deck chairs on the Titanic
• When all is said and done, the only things that we have today that will endure is God our immortal souls, and the relationships that we've built with God and each other.
• Do you ever wonder if Jesus had a favorite pair of sandals, or maybe a special tunic that His mother had made for him when He left home.  Maybe a favorite family that He stayed with whenever He was in town?
• If so, how did He manage to not get too attached to those things, not get side tracked from His core mission?

• Outreach is never easy
• Pain, suffering, despair, all of these can easily make us feel isolated, as though the rest of humanity must be somehow indifferent to what we are going through, and that we are all alone.
• The last time that you had a really hard chapter in your life, did you feel abandoned, as though no one cared?
• At some point or another, did someone convince you that someone, anyone, really did care?
• How did that change your outlook?
• How can we be that same change in someone else's outlook?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What am I doing to equip myself to lead God's people better, more faithfully?
2. Is there anything in my life that I'm am not willing to give up in the face of God's call?
3. Am I obsessed with success, the way that others regard me, comforts in my life ...?
4. Am I able to reach beyond pain and uncertainty to those in need, even when I am in need?  How can I begin to practice such reaching today?

Hangin' with the Homies

I've seen it before.
Usually when the crucifixion victims get here, they are pretty wrung out.
But this one, he was pretty much gone before we even got his cross in the ground.

His head hung down, exhaustion written large in his half-closed eyes.
His every word hoarse and gravely.
And yet he was so present, so there.

Most folks want to deaden the pain,
Die with as little awareness as possible.
It's so much easier that way.

And then, in the midst of the taunts and jeers from the curiosity seekers,
The reviling from my fellow guards,
He spoke to another criminal.

And his voice shed compassion, and mercy
Even in the midst of his suffering,
Right on the ragged edge of his life.

And I wondered what sort of man this was who could reach out
Even from the midst of that terrible sentence of death.
And not just to that other criminal, but, in some strange way, to all of us.

I try to tell that story to others.
As I try to explain why I left the Roman army.
I never quite do that scene justice.

But I think back to it often,
And try to savor that mercy again and again.
As I try to tell others who this man really was, and is.

Shalom!