RCL Year B (Epiphany 3) - January 25, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Epiphany 3) - January 25, 2009

Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62: 6-14
1 Corinthians 7: 29-31
Mark 1:14-20

This morning there are four more… Four more that join the ranks of that unlikely teacher from Nazareth. Four more, who, heard the man preach and decided that there was something to it. Four more, who will help lay the groundwork for the next 2000 years of history that followed.

Last week, we learned about two, Philip and Nathanael, who when told to come and see, decided to follow after originally doubting the integrity of anything that came out of Nazareth. And afterward declaring Jesus to be the Christ, the son of the Living God…

And today we have four more, Simon (who Jesus later called Petros or Rock) and Andrew his brother, who were simple fishermen… He saw them from a distance casting their nets, and were told to repent, and believe… He said to them, “follow me, and I will teach you to catch people”… repent, believe, and follow…

Then later that morning, a little further down the shore, he stumbles upon James and John, brothers, and sons of Zebedee, also fishermen, tired and mending their nets after a long evening of fishing… and he called them… repent, believe, and follow…

Four more, who after simply being asked, knew they were lacking something in their life that this man was offering… Four more, who left everything they had known and gave up the security and comfort of their family business to follow Jesus into a way of life that will eventually lead to ridicule, persecution and even their their death…

John the baptizer had just been arrested, and it was time for Jesus to step forward and proclaim the Good News… the Good News that God was up to something!… The good news that the kingdom of the living God was here to retake control of the world that God had created. This was indeed Good News… it was God’s news…

But the Evangelist, Mark, isn’t big on the details… the message is short, simple, and very direct. Repent, Believe, and Follow… Jesus calls them out of their everyday ordinary lives, the fishermen believe, then they put down their nets and followed... They followed without question, without regard for their own life, or questions about the difficult journey ahead of them.

I wonder what that would look like today? I wonder how many of us would really give up everything we trusted, our security, everything we relied on in our ordinary lives, just to follow a teacher just because a great teacher told us to?

I don’t believe that any of us would! We wouldn’t, would we? We have trouble getting out past our own front gates, carrying with us the teaching that takes place within these walls!!! We are scared, uncomfortable, and worried about what “others” will think!

We are more like Jonah of our Old Testament lesson, who didn’t want to go to Nineveh… He was so worried what the Ninevites would think of him, when he brought them God’s warning of their demise. He knew God, and how much God loves! And he also knew that regardless of how angry God was, God would forgive the Ninevites if they repented. Jonah knew that if God forgave them then he (Jonah) would be considered a “false prophet” and being a "false prophet" made him subject to being cast out of society completely or worse yet, stoned to death…

He whined and cried about it to God… "I don’t want to go to Nineveh… Please Lord, don’t send me to Nineveh… I don’t want to go!"

So, what did God do? He sent a great fish to come swallow Jonah up and take him across the sea to Nineveh and spit him out on the beach… And there Jonah is called again to deliver God’s message. This is where we pick up the story this morning… Jonah warns the Ninevites that God will destroy them… The Ninevites repent and turn to God… and God forgives them just as Jonah suspected…

Scott, Jim and I just got back from our annual diocesan convention. When we were there, we engaged the business of this wonderful diocese that we are all a part of in all of its rich diversity. A place where Bishop Curry has proclaimed that ALL are welcome. A place were disciples are made - who are sent out to make disciples and make a difference in this broken world.

Each and every one of us, as Christians, are called to be followers of Jesus, and part of that following includes bringing others into the glorious presence of the Jesus whom we know and love… and who loves us without limits… who forgives us, and wants us to love and forgive each other.

Jesus meets us… each and every one of us right were we are in our common and ordinary lives. He meets ALL of us… white, black, red, or yellow, American, Mexican, African, Iraqi, Arab, Chinese…. ALL of us… and asks us to repent, believe, and follow.

Jesus teaches us a deep lesson in the simple, direct story of his call to Andrew, Simon, James, and John. Jesus called, and they went, without question! We should do likewise… Jesus is calling each and every one of us right here… Right where we are. Right here in Cleveland, NC. Jesus calls us to go out into the community here and live the good news of Jesus Christ in our lives…

He calls us to be so filled with the spirit that we are excited about what we have got going on in this wonderful place. He calls us to give so much of ourselves, our everything, our all, that all that we have and all that we are lives for him.

What would Cleveland look like if we did that? What would Christ Church be like if we did that? What would this Church be if we made some noise in this community about the mission we have to reconcile the world to God through Christ? Our mission statement say that we are followers of Jesus Christ…

If we live out our mission as his followers, that means that we are actively engaged as his disciples, out in the world, making disciples that make a difference. If we live out our mission, we are so distressed when we know that someone out there doesn’t know the wonderful forming, informing, and transforming message that God loves us, it there for us, protects us, comforts us, and offers us everlasting life.

If we live out our mission, we live Monday through Saturday the words we proclaim on Sunday… and if we live out our mission, Jesus provides the tools that we need to do the work he has given us to do. He equips us, and restores us continuously to do this great work.

We are called to repent, believe, and follow.

But following Jesus is tough work. I heard someone once say, “ministry is misery, but it is the most rewarding misery I have ever experienced”… How true it is.

You see, being a disciple, a true follower of our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ doesn’t mean that we are just “regular” Church goers… some say yep… that’s me, every Sunday like clock work, in the door by 10:30 out by 11:30 (or 11:45 if Ken preaches too long) then b-line straight out to the car to start another week… never darkening the door of a Christian Education classroom, parish house or engaging the community that should be feeding their soul.

Being a disciple means that we live for Christ. It means that every fiber of our being seeks to learn more about how to make the most of this life that God has go graciously given us. It means that we seek God’s guidance and grace as we use our resources to serve others.

It means we empty ourselves, step out of our comfort zones, and face the world head on… So why do we sit back and whine about how we don’t want to do that, or I don’t have any time, or we’re not that kind of people, or I did that when I was younger – so I don’t have to do it now? Instead of meeting the challenge of the call to seek to serve Christ, and really be a disciple?

Repent, believe, follow – it sounds simple but it’s pretty challenging work.

The nice part is, that we are not left to do it alone. Jesus is with us, just as he said it would be. Jesus goes with us out from this place out into the world.

The light of Christ shines so we can find our way out of the darkness of our ordinary everyday lives. If we follow him, Jesus is with us… in the sacrament of his body and blood that we share in communion, One body broken for us in this broken world. One cup that is poured out for us… We who are many are one… because we follow one…

Repent, believe, follow… just actions, no conditions, no excuses – just Repent, believe, follow… and let Jesus, the Christ lead. Amen!

RCL Year B (Advent 3) - December 14, 2008

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Advent 3) - December 14, 2008

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28


John the baptizer is an interesting character. We heard about John last week, he was in the wilderness crying out, “prepare the way of the Lord… Repent and turn to God.” And as I said last week, he is there to get us ready, to get us to move over and make room… to lay aside the encumbrances of this life, and allow God a place to dwell among us.

In this process he shakes things up. John the Baptist's words are urgent and disturbing that the Judaean priests and Levites come out to him and demand: "Who do you think you are?"

This morning, that is what the Gospel message is all about. And John’s answer is even more alarming. He is already shaking up things as they are; he is baptizing for the forgiveness of sins. But John is not the Christ, nor is he Elijah, nor is he the prophet Isaiah. He is just a voice a voice announcing that God is near, he is pleading with us to wake up, be baptized and wash away our sin, and prepare ourselves for the One who will liberate us.

John the Baptist is a witness to God's coming in the midst of that isolated and confined world that we call "our life"… a confinement formed by our self-deceiving thoughts that we are, perhaps, self-governing, advantaged, knowledgeable, or even economically stable.

I bid you last week to sit still and be silent… so you that you could listen carefully… listen for that prophetic voice of God that talks to us though unlikely messengers and invites us to the in-between spaces… listen and heed their warnings, so that when the time comes, we could be fully prepared!

Whether it's a "still small voice" or an impassioned prophetic cry, God's presence in our isolated lives often makes us uncomfortable. We think our lives are private, and want nothing to upset the stability, and the familiarity. So the slightest sound that may be from God, or any sense of a “small” voice that upsets our organized life, are unwelcome disturbances to us! They don't fit into that carefully created pattern of living…

The Priests and Levites who came out to confront John the Baptizer would understand this patter of thought. They wanted nothing to upset their stability, the familiarity of their lives organized around their traditional temple worship. They were deeply invested in their traditions, but evidently a great deal more invested in themselves rather than God. That's why John and his message was so threatening to them.

If John were really from God, if he really were a prophetic voice, then things as they knew it were going to change, they had too! But, they didn't want anything to change; they wanted things to stay exactly as they were. This changelessness, however, is not what God is about.

Like the Priests and the Levites, and like most human beings, people like things to stay just as they are – Change in things makes us “comfortable” - we like the safety and captivity of the lives we have made for ourselves.

We hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah about rejoicing in Jerusalem, and being clothed with garments of salvation, and a robe of righteousness. We hear that our labors shall not be in vain, that the captives will be free, and they will have the oil of gladness and a mantel of praise. These are comfortable words, and comforting promises. But the promises are only fulfilled by the passing away of what once was and the coming into being of that new order that God is creating.

We don't like hearing those words of the repentant turning and change (greek: metanoia) that we must do, so we end up closing our ears, and we don't hear anything… as a result we really don’t hear God.

John’s prophetic voice invites us to live outside our own confining lives and calls us to be different from the established order around us. Paul's call to the church at Thessalonica very much holds them to the Baptist's call, also: Help the weak, do not repay evil for evil, seek to do good to all, hold fast to what is good.

If we have made our place and are firmly “dug-in” to the way it has always been done before, if we are secure in our captivity, in our isolation, than we can understand the world and the fears of the Thessalonians. We learn to be comfortable with the familiar. And in our cozy comfort, we fear anything that is different.

But a voice calls out, calls out to our spirits, souls, and bodies to be kept sound and blameless at the coming of God. The Baptist's cry as we heard it last week and this morning is so cold, urgent, and disturbing. He is a voice announcing that God is near, inviting us to wake up, cleanse away our sin, and prepare ourselves for the One who will liberate us from our isolated unchanging lives… An isolation formed by our self-deceiving thoughts that we are independent, privileged, educated, politically correct, or economically stable.

When we are on the edge of life – when we know that we are alone, without property or privilege when we know first hand the scripture's words of assurance to the least of God's people, because we have started to recognize ourselves as the least of God's people, then our self-deceptions start to fall away.

There are countless ways this can happen. Often it happens under conditions that seem to disrupt our life like progress, and growth – a sickness, a death, a layoff. Crises like these, crises of our personal and professional and political lives, are the points at which our Christian life begins, or maybe begins again.

We were called last week to be still and listen to the cry of John so that we could be prepared… But the most important step that we can take this morning is to respond in action to that voice that calls us out of our own complacency… it's a step that takes us out of the comfort zone of our lives. It’s a realization that we are dependent, that we share the same limitations as all other human beings. It’s knowing that our need for God is greater than any fear we have of God's demands on us.

The things that we are afraid of are all likely to occur, but they are nothing to be afraid of. As I said a few weeks ago, we are all witnesses of God in this world. The Christian life invites us to accept this mission with all its hazards and all its burdens. It’s tough work, it’s a crisis, but for us Christians the word crisis is morphed into “formation” or positive change for us…

Consider the lives of the saints. Consider Paul and John the Baptist. They were all engaged in God's plan – fearfully, no doubt, but they had enough courage, initiative, and endurance to love God more than fear God.

They knew themselves to be finite and dependent on a power far greater than themselves and they let themselves be formed by God and took their place in the great army, rescuing souls that are isolated from God.

So… Learn from them… Hear the cry and respond daringly. And if we let God… God will come to us and inform and transform our lives… God will release the captives.

RCL Year B (Advent 2) - December 7, 2008

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B – (2 Advent) - December 7, 2008

Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it… Does it still make a sound? I suspect that some of you would immediately answer… yes, of course it does! and then some of you would say… there goes Ken with those silly questions again...

And then I would say, “how do you know?” You weren't there to hear it…

Well, you say, I have been there at other times, and when I was there and the tree fell, I heard this great crashing sound as it hit the ground… so, I know for sure that this “in fact” happens.

Ok. So, you've experienced this happening first-hand, you saw and heard, you are an actual witness to this truth, so you know without a doubt that this does occur… But, what about those of you who, perhaps, have never been in the woods when a tree fell?

Some of you are saying, yes, it does make a sound, even though you have never actually been present to hear the tree for yourselves... Because you know others who have, and by faith in their testimony, you have come to believe that this is a "true" and "real" thing.

This leaves some of the rest of us… those who've neither been in the presence of a falling tree, nor can we take it on faith... from the witness of others who claim to have been present when the tree fell, and heard the noise.

So let me rephrase the question for you… If a prophet 2000 years ago cries out in the wilderness, “repent and be baptized… prepare the way of the Lord… make a straight way to God” and you weren’t there to hear him, do you still believe it? Do you still listen to his message?

I am sure that some of you, especially the ones growing up in Cleveland, have been lost in the woods before? I mean really really lost in the deep woods? I know that I have, and I also know that it can be a very scary experience.

You have heard me talk about wilderness before… The Israelites traveled in the wilderness for 40 years after they left Egypt. God used the wilderness to deliver them from slavery in Egypt and lead them to the promised land…

But the wilderness is a scary place… In the ancient world, traveling anywhere was dangerous… especially travel through in the wilderness. You only would travel to or through the wilderness places for specific reasons… The wilderness and the desert were considered those “in-between” spaces between the lush valleys and the mountains, the places of the unknown where evil dwelled.

Traveling to the wilderness as a destination was absolutely unheard of… the wild woods were considered the haunt of demons and a very unusual place for anyone to go. Now, do you think it was easy to follow a guy as different as John into the woods… That would NOT be a very comfortable feeling... And it probably shouldn’t be!

You have got to admit… John the Baptizer is a bit of a strange character, and a very unlikely messenger… I am not just talking about the way he acted… but also the way he dressed in his camels hair and leather belt not to mention his diet of locust and wild honey.

What would you think if you came up on this character today?… Would you follow him into the wilderness to hear his prophetic message? I don’t think so.

But folks paid attention to this unlikely character… they came from all over the Judean countryside and followed him to the in-between space of the wilderness... and heard his message.. “Repent, and be baptized – prepare yourself.”

What could he possibly be talking about? I am sure that they were all fascinated… John wasn’t giving them just any old message. He was telling them to get ready for something. He is there to shake them up and get them ready – and his prophetic message lingers to shake us up and get us ready.

The folks back then knew the ancient writings of Isaiah… the ones we just heard and they knew what it said about a prophetic voice crying out “in the wilderness – prepare the way of the Lord, make strait in the desert, a highway for our God.” They wanted to know more… so they followed John.

Followed John to that pace in-between the valleys and the mountains… a place, so unlikely, so riddled with mystery and the unknown… a place considered by some to be where evil dwells, a place that God will use to save us.

Last Sunday, we learned that Advent was a time of preparation and anticipation, because the Son of Man is coming in all his power and glory. Those themes continue this week with today’s text – And John is here to help us prepare the way… and shake us up a bit.

In Advent we are called to search down deep… Deep down into the wilderness places of our lives… Deep into that emptiness, where demons dwell… Places that we don’t like to go… Places that are strange and different to us… Those unlikely places that are in-between this life and our life to come…

We go to these places to prepare and examine ourselves to repent and to worship our God. John takes us on that journey, and the strange and different John gives us a message… The message of hope that something great is coming… The narrative that we are given today in the first chapter of Mark, identifies the one who is coming…. it is Jesus Christ, the Son of God…

And we are called by the text to prepare, and repent, and make our paths straight and ready for God… We all know that Christ is coming, and we don’t know the hour or even the day… But we need to be ready and God will unfold the story in due time ALL will be reviled in God’s time…

All we can do today is to sit still and be silent so we can listen carefully… listen… to listen and see if we can hear the sound of John crying out in the wilderness… listen for that prophetic voice of God that talks to us though unlikely messengers and invites us to those in-between spaces… listen and heed their warnings, so that when the time comes, we can be fully prepared!

RCL Year B (Advent 1) - November 30, 2008

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Advent 1) - November 30, 2008

Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37

People always are in a hurry... especially this time of the year! Even so much that it caused a young man in New York to loose his life this week. On “black” Friday, he was merely doing his job by unlocking the doors to the Wal-Mart and he was overrun by thousands of people, just so they could shop during the wee hours of the morning. People always seem to be in a hurry, especially this time of year. In a hurry to rush to the store and spend money, in a hurry to put up the tree and bring out the decorations, and in a hurry to send cards and well wishes to folks they haven’t seen or heard from in years.

The stores are putting up the decorations earlier and earlier, wanting to create that rush toward Christmas. Wanting people to buy, buy, buy and make their financial woes go away. It almost seams the stores feel that if they put the decorations up earlier, that it will make people think Christmas will come earlier…

But what are folks really looking for?… are they looking for that “feeling” of Christmas to come – by putting candles in the window, tinsel on the evergreen, and mistletoe in the doorframe. Do they really want to spend all that money on all that stuff that they don’t really need?

What are folks wanting to happen? Are they wanting Christmas to come sooner… and then when it finally comes, why do they only celebrate for a day.

The saddest thing that I have ever saw was someone who put their Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, and then tossed it out on the street on the 26th of December. They had it up so long that it was all dry by the time the actual holiday started… the holiday that lasts a whole 12 days!

That’s where we are today. Right here in the midst of all that social chaos that the commercial world has created twirling around us. We are here right here! Right here starting the new year.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of the Christian year. This is the Sunday when we begin to re-tell the story, our story... the Christian story once again. And our story starts out as chaotic as the world around us. With the exhortation from Jesus to wait! Wait for his coming again... When the Son of Man will come with great power and glory, and the elect will be gathered from the four corners of the earth!

But know one knows when this will happen, so we are to keep alert, keep awake and watch! So advent for us is a season of waiting, and watching, and being alert. This may seem a bit strange for those that are in a hurry to get to the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem. That is such a sweet story, why in the world would we start out the year by being fussed at to stay awake, and make ourselves ready for Jesus’ coming again?

Well, the two kind of go hand in hand. Today, we are like the ones back then who awaited the birth of the Messiah. We know not the day, nor the hour when he will appear, so we must continuously watch and wait. The difference is, we know who we are waiting for. We live in the anticipation that Jesus will return like he said he would.

This is where we start our story. With the joyful anticipation, with the expectation that we will see the Christ face to face. But waiting is not a comfortable thing for most of us to do. In fact, it makes us worried and anxious... the longer we wait, the more anxious we get, and the more jittery and fearfully excited about the unknown.

So most of us choose not to wait at all. Or we make waiting a passive thing that we just routinely do. Instead of something we actively do. We may passively wait like we wait to be next in line at the grocery store, or for a bus to arrive. But active waiting is much different. It’s intentional, it’s deliberate, and it requires preparation.

I learned last year that the parade in Cleveland is a big affair, people line the streets and wait, wanting to get a good seat and a good view. They prepare most of the morning, and the little children are excited. Excited about what candy they will get thrown to them or what old cars or fire trucks they will see. We only know that the parade has started because of the sound of horns or drums. The excitement starts to build as each sight and sound goes bye. The excitement was expected, but there was some mystery surrounding the whole event. That’s the kind of waiting I am talking about...

The people of old waited to be delivered by a messiah, who the prophets told them would be born. So they lived in a continual state of readiness because they did not know the day or hour of his arrival. We wait today, at the beginning of Advent, in the very same way. But, we are not waiting for a baby to be born in a barn, that has already happened, and it is a wonderful story... and there will be twelve whole days to celebrate!

But today, we are called to wait, to prepare, to be pregnant with expectation and excitement, and to be actively watchful. We are called to take some time out and be still and listen for the Christ who will come when we least expect it.

Taking time out in this time of year for us is counter-cultural there is so much expected of us… go here, go there, do this, do that, buy this, buy that… We have gotten tied all up in these expectations of what we need to do and where we need to go that it has become our tradition, and our way of dealing with the season.

We have done it so long, that we don’t know any different. Kind of like the people that have lived by the train tracks for so long that they no longer hear the sound of the train. We get accustomed to the “noise” of Advent so much that we no longer notice it. Or if we do, it doesn’t jolt us awake as it once did.

I would like to invite you to the observance of a Holy Advent. Don’t be in a rush to put up the decorations, but wait, and let the anxiety build, be watchful, and expect something holy to happen.

As children, we used advent calendars that we opened each day of advent, counting down the days until the birth of Christ. We were innocently filled with anticipation as we waited to see what would be behind the next little door, and what story would it tell us.

Some use the advent wreath in the home, like the one we have here, to help us mark the time until our savior comes again. Each Sunday, lighting one more candle, until all the candles are lit. And we realize that God is getting nearer and nearer to us.

We are called today to keep a Holy Advent, a special place between the birth of a baby and the coming of Christ in glory. A place between the “already” and the “not yet.” As we strive to live in the middle of this paradox, we not only get to know better the One that has already come into the world, who lived as one of us, who died, and was raised again… But, we start to prepare ourselves to live in the realm that God has promised us. And then we can start to experience, even now, some of what that life might be like.

So keep alert, watch, and wait. For Jesus is near. Come Lord Jesus, Come.

RCL Year A (Proper 29) - November 23, 2008

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year A (Proper 29) - November 23, 2009

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46

This is it! This is what the whole year has been building up to. Today we acclaim Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! But the idea of King isn’t exactly the best image for us Americans. When we think of King, we remember our country’s history, and us declaring independence from any sort of “king” in England or anywhere else for that matter. When we think of Kings, we think of tyrant rulers or monarchs claiming some sort of “divine” right to lead a nation. It’s just not a comfortable image of us…

So why do we say, Christ is King! And where might be his kingdom?

An elementary answer for us might be to say that Christ is King and he is seated on the throne in his heavenly kingdom. We have all heard Jesus himself acclaim, when asked at his trial, that his kingdom is not of this world.

The diocese of North Carolina has just launched an adult teaching and reflection series on “the kingdom of God.” It starts out by looking at the various stories in the scripture that describe the kingdom of God. It is called a reflection series, because the persons that participate in the class are to take the reading and reflect on “the kingdom of God” and what it might look like to them.

The “Kingdom of God” has been described throughout the scriptures during this whole season that ends with this day… The feast of Christ the King.

If you have paid any attention throughout this long season, you have heard a lot about The kingdom of God…

The Kingdom of God is compared to a person who sowed good seed on fertile ground that grows up and is ripe for the harvest.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant or a pearl of great value, or yeast, or a buried treasure in a field…

The Kingdom of God can be compared to a king who wished to settle his accounts and forgives a great debt…

The Kingdom of God is like a landowner who hires laborers for his vineyard…

The Kingdom of God is like a landowner who had a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country; only to have his only son killed trying to claim rights to the vineyard.

The Kingdom of God is like a King who gave a wedding banquet for his son and had the one guest that wasn’t wearing the robe cast out into the street...

The Kingdom of God is like Ten Bridesmaids with lamps, 5 were prepared and went into the feast, and 5 were unprepared and were unable to get in…

The Kingdom of God is like a Man Going on a Journey who gives his three slaves talents, only to return to find that one didn’t do anything with the talent he was given…

So, after all of the teaching about the Kingdom of God over the past 5 months, what is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven like to you? And what does it mean for you to say that Christ is King?

We have all heard the stories – some of them over and over again. I have used the images in sermons, and offered my own reflections throughout this season of growth for you to have an idea of the Kingdom.

We each, everyone in this room this morning, has his or her own idea of what the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is like. So take a minute and picture it in your head.

It is through this lens (though our own ideas of kingship) that we look at today’s readings.

Jesus says, “All the nations will be gathered before the Son of Man and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

It is easy for us to assume here that the sheep are good, and the goats are bad. But that’s not the case. There can be good goats and bad sheep. The audience that Jesus is talking to would immediately recognize that it’s not that the sheep and goats are good and bad… The relationship that Jesus was pointing out was more about their personalities, and the types of animals they are.

Sheep are gentle creatures that will be led. The shepherd calls them by name and they follow. They know the shepherd and the shepherd knows them. They trust the shepherd to lead them to green pastures and clean water. They depend on the shepherd for safety in times of trouble. The shepherd for the sheep is most often the difference between the sheep’s life and the sheep’s death.

Goats however, are different… They are stubborn animals, they have to be herded and rounded up. They are not good followers… they don’t listen, and they don’t respond well to any authority. They make their own decisions and most often depend on their own instincts to guide them. They have horns, so they think that they don’t need any shepherd to protect them. They think that they can protect themselves.

But remember, Jesus isn’t talking about sheep or goats here, he says that he “will separate people – one from another.” He is talking about divine judgment; when we who are on this earth will get the opportunity to stand before God and be separated…

Those who have desired to follow the Good Shepherd, those who have trusted and depended on God to guide them, they will spend eternity with God.

And they will be divided from those who have followed the devices and desires of their own hearts - those who have depended on themselves and not trusted in God. Those will spend eternity separated from God, because they chose in this life to separate themselves from God.

But you know what’s strange about this passage. It’s that Jesus isn’t the judge in the passage at all. He is simply the one that divvies up the creation that has already divided itself - He re-claiming what is already his and unites with God that which wants to be re- united. And he separates that which doesn’t want to be united with God.

Jesus then goes on in the passage to explain how you can tell the difference. And the difference between sheep and goats, between eternity with God or without God, all has to do with hospitality.

I’m not talking about whether or not we set out the correct forks or matching napkins for a place setting, or if we offered to refresh our friends cocktail, or help someone move into a new apartment.

I am talking about true, deep, meaningful, engagement of the “other” in this world. The forgotten and neglected of society. The hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the confined. That is where true hospitality starts - with the radical engagement and assistance of our true neighbors. The ones in this world, who the world has forgotten.

It involves laying aside our personal prejudices and judgments – and going out of the realm of worldly thought, or even our own personal thoughts of whether or not we think that they deserve it.

Jesus tells us very clearly that one day all the people of the earth will be divided. One day we all will be separated and we will have to be accountable for our actions or lack thereof.

Jesus Christ is king and his kingdom is not of this world. It is of another world called the Kingdom of God. A kingdom with no other king. A kingdom with no other kind of authority. So what does it mean for you to say that Christ is King?

Are you willing to help Christ build up his kingdom? Are you willing to have Jesus take on the role as Lord of your life? Do you let him lead you, and mold you? Do you trust him fully and allow him to protect you, teach you and guide you on your journey through life?

Are you willing to and do you engage the other, the forgotten of the world, and treat them as if they were Christ? Do you help them and heal them? Do you extend to them an arm of hospitality, seeking to serve the Christ in them?

Or do you keep doing what we have always done, going where you have always gone? And do you keep trusting your own self righteousness to save you?
These are very tough and challenging questions for us to hear, but the answers are simple.

Either the answer is yes or the answer is no…

It is how we choose to answer these questions that determines if we end up like the sheep…

or like the goats…