Pastor’s Corner – November 24, 2024
Christ the King Sunday
John 18:33-37
“You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Last Sunday we ended with a message of hope. The storm that is coming will come to pass. Not a single stone will stand upon another but will be cast down. Jesus reminded his disciples that great human achievements, institutions, empires and so on that humans built that symbolize great power will come to pass. And warns of Antichrists, those who will come in his name with false promises. All these will come to pass. This apocalyptic vision of destruction are but signs of the beginning of birth pains! In other words, something new will emerge. God is already creating something new, giving birth to new creation! This message foreshadows Advent season, so keep watch! Let us be vigilant and keep awake with an emergence of greater consciousness and awakening from dominant narratives that imprisons human lives in a matrix of “us against them,” creating borders both material and ideological, separations that alienate and dehumanize people as enemies and the abject other! The sins that are committed are horrific violence in the name of national identity, religion, race and class. Capitalism runs wild unchecked. Oligarchs are parachuted into positions of power to rule, mocking democracy, and the masses seduced to give allegiance to idols for redemption.
Here, in the midst of this storm, you and I are called to be witnesses of truth! It’s Christ the King Sunday. As we stand at the threshold of Advent, we stand with Christ before Pontius Pilate who is the epitome of the world of power, representing hegemonic empire narrative then and today. The aphorism that “might makes right” is morally wrong and spiritually bankrupt. This is the inescapable human predicament we are living in today. Those who dare stand with Christ to follow the way, the truth and the life of Christ dare today to be subversive, prophetic and speak truth to power as Christ has done. Come this Sunday and let us stand with Christ before Pilate representing God’s kingdom and vision for our world. Come and let us dismantle false narratives that create so much suffering and injustice with the truth of who we are and all peoples as God’s children with the power of love, reconciliation, and peace!
Pastor Dae