Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 11/20/2022, Luke 23:33-43
Christ the King Sunday, 2022
When four-year-olds open a box of Lego, their perfect, young eyes find instructions written in a font so big it could be on a billboard...
When 60-year-olds open the owner's manual to their cell phones, their high-mileage eyes find instructions in a font so small the Mayor of Munchkinville would need his readers…
Ever notice this?
Same with prescription drug instructions and credit card 'terms and conditions' - Why do the people whose eyes are no longer in their prime get the tiny fonts - while these youngsters, who can read a license plate a mile-and-a-half away, get fonts the size of donuts - with color pictures to boot?
Maybe that’s why, when you and I get our smart phones, they have two instruction booklets:
One, in color, on glossy paper, with pictures and big letters with the title ‘Quick Start Guide'…
And the other, that's about 187 pages long, in black-and-white, printed on tissue paper, and written in a font so small you can’t tell what language it’s in…
So we toss out the latter, and we lunge for the former:
Gimme that Quick Start Guide...
This usually works out fine, because most of us have our cell phones so we can make phone calls, maybe search the web, send emails - easy things we can learn from that Quick Start Guide.
But what we miss, is the fullness of what our gizmos offer:
More than likely your cell phone... can work as a measuring tape, magnifying glass, pedometer, radio, foreign language translator, metal detector, document scanner, and even test the battery strength on your remote controls...
All of this is possible, but many of us don't know it.
Because it's hard to move past the ‘Quick Start Guide - and go deeper.
It's hard to jump in and learn more.
Our Christian lives are a lot like this.
Faith is like this.
We can live with a shallow understanding of what we have -
And we can go deeper, into something that's more challenging, and ultimately yields much, much more.
Going deeper.
That's the title, the challenge, and message of this morning’s sermon - which will come with 2 homework assignments - yes, I’m giving you fair warning...
It’s because I want you to go deeper - I want to go deeper - you probably want to go deeper.
Because there’s a world of hurt our faith is asking us to heal.
We live in a world full of troubles -
These are precarious and dangerous times – scarier than we have known for several generations – dangerous morally, socially, politically, etc.
Our world needs saving.
Saving from anxiety, apathy, loneliness, division, and unforgiveness - not to mention hunger, homelessness, and violence-
And just as Jesus came to save, so has he sent us.
We need to go deeper into ourselves - cultivating the character we need - the faith that we need - to do this really hard work of healing and reconciliation - because our salvation - our contentment is not found in personal acquisition, but in the joyful provision we supply to others.
The message of "Christ the King Sunday" is that this salvation reigns - this is the Kingdom that’s coming - and that has come.
But we don’t always get the depth of it from the Quick Start Guide.
It’s by going deeper, that we realize this: the peace, harmony, health and happiness of God’s kingdom, and the deeper we go with God - the easier we find it to bring it right here.
The challenge of doing the hard work of going deeper - is that ’the devil’ is out to get us - with all his distractions - asking us to do the things that take us off track.
Just think about all the things that conspired against us this week to keep us from doing the next right thing?
Temptations to take on too much - and too little?
Temptations to go deeper into so many OTHER things - our work, hobbies, and entertainments - everything but going deeper with God...
Deeper with the Bible…
Deeper with prayer...
Deeper with faith…
There are so many things crying out around us for our attention - and often these things are not about going deeper with God.
So that our hard work, is about figuring out what IS.
So what is 'going deeper' looking like for you and me?
How is Jesus calling us to go deeper with him?
Christ the King Sunday is the Church’s New Year’s Eve: What New Year’s resolutions might we make to take us deeper - what do we need to quit, what do we need to take on - to get us closer to God and nearer to realizing God’s vision for the world?
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There was a study done recently -
It asked people to meditate on thankfulness - which is appropriate for us today, in the shadow of Thanksgiving on Thursday -
And the participants in this study were asked to take part in a regular, daily exercise of meditation based on things for which they were thankful - so these people routinely called to mind the people, experiences, and circumstances in their lives for which they were particularly thankful.
After several weeks of doing this, these participants were asked to go to an office where they were seated in a crowded waiting room with only one available chair - so they sat in that chair.
Then, a woman with a cast on her leg came into the room on crutches - looking for a place to sit down. Like her, all the other people in the waiting room were actually part of the research staff of the study — and their job was to see if the person who had been meditating on gratitude, would offer his seat to the woman with the crutches.
Now, first they did this with the ‘Control Group’ - or those who had not been meditating on thankfulness. And they found that 16% of those people got up to offer their chair to the woman with the crutches.
Then they brought in those who had been routinely counting their blessings - and were conscious of their own giftedness. Researchers found that they gave up their seats for the woman with the crutches 53% of the time. So, more than 3-times more than the ‘Control Group’ - all because they were more in touch with their own blessedness.
Going deeper with Jesus means engaging in similar practices that remind us of our giftedness — because the more our minds are on our blessings, the more we can bless others.
What does our current prayer or meditation practice look like?
In what ways do we routinely remind ourselves of our own blessedness?
We all know that God’s Kingdom is one of blessings - so in what ways are we reminding ourselves of how blessed we are?
What does going deeper with gratitude look like for us?
Homework assignment number one: Go to grateful.org
It’s not a religious website, but it is chock full of really actionable ideas regarding how to be more grateful - that’s grateful.org
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Once there was a veteran waiter in a fancy restaurant who was given the job of teaching the new trainees.
This veteran waiter was given this job because he consistently earned higher tips than the other waiters - usually 20-50% more.
One night, the restaurant was really crowded and the kitchen was understaffed - meaning it was taking a really long time for customers to get their meals.
The veteran waiter asked his young protege to listen to what other waiters were telling these patrons once they finally served them their food.
The trainee reported back,
“Well, the other waiters said - ‘I’m so sorry! I prodded the cooks as hard as I could - I rushed this out as fast as I could - again, I’m really sorry for your wait.’”
“OK,” said the veteran waiter - now listen as I deliver these entrees that should have been out 45-minutes ago.”
So the trainee paid close attention as the veteran waiter scooped up the steaming hot dishes from the kitchen, put them on a tray, and brought them to the anxious and hangry customers.
Here’s what he said to those patrons:
“Thank you for waiting so patiently.
“You have been so uncomplaining and calm on this busy night.
"Your understanding of our backed-up kitchen tonight is deeply appreciated!”
Then he walked back to the kitchen with the trainee - where he elaborated:
“Don’t make it about you, make it about them.
“Of course, YOU’RE sorry - but they’re the ones who have been waiting -
“The heart of this job is service - service to our customers - so it’s always about them.”
This is going deeper…
Putting others before ourselves.
Service as sacrament.
The greatest among us are the servants.
So you and I think about this for a moment.
“I’m sorry we got disconnected,” becomes “Thank you for calling back!”
“I’m sorry for not making the bed,” becomes, “Thank you for being such an understanding spouse.”
“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” becomes, “Thank you for being so tolerant of my short temperedness.”
“I’m sorry to get you this project so late,” becomes, “Thank you for being so kind in the face of my tardiness.”
And we can go on from there -
So here’s homework assignment #2: Turn your ‘I’m Sorrys’ into “Thank yous”
Make its about them - and not about you.
Go deeper into what serving others is about -
Because service is at the heart of the Kingdom that you and I are helping to bring in.
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How about that Haiti Fundraiser this past Tuesday?
If you attended raise your hand…
If you contributed, raise your hand…
If you’re appreciative of the $6,000 they raised put your hands together (applause)
I can’t thank Jan, Kathy, Janny and their crew for pulling off yet another fantastic night to raise money for our neighbors who are undergoing such suffering - so many hardships - may we continue to bring our compassion to this hurting nation.
And, again, the milk of human kindness flowed so freely on Tuesday - there was such joy and laughter in that comedy club - as people tried to out-bid one another - seeing how much they could possibly pay for a bottle of rum - how many times over they were paying for earrings, wine, and artwork - all to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
What makes that night so fulfilling is the simple truth: that people feel happier when they are around generous people and doing generous things.
This is a basic operating instruction of our existence - we are hard-wired to gain satisfaction from giving:
People feel happier when they are around generous people and doing generous things.
But in this fearful world we live in, we are tempted to believe otherwise:
‘We can’t be generous with others, it’s me first!’
‘It’s all about me!’
‘I’ll help others as soon as I’m satisfied with my lot.’
This is why the Kingdom of God is often called ’The Upside Down Kingdom.’
Because Jesus said that:
when we help others first,
when we provide for the other person ahead of ourselves,
when we trust that in serving others, I’ll be taken care of -
This is how the world really works.
Going deeper means trusting more - cultivating our faith - making God and service to God’s kingdom bigger priorities.
Friends, let us go on from here with a new resolve to go deeper -
Knowing that:
It’s really worth it to go beyond the Quick Start Guide.
That the more our minds are on our blessings, the more we can bless others.
And that we are happier when we’re around generous people and doing generous things.
May Christ, our King, call and equip us for the deeper work that we — and the world around us - so sincerely yearn.
Amen.