Hi everyone,

Welcome to worship for this Christ the King Sunday, which lands on November 23, 2025!

The bulletin for this service can be found here. In it, you’ll find the order and words of worship as well as the full sermon manuscript. You can use the bulletin to follow along with the service, or just use the words that will appear on your screen. The sermon is also included on this page below the video.

For a fuller worship experience online, you’re welcome to have a candle in your space, lit for the majority of the service and extinguished near the end after the sending hymn. You can also participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink prepared for the appropriate time in the service. Further instruction will be given then.

May God’s freeing love and grace rule in your hearts, this day and always!

O Lord, may our eyes be opened to see you, our ears opened to hear you, and our hearts opened to receive your truth, the truth that frees us from darkness, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

I didn’t want to talk about this, but I have to admit that this past week I had a hard time concentrating on anything else.  There’s just been something that has just been eating away at me.  It’s just that… well, have any of you been following that sound effect contest on the radio?

In case you aren’t, the premise of the contest is that they play this everyday sound, and callers have to correctly guess what it is in order to win the growing jackpot.  Sort of like a “name that tune” but for sound effects.  This contest has become so popular that I’ve heard that there are a few radio stations out there that have copied it, albeit with different sized jackpots.  In the particular station that I’m thinking about, their pot grew over the past few months, and it’s now capped at $100,000. 

That’s… One. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars. 

For a radio contest, of all things.  That’s what has me all distracted this week, I’m pretty sure I know what it is.  So if they’d just answer my call, that money is good as mine.  Could you imagine?  I mean when we hear an amount like that, it’s hard to not let our minds wander a bit, right?

Like maybe we’d go on a trip.  Perhaps buy a car.  Or be responsible and pay some bills or even invest it.  The possibilities are endless.

Or are they? 

It was funny because one of the DJs was talking about this “life-changing” money, which it totally is, but he impetuously said “you can buy a house in Vancouver with it” and he realised what he said and backtracked and clarified that you could make a pretty good dent in buying a house in Vancouver.  And… even that’s kind of a stretch.  Condo, sure.  Townhouse, maybe.  Detached home?  Not even for a teardown.

Suddenly, $100,000 doesn’t even sound like enough anymore.  But then what would? 200? 500? A million?  I personally know people who think that the astronomically low odds of winning the lottery aren’t even worth it if the pot is under like 60 mil.

Now, I’m not saying that I don’t want to win this radio contest, I totally still do.  But it’s just crazy how we can almost just brush that amount off these days as not enough.  What a time to be alive.  I mean with the way prices are now, I’m pretty sure any one of us could spend all that prize money in like a day if we wanted to.  That just hits me with this stunning realisation: my goodness are we ever stuck in this system. 

This system that governs our worth.  This system that dictates the value of this arbitrary currency.  This system that rules us.

I know, perhaps I’m being a little dramatic.  I’m fully aware that we need money to live.  But when our goal and end game evolves into our happiness hinging on having a semblance of “enough”, then perhaps there’s a problem.  When we give up most of our free time just to earn money, then maybe there is an issue.  When we see politicians building their platforms on the promise of wealth, not for the city or country, but for individuals, then I think it’s time to question for what and for who are we even living. 

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the church calendar.  The day that is supposed to be the culmination of 52ish themes, lessons, and sermons that tried to remind us of exactly that: for what and for who are we even living.  And the obvious answer of course would be for God, and that all we do is for God.  But in reality?  It’s probably something more closely resembling that system that I just spent like 600 words describing.

I mean even Jesus was subject to that system.  That’s what put him on the cross, if you really think about it.  The powers that be deemed that they were deserving of being the powers that be and so set up the rules, checks, and balances to keep it that way.  And when someone challenged that, like Jesus, they had to remove him in order to keep the status quo that they benefit from for so long. 

Even when this new thing Jesus taught was better.  Even when this message Jesus proclaimed helped more people.  Even when this gospel Jesus brings reveals everyone’s inherent value and worth that is graciously given by God, the people essentially stuck their fingers in their ears, yelled “LA LA LA”, and decided to cling to what they knew, what they were comfortable with, what they felt was best only because it was familiar.

See, the people are ruled by the system.  They were unable to see past how life was set up to keep the poor poor and help the rich to get richer.  They were stuck in wanting what they didn’t have.  They were told to believe that their value and worth was solely determined by what they have and how much they could offer.

Essentially, the system tells us that we are individuals living only to protect ourselves and our wealth and that anyone above us or below us on that social ladder is somehow our enemy and we have the right to protect what is defined as “ours” at any cost.

I mean look at the people deriding Jesus as he hung on the cross.  “Save yourself” they said.  “Prove yourself” they insinuated.  “Amass power and horde wealth for yourself” they basically meant as they shouted at him, insulted him, and dehumanized him because he didn’t fit into the system that was their god.

But Jesus didn’t give in.  He didn’t cave.  He didn’t forfeit his mission to save not himself, but everyone else.

See as the people punished Jesus, he forgave them.  As they insulted him, he responded by praying for them.  As they hated on him, he continued to show them love.

Love that saves.  Love that changes.  Love that frees.

We know what happens.  We heard this story like 7 months ago during Easter.  Jesus dies because of sin, yes.  Human greed and selfishness piled onto his shoulders and dragged him to the cross.  The system and powers of the people demanded that he be dead and that’s what they got.

But that death didn’t stick. 

And with it, melted off the anger.  The hate slid off of Jesus’ beaten and battered back.  The evil was replaced with grace, mercy, and love.

See this love doesn’t demand us to be pit against each other, but it joins us together as Christ’s own body in the world.  This love doesn’t require us to work and work to earn our value and worth, but it reminds us of how we are unconditionally welcomed, just as we are, into God’s kingdom.  This love doesn’t lord over us as a superpower and commands our respect and loyalty, but it empties itself, humbles itself, and levels itself out just so we can see how relatable, equitable, and accessible it truly is.

All this doesn’t mean that we can live outside the systems of the world.  It doesn’t mean that we can just break free and do our own thing from here on out.  It doesn’t even mean that we won’t need money to live anymore.  But it does mean that we don’t need to equate our value to our pocketbooks.  It means that we don’t have to look at each other and those at different places in that false hierarchy with contempt or suspicion, but rather we can see them as partners in mission and co-heirs of the gospel.  It means that while we live in the system, we don’t have to be ruled by the system.  That is, we don’t have to be ruled by these laws that teach hate, segregation, and self-importance.  But we can live under God’s rule that teaches us God’s ways of humble righteousness, faithful service, and loving peace. 

This is a rule of forgiveness, in that we can see past the mistakes of others and know that their position in God’s family hasn’t changed, just as we’ve been forgiven and continually welcomed.  This is a rule of togetherness, in that we can learn more and more how we’re all in the same boat and can strive collectively for a better future that is full of equality and community.  This is a rule of love, in that as God’s people we can recognise the value in each other person regardless of how we might feel about them, because we know that they are, just as much as we are, beloved children of God.

This is the King that we adore and worship and live for.

So as we close off this church year and look ahead to the next, may we always be filled with the lessons of grace and love we’ve been given, and live our lives as people of God: welcomed, forgiven, and saved.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.