Today is the last Sunday before the beginning of Advent—and the start of a new church year. Called “Christ the King” or “The Reign of Christ,” this Sunday focuses on celebration before the quiet, reflective season of Advent begins. Today we celebrate Christ's triumph over the powers of sin and death. Then next Sunday we begin the yearly liturgical cycle by anticipating Jesus' coming as a infant to live among us—his Incarnation.
We know, of course, that our culture has co-opted the Christmas season. By this coming Friday—if not already—we will be planning our decorations, parties, gift buying, and so forth. Christmas carols will envelop most of our shopping experiences. Most of us participate—although for some of us this build-up seems painful. Loss of a loved one or emptiness in our lives for some other reason may diminish our excitement.
We'll talk more about Advent next week. For now—this Sunday contains the ambivalence we feel when we anticipate celebration, but wonder whether we can find some joy within ourselves to celebrate. We claim Christ's lordship over all creation, but our gospel reading comes from Luke's account of Jesus' crucifixion. This is not resurrection; this is death. Yet . . . it is a different sort of death. Jesus prays for those who crucified him: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And Jesus promises salvation to the criminal who asks to be remembered when Jesus' reign comes: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Could these brief words from the cross mean Jesus' reign has already begun—for rulers offer pardon and rulers offer reward. Indeed there is a phrase that sums up this partly-here, but still-anticipated Reign of Christ. That phrase is “Already, Not Yet.”
All of us have experienced God's love and grace in our lives. But we still struggle, experience sorrow, worry about how things will work out in our lives and the lives of those we love. We may see them as “bumps-in-the-road.” Yet despite the bumps in the road or perhaps because of them, we hope for a resurrected life—a life in which God makes all things new—a life to be lived in the presence of God's joy eternally. But it seems as if our life in God is “Already, Not Yet.”
Craig Barnes, a seminary professor and poet, recalled visiting to the wife of a former pastor of his. In her prime she was the sort of clergy spouse who could greet a visitor, soothe a grumpy parishioner, and answer questions about the new music director all the while “just chatting” and sipping a cup of coffee. Now she resided in a nursing home, dying. Her illness fogged her thinking, and she struggled to understand her visitor. As Barnes tried to reassure her of God's care and love for her, she began to recite the words of hymns. He described it this way: “Then in a crystal clear voice she begins to recite the words of old hymns: 'O God, Our Help in Ages Past' . . . 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God'—and of course, 'Amazing Grace.' She even knows the second and third verses, but my memory fails as she continue to make her declaration of faith through these historic lyrics.” Barnes described these lyrics as breaking through the fog of her clouded thinking and her dementia. They were her testimony to the reign of Christ in her living and in her dying. Yes, our life in God does seem to be “Already . . . already.”
In prophetic Hebrew scriptures—Jeremiah, for example—we hear that in God's time, God will establish a wise, just and righteous ruler. All our trauma with the fear and anxiety that it causes us will be healed. The writer of the book of Revelation tells about his vision of a new Jerusalem established by God when all creation will be made new. In this new creation all tears, pain and suffering are banished. We hope—we believe—that God will make all things right in the end, restoring all who turn to God in humbleness, as did the repentant thief. We hope . . . but God's new creation is “Not yet . . .Not yet.”
Yes, on this Feast of Reign of Christ we celebrate both God's grace “that has brought us safe thus far” and God's grace “that leads us home.” We experience God's mercies daily. We trust—we have faith—in Christ's victory over whatever would tear us from God's love or cause us to doubt the power of God's grace. But then one day we will know . . . we will know God as God is. But for now in the meantime the reign of Christ is “Already, Not Yet.”
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