Christ the King

11-29-20Sermon Notes“Christ The King”
Ready for some “sticker shock?” $14 billion… That is how much that was spent on the 2020 Presidential Election. It totally blew away the cost of the 2016 election, which was $6.5 billion. And the voter turnout? 66.8% of the voting-eligible population voted, shattering a record going back to 1908. The stress and the drama? There is no real way to calculate that, but I’d be willing to guess that we broke all records in that area, too!
Why am I talking about politics? I’m only talking about politics because we are going into the Season of Advent, and politics was part of the picture…a BIG part. In our Scripture for this week, the angel Gabriel comes to a young woman named Mary, and tells her she is going to give birth…to the Messiah…who will be given the throne of his ancestor David, and will reign… She will give birth to the King. How’s that for politics? Remember the story?
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1: 26-38 NRSV)
Politics is part of the Christmas story. We will talk about that this first Sunday of Advent, and we will talk about two other powerful words that begin with the letter “P”: Perspective, and Promise. I hope you will worship with us each Sunday of Advent, as we prepare our hearts for Christmas – and rediscover the significance of Incarnation. I’ll be preaching about the Incarnation theme each Sunday, and you can also join me for a more in-depth study on Wednesday nights at 6:00, starting on December 2. Copies of Adam Hamilton’s book, Incarnation, are available in the church office for $15.
I want to leave you with a quote from chapter one of Incarnation: “I don’t know your politics, but if you are a Christian, I know your King…our allegiance to Him comes above all other allegiances.”
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Sam