Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent

“Rejoice always,

pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Amen.

This Sunday the children and youth of our congregations will be working together to present their Christmas pageant. This year’s pageant tells the Christmas story through the eyes of a candymaker, telling a mythological story of how the candy cane came about: the white candy to remind us of Christ’s purity, the stripes to remind of how he suffered, the cane shape to remind us of the Good Shepherd, and the hardness to remind us that Christ is our Rock. These children have been working hard to prepare to present this pageant. They have practiced on Sunday afternoons, and are ready to share what they have learned.

As our Advent season passes the halfway point, what have we learned? What have we heard, seen, encountered? What have these two-plus weeks taught us about waiting, about looking forward, about what is to come?

In our readings for Advent we hear the call of John the Baptist, we hear Isaiah’s promises about the coming Messiah. We hear promise and hope and expectation.

From Paul, our second reading, which is quoted above, we hear more about how to prepare, and it is all simple, beautiful stuff.

Rejoice, always.

Rejoicing isn’t always easy. It isn’t always easy to take the breath, the time, in the midst of “to do” lists and shopping and cleaning and preparing. It isn’t always easy to stop and rejoice. And yet, that’s not what we’re being asked. Rejoice, always. Not, “stop and rejoice,” but “rejoice, always.” In all you do, be joyful. Again, not always easy, but not something we have to see as disconnected from everything else we do.

Pray without ceasing.

Hear again the continual nature of this call. “Pray without ceasing,” Paul urges us. In all we do, during all we do, in the midst and breath and moments of all we do, pray.

Give thanks in all circumstances.

Another one that we can easily come up with excuses for not doing, and yet isn’t so difficult after all. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Not so difficult.

This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

It is the will of God that we be in relationship with God. After all, that’s what rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks all have in common. God just wants to love us, that we may love God, and love each other.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Reflection for Christ the King Sunday

“And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

This Sunday we celebrate the festival of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the church year. Our liturgical calendar is set up with Advent as the first season, the beginning of the year. Therefore, this Sunday is the last Sunday of the year. It’s hard to believe that we are so close to Advent, but we are.

           

This is also our last Sunday before Thanksgiving, a time when we celebrate all that we have been given, all the bounties of God’s creation, all the good things in our lives. Whether we gather together with family for a big feast, or celebrate quietly at home, it is a holiday when we can take special time apart to recognize that all we have comes from God.

But what do Thanksgiving and Christ the King have to do with each other? How do we celebrate these two events together? Though we ought to recognize that we give thanks to God on Thanksgiving, it is really a secular holiday, one focused on consumption, and acting as a gateway to the Christmas buying season.

Well, I think that our reading from Paul this week may give us some idea of the answer. “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

Fullness is certainly something that we can associate with Thanksgiving, but there is more here. We may have trouble identifying with the term “Christ the King.” After all, we aren’t a people who have regular experience with kings; it’s just not something we are familiar with. But this line from Paul gives us an idea, and when coupled with Thanksgiving, it may be one we can really hold on to.

“And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things…”

God, who has created all things, has put Christ over all things, the head over all things, with the church as his body. When we celebrate Thanksgiving, and praise God for all that has been created, we can also celebrate Christ the King, and praise God for this marvelous head that leads us into all creation, boldly, without fear.

The one who made all things, rules all things, holds all things, loves all things, is the one who made us, who loves us, who leads us.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.