People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: The Cosmic Christ ~ Last Sunday in the Season of Creation '19

For Sunday, November 24, 2019, Readings: Colossians 1:15-20, Psalm 93, Revelation 1:4b-8, Luke 23:33-43

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…He is himself before all things and in him all things hold together. [Colossians 1:15a, 17]

Your testimonies are very sure, and holiness adorns your house, O Lord, for ever and for evermore. [Psalm 93:6]

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness…”I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God…

[Revelation 1:4b, 5a, 8a]

Father forgive them for they know not what they do…Then [one of the criminals] said, “Jesus, remember me…” and [Jesus] replied, “Truly I tell you , today you will be with me in Paradise.”

[Luke 23:34, 42a, 43]

We have arrived at the final Sunday in the Season of Creation (SoC) and also the Last Sunday after Pentecost in the Lectionary season, both of which celebrate Christ the King. Coming next we begin the Season of Advent, preparing for the birth of the Child in whom the fullness of God is pleased to dwell.

The readings from Colossians and Revelation for this SoC Sunday are filled with mysterious and almost abstract descriptions that are difficult to comprehend for most modern, western minds. While they also may be somewhat familiar to anyone who regularly reads the Christian [aka New] Testament and/or vaguely hears them read in a church setting, these words may seem irrelevant in the scheme of daily living in today’s world. How does one concretely grasp God, the Almighty who is and was and is to come, the Alpha and the Omega, from everlasting. Or, Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, the faithful witness, firstborn of all creation and also of the dead, ruler of the kings of the earth? Yet we, who would be counted as faithful Christians, should take heed and examine more closely. It is in this daily life in this time that we may easily lose track of our allegiances and settle in more with the temporary earthly powers than in the everlasting divine Kingship of Christ. Although Jesus says his kingdom is not from here, it is here and in this time and place where we encounter him, if we seek him, and if we choose to follow.

It seems strange that as we celebrate Christ as King that we end on the Gospel of Luke at the Crucifixion. Yet, without the Crucifixion and Resurrection of what purpose is Advent? For me, the crux of this Sunday’s lessons is the moment in Luke’s Gospel where the contrast is made between the hard-bitten criminal and that of the repentant one. In his response to the “Good Thief,” as he has been called, Jesus gives us the path to freedom from the darkness of sin and fear. For us who endeavor to follow, Christ is our unearthly King in this world who shows us the way to the true and never-ending Kingdom, Paradise, in the next. The question for each of us is: do we choose to be led astray by the hard-hearted in our brief sojourn in this time, or follow him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood? The answer, of course is to seek the path where: In him all things hold together. No easy task with strong faith let alone for those of us who falter in our faith at times. The readings for this Sunday are as timely today as when first written down. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God, our God, our Lord for ever and for evermore.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ Lord God Almighty, in our fleeting mortality turn us always to Christ in whose Kingdom, now and forever, we are forgiven and saved, for in You all things hold together.