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Mark Wheeler
Matthew 25:31-46
“Shepherd, Judge, King!”
Christ the King Sunday, 11/22/2020
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
Welcome to Worship on this Christ the King Sunday!! On liturgical calendars, this is the last Sunday of the Church Year, and the annual cycle concludes with recognizing that Christ is King of the universe! Of course we believe that, and even say it, all year long – but this is the Sunday we dedicate to that truth!
We enter this time together from all sorts of our own troubles and difficulties, worries and fears, pains and hurts, responsibilities and burdens, hopes and dreams; so I invite you to be very present in this time of gathered worship and prayer – allow our King of kings and Lord of lords to share your yoke, and look to Him for strength and comfort.
Welcome, Church! May the Peace of the risen and victorious Christ be with you!
Let’s take a second to greet each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home.
Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.
For those who made it into the building this morning – thank you for wearing your masks and following the seating and walking protocols. We do this not to protect ourselves from others, but to protect others from ourselves. Because we love each other, we wear masks and keep distance to keep each other safe from this “invisible potential enemy”. COVID numbers are way up in our area – let’s not give them an opportunity to climb even higher. Our Elders are listening to CDC guidelines and deciding on what seems best practices for each others’ safety. We love you, and we want everyone to be and to stay well.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Feel free to laugh at our efforts … and pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
Listen now and join in as Linda Soderstrom leads us in our Call to Worship, from Psalm 95.
Our song of praise today sings our praise to our coming King! – When the Lord Comes in Glory – led by Julie on the piano, and Lilly singing for us (our suggestion is no congregational singing, but if you’re wearing your masks appropriately, who would know who is singing?).
Through the Written Word,
And endorsed by our spoken word,
May we know Your Living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Have you ever heard someone say, “Wait just a minute?” Well, sometimes a minute can seem like a long time. Other times, a minute seems to fly by. When we’re watching TV and the commercials come on, it seems like forever for the show to resume – but if we get up to use the bathroom or make a snack – it seems we always miss the beginning of the next scene – right?
We are four days away from Thanksgiving – a day when tradition tells us it’s perfectly OK to overindulge in our favorite Thanksgiving Day foods! Let’s take one minute and go around the room and name your favorite Thanksgiving Dinner dish – but you can’t name something that someone else has already said. Ready? Go!
Was it easy to think of a lot of good things to eat? It was for me. I thought about roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade stuffing and leftover dressing, green bean casserole, cornbread casserole, cranberry sauce (chunky, out of the can AND homemade with my gramma’s recipe), buns, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and the list just goes on and on…. What else did you think of?
Well, we all know that not everybody gets to eat like that for Thanksgiving. This year maybe even more so than most years.
Have you ever been hungry? Oh, I don’t mean a little bit hungry. I mean really hungry with no hope that you would get anything to eat today … or tomorrow … or the next day. Sometimes we forget that not everyone in the world has plenty of food to eat.
In that one minute while you and I were thinking about all the good things we like to eat, twelve children in the world died because of hunger-related illness.*
Today, on this year’s Christ the King Sunday – let’s hear what Christ our King tells us about hunger. And listen for how He describes Himself as Shepherd, Judge, and King – Three-in-One.
Listen here to the Word of God … Matthew 25:31-46 …. —- [The screen will show this passage.]
25 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
We have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we? The question is, are we willing to share it with those who are not so fortunate? Will we share what we have with those who are in need?
Last week’s Bible story asked us what we might do with even the little God has given us to be responsible with – remember the Parable of the Talents….
This week’s lesson – the very next verse in Matthew’s Gospel – there is no way to escape the intent of this story gives us actual ways to do that! I have a friend, Pastor Rob Fairbanks, who Facebook-posted a Tweet he ran across last week. It said:
“Care for the poor.
Care for the sick.
Care for foreigners.
Care for prisoners.
Or else you’re a goat.
As per Jesus. (Matthew 25)”
This year, save a little money if you can, and give a little extra to a charity. Give some time to pray with a friend who is sick. Send a card to a neighbor who looks different from yourself. Offer to bring some food over to someone who is isolated.
Remember, it is the same as doing it for Jesus!
And when we simply ignore those around us in some kind of need, Jesus says, He feels the shun! Let’s not live so that Jesus calls us a goat.
Heavenly Father, You have given us so much. May we be willing to share it with those in need. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Prayer Page – And now – call out a name, a place, a people, a situation, you are lifting to the Lord in prayer …. “Have mercy on us, O Lord.” [Lord’s Prayer] Amen.
– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE) or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”
Expedition Song – Crown Him with Many Crowns! …. Linda Tuinstra and Keith Winningham
Next Sunday, like we did today – please RSVP to us if you plan to attend so we can properly set up – and please CALL IN or email or text – so we can share with you what the plans will be – whether we will be allowed to continue to meet or not.
We close with this benediction. Repeat after me:
Grow in the grace and knowledge… Of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… [repeat]
Empowered by His Holy Spirit… Be His people everywhere… [repeat]
And give Him the glory… Now and forever more…! [repeat] Amen
Resources:
https://sermons4kids.com/#sotw; “Unto the Least of These”
*Note: The statistics quoted in this sermon are taken from a resolution by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. (Page 3, Paragraph 3)
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