November 2022 – A Preacher’s Ponderings

Royal power?

The Last Sunday after Pentecost; The Reign of Christ; 20 November 2022; Proper 29C (RCL); Jeremiah 23:1-6; Canticle 16: Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 in response to the growing secularism and ultranationalism in Europe at the time, and also as a response to the unification of Italy and the looming loss of his hegemony over the Papal States. The Feast was to serve as a reminder that all Christians acknowledge Christ as their monarch. We can also perhaps see in it a cynical claim against the Kingdom of Italy for the pope’s rule over the Papal States. In subsequent years, though, we can read it as a check against totalitarianism, as it relativizes (at least for Christians) all human claims of power.

The end is not yet

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost; 13 November 2022; Proper 28C (RCL); Isaiah 65:17-25; Canticle 9; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19.

We are clearly winding down the liturgical year — we’ve arrived at the apocalyptic material in Luke’s Gospel. Luke tones down significantly what he borrows from Mark’s Gospel, pushing the impending end even farther into the future. Even the arrest of the disciples will not signal the end. Luke has change Mark’s material neatly to give us a hint of what’s in store for Peter, and especially for Paul in the second volume of Luke/Acts. Paul will make his defense before kings and governors, but clearly not ad lib, but in carefully crafted speeches.

Saints rule

All Saints’ Day (observed); 6 November 2022; All Saints’ Day C (RCL); Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31.

We tend to think of saints as persons of exemplary holiness who have lived (and died) in previous times. These readings seem odd choices for a commemoration of saints gone by. The readings rather focus on the here and now, and seem to implicate us (or at least some portion of us). And the implications are a bit startling.