Readings for Christ
the King: Ez.34:11-17; Mt. 25:31-46
November 24, 2002
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
The topic of my sermon is called, Salvation outside of Stanford. Let me explain. Last month, I had a long phone call from one of my high school buddies. Becky is a very smart friend who was enamoured with the hippie movement. She had a free spirit, experimented with life, and wandered for some time before settling down to a career in medicine. She became a pediatrician, then a neonatologist, and is now married with two beautiful, smart, and darling children.
Becky enrolled her daughter in a special bilingual school, where classes are taught in both French and English. Recently, Becky attended the annual parent-teacher school association meeting where the principal laid out for the parents, the school's expectation for her 8 year old daughter. This school has extremely high expectations of its young students, both in the academic and personal arena. As Becky left the meeting with other professional parents, they all agreed that they themselves had "butterflies" in their stomachs after hearing the demands. Just imagine, adult surgeons, neonatologists, engineers and other professional parents having butterflies in their stomachs upon hearing the school's expectations of their little darling children!!!
What are we doing to our children? Have we lost our way? What is the purpose of life? I think Becky has her childrens' best interests in mind. She wants to provide them with opportunities so that they can experience, in the future, happiness and life satisfaction. Many parents are interested in getting their children into the right kindergarten, so that they will be a step ahead of the other students once in grammar school. So then it becomes important to get the children into the right grammar school so that they can get into the right high school so that they can get into the right college. Once they get into the right college, it is important for them to get really good grades so that they can get into the right graduate school so that they can get the right job and make a lot of money. Once in the right job, these folks have to work extra hard to get the right promotion so that they can make even more money and buy all those things that will make them happy.
I asked Becky, "What did the school say about laughter, and play, and experiencing joy in the present moment? Does it make sense for our children to have to experience stress for the next 40 years in order to have enough money to buy a big house and fill it to the brim with nice stuff? Arenšt there other priorities in life that will provide for a more meaningful life? Isn't there a higher guiding principle than the accumulation of education and money?"
It is into this conversation that the Church celebrates the Feast of Christ the King; a day in which we remember that true salvation (i.e. true wholeness) will come about when we allow the spirit and teachings of Christ to be our guiding principle. As you might remember, the Feast of Christ the King was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius the XI. After the signing of the treaty of Versailles following WWI, many of the European nations were faced with severe economic and political chaos. In response to this chaos, fascism became an increasingly popular political solution to the economic crises. In 1922, Mussolini and his fascist Party Blackshirts marched into Rome.
Mussolini was successful in improving the Italian economy and expanding its military program. This gained him much support in Italy. Because of the positive economic reforms and advances, the Italian people overlooked Mussolini's ruthless disregard for world opinion, his support of police brutality, and the use of poisonous gas. Today's feast day (which celebrates the kingship of Christ) was instituted as a way of denouncing the destructive forces of the political machinery that was happening in Italy and Europe. Today as in 1925, we need to be reminded where to place our faith. Military aggression and destroying others will not save us in the long run. War is only a temporary fix for a complex problem.
When people are unhappy and unsatisfied in life, they often look for solutions that turn out to be temporary. Many people believe that politics, money, education, the right job, a good economy, or the right partner is going to make them happy. But according to an article* by Professor Plante at SCU, money (along with many other things in life) does not buy happiness- it only rents it.
This is what the latest research tells us: 1. One's basic sense of happiness, optimism, and life satisfaction are generally products of our in-born temperament, not our surroundings or newly acquired things. 2. Once basic needs such as food, shelter, and social connection are met, happiness and life satisfaction do not tend to increase with more money, possessions, power, fame, and prestige. 3. After an initial surge in happiness when something good happens to us (e.g., winning the lottery, buying a house, getting a raise or promotion), we soon get used to this new good fortune and the resulting lifestyle change. Then, we generally return to our pre-good-fortune baseline level of happiness and satisfaction. 4. When we compare ourselves to others, it can deflate our happiness. In Silicon Valley, Dr. Plante sees many patients in his clinical practice who feel unsatisfied with their level of wealth and possession because they have compared themselves to those who have more. 5. Finally, it is interesting to note, that even though economic and quality of life improvements have significantly increased in our society during the past 50 years, self-reported levels of happiness have stayed the same. While inflation-adjusted personal income has tripled since 1956, the percentage of Americans reporting that they are "very happy" has remained steady at 30%.
It is into this context that we hear today's gospel. Jesus lays out for us, God's vision on how we ought to live our lives. This vision is based on justice and compassion for all people and is commonly referred to as the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is that time and place when the spirit, teachings, and power of Christ become the guiding principle for all of humanity. When justice and compassion are at the core of our life choices, we begin to concern ourselves with the plight of others. As an individual, as a family, as a Christian, as a society, being committed to justice and compassion means responding to the needs of the poor, the sick, the hungry, the prisoners, and those on the margins. Our success is evaluated, not on our own accomplishments, but rather on how responsive we have been to "the least" of our brothers and sisters.
In spite of what the fundamentalists might say about personal salvation, Christianity is a religion that is concerned more about the larger community than the individual. Of course it is important for each one of us to become faithful disciples of Christ, but at the core of that faithfulness is the commandment to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself. An individual cannot be "saved" or made whole unless he or she is committed to having all of creation made whole.
For those who have more, more is expected of them. Getting into Stanford will not save anyone although it is a great honor; an honor to be used in service for the healing of humankind. For it is only when we offer our selves, our souls, and bodies to the service of God and allow the spirit of Christ to be our guiding principle, that we along with all of humanity will be saved and made whole.
This is the gospel of Christ the King.
*Thomas Plante, Money doesn't buy Happiness; Santa Clara Univ. Magazine 2001
| Updated 11/25/02 |
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