An Entirely Different Kind of King Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church On November 24th, 2019 Scripture: Colossians 1:11-20 Today we have come to the last in the 12 steps of spirituality. You might say that this step holds all the others together. Step 12 says that, having done all the steps, we have had a “spiritual awakening”. Also, this Sunday, we come to the end of the church year with “Reign of Christ” Sunday. I have to admit, I get a little edgy when I hear talk of Christ as King. A few years ago a friend of mine completed the 12 steps. He told me that he had come to the realization that he needed to accept God as sovereign in his life. I pushed back at his remark because I resisted the language of Christ as King. As a woman in the church, I want to be free from the patriarchal image of a man wielding power and control. Only, of course, the Christ who reigns is not a man wielding power and control. He is not the Lord of the manor, ruling over the poor peasants. This is an entirely different kind of King. Today we read a part of a letter written to the church in Colossae, a branch of the early church in modern day Turkey. Paul, or someone writing in the style of Paul, reminds the Colossians that Christ is the “head” of the body, the church. They are to be encouraged and to remain strong, because Christ rescues them from their current situation, transferring them to the kingdom of the beloved Son. This transference is not achieved by force, not by battles and weapons. This is achieved because the One who is over all, put Himself under all, by going to his execution on the cross. This was Christ’s great act of suffering with humanity. As Richard Rohr says “from the cross, he draws all suffering people to himself.” [1] The people of the 1st century Greco-Roman world had a particular image of King and that was Caesar, the Roman Emperor. Caesar was held in such high esteem that he was considered to be Lord of all Roman subjects. He was declared to be the Son of God. It was incredibly dangerous for Christians to call Christ the King and Son of God. This was seen as most disrespectful of Caesar and going against the empire. The Roman Empire was an immense operation that spanned the known world. This vast machinery was organized to preserve a peace, known as Pax Romana. So long as everyone knew their place, peace was maintained. Pax Romana was achieved by a strong military presence in the cities and towns of the empire. Religion was tolerated so long as the people’s allegiance was primarily to the empire. The people were kept quiet with “bread and circuses.” They had enough to eat and were entertained by games, in which chariots raced, gladiators fought to the death, and sometimes enemies of Rome were thrown to wild animals. It may be that the small church in Colossae has to endure the persecution of Rome. Or perhaps they are enduring something else. Whatever it is, “Paul” encourages them by telling them that Christ is over all things, and over all powers. They are to live as though powers like the empire and the emperor are not in charge. Instead, God’s rule of love, shown in Jesus, is in charge. This is the source of true peace, the peace of God’s reconciliation with earth and heaven. They are to remember that Christ is an entirely different kind of King. 400 years ago, a bold group of Pilgrims from Scrooby, Lincolnshire in England navigated the Atlantic Ocean in a small vessel. They were flying in the face of the oppressive religion of their time. The English church had split from Rome, but then set up an almost equivalent system: the Church of England. King Henry VIII had insisted on becoming the head of the Church, just as the Roman Church had the Pope. The church required the total allegiance of the population. The King, the Lords of the land, and the church cooperated in controlling the wealth of the land. The Christians in Scrooby, resisted, claiming Christ as their only king. They relied on the scriptures for their source of truth and found the Church of England wanting. And so they set off to begin a new community in the religiously tolerant city of Leiden, in what is now the Netherlands. Things didn’t work out in the Netherlands. It turned out that Leiden was too tolerant for them. The English Christians were particularly concerned about their children being led astray. Also, their living conditions were very poor and they thought they could do better. They believed they were led by God to begin a new community, here in the New World, where they could practice their faith freely and without external temptations. They would not be beholden to the Lord of the manor at harvest time as they were in England. And so they entered into an uneasy allegiance with a British colonial operation, the Virginia Company, and set sail for the Americas. Due to many delays they did not leave until September 6th and of course they encountered stormy seas. They were aiming for the Hudson River but landed too far north. They arrived not too far from here in November at the beginning of a horrendous winter. Fortunately for the Pilgrims, the seafood was plentiful, and there was fresh water. The land had even been cleared for planting by Native Americans who had been eradicated by diseases brought by earlier European explorers and settlers. The Pilgrims took over the abandoned village of the Patuxet tribe. Still, the first winter was very difficult for them. They were not prepared for this new harsh environment and half of the passengers of the Mayflower died. The remainder survived in part because they found a cache of dried corn, left by the Native Americans. Their remaining Native American neighbors also helped the Pilgrims survive those difficult first months.[2] Later they attributed this good fortune to God’s providence. The Pilgrims were courageous in their faith, committed to Christ as Sovereign. And still it seems they were oblivious of their indebtedness to the Indigenous people. Like all ancestors, our ancestors in the faith were flawed human beings. This is something to reflect on, as we consider repairing the wrongs of the past. By contrast with the Pilgrims, with my husband I arrived in Boston following a Trans World Airlines flight from London via JFK Airport on October 3rd 1987. On Sunday October 4th we ventured out into the streets of Boston to seek an apartment. We were met by almost freezing rain. Fortunately, the weather looked up in the following weeks and I enjoyed a beautiful fall getting to know the area, while I looked for a job and secured my working visa. We were fortunate. We had the benefit of education and resources to do all this. I was intrigued by many aspects of American life, and especially the religious life partly inherited from the Pilgrims. I had the impression that US churches were active and preachers were more inspiring than in the UK at that time. It has taken me years to navigate the culture, the separation of religion and state, and how that actually plays out. I have become fascinated by how American Christians understand the Reign of Christ, and how a church that is not “official” operates. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that the church in America can be every bit as bound to culture as the church in Britain. Of course, King Henry VIII is long gone, and now the United Kingdom has a vibrant multicultural feel. Christianity is still the official religion though and the Church of England is the established church. Queen Elizabeth serves as the nominal head. British people of my generation learned hymns and prayers in school by rote. Generally we know when to stand, sit and kneel during religious services. We barely notice that the traditions of the state and church meld together in the culture and in our minds. “God save the Queen” is the national anthem. From the day I arrived in the United States, Americans have educated me on the separation of religion and state. And now that I have become a part of this culture, I realize that here too, we learn by rote. In this case we learn to give thanks for religious freedom. We do so without really knowing what we mean by it, or how we are called to exercise that freedom. In many ways we are lulled by something like Pax Romana. We have our modern day “bread and circuses.” We have access to so many carbs, sugar, caffeine. We go between a state of sleepy fullness and craving. This may happen to many of us on Thursday, but on that day we have a good excuse because we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving. Please don’t hear This as a judgment of what we should and should not enjoy. Besides sugar, of course, there are the effects of more serious addictive substances on our society. We plug into entertainment day and night. Sports games and team loyalty have become the new religion. Revenue from media and entertainment is anticipated to reach $2.2 trillion by 2021. And, let me tell you, I am so excited for a new season of the Crown. [3] With all these distractions, have we, the church, lost the passion and the courage of the early Christians and the Pilgrims? Have we lost our hunger for the love of Christ, so that we substitute something else instead? We return to the 12 steps of spirituality for some insight into these questions …. in “Breathing Under Water,” Richard Rohr says “The reason that [Alcoholics Anonymous] has been more successful than most churches in actually changing people and helping people is that it treats addiction both spiritually and as an illness, rather than as a moral failure or an issue of mere willpower … [A.A. reminds us] that addicts are souls searching for love in all the wrong places, but still searching for love.” [4] And so I wonder, Do you think that we are all dealing with an addiction to the culture? Are we searching for love in all the wrong places? My friends, making Christ sovereign in our lives means waking up from our slumber. You might say we are being invited to have a spiritual awakening. Making Christ sovereign does what Paul told the Colossians: it transfers us from us from the powers of darkness, whatever they may be for us, to the Kingdom of the beloved Son. In this transformation our primary allegiance becomes to Christ, over all things. Our citizenship and allegiance is first and foremost to God’s Kingdom, which embraces all of humanity. Because This is an entirely different kind of King. May all God’s people say Amen [1] Rohr, Richard. Breathing Under Water : Spirituality and the Twelve Steps (p. 126). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition. [2] McKenzie, Robert Tracy. The First Thanksgiving . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. [3] https://medium.com/singulardtv/30-stats-that-reveal-the-economics-of-the-entertainment-industry-18e9a5db493b [4] Rohr, Richard. Breathing Under Water : Spirituality and the Twelve Steps (p. 115). Franciscan Media. Kindle Edition.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
If you enjoy a sermon or have a question, please leave a comment. If you would like to quote any of my material in your own sermons or writings, please use appropriate attribution. I look forward to hearing from you!Archives
April 2022
Categories |