The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
November 22, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 45

Everything But...

This is the last time we are worshipping this year. Next year is next week with the beginning of Advent, but the Sunday called the Reign of Christ is meant to be a climax, sort of. It doesn’t seem to be an end, certainly not with a bang, perhaps with an exhausted whimper as the 25th Sunday after Pentecost finishes out another church year.

A proper ending is not our strength, especially when we attempt to keep marching forward. We are more creatures of cycles instead, rather than beginnings and endings. Both are necessary to live a productive life, yet sometimes we prefer to go in circles and end up nowhere special. Frankly, we do not like endings, perhaps because there is always some bitter sweetness involved. Endings can be a near-death experience. Ask any Roughrider fan.

The ending of the Christian year celebrates a new reality - the Reign of Christ has begun or rather and is continuing. Some still call this Christ the King Sunday, but both kings and queens reign. Jesus is sometimes depicted as priest, prophet and king - roles usually taken on by individuals, but rolled up into one in Christ - an abstract way of saying that Jesus has completed the Gospel and brought it to a fitting conclusion in himself.

A good ending is marked neither by a victory or a defeat, but embodied in a human being, in personal and public relationships. The conclusion of the Christian Gospel is not like a mathematical theorem in which one has finally arrived at a demonstrably correct answer. Sure, we talk a lot about Jesus’ parables and teachings, but his words best tell us about the person of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega.