End of the Year Questions and an Advent PSA
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - Year C
Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year - next Sunday, the start of the new liturgical year. This last Sunday in our year is called the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Growing up I knew it as “Christ the King Sunday,” and the first sermon I ever preached was on Christ the King Sunday.
I was eighteen years old. I had recently told the pastor at my home church that I was thinking about becoming a United Methodist minister. Pastor Mary agreed that I might have a calling to the ministerial life. She helped me to get a scholarship through the United Methodist Church that paid for a lot of my college textbooks. She asked if I would be home for Thanksgiving and gave me her pulpit for the Sunday after Thanksgiving – which was Christ the King Sunday that year.
Actually, I led the entire worship service. When I preached, Pastor Mary sat in the pews with the congregation, listening to me and encouraging me.
I think about eighteen-year-old-me every year on this Sunday. Would the young woman I was, not a wife or a mother, full of dreams and opinions and hope and faith, recognize and love the life I’ve led in the last year?
It’s a good end-of-the-year question. Would the person you were when you were young recognize and love the life you’ve led in the last year?
My twelve-year-old son, Tim, is studying William Shakespeare’s Henry V this semester. We’ve watched a movie version and he’s currently memorizing his second soliloquy from the play.
He’s been thinking a lot about what it takes to be a king. Accepting that all the risk falls on your shoulders but that most of the reward, if there is any, needs to be shared. When he recited the first soliloquy for our family, Tim wore his paper crown from Medieval Times, a dinner theater show with knights and horses. After putting on his paper crown, Tim’s stance changed. He performed as though he was King Harry, rousing his troops against the French. It was adorable.
As I’ve prepared for Christ the King Sunday this year, the image that keeps coming to my mind is Tim in his paper crown. I see his confidence and his pride in his achievement. And yet, as an adult and as his primary educator, I know it is a small accomplishment. I know his crown is made of paper.
I imagine Our Lord’s view of us is something like that, but on a scale the size of the Universe and the span of His timeless existence. The Savior of all time and space must see all our achievements with such satisfaction – so proud of us and yet knowing how far we have to go.
The image of Tim in his paper crown with a confident smile on his face provokes another good end-of-the-year question. Where in the last year have I made Jesus proud and where have I shown Him how far I have to go?
My oldest son is on Thanksgiving Break from high school for the next week. His school strives for a low amount of homework, hoping that students will use their time for worthwhile pursuits outside of academic learning – which means that he gets to help out around the house. Yesterday, as I was writing this, he volunteered to make ornaments for the children in his youngest sister’s co-op class. It’s one of those inexpensive felt-framed ornaments. He added backgrounds to each and cut out a picture of each child to fit into in the center. After he finished each one, he held it out to me and asked, “Who is this?”
Most of the children he knows from attending co-op last year. Some of the kids have older siblings who go to high school with him. He hears about other kids’ moms because I’m in a book club with them. His little sister talks about some of the kids a lot because they’re her special friends. One of the kids was too ill to come to our last co-op meeting and we missed him.
As he finished the last ornament, he turned to me and said, “These are the kids she’s going to know forever.” He put a certain emphasis on “forever” and we both knew why – we pray for these children and their families regularly. We pray that Christ will guide us all to a forever with Him.
In today’s readings, Paul tells the church in Colossae that in Christ “all things hold together.” Christ is the unity we are all seeking and He gives us the daily opportunity to come alongside Him in the work of enacting that Eternity. We get to Forever with specific people whom He holds together in community.
Which leads to another good set of end-of-the-year questions: What are the communities leading you to salvation (and which ones aren’t)? Have you thanked Jesus recently for holding you together with those communities? How can you help those communities to become more Christ-centered in the next year?
And now a brief PSA…
Advent is coming.
You don’t need a single thing to celebrate Advent well. You don’t need a devotional. You don’t need to add a prayer once a day or fifteen times a day. You don’t need a wreath or special candles.
You do need to cultivate a heart of longing. Which, ironically, is usually done with less, not more. All of those extras are great if, and only if, they stir up a hunger for Christ.
Waiting is the best way to create longing.
I’m going to give Christ five minutes of silence every day. I hope you’ll join me. I pray that Christ teaches us to truly long for Him at the beginning of this new liturgical year.