A Reflection for
Feast of Christ the King All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC
November 26, 2017 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector
Keeping the
System Running
Before I went to
seminary I was a social worker, and I taught social work. There was a
story that I stole from someone - and I cannot remember who - and it
goes like this: A social worker was walking through the woods one day
and came across a waterfall and was alarmed that people were being
swept over the waterfall. He dove into the river and swam to one and
then another, pulling them onto the shore and safety. He kept diving
back in, but as soon as he pulled one out, another would be swept
over the falls and into the pool of water. Another person came by on
the walk and the social worker pleaded, “Help me, these people are
drowning.” The other person said, “You bet!” But he started to
climb up the embankment on the side of the falls. The social worker
called out, “Wait, the people are in trouble down here!' The other
person said, “You do your work down here! I'm going upstream to
stop the one who is throwing . . . them into the water.” Before I
was ordained I used a lot more colorful language.
What I was trying to
teach them is that helping people in trouble has the allure of
heroism, of being a savior, but the deeper problem is the root causes
of people's troubles. We tend to use pity as a motivation for
helping, but I was trying to tell them that we’re needed to a rage
against business as usual which causes the victims’ troubles.
Systems need to change so that people are not treated as things but
as full humans, images of God.
The
challenging of systems of business as usual was the consistent
message of the prophets in ancient Israel. The Temple clique tended
to bless whatever was the vogue with whoever King was in power, but
the prophets kept holding up a vision of the Kingdom of God. During
the time of the Babylonian exile, we see the prophet Ezekiel in
today's lesson casting a vision that, in the longed for restored
kingdom after the exile, there would be one King, the Shepherd.
Ezekiel hears God saying that, in this new restored Kingdom, the
Shepherd would make sure the poor do not get exploited and there
would be justice for all: “I myself will judge between the fat
sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder,
and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you
scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no
longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.”
This
vision is repeated in the story that Matthew remembers about how the
Kingdom of the Heavens under the Resurrected Lord will stand in
solidarity with each person, and every citizen will be counted on to
care for one another. There will no longer be business as usual with
disposable people, for we are all fellow sons and daughters of God,
children of the Most High. The editor of the Matthew Gospel sets this
last story as the last public teaching before Jesus is betrayed,
arrested, tried, and executed. Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of God
and in a few days after this teaching, the Kingdoms of this world,
personified by the figures of King Herod and Pontius Pilate, will do
business as usual to get rid of the troublemakers. Then just when
they think they have won, the resurrection makes them question the
limits of their Kingdoms.
Today is the last
Sunday before Advent, and in the older Prayer Books up through the
1928 Prayer Book in which I was raised, it was unofficially called
“Stir up Sunday”, because the Collect, the Prayer for the Day,
started with the petition “Stir up, we beseech ye, O Lord, the
wills of thy faithful people . . .”. When I heard those words, I
knew that all around the world in Anglican and Episcopal churches the
Sunday school lesson, and probably the Sermon, was going to have a
bit about the need to stir up the Christmas pudding. In the English
tradition, this was the time to begin making the yearly Christmas
pudding and adding the fruit and liquor to the recipe, a process that
would be repeated for the five weeks before it was ready to be served
on Christmas Day.
When the Book of
Common Prayer was revised in 1979, the “stir up” Collect was
moved to the third Sunday of Advent in an ecumenical gesture to
coincide with the Roman Catholic Solemnity of the Feast of Christ the
King. Christ the King is a relatively new celebration in the
liturgical calendar; it was promulgated in 1925 under Pope Pius XI.
Pius had seen many of the kings of this world crumble during World
War I as Kaisers, Emperors, Czars and Sultans, the protectors of
official religions were consigned to the past and shaky republics
were experimenting with increasing secularization of the culture.
Business as usual had destroyed the old order and now Pius hoped for
a new kind of Kingdom. Pius wanted to underline that the whole world
was under the Kingship of Christ and there would be a judgement of
all that world when Christ returns. He called for each person to
remember that Chirst was to reigh in our hearts, minds, bodies and
our social interactions to be aware that we were instruments of
Christ's justice in this world.
Pius, as the modern
day heir to the Prophetic Office, was wary of the rising tide of
secularism which suggested that humans had been abandoned by God and
we were left to our own devices. He warned against growing
anti-Semitism in Germany, France, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and
America, for this Jesus had been Jewish. He was nervous about the
rise of Socialism and the spread of Communism from the new Soviet
Union. He was bothered by the continuing dehumanization of workers
being exploited by rampant capitalism and totalitarian regimes. Pius
spent the rest of his life to 1939, on the eve of the 2nd
World War, trying to come to terms with a changing world and praying
for the best. Pius was a prophet, but unfortunately was also a priest
like in the old Temple. He negotiated agreements with Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy, and Spain - which seemed to give the bullies some
legitimacy - in order to save what remained of Roman Catholic Church
property and prestige in those areas and, in this way, preserve
business as usual.
After the the next
World War, looking at all the rubble and damage, there was a felt
need to have judgment on how we, by our inaction as part of business
as usual, had so enabled our addiction to violence and later embraced
the carnage with millions dead as we stood looking on. There were
trials of war criminals by the victors, but the churches realized
there was, in Seward’s words before the American Civil War, “A
higher law than the Constitution and a greater judge than the Supreme
Court.”
The
question for your meditation for today was: ‘If Jesus were on the
ballot for King, would you vote for him?” To have Jesus as our
King does not mean a change in secular governments, but a change in
each one of us who are governed. If Christ is our King, does that
mean that we will no longer allow our representatives in office to be
sold to the highest bidder? Does it mean a change that we will no
longer turn a blind eye to exploitation? Does it mean we will no
longer tolerate the bullying tactics of the fat sheep and the
portraying of the poor as inadequate persons? Does it mean we will no
longer just sigh when we hear of how people work hard all day and do
not have a living wage? Does it mean we will no longer see a sick
person and ask if they have enough money for treatment, but will be
willing to reach deeply into our combined treasures and pay for it?
Does it mean we will no longer use our jails, courts, and laws as a
means of social control of minorities? Does it mean we will no longer
support the easy access to violence to solve relationship
difficulties between persons of nations? Does it mean we will no
longer see elections as a spectator sport, but as an obligation to
claim our informed citizenship with our precious vote?
If
Christ is our King, what does it mean?
Keeping the
System Running
Denying the
injustice Pilate washed his hands
feeling sorry; but
said heck what could he do?
Not holding status
quo will lose place in queue
of an advancement
furthering his career plans.
He thought it is
best to avoid rocking the boat.
After showing some
mercy, how would it stop?
Next thing, paying
living wage up would pop
which would threaten
his bank balance bloat.
“I know what I
will do, I will send some aid
to his family to
make it through the Passover,
maybe some beans to
help sorrow's hangover,
contribute bit to
help a temple service's paid.”
Things haven't
changed much over the years
as the fearful
bullies still cry crocodile tears.
No comments:
Post a Comment