Christarchy 2018

A Sermon for Christ the King Sunday 2018. Based on Romans 6 and John 18:33-37.

Today is Christ the King Sunday. And in a democratic culture where we have no King, where we are free to pursue anything we can imagine, and purchase anything our heart desires, it can be hard to wrap our minds around what it means to think of Christ as OUR King. 

So, to help us wrap our minds around Jesus Christ as the King of kings and Lord of lords, I would like to begin with a story:


Not so long ago, in a suburb not so far away, there lived a teenage skater-punk, who rode around on his well worn skateboard, with hair in his eyes, a concert t-shirt, ripped up jeans, half destroyed converse shoes, and something between a smirk and a sneer constantly glued on his face.

And if you looked close at his skateboard, or his shoes, or his jeans, or his notebooks, or the back of his hand, you would often see scrawled a circle with an "A" in the middle of it: The international punk rock sign for ANARCHY.

And I can tell you so much about this skater-punk kid because he was, of course, me. And I loved the idea of "anarchy"! No religion, no rules, no master, no responsibility! No one to tell me what to do. Nothing to "conform to".

My motto was sung by the infamous Punk Rock icon Sid Vicious in his hit song "Anarchy in the U.K.": "I am an anarchist! Don't know what I want... but I know how to get it! How many ways to get what you want... I use the best, I use the rest!"

And then, in all of my glorious teenage non-conformity, quite to my surprise, I noticed something: That cool haircut I had, was the same as all my friends. And those hip, trendy, ripped up clothes were exactly like what all the skaters in the magazines wore. And there was evidently enough interest in my subversive punk-rock underground music, that it kept whole record stores, and record labels, in business.

To use a phrase of Pink Floyd, I was "just another brick in the wall". All of us anarchist non-conformist skater kids were just affluent suburbanites conforming to the same non-conformity. All of us, with our anarchist non-conformity, were really ruled by an invisible consumerism.

Saint Paul, in the sixth chapter of his letter to the Romans, sums it up this way: 

"Don’t you know that if you offer yourself to serve someone obediently, that you are slaves of the one whom you obey? That’s true whether you serve as slaves of sin, which leads to death, or as slaves of obedience which leads to righteousness. "

Our own American prophet Bob Dylan summed it up like this (using words incredibly similar to Saint Paul): 

"You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody."

There really is no such thing as anarchy. There is never even such a thing as non-conformity. Even when we react against something, we are allowing what we dislike to form us, and shape us, by making us the opposite, mirror image of itself.

We may think we are serving ourselves, and living for ourselves, but that is not true either. We were made to need things we cannot provide for ourselves. We were made to devote ourselves to Something beyond ourselves. What we choose as our object of Ultimate Value is what becomes our God, our Master, and our King.

If we think we are serving ourselves, by choosing to do whatever gives us pleasure, then we soon find that we are addicted to whatever we need to make us feel good.

What used to make us happy is no longer enough. We need more, different, and better "stuff" to be happy. Until the very thing that made us feel good, becomes the thing we hate, and which makes us hate ourselves.

If we think we are serving ourselves, by choosing to do whatever makes us "successful", then we soon find that we are enslaved to the very conditions of success we have defined for ourselves. 

Perhaps we become enslaved to the people we want to impress, constantly seeking their approval. Or perhaps we become slaves to the money and lifestyle that goes with success. 

Soon we find ourselves ruled by fear: Abject fear that we will loose what we have gained, that we must keep clawing our way to the top, or we will disappoint others. We will find ourselves compelled to protect our success, and our self image, at all costs.

But pleasure and success are just two ways we enslave ourselves, in the foolish attempt to be our own masters. I could count a hundred more. We enslave ourselves by wanting to be wanted, and needing to be needed. We enslave ourselves to our lifestyle. We enslave ourselves to our pride, our prejudice, our fears, and our hatreds. 

Whatever we focus our attention on, is what becomes our Master. Whatever we worship, whatever we put above all else as our Ultimate Value, enslaves us. Because we BECOME what we WORSHIP.

So we find ourselves BACK at the visionary words of prophet Bob:

"You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody."

So, who are YOU gonna serve? What are YOU gonna worship? What is YOUR object of Ultimate Value? What do YOU want to become?

Instead of celebrating anarchy, or any of the powerful illusions of consumerism that deny, distort, demean, and destroy our lives, today the Church celebrates a totally different kind of "archy". 

Today, we celebrate "Christarchy". We celebrate the Kingship, rule, and dominion of the ONLY King that truly sets us free: Christ the King. That is why today is called "Christ the King" Sunday.

What is a King? A King is One who has power over a Kingdom. The word King in American ears has imperial overtones. It reminds us of iron-fisted dictators, who march armies into war, to conquer and enslave helpless people. 

But we forget that in our own day, it is false promises of consumerism that have, in the name of freedom, enslaved far more people than any national King ever has.

But Jesus deconstructs, and reconstructs, the whole idea of what it means to be a King, what it means to hold power, and what it means to have a Kingdom.

FIRST, JESUS IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF KING. We are used to Kings who rule by taking the first place, and clearly delineating who goes where in the power structure.

Yet, Jesus does NOT rule by putting Himself OVER all as a Master. Instead, Jesus puts himself UNDER all as a slave. Jesus leads us by serving us, and in serving us, he leads us to be more than we ever dreamed we could be. 

Jesus rules us-- not by enslaving us to cravings and fears and hatreds-- but by freeing us to love others with reckless abandon. Instead of controlling us, Jesus heals us, and empowers us, and liberates us to live into all the fullness of  who God made us to be.

SECOND, JESUS HOLDS A DIFFERENT KIND OF POWER. We often see power used to coerce people into making them do what others want. 

We constantly see people using political power to oppress others, economic power to boycott things they don't like, and the power of the media to shame and blame others.

Yet, Jesus wields the power of perfect Love, not the power of coercion. This world may try to rule us through the POWER of fear or hatred or craving. But Jesus rules by the POWER of joy and peace and compassion. 

When we let Jesus rule us, we are set free from the fear and hatred and craving that used to enslave us. We are liberated from everything that is anti-life, anti-love, anti-hope, and anti-human. 

Instead, Jesus heals us and releases us to pursue abundant Life, undying Love, eternal Hope, and find out what it means to become truly human.

THIRD, JESUS HAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF KINGDOM. We are used to Kingdoms having clearly defined boundaries, with clear signs that say who is IN, and who is OUT. But Jesus tells Pontius Pilate: "My kingdom is not from THIS world."

Jesus does NOT rule over a place IN our world of "power politics". Jesus rules IN a new kind people who live in the power of Love. By the Power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus creates a new kind of community: 

A community where there is no longer insiders or outsiders, us versus them, exclusion or alienation. As Saint Paul says in his letter to the Galatians: "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Slave nor Free, Male nor Female, for we are all ONE in Christ Jesus."

Jesus Christ is a different kind of King, with a different kind of power, who calls us to a different kind of Kingdom.
Our old compulsions and addictions no longer have to rule over us. 

We don't have to be divided and enslaved by our old hatreds and fears. We can finally stop serving the power of death and darkness. Instead, we are forgiven and released from hopelessness, by allowing a new King to rule us: King Jesus.

The letter to the Colossians puts Christ's Kingship this way: "Christ himself is before all things, and in Christ all things hold together."

King Jesus is Hub around which all the universe revolves.
King Jesus is the Plot which guides all History to fulfillment in Him.
King Jesus is the Reason which gives all of life Meaning.
King Jesus is the Score which directs the music of our lives.

And when we allow the Love of Jesus to rule us, we will find ourselves in Harmony with the Symphony God is composing throughout all of Creation.

So this brings us to the question of HOW: How can we let Christ's Love rule our hearts? How can my messy life be brought into harmony with God? I'm glad you asked.

The one word answer is this: Prayer. Communication with God. Speaking to Christ in words and deeds, in Scripture and in silence, allowing time and space, for Christ to speak to you, in the depths of your heart.

Now, there are a hundred different ways to pray. You can pray in community like we are doing today, or in silence at home. You can pray by writing in a journal, or reading from a Prayer Book, or making it up as you go along. 

But today, as we focus on Christ as our King, and raise him up as our Ultimate Value, I want to give you a kind of prayer that our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters call "arrow prayers". 

Arrow prayers are brief words and phrases aimed at God, which we can repeat constantly, which focus our mind on Christ's presence in us, and open our heart to allow Christ's Love to seep into our deepest self. Typically, arrow prayers are combined with slow rhythmic breathing, inhaling and exhaling, as the prayer is repeated.

The most famous arrow prayer is what Eastern Orthodox Christians call "The Jesus Prayer": Over and over they repeat "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner". 

They repeat it hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, until it becomes a part of them, and they experience Christ's presence constantly.

If you like to fidget, like I do, you might even combine arrow prayers, and deep breathing, with prayer beads, counting the beads one by one as you send your arrows to Christ. 

Now, you don't have to use the Jesus Prayer. Maybe you would want to use a phrase from Scripture. Perhaps Galatians 2:20 "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me". Or perhaps Philippians 4.13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

Or perhaps your arrow prayer might be something you make up yourself. I often find myself using the prayer "Lord Jesus draw us to you, to love you and love like you".

But whatever arrow prayer you choose, you can use it when you wake up and when you go to sleep. You can repeat it while you shower. You can say it while you brush your teeth. 

When you find yourself in a stressful situation, let it repeat over and over in your mind as you breathe deeply, to bring peace and patience. And instead of counting sheep to go to sleep, you can let your arrow prayer calm you down.

But arrow prayers are just one method of letting King Jesus rule your life. They may work well for you. Or they may not work at all. But the question I want to leave you with is this: 

If Jesus really is your King, HOW are you letting him rule your life?

What prayers and practices work for you, to allow Christ into you, to inspire your heart, to enlighten your mind, and to guide your will into Christlikeness? How are you practicing Christ THIS day? This week? This year?

Because one thing is for sure: If we are not allowing Christ to rule us, something else will sneak in and take over. And I can guarantee you: That something else will not heal us, or liberate us, or love us, like Christ does. 

So, how will YOU practice Christ, and let King Jesus rule YOUR heart? As the prophet Bob reminds us:

"You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody."