Christ the King (A) + Being kind + 11.26.17

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M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm 100; Ephesians 1:15–23; Matthew 25:31–46)

Last week, I saw so much grace up here in this very altar space. Young trans men and women came up and spoke out about the violence that is directed at them day in and day out around the world but also about how they choose to remain hopeful in sharing their creative joy with the world. Through interpretive dance, music and poetry as well as story-telling, we heard a message of hope at the Trans Day of Remembrance celebration. Broken hearts made new were evident all around.
Today is Christ the King Sunday, as you may know a fairly recent addition to the church calendar by Pope Pius XI in the 1920s although practiced for a long time in our cycle of readings.[1] Many of you, like me, may bristle at the tones of triumphalism present in songs if not directly in the scriptures of the day. Somehow it seems an odd way to speak of our humble Savior. And if you are like me, you are a bit wary of triumphalism lately,  having heard too much about making “America great” as if it was not already and as if all that makes it great is not in fact a gift of God and of the humble service of all those who have walked this land before us.
But I think it is handy to remember that the people to whom the prophet Ezekiel spoke were in exile in Babylon for at least a portion of the time. They were perhaps mistreated, out of their power, and certainly yearning for a saving force in their lives. Yahweh was that saving force, and Yahweh promised to bring them back to their land and to their own rule.
In the reading from Ezekiel today we hear a prophet conveying God’s promise to a people in exile. We in the Episcopal Church in the US have not usually had much experience of exile, but for a few of us. I know that some in this congregation can tell us a bit about what it is not to be of the predominant group or faith.
But every week I pray for Christians around the world as well as those of other faiths who are in exile. And for people who may feel in exile in their own skin. Perhaps people may not experience literal exile from their country. But they certainly experience exile from a sense of having the freedom to pray when and as they wish, or express themselves as God created them to be.
Just this week, I read on the Barnabas Fund Website that:
In Nigeria, nine Christians were killed in continuing Fulani extremist Muslim violence against Christians.
In Pakistan, five Christian families had to flee their homes after a “fake news” allegation came out about them being “blasphemers.”
In China, Christians were called to believe in the Party and not in Jesus.
In Egypt, the Islamic State issued a new threat against Egyptian Christians.
And in Russia, the majority of those charged under the religion law that is supposedly “anti-terrorism” were Christians.[2]
Just in last week’s news.
And let us not forget the massacre at the Sufi mosque in Egypt that killed more than three hundred people. They too were just trying to practice their faith.
I believe it is to those such as them to whom the prophet speaks today when he says: “I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land (Ezekiel 34:12b-13).”
On this weekend after Thanksgiving, may we be grateful for the freedoms that we have to practice our faith even in an America that seems ever more restrictive.
May we pray for those who do not feel as free- be they here in the US trapped by being in “different” bodies, be they our brothers and sisters who fear ICE, or be they around the world trying to worship Christ and finding themselves in exile.
Christ lights the way for us. Ezekiel the prophet reminds us that we are all going to be welcomed back. That even those who feel left out in the cold will be welcomed again, fed again, warm in God’s embrace.
In the meantime, we pray. And we show acts of kindness as and when we can. Praying for those and providing for those who are suffering. Because that is the only way the King of our hearts will know us well when he comes again in great glory. If we have been kind.

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