Sermon November 20, 2005

Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate people one form another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him 'Lord, when was it that we say you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing: And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' and the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give e clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then the also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' Ant these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:31-46)

Today is the last Sunday of the church year. It is a natural time to summarize and review the past accomplishments. Did we accomplish our goals? In some congregations this Sunday is singled out as either "Christ the King Sunday", or in others it is called, "Judgment Sunday". I noticed in our scripture handout that at St. Paul's we simply call it "Last Sunday after Pentecost".

The readings for today certainly are appropriate for summarizing the accumulated consequences of missing our goals to be worthy children of God.

The Old Testament reading talking of "the destruction of the fat and the strong." And the gospel reading gives visions of the unworthy being sent away into eternal punishment. I am sure in some churches this morning will be powerful "Fire and Brimstone" sermons on the results of wayward actions. - Judgment Sunday -

If this were actually "The" Judgment Sunday or Judgment Day or end of the world, what would it mean to us? Do you have images of God arriving in a full fury throwing lightning bolts and ripping mountains apart? Do you see Jesus transformed into his full all powerful self wreaking vengeance on those who persecuted him? Do you see him with his white robes flowing as he picks up large groups by the God-sized handful and throwing them into the steamy, hot molten lake glowing like a huge pot of molten iron ore? It certainly makes for good television and the imagery is helpful if the purpose is to frighten people into change to avoid such a scene but I don't believe that this is the lesson for us today. I don't believe that this scenario is God's goal or the perfected final outcome of all creation. If we focus on this cataclysmic end of all things we are looking in the wrong direction.

Our lessons today do talk about judgment but the strength for that day comes from the picture of God shown in these lessons. The God who is judging us is described in the reading from Ezekiel today as steadfast, loving, and merciful. God is described as saying, "I myself will search for my people. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered. I will feed them with good pastures. I will seek the lost, I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak. What is judgment about? Judgment is about making decisions. It is about choosing between what is right and what is wrong. Judgment is about what is true and what is false. Judgment is about what is fair and what is unjust.

Today's lessons give me comfort and hope because God who is the final judge is not only fair and just but is also loving and merciful and steadfast. Do not be afraid - that is what the end of this church year means to me. Do not be afraid - that is what God's judgment means to me. Do not be afraid - because we are God's people.

The parable in today's gospel lesson gives us a clear picture of how we - God's people are to being judged. If you think of it in terms of school lessons, it is an open book test with one question. We are being judged by a merciful loving God and the question we are being asked is this: Are we also being merciful and loving? We will be judged only on our mercy. The answer is there. We simply have to maintain an attitude of mercy which will by its own nature result in our performance of acts of kindness and mercy.

I don't think we are always aware of our own role in the practical things involved in helping those around us. There are acts of mercy we can each perform every day. If we become distracted by some potential cataclysmic future we miss those opportunities around us today.

There is a story of an old deacon who one day was leading a prayer service. The deacon was using one of the same old phrases that she repeated week after week which was: O Lord, touch the needy with Thy finger." All of a sudden she stopped praying. The silence was so unusual and so dramatic that people rushed over to ask her if she were ill. "No," she said, "something just seemed to say to me, 'Thou are the finger'." We often pray for God to touch people - to do this or that for them - to meet a variety of needs that WE could assist with.

God - our judge - is merciful and loving and expects us to be the same. That is the point of today's gospel lesson.

Last week at a prayer service during diocesan convention, we were asked to participate in a response which I found very powerful. A part of the Saturday morning service was a "Litany for the Lost" this is from a book titled The Wideness of God's Mercy. The book is edited by Jeffery W. Rawthorn and the author of this particular piece is Marilyn Logan, a member of Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Cincinnati, Ohio. I found it very moving because it combined three elements. Each line began with a short prayer for a particular type of modern needy person. Each line then continued with a corresponding Bible verse. And finally each prayer ended with a community response.

For the rest of today's sermon I want to depart from the usual format where I continue to talk and hopefully you listen. I would like us to all participate in this "Litany for the Lost". Your part which is the response after each section is "Lord, have mercy on them and us." I will cue you for each response.