Beyond the Patio

Who or What Rules in Your Life?
Luke 23:33-43

What rules in today’s world?

Day be day we are facing  more and more Government cuts in essential services which is adversely affecting the wellbeing of many people.  Also,  the cost of living increases. The cost of housing in many cities has gone sky high. Those selling say  it’s what the market can bear, and it is certainly lucrative for them, but it is beyond the reach of young families.  People living on what was considered a middle income no longer can afford to buy a house or even to live in some communities.  But as long as there are some people who can make big profits those prices will continue to escalate. Economics appear to rule.

It is true in all aspects of our life.  All things are measured by whether or not they are economically viable. It is not whether they are good or the best thing that we can do for people. The only criteria is whether there is money to be made or at least held on to. I remember when I was ordained I went up into Northern Saskatchewan to a parish which had five congregations and they were about thirty-five miles apart. Even with all five congregations they couldn’t pay their way. But it was felt that it was very important to keep those churches alive and that those Christian communities were essential in the lives of the people. Therefore they would be maintained. So they were supported by other parishes in the diocese and nationally. Those kind of churches today are being closed because there is a different mentality that says, “If they are not economically viable, they don’t have the right to exist.” Economics rule.

At times advertising seems to rules. A number of years ago I worked on a national committee which was responsible for the Anglican Appeal for the North and Overseas. We were in competition with a lot of campaigns for funds (some of these campaigns had high administrative costs) but we were aware that often it was the ones with the greatest advertising budget often got the money. It was not the most needy cause that got the money, not the most worthwhile use of funds, but those that had the most glitz in their advertising campaign.

We can also say that Marketing rules. We know that it is not always the best products that get sold, but what is marketed the best.

We can see that there are times when weapons appeared to rule. Power struggles in the world can be summed up as a desire to rule. Certainly the ones with the most powerful weapons have the advantage in these struggles. Today, those that want to rule must have nuclear weapons, as well as chemical and biological weapons as part of their arsenal.

When you think about it, you can see that a lot of things rule our lives. In the end you can even say that death rules.

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Today when we celebrate the Reign of Christ, what does it mean for Christ to rule in our lives.?

The image that we are presented today in the Gospel is Christ dying on the Cross in a sacrifical act of Love with the words above him saying, “The King of the Jews”. For those that put that sign there it was a kind of mockery, but little did they know the truth of it. Christ is the King. The way of Christ ….a way of love…a way of servanthood, and a way of utter responsibility for our lives and our world, does rule.

Do you remember that little piece that was quite popular a number of years ago. Johnny Cash even put it into a song: It was called One Solitary Life.

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place that he was born. He never did one of those things that accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while he was dying, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today he is the centrepiece of progress and I am far within my mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected human life upon this earth as has that one solitary life.

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One of the thieves on the Cross beside Jesus said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom (into your power and authority)” . Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you ,today you will be with me in Paradise.” I suppose you could say that many people who witnessed the crucifixion refused to recognize Jesus as King, but nevertheless he was crowned as he hung on the cross in this thief’s life. He continues to be crowned in the lives of many people today.

Frederick Buechner in his book, The Sacred Journey tells of how a simple sentence spoken by George Buttrick, the minister at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, made such a profound difference in his life.  Buttrick was preaching about the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness:

Buttrick said that Jesus refused the crown that Satan offered him in the wilderness, but he is king nevertheless because again and again he is crowned in the hearts of the people who believe in him. And that inward coronation takes place “among confession and tears, and great laughter”. (1)

Buechner said that when he heard that sermon and especially the phrase “in great laughter”, for reasons that he didn’t understand, ” the great wall of China crumbled and Atlantis rose up out of the sea, and on Madison Avenue, at 73rd Street, tears leapt from my eyes as though I had been struck across the face.” (2)

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When the Coronation of Christ takes place in our hearts we take on a certain life style. One of the definitions for stewardship that I have always liked is, “ordering ones life,(a style of life) so that the Gospel of Christ can be shared with all people.” We order our lives in love , service and responsibility no matter how foolish that may seem sometimes. It may not even be economically feasible, it may not be politically appropriate, it may not be politically correct, and it may be risky. We may have to stand up for the rights of others who are not considered all that popular putting ourselves under suspicion. We may serve others, help them, associate with them even when we don’t want to, because it is not what we want to do sometimes, but it is what love demands.

Sometimes we don’t want to take responsibility for the world –we want to give up on the world — that is not Christ’s way. Christ acted in a sacrificial way to save the world. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son…” Sometimes we want God to fix everything , forgetting that God has given us the gifts, talents and skills to do God’s work. There is a prayer that I have heard somewhere.  It is a prayer that I have tried to make my own:

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;
For we know that you have made us instruments of peace and that we
must find our own path to peace, within ourselves and our neighbours.

We cannot pray to you, O God, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources which would feed the entire world,
if we would only use them wisely.

We cannot pray to you O God, to root out prejudice,
For you have already given us the eyes which to see the good in all people

We cannot pray to you O God, to end disease
or you have already given us great minds to search out cures and healing
if we would only use them constructively we would only use them rightly.

We cannot pray to you, O God to end despair
For you have already given us the power to clear away slums and to give hope
If we would only use our power justly

Therefore we pray to you instead O God, for strength, determination, and willpower
to do instead of just to pray, 
to become instead of merely wish.

LOVE, SERVICE, RESPONSIBILITY to live by those words, is to bring about the Reign of Christ as a reality and not just a wish.

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(1) Frederick Buechner Sacred Journey, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982 p. 108-109

(2) The Alphabet of Grace . New York; Seabury, 1970, p. 43-44

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