Christ the Kin

John 18:33-37

November 26, 2006         (Click the date to see the bulletin)

 

1.  You probably noticed the changes this morning, didn’t you, even before the Time with Children?   We’ve put away the green of that looong ordinary season after Pentecost; and replaced it with white.  I’ve hung up the “ordinary robe” I wear during “ordinary time” and put on my more formal black robe and a white stole.   White is the color to notice today.  In the world of science, the color white reflects and transmits almost all the wavelengths of light which fall upon it.^[i]   But anytime you see white in worship, that’s your clue that everything is about to focus on Christ.

2.  Two big celebrations in the Church shine a white light on Christ, so we display that color white during both of them.  The first celebration is the birth of Christ – Christmas Day.  The second celebration – can you guess it? – is the resurrection of Christ – Easter Day.  But before we can celebrate those days, we must prepare for them.  We prepare for Christmas with the four Sundays of Advent; we prepare for Easter with the Forty Days of Lent.  And to let us know that those days of preparation are about to begin, the Church Councils set a signal, a “day of white” to alert you to what is about to happen.  Thus the white stole and paraments today – Church calendars identify today as Christ the King Sunday, Realm of Christ Sunday,  the Sunday before Advent.

3.  Some congregations, however, identify today as “Christ the Kin” Sunday. That’s not a typo!  The first time I heard reference to “Christ our Kin” I thought it was a mistake.  Richard and I had gone to an overnight retreat at First Presbyterian in Sapulpa.  Lay people from The Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. led it.  As they described their ministry, one of the leaders kept saying “the Kindom of God.”   I thought maybe she had some sort of speech impediment, and just couldn’t pronounce the ‘g’ in the middle of a word.  So I listened carefully and discovered that  “Kindom” was the only word she “mispronounced.”   It became clear that she had changed “kingdom” to “kindom.”

4.  What would make these dedicated Christian people change the word ‘king’ to ‘kin?’   Because they discovered that thinking in terms of “kings” and “kingdoms” sets in motion a world in which there is only one person on top, and everybody else is an underling, a ‘less than’ king, a ‘nobody very important’ and certainly no one worthy of consideration.

5.  Israel’s history was replete with kings who cared more about themselves than their people.  Their history shows what a problem kings can be.  The first was King Saul, a tall, handsome, strong military leader accustomed to fighting.  He, however, could not bring himself to being obedient to God.  God finally said, “Oh, I wish I hadn’t made him king!” (I Samuel 15:10).  So God went looking for another one, one who wasn’t so good looking, one who was teachable, and found a young shepherd boy named David.  David was better, but even he had his own interests at heart.  Then David’s son Solomon, wise as he was, used his power to make his life comfortable, while making life miserable for others.  Kings after Solomon grew worse and worse.  It seemed as if there was no hope at all for Israel.

6.  Life turned inward – until the birth of Jesus, the kind of “king” God had in mind from the very beginning.  But Jesus “kingdom,” his realm, was not made up of the richest and most powerful people.  Jesus’ realm was filled with the poorest and least powerful.  His tales of kingdom life often caused people to turn away – they didn’t like what he said.  Sometimes they lashed out in anger and resentment.  Whey their anger finally propelled him in front of Pilate, and Pilate asked “Are you king of the Jews?”, Jesus answered, “My ‘kingdom,’ my realm, my base of power, does not come from what you see.”

7.  Fast forward 2,000+ years; spin the globe until it stops at Washington, D.C., and notice the similarities.  The Church of the Savior in Washington D.C. is a modern-day “kindom” patterned after Jesus’ own “kindom.”  Rev. Gordon Cosby founded this unusual congregation in 1946, not long after he returned from duty as chaplain during World War II.  Something had happened to him, something which made him realize things needed to change.  The traditional “kingdom” notion of more and bigger and better just wasn’t right!  He dedicated the rest of his ministry to quality rather than quantity.

8.  Gordon Cosby looked for Christians who shared his passion for the ‘kindom of God.’  He found nine of them, and together they began a journey committed to spiritual growth, active mission, and proportionate giving.  And they grew.  In fact, they grew too large to effectively be a “kindom.”  There were so many that they couldn’t know each other.  So they divided.  And they grew.  And they divided again, so that today there are twelve “house churches” in the Church of the Savior.  All of them are faithful in prayer, and seek to serve rather than being served.  Each “house church” has developed a mission focus, worshiping, studying and giving so that others may truly live.  Each one is a mini-ministry of reconciliation, patterned after Jesus himself.  They reach out to their brothers and sisters, especially the “least of these.”  They are truly a ‘kindom of God.’

9.  There are two or three possible responses to this concept of “Christ the Kin” and the ‘kindom of God.’  One is “Well, that ranks right up with the ten craziest notions I’ve ever heard!”  Another is, “Hmmmmm.  I don’t know!  I’m going to have to think about that for a while.”  Still another is, “By golly!  Those congregations are on to something!”  You can be extremely opposed, extremely favorable, or somewhere in the middle. Whatever your response, remember this: Jesus asked his disciples to set aside their own lives, become as brothers and sisters to each other, become kin,  as they followed him in faith.

10.  Pilate asked a very good question, didn’t he?  “What is truth?”  We know the answer, don’t we?  We know the truth!  Jesus Christ is our kin!