Year B, Proper 29
Last Sunday after Pentecost
Christ the King
2 Sam 23:1-7; Ps. 132:1-13; Rev 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
It was a big day up at the farm yesterday. Not so big for me, or Windy or the girls; but it was just about the biggest day of the year for our turkeys. It was harvest day…
It was hard, a lot harder than chickens. I have learned that I like turkeys, they, when living in a more natural posture, are quite likeable animals: curious, friendly, interactive, they follow you around. Fun. Beautiful. And to boot, they are delicious.
At the monastery we are beginning to farm in a way to help introduce people to the deeper meanings of the very systems that make life possible, that are life. Soil and plants, animals, water, worms, and wind. Seeing, experiencing life happening in the ecosystem we are part of at Emery House, it is another mirror in which we may see the wonders of God in Christ that we are immersed in.
So where is God in Christ in the scene of five of us spending yesterday killing my buddies the turkeys?
It is feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of this Church year. We are invited today in our prayer and scripture to remember the Kingly nature of Christ. We miss the point, usually, with Christ the King. We have images of crowns and robes and magnificence… He is not that kind of king, (Court painters painted him like that for their royal patrons). He IS the King of Kings, ruling to serve and not be served. To be ruler of all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He is servant of all, to each of us, everywhere. Now that is an image of royalty, of leadership that I can fall to my knees before.
Leadership. If there is one thing we are lacking most desperately in this world is leadership, leaders who lead as Christ leads, leading through serving, not being served.
What does that mean, to lead by serving and not being served? Is the CEO of GE going to tidy up after a meeting? Is the President going to make lunch for his helicopter crew? Is the rector going to take out the trash on Tuesdays? Not exactly.
What is the purpose of a leader? To accomplish the mission of that which they lead, right? As leaders we can try to do that all by ourselves. Leading from the front, “Follow Me!”, maybe not doing it all but providing an example for others to follow. That is servanthood, and maybe that works at times. I am certainly one of the most guilty people in the world of this leadership style. It is not pretty. It can work at times, but there is more, much more.
Servant leaders, Christ the king of servant leaders, lead by empowering those whom they lead not only to do the best they can, but much more importantly to BE the best that they can in their work, in their life in their soul. When we are the best we can be, we do the best that we can do, it is that simple. Empowering folks to be the person they are supposed to be and do the work they are supposed to do… That is servanthood. That is leadership.
I have been thinking and writing a lot about leadership lately. Jane and I are in a class together about supervising interns. I live with a crew of interns and am in the process of institutionalizing a full program of agricultural education, community life and spiritual integration at Emery House. And as I near my own ordination and work on my thesis, I am researching and writing about the theology of ordination and the place and purpose of ordained leadership in the world.
They way I am feeling Christ leading my life, and seeing His leadership in the lives of others, is critical. It is what St. Ignatius of Loyola was onto 500 years ago. It is about discernment, vocation, learning what God is up to in our lives and feeling empowered to follow that feeling. It is about following Christ to reveal our special purpose.
A special purpose. Everyone has one. The why you are here. The work you have been given to do. Raising a family. Making beautiful things. Telling stories. Healing. Some particular craft or work that in doing it, God’s chorus sings beautiful harmonies. A special purpose. It brings us back to the turkeys.
Yesterday, the turkeys took a decisive step in fulfilling their special purpose, a purpose that will be fully realized on Thursday. That is why they exist. And not just at Emery House, but why the old breeds that we raise were ever bred to begin with, why those individual birds were hatched, and fed, and had their very pleasant lives.
There is a great book by Michael Pollan called The Botany of Desire where he asks the question. “Who selected whom?” when it comes to domesticated crops. Corn has been an incredibly successful species. Millions of acres across the globe are made perfect for the growth of an obscure mutant grass from Southern Mexico. Who benefits most from our interest in eating the corn? The corn. By being tasty, corn ensures the survival and flourishing of its descendents. The same is true with the turkeys. Their lives occur, and their reproduction is secure in being pleasing to us. I spent a lot more time chasing foxes and coyotes away from our birds than any wild turkey will ever experience. Being the most who they are, the turkeys, that is their special purpose.
What is your special purpose? What is your vocation? It is funny to think of a turkey at Thanksgiving time as a model of vocational discernment, but they are, there is very little ambiguity in the process. Our lives are much murkier.
Following Lord Christ to find our special purpose is a scary prospect. To be best that we can be and in that do the best that we can do, we are called to look very honestly at the world and our work in it. It is Alice’s rabbit hole, taking stock of our lives, seeing how God works or doesn’t work in it, knowing if we are truly following the will of the foundation of creation. Ten years ago I looked into that deep pool and the image I saw reflected back made me shutter. The work I was doing in the Marines, in business… no heavenly chorus sang saying ‘Halleluiah!” that’s for sure. So for some reason, I leapt. So far, so good. At least the music is better.
Christ Our King fulfilled his special purpose in His life among us two thousand years ago, and fulfills it each moment in the lives of us, his followers, to this day and on and on forever. His purpose is presence. He is present, and he calls to us to follow him to BE the best that we can be. Where does God sing in your life? When is it that you feel the tingling of the Holy Spirit in your toes? What are you doing, or what are you thinking about doing when you can feel Christ patting you on the back saying, “That’a girl,” or “you go, boy?” Those feelings are God in Christ leading you to the Promised Land. Follow Him, he is our King. AMEN.
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