What’s a king? To those of us living in the time of a constitutional monarchy, the sovereign is a pretty distant figure without much power or authority. For many of us, royalty is associated with a glamorous lifestyle and tabloid journalism. Does calling Jesus “king” have meaning for us? David would have had one understanding of what it meant to be a king; Pilate would have had another understanding of what a king was. When we sing our hymns that call Jesus our sovereign, what do we mean?
GordW
Posted on: 11/16/2009 13:40
ANd I have got my opening thoughts up too. I am thinking that we as Christians may need to be a bit more subversive..
Hello -- I am focusing on the Reign of Christ as well, and the John 18 reading. It is also our "consecration Sunday" -- the end of our annual stewardship campaign, and time to offer our pledges for the coming year. Which seems appropriate for the day.
There are a few things that strike me. The first is that Jesus wants to talk about the kingdom, not about being a king. It seems important. Jesus belongs to a kingdom that is not of this world. Jesus was born to testify to the truth. But Jesus does not spend a lot of time claiming kingship. It's almost as if he knew this was a distraction to his purpose -i.e. "It's not about me being a celebrity, or about others' expectations of what a king would do, it's about the kingdom of God that I have come to proclaim!"
The other thing that seems important is that the question of kingship (loyalty, authority, etc) comes up at a time of extreme danger. Perhaps it reminds us that it is when the going gets rough that our loyalty/vision/understandings are tested. When your back is up against the wall, when you are down to your last dime, when your life is in peril, who are you then? And whose are you?
shalom
Jim Kenney
Posted on: 11/20/2009 00:06
This is the Sunday to use the Empire of God theme -- How is God's Empire different from human empires? How is it the same? (To belong to the empire is to submit / surrender to the empire) Again, clergychikita's issues of loyalty and authority along with fidelity and persistence.
I was an anarchist before heading off to theological school. In my third year, it was a privilege to take a course which explored the sermon on the mount as an anarchist peace manifesto. Could it be that Jesus is about distributing the power of the empire equally to all its members?
Comments
GordW
Posted on: 11/16/2009 13:39
From the UCCan Worship REsource Gathering
Sermon Starter
What’s a king? To those of us living in the time of a constitutional monarchy, the sovereign is a pretty distant figure without much power or authority. For many of us, royalty is associated with a glamorous lifestyle and tabloid journalism. Does calling Jesus “king” have meaning for us? David would have had one understanding of what it meant to be a king; Pilate would have had another understanding of what a king was. When we sing our hymns that call Jesus our sovereign, what do we mean?
GordW
Posted on: 11/16/2009 13:40
ANd I have got my opening thoughts up too. I am thinking that we as Christians may need to be a bit more subversive..
You can check it out HERE
clergychickita
Posted on: 11/19/2009 15:28
Hello -- I am focusing on the Reign of Christ as well, and the John 18 reading. It is also our "consecration Sunday" -- the end of our annual stewardship campaign, and time to offer our pledges for the coming year. Which seems appropriate for the day.
There are a few things that strike me. The first is that Jesus wants to talk about the kingdom, not about being a king. It seems important. Jesus belongs to a kingdom that is not of this world. Jesus was born to testify to the truth. But Jesus does not spend a lot of time claiming kingship. It's almost as if he knew this was a distraction to his purpose -i.e. "It's not about me being a celebrity, or about others' expectations of what a king would do, it's about the kingdom of God that I have come to proclaim!"
The other thing that seems important is that the question of kingship (loyalty, authority, etc) comes up at a time of extreme danger. Perhaps it reminds us that it is when the going gets rough that our loyalty/vision/understandings are tested. When your back is up against the wall, when you are down to your last dime, when your life is in peril, who are you then? And whose are you?
shalom
Jim Kenney
Posted on: 11/20/2009 00:06
This is the Sunday to use the Empire of God theme -- How is God's Empire different from human empires? How is it the same? (To belong to the empire is to submit / surrender to the empire) Again, clergychikita's issues of loyalty and authority along with fidelity and persistence.
I was an anarchist before heading off to theological school. In my third year, it was a privilege to take a course which explored the sermon on the mount as an anarchist peace manifesto. Could it be that Jesus is about distributing the power of the empire equally to all its members?
Shalom,
JIm