"Faith is a Garden;" Christ the King Sunday 2016 sermon by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Jesus stretched upon that ‘Old rugged Cross,’ answers: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Paradise is a beautiful word of Persian origin meaning a walled garden. What do we think of when we think of what a garden is?  Is it purely functional or is it, could it be a place of refuge and peace—sanctuary?  Now with that painted as the backdrop to stepping into this week’s texts—we are officially at the end of the church’s calendar year—This is Christ the King Sunday!

Christian communities around the world take this very day to contemplate the sovereignty—RULE of Christ in their very diverse and unique lives. It is truly a time of Thanksgiving.  It is truly a time of being grateful for the capacity to struggle with harboring hope.  It is time of reconciliation.  You need to forgive others as you need to forgive yourself when despair takes hold of you and rattles your foundation of being grateful—keeping the faith. It is a Garden of many things we need to tend to, grow, from within!

Speaking of gardens, truth be told, I lament anyone considering upon buying me a plant because I have a brown thumb!  I don’t garden well neither can I dance well…but hey, we all are given certain things that we CAN do and others… not so much.  Such is the life or as the French say: C’est La Vie!  Such, is the life, the one that Christ gave as both sacrifice and as the ultimate gardener to the health and well-being of our souls—setting us free!  The culmination of the many weeks in the time after Pentecost or “ordinary time,” is certainly not Ordinary, more than I would say an extraordinary time of tending to that spiritual garden of faith, we were all given.

That spiritual garden is where upon the victory of the Cross—the Body and Blood of Christ became that spiritual food for that New Nature seed planted within our hearts for us through faith to tend to and reap for the Glory of God. Christ became that river of salvation set to flow through the veins of those who believe.  These are those who believe beyond themselves, beyond the pits and valleys of this world to know who truly carries them, watches over them, loves and forgives them especially in their willfulness and ignorance!

This past week marked the historic appearance of the super moon.  If you had a chance to see part of it either on the day it was to appear or the few days after… Let me just say that it was amazing to see!  The light cast had the intensity of a high powered floodlight shimmering through the thin veil of clouds, (as I saw it in Wheeling, Illinois), its beautiful silvery blue light.  It’s not something you see too often but you are made aware of it merely by the fact of it becoming “visible” to the naked eye.  Becoming visible is our human problem with reconciling ourselves to God.  Here once again is that “if.”  If God is truly with us and is at the center of our very lives, why do bad things happen?  Why are people fighting one another?  Why am I having a hard time accepting how things happen?

This is our cross to bear as disciples of Jesus, these questions are the very nails piercing the soul with anxiety and fear. Is fear purely an invention or tool of the Evil One or something we’ve built the foundation for? I would say both.  When I read up on some of the bizarre facts of the super moon, it has often be speculatively linked to being a causal factor to various natural catastrophic events in history.  As one colleague of mine said the other day over lunch, it kind of had those qualities of the moon from the snippet of scripture from Joel… He made this more or less as a tongue and cheek comment, but it brings up a key point to how we “see” things versus how God would hope for us to see, be and become for His Gospel’s mission.

We find ourselves teetering upon that fine edge of truly tending to the spiritual garden within us—that first church—the heart. The Holy Spirit has been guiding us in His usual invisible fashion but if we can’t see spiritually, past our own nose into the reality of this world with a committed and ready-to-suffer for the Gospel’s sake, intentionality—where do we put ourselves? We put ourselves into a place that is slowly being robbed of faith.  Everything good and bad that we experience in our lives have something to say, have something to be seen and learned from.  The true sovereign wisdom of Christ is only seen and known through an inward spiritual formation journey—one we all must take as His disciples.  As our Crucified Lord and Savior, He gave us the proverbial keys to the Kingdom—LOVE.

Love is that explosively powerful, living Word and action that is the ultimate gift of Grace from Christ for us to till that garden! Till the garden in our hearts to go out into this suffering and broken world to make a difference that truly matters.  This is making a difference not for our selves’ sake but as a loving and gracious response to a loving and gracious God—true reconciliation, true faith.  Reconciling who we are is hard enough, reconciling whose we are is where the healing begins.  This is where we can join the joyful peace that, that one criminal to the right of Christ truly understood when Jesus invited him to join Him in paradise—God’s garden. 

Faith is a funny thing, it is turbulent and often challenges us, but what it always does, comes from Christ—it is our invitation.  It is an invitation to a New Life and a New journey.  This is a New journey, not just the turning of the year but one that always reminds us to realize the things we are to truly be grateful for.  This past week, the one elderly woman with dementia,  I visit, has been getting hooked on the Hallmark channel’s “Everything Christmas” movies that are once again starting up. 

Having an hour and a half of time together every Wednesday through Friday evening has been very pleasant.  She reminds me a lot of my own little Sicilian grandmother, loves her daughter’s cooking and has many routines she loves to do or talk about.  She was an avid volunteer for the Chicago Cubs where she would help walk the aisles and do various tasks.  She a devout Roman Catholic and has a lovely collection of prayer candles and family heirlooms.  In many ways, walking into her world to merely keep her company, help her walk, and help put her to bed, has become a lovely ministry of care. Her garden is very well tended to, and that goes beyond the fact of her being a Cubs’ fan! 

I’m sure the Hallmark channel is most likely syncing itself to the marketing madness to officially begin after “Turkey Day…” but even I was pleasantly surprised by these simple plot/ Disney-style films featuring many an unknown actor and actress.  All of these films had one wonderfully hidden thing in common, and I would say that, that was being gratefully surprised by holding, keeping the faith that things will come together as God is planning for them to.  They were not only positive but motivating… which how often are we motivated prayerfully?  When the world seems to be submerged into a sea of chaos—with wars both civil and abroad, destruction both natural and human-made—truth be told, it is almost too much to bear… but we have to.  God is our sanctuary but not one for us to hide within from the world.

I may feel that when I leave her home, I am leaving a place of memories. A place filled with a life well-lived and that I was a witness to just a moment in time with this sweet little grandmother.  What keeps me strong is knowing that no matter whose paths I may cross on my journey to serving Christ Jesus and His Gospel—it is not to be a lonely road, though many times I do feel quite alone. It is not a lonely road especially when you truly begin to see Christ’ light shining brightly at the center of someone’s life. Shining and flowing through their Garden soon to reach out and touch yours.

When we think of Christ as our King, I send you the invitation to truly see His reign actively working in your life for the joy of many tomorrows—which is the true harvest from that garden: Hope.  Hope is the peace of Christ calming that storm surrounding you, the chaos and sadness.  Hope released from Grace—that invisible gift, refuge.  Even upon that cross, our Lord Jesus broke time and created that bridge to all of humanity by setting us from from sin, death and the power of the devil, in order to have us flourish—grow and go from that New Nature garden—for the Glory of God! AMEN

Let us Pray,

Gracious and Loving Lord Jesus,

You are our crucified Savior

You continue to be our refuge and guide

We realize Your complete Divine Nature as well as

Your Fully Human sacrifice for our behalf

Let us never forget the grand Garden to whom we all have access

On account of Your freeing, loving forgiveness and mercy

Help us to be a light to others

Help us to truly tend to our gardens

For thine be the Glory and the AMEN

November 20th, 2016; Christ the King Sunday; Proper 29; Year C; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 46; Malachi 3:13-18; Colossians 1:13-20; Luke 23:27-43

This sermon was delivered at the Grace Hub's house church service at 8am:
https://youtu.be/hT4_hNlTGcY