Christ the King Sunday

Our readings for Christ the King Sunday are:

1. Daniel 7: 13-14
   
2. Psalms 93: 1, 1-2, 5
3. Revelations 1: 5-8
   
4. John 18: 33b-37
   

• How then shall we live?
  
• Knowing that justice will prevail, all wrongs will be made right, all corruption rooted out ... eventually should profoundly affect our world view in the here and now.  Even if we are certain that we will pass on before the second coming.  The question is what should that affect be?
• If you see someone suffering an injustice, what is your reaction?
• Comfort them with the sure knowledge that this injustice will pass (maybe not before they die).
• Organize efforts to address that injustice in the here and now for that one person.
• Organize efforts to address the source of that injustice.
• Quietly look the other way and mind your own business.
• Do you wish your answer was different?
• What is holding you back?
  

• Which is it?
  
• The majesty of God is not on conspicuous display the way that it is for earthly monarchs.  Jesus gave his disciples a "sneak peek" at that majesty on the mount of Transfiguration, but that was a very private revelation.  It's enough to make you wonder why God is so shy.
• When have you seen the majesty of God in your life?
• How did that experience move you?
• How did that experience change, and continues to change you?
• Does recounting that experience move you still?
  

• Citizenship
  
• We are encouraged to remember that we are foreigners in a foreign land.  When you are away from home, you are usually there for some purpose: vacation, business trip, working for habitat for humanity, ...  But when you are home, if someone asks you "why are you here?" your only response is "this is where I live, this is where I belong."
• So, if we are here on this earth on a journey, far from home, why are you here?
• Why you and no one else filling that role?
• Has that changed for you at all through the years?
• Do you think that we ever become useless in this life?
• How do you know when it's time to hang up your spurs on one ministry, one life purpose, and take up a new one?
  

• Listening skills
  
• Ignatian spirituality teaches that God is all in all, and that He is inviting us into the ongoing work of creation, helping God in the unfolding of creation that is actively transpiring this very moment.  To step into that vocation, we must attend to God's voice in our lives.  The challenge we face is not that God speaks rarely, but that God is speaking to us in all things.
• What is an experience that taught you to listen for God in new and unexpected ways?
• How do you think that God prepared you for that experience?
• Has God spoken to you in that way since then?
• Can you think of other places, circumstances, people that you would hope that God can speak to you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Am I letting fear cloud my obedience to God?
  
• Where is God showing His majesty today?
  
• Am I truly fulfilling God's destiny for me?
  
• Am I listening with all my heart?
  

Selective Hearing

Labrador retrievers live to eat. 

So we knew that our beloved Lab Willow was deaf -
When we would pour food into her bowl, and she didn't notice.

 

I used to long for God's prophetic word
To be as clear to me as the sound of kibble in a metal bowl.
But God, in His infinite wisdom, has not answered that prayer.

Instead, He comes to me in the form of a student asking for help.
A family member looking for a baby-sitter.
A soul friend seeking help in his prayer life.

I try to remember to thank God for them.
I try to thank them for their connection, 

Their invitation into wholeness.

And remind myself that we are all pilgrims.

Here on journey to accomplish what we were sent here for.

And that none of us can do it alone.

 Harder still to know that I have claim on no one, and nothing.
All that I encounter on this journey is not mine to hold -

But only to give away.

 

Shalom!