Sermon: B Last Pentecost Proper 29 King of kings 25 November 2012

2 Sam 23: 1-7; Ps 132: 1-13; Rev 1: 4b-8; JOHN 18: 33-37

Grant, O God, that all may be brought under the most gracious rule of your Belov’d Son, King of Kings AMEN

Chip our seminarian, who defines a providential gift as a Field Ed person, is graciously being our parish musician this morning. He was a good sport about giving me apt travel music, from Messiah, “King of kings and Lord of lords, and he shall reign forever.” Some of the music for Jesus as King and Lord, is some of our most familiar and favorite, even if on careful word-checking, we’re less enthusiastic about some of the ideas that go with such august positions as King of kings. The kingly images in music are ones that have leapt out at me this week, rather than visual ones.

MEDITATION For Sunday August 5th (Proper 13): Living Together

The Collect: Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

It took Nathan telling a parable before David could recognize his own cruelty and greed. Human beings never seem to do too well at loving our neighbors – or even simply managing not to kill them – when we become too powerful, or too isolated: when we lose our ties to community. The exhortation to the Ephesians challenges us to see ourselves not as self-contained, fully autonomous units, but as parts of a Body so much greater and more important than ourselves. We each have gifts to give that are necessary for our life together. We can only ever fully become what God created us to be when we help build up the Body that we try to become together, week by week, when we receive the Bread of Life.

Meditation for 2 Samuel 11: 1 – 15 and John 6: 1 – 21

Today’s readings ruffled my feathers. I found it hard not to see similarities to those killed to cover-up David’s having impregnated Bathsheba. How like the peccadillos and cover-ups of modern-day politicians. Today’s gospel shows us Jesus doing what he did present in the reading from Samuel: David orders Uriah into battle, where he will be best, taking care of the poor and hungry. It’s odd these days, when our politics are dominated by so-called Christians, that the poor and hungry are forgotten. Instead of the hungry being fed, the wealthy benefit with tax cuts while programs that might help the poor and hungry are cut. The same politicians who proclaim their superiority as Christians conveniently forget that Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to feed the hungry. What happened to "Go and do likewise” or even WWJD?