There will be no countdown to midnight tonight, no wild parties to usher one year out and greet the new one. The parties we throw to mark the change of one calendar year into the next will not be a part of our lives this evening as we see Year B of the three year lectionary cycle turn to Year C; and the season of Advent begins. The turning of the Christian year will, for the most part go unnoticed.

Yet, as we gather to worship this Thanksgiving weekend we will pause to take notice of the liturgical calendar. This morning is Christ the King Sunday. It is a church festival that does not have a long history when compared to most of our other holy-days. This celebration, set by Pope Pius the XI is only 81 years old. Pope Pius set this festival in 1925 at a time when the world seemed to be falling apart. World War I had ended about seven years prior. Mussolini was gaining power in Italy. Hitler was massing power through the Nazi party in Germany. Japan was flexing its muscles in the world. Looking around at all the power struggles the Pope decided the church needed to make a statement about what was real, and enduring. He used the image of kingship to state the obvious–that real power and authority is of God–and for the church that power is manifested in the power of Jesus Christ. Not too many years later, in 1937 as Hitler was rising to power Reinhold Niebuhr spoke out against Hitler's brutality, carrying the images of the kingdom of God further: "The kingdom of God is relevant to every moment of history as an ideal possibility and as a principle of judgment upon present realities." Both Pope Pius and Neibuhr proclaimed Christ as King as a way to protest injustice in the world. We celebrate Christ the King as a daring act of hope and protest against the powers of the world that threaten to undo us.

And yet…monarchy is not something we relate very much to in this country–monarchy is the stuff of fairy tales and history for us. We have no real day to day experience with kings and queens. Writing in The Christian Century, Mary Anderson says: "It is odd to think that the 20th century church developed a festival centering of Christ's image as king. In America we are as distanced from the image of "king" as we are from the image of "shepherd." Popular theology is more intrigued with the image of Jesus as CEO–a leadership role, to be sure, but hardly comparable to that of a king with a kingdom…If we stretch ourselves to think in royal terms, we remember that although "king" may be an unfamiliar symbol, it is a political term. Kings rule a particular piece of geography. They may rule over a particular ethnic group. They have subjects–they have "a people." What we declare on this last Sunday of the church year is: Christ has made of us a people." (Mary W. Anderson; Christian Century; November 15, 2003)

Christ has made of us a people…Christ has made of us a people. Perhaps that more than anything else is what should give us pause to party and celebrate and give thanks on this day. In recognizing the Kingship of Jesus Christ we become named and claimed. We find the kind of love that saves us. And in declaring Christ as King of our lives we declare our allegiance. It is easy to pay lip service to Jesus, to hang up a picture, look at a stature, hang a cross around our necks and slip on a WWJD bracelet. The reality of living a Christ centered life is a whole different matter. When we live from that place we will find the courage of our convictions and beliefs because the principalities of the world will not have any hold on us. When we are called to stand up against the evils of the world we will do so because our fear is in God…we do not have to fear the world's powers. Christ has made of us a people!

Christ has made of us a people…one of the spiritual disciplines often used is called the breath prayer. It is developed to help one focus prayer and contemplation times. The short, one line prayer is prayed as you breathe in and out. Christ has made of us a people can be used as a breath prayer…helping to continually remind us that we find our true identity in the love of God through Jesus Christ. Many of us have traveled long, difficult roads this past year. We have also experienced times of great joy. We have known marriage and divorce…our lives have been turned upside down and inside out by grief…we have celebrated new beginnings in Christ as we witness baptisms. Yet we are not defined by these moments. In breathing in and out the reality that we are God's people, we are freed…and that means we are not defined by the events of our lives, we are not defined by any illness we face, the labels others place on us, we are not defined by the problems our children have, or the evil powers of the world. We are defined and set free by the kingship of Jesus Christ that makes of us a people. There is nothing more powerful than that truth.

In the midst of all that we have given thanks for these past few days we pause to give thanks for the love of God that sets us free. Pope Pius had it right when he looked out over the world and declared that God was more than the principalities and evils of the world. We do not need to fear them or be swayed by them. Far too often the tendency is to react in fear to events around us. I was struck by a story in the Pittsburgh Tribune this past week. A member of the town council in the quiet town of Cherry Tree, PA is proposing a gun ordinance that would affect every person in town. Using the slogan: "Homeland Security Begins At Home," Henry Statkowski is proposing that every head of household in the town purchase a gun, learn how to use it and keep ammunition. In the midst of all the questions his proposal brings, what strikes me the most is issue of what will define us–will we live defined by the fears of the world, or the fear of God? As we worship on the last day of the Christian year, may you be defined by the reality that in the kingship of Jesus Christ we are made a people; and no longer live defined by fear; but live kept in the eternal and secure love of God. Give thanks for the love of Christ that defines us and keeps us.

And so, set free by this love, go forth to bring Good News to all. Bring it to your family, to your friends to the stranger on the street. Christ has made of us a people. Thanks be to God.