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The
Bishop's Journal
November 2001
We Are Third
Each year, on or about the end of November, we celebrate the festival of Christ the King. It marks the final Sunday in the church's liturgical calendar and focuses on lifting up a vision of what the reign of God might look like.
In year A of the lectionary series, the appointed gospel lesson for Christ the King is the story of judgement that is recorded in Matthew 25. In this lesson, people are judged on the basis of what they have done to the poor, the homeless, the hungry and thirsty. In fact, over the course of the lesson we are told that in encountering such persons, we are actually encountering God. When we serve the one in need, we are serving God. Conversely, when we deny the one in need, we are denying God.
Clearly, the primary values that define the reign of God are unlike those expressed in other kingdoms. It's all topsy-turvy; turned upside down. Membership in this kingdom isn't predicated on having an inside track with the brightest and best, the rich and the beautiful, but rather, by the frighteningly radical measure of what we have done to the very least of those within the human family.
When I was a kid at school, one of our favourite recess activities was playing the game 'king of the castle'. In the winter time the snowplough would clean off the schoolyard and create great mountains of snow. We'd climb those huge slopes and throw one another down, struggling to be the only one left on top. But being king would only last a few precious seconds before the next challenger would usurp the throne and throw down the reigning king.
As a children's game it was a lot of fun. But it's no fun when adults use that same model as a way to live. It's not fun and it's not good. A Christian version of 'king of the castle' would have very different rules. The object would be to stay at the bottom of the hill while helping others to get to the top. And although that probably wouldn't make for a very exciting children's game, it would make for a more humane, just and God-pleasing world in which to live.
Earlier this fall I visited a Roman Catholic religious community that has a special vocation to serve the poor. One of the credos of that community reads, "I am third". It is a simple reminder that in the Christian life, God comes first, our neighbour second and ourselves third.
In recent years more and more Lutheran congregations have become involved
in direct ministries of service within their communities through their
support of community dinners, Out of the Cold programmes, community gardens
and food banks. Good work is being done; committed work, inspired work! But
we need to do more.
A church that is serious about being in mission will, by definition, be
serious about meeting and alleviating human need. A church that is serious
about mission will remember that in God's kingdom, we are third. May we live
as it were so.
The Rev. Michael J. Pryse,
Bishop
