This was given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on November 21, 2004. The Scriptures are from Colossians 1: 11-20 and Luke 23: 33-43…

As I note at the beginning of the ‘live’ recording, this was a Methodist church and so contains some references to Methodist ‘traditions’… but the MESSAGE is for ALL Christians Everywhere!?! PLEASE do not be distracted by ‘things’ that bear no meaning to the True ‘Story of Christ’!!!

       I am an American! And I’m proud to be an American! I can stand up tall, raise my head and shout to the world, ‘I am an American!’ Being American is great! We have no king to bow down or kneel to… we are beholden to no one! We are self-sufficient… what we do with our lives is totally up to us!  We are taught from birth that we can do and be anything that we want… our only limits are those we might impose on ourselves… we can be as great… or as humble… as we choose to be!

       In fact, I have a real problem with the whole concept of bowing or kneeling to anyone! I recall one of the early Star Trek episodes in which the bad guy-king was using his kinetic abilities to force Captain Kirk to kneel before him… Kirk resisted with every bit of physical strength that he had until his legs were forced to bend and put him on the floor. Even then, his mind refused give-in as he told the being just what he thought of him, until even his mouth was ‘forced’ to say words the bad guy wanted to hear but Kirk did not mean.

       No kings for Captain Kirk! And no kings for any of us Americans, either! The whole idea is preposterous! That’s what we fought a war for 200-some years ago… to do away with kings and monarchs and any-and-all types of all-powerful rulers… not for us! We rule ourselves, thank you very much! We are independent and free… free to think and do whatever we want! We are Americans!

       Today is ‘Christ the King’ Sunday. The Book of Worship describes it simply as, “The Last Sunday after Pentecost, which is also the last Sunday of the Christian Year… It is a celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ and the completion of creation.” Now, growing up, as I did, in a completely different denomination, I might be excused for not knowing or understanding just what all of that means… but it amazes me, sometimes, to find that many of those who were brought up in this and similar denominations are sometimes just as clueless as I am, or at best, very vague on the concept. And it doesn’t help when much of what I turn-up in a search of the internet really doesn’t tell me any great specifics either. All I can tell you is what I have gathered from various sources as I have made my way along this path to be your pastor… and that is, essentially, that since the Birth of Christ is the beginning of Christianity, we consider that time of anticipation just before His birth… what we call Advent… as the beginning of the Christian year. That, of course, is followed by the Christmas season, which lasts through the Epiphany of the Lord. We then go through what is deemed ‘ordinary time’ until we reach Lent, and then Easter… The ‘Great Three Days’ from sunset Holy Thursday through Easter Day are considered the climax of the Christian year, which is followed by what is called, again, ‘ordinary time’… until we reach today… the last Sunday after Pentecost.

       Christ the King Sunday! The verses from Jeremiah 23: 1-6 predict the coming of a “King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 68-79, we acknowledge that coming… “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago).”

       Christ the King Sunday! Our other verses from Luke this morning tell a small part of the story of the Passion of Christ… His Crucifixion on a wooden cross propped up between two thieves, being mocked and sneered at as He suffered and died one of the most horrible deaths mankind has ever devised for one of its own… all for our sakes… the ‘completion of creation’, if you will! And in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he tells us that, “‘Christ’ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

       Christ the King Sunday! I was told something once that you may find as shocking as I did… God is NOT an American! But I have to admit, He’s not!! God is God! It is only through our own arrogance and conceit that we might even think such a thing! In fact, the truth of the matter is that we Americans have been vain enough to try to Americanize Christianity! In many, many ways, the face of Christianity in this country looks far more like us than like Christ! Is it any wonder that the rest of the world has trouble seeing the good of Christ in anything we do?

       Christ the King Sunday! Yes, I am an American! And yes, I am proud of the fact that I will never have to bow down to any earthly leader! But… I do have a King! And as hard as it might be for me, an American, to do… I had better learn how to bend my legs and humbly bow before the Lord! I had better learn how to stop trying to force my wants and my desires over what the Lord’s are!

       Christ the King Sunday! In fact, the truth of the matter is that we, as a nation, had better start to acknowledge God as God and not as one of Uncle Sam’s servants… Because He isn’t… He… is… God!!! How many times can I say that?!

       Today is Christ the King Sunday. Let us honor Him as our Lord and Saviour. Let us grant His sovereignty over all nations, and stop trying to mold Him into what we think we want as a ‘god’. Let us acknowledge Him as our King, and humble ourselves as we bow down before His Greatness.

       Today is Christ the King Sunday. Amen. Let all of God’s people say… Amen!