11-17-2019 Luke 21-5-19 | Fr. Randall

Twenty-one Sundays ago we began this season after Pentecost. During these many weeks we have been invited to hear the teachings of Jesus and to be challenged to become what he taught. Today is the last Sunday in this cycle. It is commonly known as Christ the King Sunday. In the gospel, Jesus is nailed to the cross: humiliated, tortured, and killed. He bears no resemblance to the king the world envisions. The kingship of Jesus occurs through the reversals that he lived throughout his ministry. He preached that the first shall be last, and the last first within his kingdom. He has lifted up the lowly, included the outcast, glorified the humble. The crucified Jesus is the moment he becomes what he preaches, and through death, becomes triumphantly alive forever.

As Episcopalians we keep time in two ways. One is following the calendar year beginning on January 1. The second is a liturgical calendar that begins next week with the season of Advent. Whenever we hear the word liturgical or liturgy we may think of the order of service as we see it printed in our service leaflet, or the order of seasons on the church calendar. That is really missing the original significance of the word liturgy. It is the combination of two words, “people” and “work.” May we be challenged today to reflect on Christ’s life and death as in fact one liturgy; and as Christians whose lives are “in Christ,” formed and shaped in his likeness, we constitute a liturgy also. As we gather to worship each week we are assigning worth to what we value. Through our liturgy (work) we become like the God we worship (value the most.)

This is why we make a commitment to St. Dunstan’s this time of year. As we celebrate the risen life of Jesus in our shared community, we are being the risen life of Jesus in this world we live. Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia!