On Friday night, I had the pleasure of watching The Women of Lockerbie, a play about the Pan Am Flight that was blown up over a small Scottish town in the late 1980’s. The play was at Florida State Community college and was directed by Ken McCullough, one of our beloved choir members. In an hour and a half, these brilliant college students took us into the horror and grief that developed as a result of this tragedy. They sobbed on stage, portraying aspects of grief that are rarely seen and never discussed in public. It was a play about the depths of human sadness and the way that love can begin to help it heal.
A 20-year-old boy was killed in the crash. His mother cannot recover from his death. She questions God. She questions everything. The boy’s father, her husband, concludes that God must be simply absent from this mess of a world. After all, how can God be in charge when things are so broken?
This is the question, isn’t it? If indeed God is King, Lord of all the Universe, then why does God allow the tragedies that occur? Why allow us to suffer? And why is the suffering so random, so unpredictably dispersed? Some people have such difficult lives while others of us seem to know such blessings. What kind of a system is this? Maybe God just danced with us at the beginning, in the creation, and then sent us off spinning into the Universe by ourselves…
Today is the final Sunday of the Christian year. Next Sunday, we will begin the season of Advent, or the coming, when we wait for the coming of Christ. But today we culminate another year of worship and prayer . This Sunday is called Christ the King Sunday. It seems that at the final Sunday of the Christian year, the Church recalls that God is in fact in charge. God has the final word.
Of course, the title King came originally to Jesus as slander. The term King of the Jews was used to mock him when he hung naked and helpless on a cross. It was a name that was designed to make Jesus feel shame. After all, he wasn’t being treated as a King but as a common criminal. King of the Jews. It was the name that was meant to get under his skin, the kind of name that you and I have been called, the one that plays again and again in our minds like a broken record when we don’t feel good about ourselves. King of the Jews. King of the Jews.
But Jesus turned that name around. With the power of the resurrection, he turned what was a shameful death into the ultimate act of power and forgiveness and we have been calling him King of the Universe since.
Do you remember the words of Handles Messiah, the Halleluia Chorus?
King of Kings
Lord of Lords.
He shall reign forever and ever.
Back in Jesus’ day, the best form of government was a peaceful kingdom, a kingdom ruled by someone who truly loved his subjects. A true king could bring peace and prospertity, like David and Solomon once had done. A king was someone who could literally change the world and make it a better place in which to live. The ideal king would be so smart, so almost divine that he would know how to make the most difficult of decisions and could render justice and instill goodness in the hearts of people. Under a true king’s rule, all things would be righted.
We no longer have this concept of kingship. It is just a fairytale to us. We just hope that our Presidents will boost the economy and not make too many horrific mistakes. We take the time to gossip and gawk as Prince William finally proposes to Kate Middleton, but its nothing that could effect our lives. It;s nothing more than something to gossip about, a beautiful wedding on TV. We certainly don’t believe that a king could fix anything. Kingdoms are usually either purely ceremonial or else corrupt and backward these days.
Think back to when you were a child, to the time when someone read you a fairytale. Think back to the good man who became King, married the beautiful Queen and rode off into the sunset. It was happily ever after when a good king came, remember? Sometimes, we can catch glimpses of this at the movies or at the Magic Kingdom, but it is hidden under special effects and sales pitches. So you must use your imaginations today to think of what a benevolent king could do and mean for a kingdom, and to reach back to understand what such a term meant in Jesus’ day.
But if Jesus is in fact the King that we all have been looking for, why do we suffer? Why do those who agree to submit to his rule still have bad things happen? What kind of a king lets his subjects suffer? What kind of a king allows cancer and hunger, homelessness and helplessness? There is so much beauty in the world, yes, but there is also so much pain.
At the beginning of the service, every week, we say Blessed be God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. And Blessed be the Kingdom, now and forever. Amen. Where is the kingdom? Does God rule here or not?
To realize that Jesus is King is to admit that Christ is in charge. And in order to admit that God is in charge, we must admit one more thing as well. We must admit that we do not understand that rule, that we do not have the answers.
People often ask me if their prayers make a difference. Will God do what I ask? They inquire. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, I say. But God does answer every time, often we just don’t see the answers. God does reign, but how exactly, we do not know.
Why is it so hard for us to admit that we do not know? Does God make cancer, no, I do not believe that, but cancer is part of what happens to many of us here. Here is what I believe it means when we say that Christ is King.
It means that despite all the things we do not understand, that everything will be alright. It means that we cannot see clearly here on this earth. One day, as St. Paul says, we will see face to face and everything will become clear, but until that time we are to trust, for subjects often do not understand the ways of the one who reigns, we are simply not capable. Christ’s kingship means that everything will be OK, that we too will one day live happily ever after. Maybe that is why the fairytales mean so much to us.
There is a beautiful video on YouTube. The Knight Foundation decided to fund a project called Random Acts of Culture. They hired opera singers, a conductor, and an incredible organist. This past October, on a random Saturday, they pulled off a random act of culture at Macy’s in downtown Philadelphia. The place was packed with shoppers getting a jumpstart on their Christmas shopping, as the camera runs, you see the crowds, the impatience, the anxiety as money is changed hands. And then something happens to break into the world of the mall.
All of a sudden, the organ begins to play. The organ at Macy’s in Philly is one of the most famous pipe organs in the world. And then, random people all over the store begin to sing The Halleluia Chorus from Handle’s Messiah. KING OF KINGS they sing! And LORD OF LORDS. KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. AND HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER.
All of a sudden the store changes. It becomes a vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. People begin to sing along, the smiles are huge. A baby is lifted into the air to dance. Old women and young children are looking up with radiance in their eyes. Some conduct. And oh, the smiles, the looks on the faces of these people. They are so beautiful.
The Kingdom was there all along, hidden in the midst of their harried lives. And when the music began, it was awakened. For a few moments, they knew as we know, that God is in charge and that everything will be OK.
Amen.
