Let the Same Mind Be in You

Scripture Lessons: Ephesians 1: 15-23 and Matthew 25: 31-46 Sermon Title: Let the Same Mind Be in You Preached on November 22, 2020 Today is Christ the King Sunday; this is a Sunday which reminds us who is truly king, who we owe allegiance, who it is that can lead us to a better place than the one we find ourselves in right now, and what this true king requires of us. We’re all serving somebody, but who, and what do they require? Sara and I have been watching The Crown on Netflix. Season four is now out. I don’t know about you, but when there’s anything new to watch on TV I get terribly excited. Margaret Thatcher shows up in season 4, and so does Diana, and it’s the ending of their first episode together that I’d now like to ruin for you if you haven’t already seen it. Please forgive me. Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister, shows up to spend some time with the royal family at their castle in Scotland. It’s a hard thing to go up and spend some time at anyone’s home because you may not know all the rules: what’s dinner attire, should we have brought something, does everyone come down to breakfast still in their pjs? Such waters become exponentially more difficult to navigate when you are in the home of the English Royal Family. The Prime Minister and her husband know all that, so they’re visibly nervous about meeting the standards of their host, the Queen, as they’re shown to their rooms, and they can immediately tell that here the rules are different from what they’re accustomed to because when in Scotland spouses in the home of the royal family don’t sleep in the same bed or even stay in the same bedroom. Fortunately, there is an itinerary for their stay. It’s been printed and placed on a table, so they know that the next gathering is that evening, though it’s not clear if one should come down to drinks at 6:00 already dressed for dinner, which is black tie. The Thatcher’s decided to go down prepared for dinner. However, when they come down for drinks at 6:00 in their formal attire they join the royal family who’s just come in from stalking a stag. They’re all muddy in their hiking boots and are surprised by what the Thatcher’s have on. You see, they’re already falling short. The next day the Queen invites the Prime Minister to go out to stalk this stag. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister only brought her sensible heels, which is the wrong footwear for traversing the Scottish Highlands. That evening, the Royal Family plays parlor games. Margaret Thatcher doesn’t play parlor games. Basically, it’s all a failure for the Thatcher’s. The Prime Minister is judged harshly, and she goes home early, defeated. Then the young woman who would be Princess Diana shows up. She makes everyone laugh, she spots the stag they’ve been stalking, she wins at parlor games, and it’s clear that she’s done what she needed to have done to gain the approval of the Royal Family. Only, at the end of the episode as the paparazzi learns that Diana is the prince’s new love interest. They begin to surround her with their flashing cameras as servants back in Scotland are hanging the mounted stag’s head on the wall, and it becomes clear that while Diana has been accepted, her acceptance comes at a cost. We all bow before somebody, but whose acceptance are we working for? Princess Diana had the perfect wedding by royal standards. Do you remember how long the train was on her gown that nearly filled up Westminster Abby? She met their expectations, she rose to the occasion, but she walked down the aisle and married a man who loved another woman. Sometimes we serve masters who seem to offer salvation, so we grovel before them and rise to their expectations, but what do they really give? Today is Christ the King Sunday; a Sunday which reminds us who is truly king, and who can lead us to a better place than the one we find ourselves in right now. Considering where we are right now, I wonder if life feels to you anything like it must have felt to Moses and the Israelites, standing on the beach, with the Egyptian army closing in. There’s nowhere to go, as we can’t just march through the sea. Life isn’t normal but neither has the road back to normal been made clear. God will save us, but we must wait, and we must not turn on each other while we wait or there won’t be anything left for him to save. Hear what he requires of those whom he’ll lead across the sea and into the Promised Land: Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. His point is that how we treat each other, maybe especially in a climate where nothing goes exactly as it should, matters most. Yet, some make rising to the same standards of perfection set by human society which were unattainable before all this started their chief priority, prompting the question: who do we really serve? Our wedding wasn’t like Diana’s. I’ve been thinking about our wedding because last Monday was our 18th wedding anniversary. The ceremony was supposed to be outside, but it rained. I was given this one job: find someone who can sing, and I did, only I’d never asked to hear him sing and while he did sing, he shouldn’t have. There was a band, but they spent all their time eating rather than playing, and they didn’t know the words to the song we wanted them to play for our first dance, so we used a CD only the CD skipped. In so many ways we failed to rise to the standards in our minds. Certainly, this was no Royal Wedding, but we love each other. We still do, and it is by the standard of how well we all love each other that we will be judged by the King of Kings. Not everyone seems to know that but notice how he just comes right out and says it, “I’m King of Kings, and if you want me to welcome you into my kingdom, pay attention to the least of these. Wear sensible high heels all you want, just pay attention to the poor.” Is he the one whose acceptance we are working for? In our world today it’s getting even harder to follow the social protocol, because it’s not university accepted what we should be doing. It reminds me of that wonderful line about the chaos of the time of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all people did what was right in their own eyes.” And so, some wear masks and some don’t. You’ll be judged by someone either way. Our world is so full of judgement. An old preacher used to say that far too many church goers have grown used to having Kentucky Fried Pastor for lunch after worship. They gather around the table to debate how long or how short the sermon. The congregation judges the preacher, the preacher judges the congregation, husbands judge their wives, wives judge their husbands, sisters judge each other, sometimes we judge just to have something to talk about with friends. Only then we even judge ourselves. We don’t just look in the mirror. No, we look in the mirror and we compare ourselves to some standard. Do I look young enough? Do I look trim enough? Am I pretty enough? Every student in High School does the same thing. She thinks about what she’ll wear and how she’ll act, because she knows she’s being judged and watched, not just graded by her teachers but also assed as worthy or unworthy based on her looks. I’d like to say that at some point it gets easier. It does, but it also never ends until we settle on whose acceptance we’re willing to work for. Let it be the one who will have final judgement over you. Consider, not what this world wants from you, but what He requires: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. That’s what finally matters. That’s how you’ll make perfect memories. That’s what really fulfills us and makes us people we’re proud to be. How do you treat people? Our wedding was perfect, because the woman I’m married to is who I love. I don’t always wear the right clothes, or do the right things, but ultimately, I’ll not be judged by my clothes or my deeds, I’ll be judged by the standards set by the God of love. May the same mind be in you, that was in the Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, Did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. We are all standing on the shore, and the only way to get to the Promised Land is for God to deliver us, but what we do now matters. We only have the power to treat each other well, and by our love they’ll know we are Christians. Amen.