Proper 29C  (Col 1:11-20 and Luke 23:33-43)  11/21/2010

This morning we gather on the last Sunday of the church year. And as the church year comes to an end, we hear what we might call the end of the story of Christ’s public ministry – his imminent death on the cross. But like many things that come to an end, whether the church year or the public ministry of Christ, the “end” often does not mark the final word to be said but merely serves to point toward a new beginning. This last Sunday of the church year is celebrated on our calendar as the day of Christ the King. As the story of Jesus comes to a close, we remember that Christ came into the world, a world that was and is broken and fallen and in need of help. A world that is yearning for all that Christ has to offer (a world waiting for the gifts of the Only Son of God), but a world that abandons Jesus all the same. And if our abandonment was the end of the story we would surely be the worse for it, but Christ is King; Christ is the Victor over sin and over death itself, and Christ is our King and Savior. Today we come to the end and stop for a moment to reflect on the saving work of Christ because through Christ we are forgiven and redeemed. But what does that mean to us as we live out our lives…that we are “forgiven and redeemed?”

In our epistle reading this morning, we hear a remarkably insightful piece of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The Christian community of Colossae had been struggling with their understanding of Christ’s meaning in their lives and had become influenced by some teachers who believed Jesus Christ was only one of many cosmic and holy connections to God. These teachers believed that Christ was joined with the angels, the stars, and many other heavenly connections to God. The letter to the Colossians carefully instructs the Christian community that this teaching is false – Christ is the Incarnate Word of God and is our only source of forgiveness and redemption. Paul writes, “God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13-14) Christ came into the world and through Christ we are forgiven – freed from the burden of our transgressions and given a place in God’s heavenly home: a great gift to receive but also a great responsibility because we are expected to forgive as we have been forgiven.

Forgiving others as we have been forgiven can be difficult for us, but as we gather at the end of this year and prepare to move into a new year, we are reminded that we are on a journey with Christ. Through our journey of endings and new beginnings, we continue to learn, we continue to grow, we continue to be strengthen in those things that are difficult for us; a strength that comes from the power of Christ, our Savior. As Paul writes to the Colossians, “may you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power…” (Col 1:11) British author C.S. Lewis, writing in his book, Miracles, speaks of the power of the resurrected Christ in our lives. Lewis writes, “Whatever may have been the powers of unfallen man, it appears that those of redeemed Man will be almost unlimited. Christ, re-ascending from His great dive, is bringing up Human Nature with Him. Where He goes, it goes too. It will be made ‘like Him.’”[i] Lewis speaks to the power of Christ’s saving act of redemption in our lives. Redeemed through Christ, we can boldly walk our earthly pilgrimage knowing that we do not walk alone and that there is a place for us in God’s heavenly home.

We end this year strengthened in our knowledge that we are redeemed through Christ and we are filled with hope as we prepare to enter into the holy season of Advent, a time of patient waiting for the coming of Christ. As you walk the pilgrimage of Advent, “may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to [God], who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Col 1:11b-12)

AMEN