Throughout history:
Christians have lived in and under:
All sorts of political arrangements.

In empires and under emperors,
In democracies with presidents and prime ministers:

In monarchies with kings and queens:
With dictators in repressive regimes:
And in open societies with lots of rights and privileges.

Christians have lived in all of it.
And not a single one is explicitly “Christian.”

What has united all Christians throughout time:
Is that regardless of what earthly powers ordered Christians daily lives,
Those political regimes were only a secondary allegiance.

In truth:
All Christian’s throughout all time:
Owe their allegiance to Christ the king and the Kingdom of God.

And today:
Is Christ the King Sunday:

The final Sunday of the church year before advent begins.

So before we begin contemplating the baby in the manger:
We celebrate and place our allegiance:
In Christ the King.

When we think about Christ as king:
(If we even do it at all)
Many of us may have in mind the images of Jesus of a king with great
power:
Giving us the impression that he is similar to all other earthly kings,
Except maybe more powerful.

But our Gospel today brings into stark relief:
Who Christ’s kingship and his kingdom:
Are in contrast with any and all earthly power.

Today’s gospel reading is one that is often misunderstood.
With Pilate facing off against Jesus as almost a tragic figure, or even a sort
of antihero.
But make no mistake:
Pilate represents the monstrous powers of the earth:
The way that humans wield power and control over others through
violence, repression, and domination, standing in for the whole Roman
Empire.

It is fascinating to begin with that we don’t even have a king to king
showdown:
But instead, King Jesus face to face with Caesar’s REPRESENTATIVE:
Since Caesar himself is too high and mighty to approach his people (in
contrast to our incarnate King, Jesus.)

In the story:
Pilate asks if Jesus is a king.
But this question is complicated in translation.
(Remember that the Bible was not written in English!)

The real way that Pilate asks this question is sort of mockingly,
Like, “What? YOU? a king?!?”

How can this homeless man:
Not even a citizen:
Claim to be a king, when we have the great Caesar?

And yet:
This is still:
Even in its mocking scorn:
A matter of life and death.

To claim kingship contra Caesar:
Was to invite the death penalty.

And here’s another contrast between Caesar and Christ as king.

Caesar only has power at the expense of other people.
Jesus, though:
Is so powerful that we are invited to become more and more like him:
Drawing us closer to him:
Rather than making the separation greater.

But back to the story:
After Pilate asks the question:
Jesus answers, not directly, but affirmatively.

“My kingdom is not from this world”
Now again: There’s some translation issues here.
Some translations say “My kingdom is not OF this world”

OF or FROM:
Both are possible from the original Greek:
But saying “My kingdom is not of this world”
Gives the sense of it being otherworldly:
Not impacting our lives now:
Only dealing with an inner spirituals state or time after death.

But this is not what Jesus is saying.
The Kingdom of God is always crashing into our current reality:
Challenging and superseding it.

What Jesus is saying:
Is that his kingdom is based on:

Gets its power an authority from something higher.

His point is that he does not need violence to establish or maintain his
kingdom.
It is based in power far greater than that.

As we will see:
It is based in the sort of power that can conquer the seeming weakness
and failure: and suffering death on a cross.

Jesus then affirms his kingdom is rooted in truth:
Which is met by Pilates famous response:
Just after what we read today.
Pilate says:
“What is truth?”

But this isn’t a philosophical question (even if it seems that way)
Its again the mocking scorn of one who is power hungry and power
poisoned.

It’s more like he’s saying:
“what even is truth? And who even cares?
Truth doesn’t move the world:
Power does.”

And this gives us the final significant distinction:
Between the Kingship of Christ:

And the Kingship of earthly powers:

Christ’s kingdom is rooted in truth:
In speaking the truth:
And in seeking the truth.

In a world where power is built through misinformation:
This is a radical affirmation.

And we know:
That Christ will:
In his resurrection:
Become the king enthroned above:

But not before he is first enthroned on the cross:
A feat that no other earthly power is willing to experience.

The takeaway for all of us:
Is that Christ the King:
Is our ultimate power and authority.

We are under his dominion,
And we are called to follow our allegiance to him and no one else.

We are called to live lives of peace:
To be rooted in truth:
And to seek out that truth and follow it:

Even when it’s inconvenient and difficult:
Even when it goes contrary to our comfort.

And ultimately:
We are to become more and more like our king:
Recognizing that we too may be called to follow the way of the cross:
In witness against the powers of this world:
And in witness to our only true king.

Amen.

Good morning! And happy November!

The air is getting cooler,
The days are getting shorter:
And yet: the month of November is a steady celebration of harvest, abundance,
and gratitude.

And in the church:
This season begins with a very important celebration:
The celebration of All Saints day.

It’s a day of gratitude:
where we remember and honor the saints who have gone before us:
Those faithful and famous:
And those who we knew in our own time and lives.

As we celebrate All Saints day, we gather to remember those who have died,
And we anticipate the glorious resurrection that is yet to come:
For us, and for all who have gone before us.

It’s particularly special today,
Because we have these stones:
Formed out of the ashes of our brother Joe:

One of our own faithful departed.
These stones are a significant reminder that those who have died are still with us:
Still united to us in what the church calls “The great cloud of witnesses.”

On all Saints day:
We remember that we are not just individual followers of Jesus:
We are all united and connected to one another through the living God:
Or as our collect says today:
We are: “knit together in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of
Christ our lord.”

As we remember, honor, and pray for those who have died:
It feels funny at first to also talk about money.

That’s the other thing we’re doing today.
Kicking off this month of gratitude, with our stewardship Sunday.

Initially, I thought “how am I going to connect these two things?”
All saints and stewardship?
It feels so weird:
To honor those who have died,
And also talk about money.

Money seems meaningless in the midst of grief and death.
It’s why they say that old adage, “You can’t take it with you.”

It seems gauche to ask you to fill out a pledge card,
While also remembering those who have died.

But the more that I thought about it, and prayed about it:
The more it began to make sense.

Actually in a real “Jesus” Sort of way:
Everything I initially thought, got turned upside down:
And the Spirit brought new life:
To think about things more deeply, and differently.

There are, of course, practical reasons for asking you to give a portion of your
income to the church.

Practically speaking, we need income:
to keep the doors of this church open.
To keep the lights on,
To heat and cool the building:
To have a space to worship the living God,
And to provide grace, mercy and healing to each other, and all others.

And practically speaking:
We invite people to pledge their giving for the year,
So that we can set our budget:
And know what we can expect to work with to continue our ministries.

These practicalities are important, and they’re real.
But they’re also “first glance thinking”
(Until the Spirit turns it all upside down.)

It gets flipped upside-down when we realize that the knitting together of all the
faithful followers of Jesus is the whole point of the church.
That’s what All-saints day is.

This holy: All-saints celebration:
Is basically the epitome of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
To be knit together to all the faithful:
Placing our hope in the ultimate resurrection of the dead,
And the eager anticipation of our own glorious resurrections.

What I’m trying to say:
Is that the church exists in order to carry the legacy of Jesus, and all of his faithful
followers throughout the centuries.

So when we give to the church:
We’re preserving that legacy.
The legacy of Jesus which knits us together:
To those we love who have died,
And to those faithful that we’ve never met.

And if we’re being honest:
It makes sense to connect this honoring of those who have died,
With the financial responsibility to continue the mission of the church.

It is, after all,
At the moment of death:
Either or own, or that of our loved ones:
That we most long for the mission and legacy of Jesus: which is revealed to us
through the church.

It’s why an unresponsive loved one,
On a deathbed,
Might show signs of response during the recitation of the Lord’s prayer.

It’s why the 23 rd Psalm is such a comfort in times of grief and loss.
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death:
I shall fear no evil.”

It’s why Mary:
In today’s Gospel:
Weeps and says to Jesus “Lord! If you had been here, my brother would not have
died.”

And it’s these moments:
Of death and resurrection:

That are most pivotal to the life of Jesus:
To the life of the church:
And to the eternal life promised to us, and all the faithful departed.

But one more thing about this famous story of the raising of Lazarus.
While Mary and Martha are overcome with grief over the death of their brother:
Jesus cries out with a loud voice:
And Lazarus: Who was dead:
Came ourt:
Once again alive.

Except:
This was not resurrection:
In the way that Jesus was resurrected.

Lazarus is going to die again:
A human death,
Like each one of us.

His sisters (If still alive) will mourn and grieve him yet again.
But the message of Jesus:
The legacy of the saints, and all the faithful departed:
The hope of the church:
Is that death never has the last word.
Death is never the end of the story.

Because the end of the story is a new beginning:
A new heaven, and a new earth:
Resurrection of the body,
Life everlasting,
With all those who have gone before,
And all those who will come after.
United and knit together by Jesus himself.

But that new beginning isn’t here yet.
And it’s our job is to continue the legacy:
Carry the legacy of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
Pass on the legacy of the mission of the church:
And hold the legacy of all the saints:
Including those we have loved and lost.

I invite you today,
To two different ways that you can carry these united legacies.

You have two small cards today:
One a pledge card:
And one a blank card.

You know what the pledge card is for.

Offering up some of your income to continue the legacy of Jesus through the
mission of the church.

But the blank card is a little bit different.
I invite you to write the names of your own faithful departed:
Those loved ones in your life who have died:
So that we can honor and pray for them today:
Continuing their legacy:
As we wait for resurrection in the new heaven and the new earth.

(Please write as legibly as possible, so that I can pray the names out loud.)

And when you’re finished,
With one or both of the cards:
You can bring them to the altar:
And when the time is right:
I’ll lead is in prayer:
Prayer for all the faithful departed:
For those you name on your cards,

We’ll pray over Joes ashes:
And commit them to the living God.

We’ll pray for the continued mission of the church,
And we’ll pray for ourselves:

As we strive to continue and carry Jesus’ legacy.