What's The Stick For?
Stories
Object:
Contents
What's Up This Week
"What's the Stick for?" by C. David McKirachan
"Christ the President Sunday" by Timothy Merrill
What's Up This Week
The King. The word itself conveys power and authority, conjuring images of larger-than-life monarchs confidently wielding their regal authority over their subjects. On Christ the King Sunday, we enthrone Christ as the head of the church, submitting ourselves to his authority. What does that mean to become the subjects of Christ? Most of us have never been subject to a monarch. This can be a difficult concept for the American mind to grasp. As we see in the following stories, the monarch-subject relationship has responsibilities on both sides. In "What's the Stick for?" C. David McKirachan reflects on the responsibility of those in leadership, specifically the leadership of a pastor. In "Christ the President Sunday," Timothy Merrill examines the concept of Christ as "king" and how we as his subjects should respond to it. As you read, consider: Is Christ truly your "king"?
* * * * * * * * *
What's the Stick for?
C. David McKirachan
Jeremiah 23:1-6
When I started this job, over thirty years ago, I was amazed at people's intransigence. They didn't want to change, even when it made sense. I knew the new ideas made sense, because they made sense to me. God, I was young. "We never did it that way before" was their perfectly logical reason to keep doing things that were not only irrelevant and unnecessary, but sometimes patently self-destructive. I used to grind my teeth and pound the pavement, trying to walk off the frustration.
But I remember the first time someone set me up for the express purpose of hurting me and destroying the good the church was trying to do. It was like finding a pit dug in an interstate for no reason except to hurt and disrupt. It was a bloodless form of terrorism, right in my own backyard. It wounded my sense of hope. Working creatively for the kingdom had never been defensive for me. How could I trust? Some of the flock were carrying bombs.
It made me reconsider my attitude toward evil. It made me realize that part of my call was not only to take advantage of the church as a staging area for rescuing the lost, but to also make sure that this sanctuary was really safe. Evil wasn't only out there. I remembered the Lord's words, "The Kingdom of God is among, or it could be within us." I had just discovered that the "Dark Side" was also among, or it could be within us.
I had always been taught to be humble, non-judgmental, and in a word nice. I began considering the nature of the abuse that flourishes in a home where people try their best to be loving and end up enabling. Yes, the abusers are themselves victims, but being merely nice to them will not help them or their victims. People who were bent on exercising their muscles of domination and control in the church were suffering under burdens of anger and hurt. The best way I could minister to them was to confront their behavior and protect the family of faith.
I worked at Johnsonburg Camp as a volunteer. It's 400 odd acres of woods in northwestern New Jersey. On one hike I found a red cedar branch, heavy at one end, knotted and gnarled as cedar can be. I'd taken it and worked with it, hand and pocket knife, until it became a smooth staff, too heavy for a walking stick. I put it in the corner of my office at the church. It reminded me of my responsibility as a pastor. We're here to care for the flock. We keep them together. We scope out new pastures and good water. We help them lamb and keep them healthy and out of holes. We also keep the predators away. Wolves aren't sheep. That's one reason why shepherds carry a big stick.
But the staff is also there to remind me that the evil I have to watch for is not only out there somewhere -- it is also within. It is as close as a budget meeting or a ladies' circle. It is as close as my own arrogance and self-righteousness. Woe to us if we forget. We'll be on the menu.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. He is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
Christ the President Sunday
Timothy F. Merrill
Colossians 1:11-20
We have arrived at the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday, we begin anew with the First Sunday of Advent. So we've come, in a sense, to the completion of a journey that has taken us from the birth of Jesus, to the death and resurrection of Jesus, through an account in the gospel of Luke of the earthly ministry of Jesus, through the ascension of Jesus, and the birth of the church. Now, on this final Sunday of the church year, we crown it off by recognizing Jesus Christ as the head of the church -- and indeed our whole lives. So we have a special name for this unique Sunday in the church calendar.
Christ the President Sunday.
Doesn't quite work, does it? Like, would Christ the President get elected every four years? Or, is this "Christ" position an elected office, and Jesus could get voted out, and we could vote in someone else, like, say "Elvis"?
Metaphor is everything. Christ the Prime Minister Sunday isn't any better. Christ the Dictator Sunday. The Totalitarian. And Christ the Sovereign Sunday sounds just as silly.
Some argue these days that the word "king" -- being a masculine image, and a political metaphor of aeons in the past -- is no longer a useful metaphor for a postmodern, twenty-first-century world. It's outdated and archaic.
Same goes for the word "lord." What's a lord, except for a goofy-looking man wearing a wig of white curls and sitting in the English parliament?
That's why people who know far much more than I do about such matters are given to striking the word "king" and "lord" from our hymnals and Bibles. No need to cause offense, they say. Instead, they've substituted the word "sovereign" for "king" and "lord." Like we're going to understand the meaning of "sovereign" better than "king." Please.
I don't think there's a living soul in America above the age of five who can't give you a fairly good definition of what a "king" is. Have you checked out your children's video game collection lately? You might find The King of Dragons, King of the Fighters, King of the Monsters, King of Boxers, King of Route 66, and Lord of Guns. And how about those fabulously popular movies, Lord of the Rings?
Who are we kidding? Christ the King. We get it. We understand it. In Christ is all power and glory, and someday, Christ will have all dominion. And it is to Christ, in whom "all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" that we owe our allegiance, our fealty. And in a few days, we'll be standing in awe and reverence when the community choir gets to that magnificent chorus in Handel's Messiah:
Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ!
And he shall reign forever and ever.
King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Forever, and ever!
Hallelujah!
(from Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series IV, Cycle C [CSS Publishing Co.: Lima, Ohio, 2003], pp. 142-143)
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How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply email the story to us at storyshare@sermonsuite.com.
**************
StoryShare, November 25, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
What's Up This Week
"What's the Stick for?" by C. David McKirachan
"Christ the President Sunday" by Timothy Merrill
What's Up This Week
The King. The word itself conveys power and authority, conjuring images of larger-than-life monarchs confidently wielding their regal authority over their subjects. On Christ the King Sunday, we enthrone Christ as the head of the church, submitting ourselves to his authority. What does that mean to become the subjects of Christ? Most of us have never been subject to a monarch. This can be a difficult concept for the American mind to grasp. As we see in the following stories, the monarch-subject relationship has responsibilities on both sides. In "What's the Stick for?" C. David McKirachan reflects on the responsibility of those in leadership, specifically the leadership of a pastor. In "Christ the President Sunday," Timothy Merrill examines the concept of Christ as "king" and how we as his subjects should respond to it. As you read, consider: Is Christ truly your "king"?
* * * * * * * * *
What's the Stick for?
C. David McKirachan
Jeremiah 23:1-6
When I started this job, over thirty years ago, I was amazed at people's intransigence. They didn't want to change, even when it made sense. I knew the new ideas made sense, because they made sense to me. God, I was young. "We never did it that way before" was their perfectly logical reason to keep doing things that were not only irrelevant and unnecessary, but sometimes patently self-destructive. I used to grind my teeth and pound the pavement, trying to walk off the frustration.
But I remember the first time someone set me up for the express purpose of hurting me and destroying the good the church was trying to do. It was like finding a pit dug in an interstate for no reason except to hurt and disrupt. It was a bloodless form of terrorism, right in my own backyard. It wounded my sense of hope. Working creatively for the kingdom had never been defensive for me. How could I trust? Some of the flock were carrying bombs.
It made me reconsider my attitude toward evil. It made me realize that part of my call was not only to take advantage of the church as a staging area for rescuing the lost, but to also make sure that this sanctuary was really safe. Evil wasn't only out there. I remembered the Lord's words, "The Kingdom of God is among, or it could be within us." I had just discovered that the "Dark Side" was also among, or it could be within us.
I had always been taught to be humble, non-judgmental, and in a word nice. I began considering the nature of the abuse that flourishes in a home where people try their best to be loving and end up enabling. Yes, the abusers are themselves victims, but being merely nice to them will not help them or their victims. People who were bent on exercising their muscles of domination and control in the church were suffering under burdens of anger and hurt. The best way I could minister to them was to confront their behavior and protect the family of faith.
I worked at Johnsonburg Camp as a volunteer. It's 400 odd acres of woods in northwestern New Jersey. On one hike I found a red cedar branch, heavy at one end, knotted and gnarled as cedar can be. I'd taken it and worked with it, hand and pocket knife, until it became a smooth staff, too heavy for a walking stick. I put it in the corner of my office at the church. It reminded me of my responsibility as a pastor. We're here to care for the flock. We keep them together. We scope out new pastures and good water. We help them lamb and keep them healthy and out of holes. We also keep the predators away. Wolves aren't sheep. That's one reason why shepherds carry a big stick.
But the staff is also there to remind me that the evil I have to watch for is not only out there somewhere -- it is also within. It is as close as a budget meeting or a ladies' circle. It is as close as my own arrogance and self-righteousness. Woe to us if we forget. We'll be on the menu.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. He is the author of I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder (Westminster John Knox).
Christ the President Sunday
Timothy F. Merrill
Colossians 1:11-20
We have arrived at the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday, we begin anew with the First Sunday of Advent. So we've come, in a sense, to the completion of a journey that has taken us from the birth of Jesus, to the death and resurrection of Jesus, through an account in the gospel of Luke of the earthly ministry of Jesus, through the ascension of Jesus, and the birth of the church. Now, on this final Sunday of the church year, we crown it off by recognizing Jesus Christ as the head of the church -- and indeed our whole lives. So we have a special name for this unique Sunday in the church calendar.
Christ the President Sunday.
Doesn't quite work, does it? Like, would Christ the President get elected every four years? Or, is this "Christ" position an elected office, and Jesus could get voted out, and we could vote in someone else, like, say "Elvis"?
Metaphor is everything. Christ the Prime Minister Sunday isn't any better. Christ the Dictator Sunday. The Totalitarian. And Christ the Sovereign Sunday sounds just as silly.
Some argue these days that the word "king" -- being a masculine image, and a political metaphor of aeons in the past -- is no longer a useful metaphor for a postmodern, twenty-first-century world. It's outdated and archaic.
Same goes for the word "lord." What's a lord, except for a goofy-looking man wearing a wig of white curls and sitting in the English parliament?
That's why people who know far much more than I do about such matters are given to striking the word "king" and "lord" from our hymnals and Bibles. No need to cause offense, they say. Instead, they've substituted the word "sovereign" for "king" and "lord." Like we're going to understand the meaning of "sovereign" better than "king." Please.
I don't think there's a living soul in America above the age of five who can't give you a fairly good definition of what a "king" is. Have you checked out your children's video game collection lately? You might find The King of Dragons, King of the Fighters, King of the Monsters, King of Boxers, King of Route 66, and Lord of Guns. And how about those fabulously popular movies, Lord of the Rings?
Who are we kidding? Christ the King. We get it. We understand it. In Christ is all power and glory, and someday, Christ will have all dominion. And it is to Christ, in whom "all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" that we owe our allegiance, our fealty. And in a few days, we'll be standing in awe and reverence when the community choir gets to that magnificent chorus in Handel's Messiah:
Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ!
And he shall reign forever and ever.
King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Forever, and ever!
Hallelujah!
(from Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series IV, Cycle C [CSS Publishing Co.: Lima, Ohio, 2003], pp. 142-143)
**********************************************
How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply email the story to us at storyshare@sermonsuite.com.
**************
StoryShare, November 25, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
