Pastoral Letter 92
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all.
Tomorrow is the day when we will reopen our church doors for worship for the second time, after almost five months of COVID lockdown. Last year, we closed our doors for eight long months and then reopened around the same time last year. We will have our first service after this round of lockdown and the next Sunday, 28 November, we will continue worshiping together and invite our neighbours to join us to celebrate St. Andrew’s Day, as well as the first Sunday in Advent. Following the service, we will have fellowship at Morning Tea and between 11:00 am and 12 noon we will serve Free Sausage Sizzle for us and the local Longueville community. In the next couple of days, we will do our third Mailbox drop Invitation Notes.
Once again, all the COVID-safety plans have been put in place, we have re-registered as required for COVID-safe with the NSW government, made all the necessary arrangements and precautions and we are ready to come together for Worship. Unfortunately, we will not have Morning Tea this Sunday. If you will not be able to come, please join us at the same time following the Order of Service, please light a candle.
The church premises will be cleaned and sanitised Saturday night, ready for use on Sunday. Please be aware that upon arrival, the door rosters will not check your temperature but will register your name and details, as required by the government. If you use smart phones, you can scan to check in. Hymn Books will not be handed to you, and you are required to sit on the allocated seats. The seats that are marked by stickers are the ones not to be used to keep the distancing restriction. You will not find Bibles on the pews. We are allowed to sing with masks on.
As we are coming to the end of the year and getting ready to celebrate Christmas at the end of December, we will do our traditional Exodus Foundation Christmas Appeal. Please refer to today’s Order of Service for details and please make sure that all are in by 12 December.
In the meantime, please continue to pray, remembering those who need our care, support and love.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for our Service tomorrow as well as the services during the Advent and Christmas Season.
- Pray for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling and the stressed.
- Pray for world peace and ask for God’s blessings
Please let me know if you or anyone else has prayer points.
Krikor
MESSAGE
I Am a/the King
For this Reason, I was Born
John 18: 33-37 and Revelation 1:4-8
We meet someone, perhaps at the mall while shopping, at church, at a concert, reception or on the street, their face looks familiar; but we can’t remember who it is. It doesn’t click. It is clear that we know the face, but we cannot put things together to remember who he or she is. Sometimes we recognise the face, but we cannot remember the name. It could be embarrassing and awkward to be in a similar situation. Perhaps a brief conversation with some clues triggers our mind and we remember who that person is.
A story is told that an elderly British lady was attending an official reception when a friendly woman came up and greeted her. The woman seemed to know her well, so she spoke warmly with her while trying to remember who she could be. Finally, her attention was caught by the lady’s magnificent diamond jewellery. She suddenly realized she was talking to Queen Elizabeth. Overcome with embarrassment, she greeted and said, “Your Majesty, I’m sorry! I didn’t recognize you without your crown!”
A crown is the obvious sign and evidence for being a royal. Kings, queens, princes and princesses are those who have the rights and privileges to wear their crowns. Crowns of gold or silver, decorated with diamonds and precious jewels and stones. Those who are entitled to wear a crown have special crowning ceremonies, which becomes a special day for the one who is being crowned, as well as the people and the nation, upon whom the royalty will preside as their king, queen, prince or princess, to govern and oversee the affairs of his or her people. Those who bear that special crown have lordship, power and authority. They are addressed as “Your majesty the king or the queen”. A title of honour and dignity, that anyone will wish to have, but it is reserved for some only.
Today is Christ the King Sunday, a day on which we recognize the Lordship and Kingship of Jesus. Christ the King Sunday was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to celebrate the kingship of Christ as a way of combating the destructive forces of his age.
Also, today is the last Sunday of the Church Year. For Christians, the year begins with the birth of Jesus, commencing with the Advent season, follows through His life to Easter and concludes with the recognition that Christ Jesus is King.
In our first reading today from the last book of the Bible, we learn something of Christ our King and His reign over us. Although some today are rather sceptical of kings and the exercise of their rule—and, unfortunately, the pages of history reveal the corruption and tyranny of many kings to confirm such scepticism and cynicism—nevertheless, the picture of Christ our King and His reign in our passage from Revelation is different and fuller of hope. Unlike all the other kings of this world, Christ did not exercise His authority and power by becoming a tyrant like many other kings through the ages. He is a different kind of King, and His reign is in clear contrast to that of all other kings and His power and authority are exercised much differently than other kings.
Some tell us that Jesus’ earthly life was not very important. They say He wrote no books, composed no songs, drew no pictures, carved no statues, commanded no army, and ruled no nation. He who never wrote a line has been made the hero of unnumbered volumes. He who never wrote a song has put music into the hearts of nameless multitudes. He who never established an institution is the foundation of the Church. He who refused the kingdoms of this world has become the Lord of all.
This is the irony of Christ our King and His reign. He is the famous King of all history in spite of the differences with which we measure greatness according to worldly standards; His greatness fills the universe through his self-giving love, while dying on the cross.
Christ, says John, is King and reigns because He is God’s “faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” All three of these descriptions and titles of Christ seem to emphasise His death, resurrection and the power and authority of Christ over earthly kings by virtue of His death and resurrection.
These titles give us insight into His nature just like the title King or Queen reveal the nature of the person to whom they are applied.
A. Faithful Witness
The Greek word used here is martus (μάρτυ), witness from which the word martyr is derived. John adds to that noun the adjective faithful implying this is not just any witness. He is a witness, and He is essentially a person who speaks from first-hand knowledge, who tells what they have seen or heard first-hand. Jesus is uniquely the person with first-hand knowledge about God.
B. First born from the dead
The Greek word used here is prototokos (πρωτότοκος) – The first to die and be resurrected by God. The first-born son inherited His father’s honour and power; the one who occupies the first place. There is nothing in life or death over which Christ Jesus is not Lord.
C. Ruler of the kings of the earth
The Greek word used here is arcon or arkhon (ἄρχων) – interestingly we have the same word in Armenian “Arka” – meaning ruler. There is no greater authority or no one with more power that Christ Jesus. A Ruler is the one to whom obedience and loyalty are expected. Even those who rule other people owe obedience and loyalty to Christ Jesus.
Sometimes people think they are God, and they can do anything they like. They have the power to pull down and the power to erect. But in reality, we have to realise that there is a God, and we are not. As someone has said: “I’m only sure of two things: one is there is a God and the second is I’m not Him.”
John continues to encourage his audience, knowing that they may have felt very weak and vulnerable because of the persecution and suffering they were living under. John encourages them with this message of hope, highlighting their identity as followers of Christ their King as a result of what he has done for us: “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
This is what it means to discover our identity in and through Christ.
John, writing Revelation in exile on the island of Patmos, desires to encourage the churches in the Roman province of Asia. They lived under persecution and faced many difficulties. His encouraging words emphasise who Jesus is and what He has done. When people of faith suffer and are persecuted by oppressive and cruel kings, they may have the tendency to give up on God or to forget that God is still the ultimate Ruler of history. God is in control of history. God is directing the events of history. This point is made in a creative way by John who speaks of God as “him who is and who was and who is to come,” and “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” In other words:
God is the God of the past, present and future.
God is the Ruler over all time and history.
God from the beginning to the end and into eternity.
Who is this “King” that came once and will come again?
Christ is the King, the King from A to Z, the Alpha and Omega. We cannot rule our own lives; but must surrender to the authority of Christ the King. Jesus is Lord. He is Lord.
Jesus announces His oneness with the Father: “I am” – the name Yahweh – “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.” He is coming back to reap the harvest of His completed work upon the Cross. He is the same One, who is, who was, and who is to come: the Almighty.
The interview in John 18:33-37 between Pilate and Jesus paints a sad picture. The King of kings stood accused before an earthly governor. The prisoner appeared so unlike the usual kind of revolutionary that you could almost hear the mockery in the Pilate’s voice: “Are you the king of the Jews?”.
Jesus assured Pilate that He posed no threat to Rome: His kingdom is of another order. Yet He did not deny that He is the One who was to come, hoped for by Israel, and expected by the Gentiles: and that everyone on this side of the truth listens to Him For this He came.
A few days before, the excited crowd that had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover had hailed Jesus as the Messiah, the coming One, the king of the Jews. “Hosanna,” they had cried, acknowledging the salvation they expected (Psalm 118:25-26). “Blessed is the king of Israel who comes in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13).
The trouble is that the people had a different agenda to the Lord. They expected a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman government, but this “son of David” came instead to die for His people. It is not without reason that Jesus said to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).
When Jesus said: “In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify the truth” (John 18:37), He was acknowledging His incarnation. The incarnation is real (1 John 5:6), even though there have always been those who deny “Jesus Christ coming in the flesh” (2 John 1:7). When He said: “For this I came into the world”, He was hinting at His Messiahship.
John the Baptist was acknowledging Jesus’ Messiahship, when he spoke of the One “coming after” him (John 1:15; John 1:27). The Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus with just this question: “Are you the one who was to come?” (Matthew 11:3).
Jesus came to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37).
He came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
Yet, He also came for judgement, to separate the light from the darkness (John 9:39).
John the Evangelist said that “He came” – and was rejected by His own (John 1:11).
Christ is King and reigns because He is God’s “faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
Pilate asked: “Are you the king of Jews?”
Jesus answered: “My kingdom is not of this world. Mu kingdom is from another place”.
“You are a king then!” said Pilate.
“I am a king”. In fact, “I am the King”.
The King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Yes, He is the King, whose birth we are going to celebrate once again. He is our Lord and Saviour. No one else could replace Him.
But the most important thing for us, is to recognise Him. He has His crown on His head, a crown of thorns, which He bared on Calvary, as the symbol of our sins. And in His kingdom, we will be the jewels and the precious stones of His crown.
Amen!