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“Questions to Ask” based on John 18:33-27
Today is “Reign of Christ Sunday,” which used to be called “Christ the King Sunday” … which means that I’d really like to spend some time thinking about how it would feel to talk about “Christ the Queen” Sunday, but ALAS it is also “Giving Sunday” (the culmination of our Stewardship Campaign), AND it is the day we are doing our Church Conference AND it is my first Sunday in the pulpit after 8 weeks off, and there just seems to be a lot to talk about all at once.
Let me start with this: It is well with my soul.
I really needed the time off, I was closer to burn out than I knew. I was hurting more than I knew. I was more desperately in need of quiet time with God than I knew – and that simple fact taught me a lot.
Friends, one of my greatest temptations in life is the temptation to be EFFICIENT. I like to get things done, and the particular reality of clergy work is that there is always more work to get done than can actually be done. These are a bad combination, and all too often I’ve allowed them to get in the way of simply connecting with God.
Yet, I’d imagine that if any of you were thinking about the most important thing you want from your faith leader, it would be that I am grounded in my relationship with God. (Hmmm, ok, it occurs to me that you are a vibrantly diverse community and lots of you would have other answers, but I think this would be NEAR the top at least.)
Over the course of my leave, I sought to take an hour a day to simply be with God, most of the time in silence. It was GLORIOUS. I remembered grace from the inside out. I found peace within. And I realized that by prizing efficiency over my own spiritual well-being I’d been draining my own resources and doing a dis-service to those trusting me to remain grounded.
So the most important things I want you to know about my leave is that I found my “Quiet Center”, and that I realized I need to keep it. Start next week, I want to invite you to do some of that seeking and finding too, because I don’t think I’m alone in needing it, but that’s Advent, and this is Reign of Christ, and I’m ready to talk about that now.
For some, this leads to the REALLY good question, “What is Reign of Christ Sunday?” and it is the last Sunday of our liturgical year, and as such we set it aside as a time to remember that God is God and we are not, and the kindom of God is the goal of our lives, and other things are not. Or, in more traditional language, God is King and the Kings and Queens and Leaders of this world are NOT the most important ones to us.
This, I hope, leads us to the big questions of, “What does that look like?” and “How does that matter?” Which is fantastic, because those are the questions that link together Reign of Christ Sunday with Giving Sunday and Stewardship.
Without God, consumerism, Capitalism, and all sorts of other systems that define our value by our economic input and output, and place competition to survive at the center our lives become the default. The Kings, Queens, and leaders vary, but the systems that oppress, dominate, and compete just take on different names and variations.
When we talk of the Reign of Christ or the Kindom of God, we’re talking about an entirely different value system. One where the value of life is inherent, and the goals are collective well-being and collaboration. One where we work towards everyone thriving, without exception.
And THAT is why we give of our resources to build the kindom of God. In the United Methodist Church our membership vows say that we “faithfully participate in the church’s ministries with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.” That’s pretty extensive, and it is a helpful metric. In fact, I think it is helpful to consider how we give of those 5 things within the church and how we use them beyond the church community as well – in our beyond the church kindom building.
How are we using prayer to build up the church community and its ministries? And how are we using prayer to build up the community at large? For me, prayer is about connecting with the Divine, finding God’s wisdom within me, slowing down enough to notice what really matters, and becoming more whole. It is my hope that when I pray, and become more whole, I am more useful to the church and to the community at large. But again, more on that later.
How do we use our presence to build up the church community and its people? And how does our presence act as a blessing beyond the church? Well this one got complicated at the start of the pandemic, didn’t it? One of my favorite confirmation class moments was when the students told me that they feel more open to the Divine when other people who they trust are also present and seeking the Divine, and that’s why they think people commit to each other to show up for worship. I hadn’t found those words before they did, and I think about their wisdom a lot! However, we’re now living in a reality where showing up is more complicated – it may be the blessing of presence but it can ALSO be the danger of exposure!! The work of navigating that tension has been exhausting!! That said, the questions matter just as much as ever, and the need to struggle with how to be “present” and what that looks like is more important than ever.
How do we use our gifts to build up the church and its ministries, and how do we use them to build up the world? Now, while I believe we are all blessed with a multitude of gifts, I think this vow is really largely financial gifts, which don’t fall into other categories. We live in a society with incredible income disparity, much like Jesus did. The Poor People’s campaign estimates that 45% of our NY state population lives in poverty,1slightly higher than the 43.5% nationwide. Clearly, members of our church come from a wide range of socio-economic standings, and what people are able to give varies widely. Kevin and I believe in tithing, and we are able to tithe, so we do. But that doesn’t actually feel sufficient to us. We aim to contribute similar giving to other organizations and worthy causes, which is a goal we’re still working on. But we seek to use our financial resources for the well-being of the church AND of the world. We know that we are lucky to be able to give, and we are grateful to have a church to give to that we believe in, and to know that there are so many fantastic non-profits we wish to support.
How do we use our service to build up the church and its ministries, and how do we use our service to build up our communities? This, I think, is the place for the wider interpretation of “gifts.” I remain amazed at the many gifts present in the Body of Christ – from music to knowing how to help people navigate Social Services to making sure our roofs get repaired and SO MUCH MORE. Furthermore, the contributions that church members make in the community gets noticed – people think there are MORE OF US than there are, because of the contributions that get made. However, these sorts of gifts require some tending to as well. We’re living in an era of BURN OUT, and things that were once life-giving can become life-draining. God isn’t interested in consuming us… or burning us out, and so we have to pay attention to the service we give. On the other hand, there are many ways we can stretch and grow, and PLAY in service, so sometimes a simple change in where we serve can bring relief. Finally, serving is one of the most enjoyable parts of life, and if you need help finding a place to serve, I’m your person!
That leaves us with witness. How do we use our witness to build up the church and its ministries, and how do we use it to build up the world? I suspect many people have the Francis of Assisi answer’s ready, “preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” I love that answer myself, although these days it sounds a little bit too easy, and maybe not quite true enough. People in society are far too often MEAN these days, and I have some fear that many of us are… people in society. We get triggered. We get impatient. We get stressed. We get bored. We get scared. And we act out in ways that do not preach the gospel at all. I know we all WANT to be expressions of God’s love in the world, and I know NONE of us are capable of enacting that perfectly, nor do we need to be judged for our imperfection. Yet the questions remain, how do we use our witness? And maybe that comes with another question, that is “how do I let God build me up so that I have enough love to share?” And, funny enough,that goes back to prayer, to Advent, to quiet, to God, and to the things I’m going to get around to next week and throughout Advent.
Loving God means loving God’s people and God’s creation. Loving God’s people and creation means taking responsibility for their well-being, and THAT means paying attention to the use of our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. AND THAT is how we aim to recognize Christ as our Queen, or our King, as the one we aim to serve.
May God help us as we wrestle with the responsibilities of faith. Amen
1https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/CostofPoverty_FINAL.pdf
Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she/her/hers
November 21, 2021