A Little Bit Sheepish

Have you gotten your flu shot yet? Seen your doctor for your annual checkup? Sometimes we can get a little nervous going to the doctor, wondering what they might find, or hearing again that we need to lose weight or eat less sugar. Sometimes we get hard news from the doctor, but it’s only because the doctor cares about us and wants us to have the best health possible.

Read Psalm 100 and Matthew 25:31-46.

Rev. Lindsey Armstrong compares this Gospel passage to a doctor check up, saying that this passage is less designed to condemn people than it is to inspire us to check up on how we are living out our salvation. 

How did you feel reading this Matthew passage? Did you identify with the goats, or did you feel a little sheepish?

Either way, it’s important to remember that as Jesus tells this story, both the sheep AND the goats are surprised by what he tells them. The sheep did not care for the least of these because they knew it would earn Jesus’ favor. The sheep served their brothers and sisters because they were living out the salvation they had freely received.

Jesus once again points out that how we live today really matters – that how we treat each other matters to God. Mission Sunday is about having a check up on our faithful lives – are we living out our salvation? Are we actively caring for the least of these? Are we being faithful to our commitments to Let’s Help, Doorstep, Topeka Rescue Mission, and VIDA? Psalm 100 calls us God’s people, God’s sheep in the pasture – are we living up to that identity?

Lest we think we are too good to associate with the hungry and the thirsty, Matthew makes it clear: the powerful One on the throne is also the hungry, the thirsty, the poor. Our shepherd king who knows His flock is also the vulnerable, weak, and dependent. As we serve those in need, our hearts and our lives are transformed by the power of the Spirit, and we see in the least of these not just the face of Jesus but our own image as well. Praise be to the God of the least of these. May we all be a little more sheepish.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Christ the Unlikely King

When you hear the word ‘king’ or ‘kingdom’ what do you think of? Do you stay biblical because a pastor is writing this and think of King Saul/David/Solomon? King Herod? Do you travel into mythology and think of King Arthur or King Midas? Or into fiction and think of all the competing Kings & Queens in Game of Thrones, the Lion King, the King of Siam and his relationship with Anna? Or do you think of historical kings like King Henry VIII or King George? Or maybe as a  sports fan, King James or Jerry Lawler the King come to mind?

A claim to kingship is present in the Scripture readings today: John 18:33-37 and Psalm 93.

We certainly don't tend to think of current kings; we usually don't tend to think of ourselves as being part of a kingdom, submitting and obedient to a king. And yet Jesus' response to Pilate's accusation should strike us to the core. Just when we are thinking we are free to do what we want when we want, Jesus' words draw us back in to remind us just who and what we belong to.

In our country where we have rejected the tyranny of kingship, it's even more important to reclaim that word 'king' by naming Jesus Christ our unlikely king - a king who shares power by empowering others to do the work of the kingdom. In a world where kingdom brings up images of abuse and oppression, it's even more important to reclaim 'kingdom' by describing the kingdom of God - one of equality, of inclusivity, of radical hospitality, where no one is hungry or thirsty or naked or lonely or without a family. 

As we reflect on Christ the King in the midst of Thanksgiving week, let us give thanks to Christ our King, for choosing us to belong to the kingdom of God - for choosing us to be sisters and brothers - for choosing us to share His inheritance - for choosing us to work to make this kingdom a reality. Let us give thanks that it is not up to us - that we have a redeemer King.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Jesus for President

     Let’s imagine  that there’s a 3^rd candidate in this 2012 presidential election - a man relatively unknown til about 3 yrs ago.  His name is Jesus and there’s a groundswell of support from bluecollar workers –union laborers –farmers & their families throughout the country.  The youth in particular are intrigued with this man who dresses like them in sandals and do rags and dreadlocks and doesn’t travel in limousines.  In fact, he only has a security team of 12. But wherever he goes people flock to him.
     You can read more about him and his election platform in Mark 8: 27-38.  He challenges us to get to know him better as he asks, "Not only do I want to know who the people say I am; but also I want to know who YOU say I am?"  The confounding and paradoxical thing about this candidate is that people seem to love him or hate him.
     I wonder if this tension arises from his platform:  ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' (Mark 8: 34b-38)
     Could this man be elected president?  Probably not.  But can he be our Lord - our Savior - our King - our God?  This is the real challenge of following him.  Eugene Peterson (The Message) says we have to let Christ have the driver's seat and that we have to forget ourselves.  Maybe our vote and our confession is that we commit to acting FOR others on behalf of the gospel - the good news that Jesus is NOT president - but a whole lot more.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
     

The Promise of a King and a Lamb

Sunday is April Fools' Day, technically not a holiday recognized by the church. But I think there is something to the fact that Palm Sunday is falling on April Fools' Day this year. Who do you think of when you think of fools, of something foolish? Today, in the workplaces or at school or even at church, we feel shame and humiliation if we say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. We don’t want to be fools – on April Fools' Day, we want to be the ones playing the tricks, not the ones being made a fool!

Read Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 and John 12:12-19.

The Gospel reading this week shapes how our Palm Sunday feels. It is mostly a joyful celebration of Jesus as the promised King, Jesus as the one to fulfill the covenant, Jesus as a miracle worker, who can bring life out of death. The people offer a welcoming parade, pledging their loyalty to Jesus as the King of Israel, running after him, stampeding after him. And yet, we end not with their joy, but the Pharisees as they continue to plot, their current plans being foiled yet again. Their presence, however, seems to be an ominous sign that reminds us of what will come later this week: a meal, a betrayal, a trial, a cross, a tomb.  

And yet, somehow, Jesus plays us all. Jesus takes on the role of the fool on Palm Sunday – riding in not on a warhorse but a young donkey, his feet probably dragging on the ground. Jesus the king rides the animal of peace, not the Messiah the people expected to violently overthrow Rome. Jesus lets the people call him king, knowing that later in the week they would be calling for his crucifixion. Jesus turns everything upside down, making wisdom foolish: emptying himself that we might be filled; saying that the last will be first and the first will be last, to save your life you must lose it; feeding multitudes with a couple loaves and fish; healing those who were said to be beyond help; and bringing life out of a dead Lazarus in a tomb. 

In a court, the fool or jester was the only one who could actually speak truth to power, who could actually criticize the king or queen or government, who could mock those in power through the gift of humor. It is said that Queen Elizabeth once threatened her fool because he did not criticize her severely enough! That is the role of Christ on April Fools' Day, on Palm Sunday: to subvert the Roman concept of Lord, to speak to the power of peace instead of violence, to find value in the people who are marginalized and oppressed. As a fool, Jesus invites people to see and live in the world in a different way. For Jesus himself is the stone that the builders rejected – only for that very stone to become the chief cornerstone, the foundation of it all. Jesus fools us, as we are promised a king and are given a sacrificial lamb. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” Thanks be to God for responding to our Hosannas with the foolishness of the Messiah, the only one who could really save us once and for all.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate