We crown Jesus king next Sunday, despite his earthly protests.
God resisted the concept of kings until his chosen people demanded one. Kings are an acquired taste!
Kings are a foreign concept to Americans. We read about kings in story books. We respect the monarchs of other countries, but the idea of being a subject under a king that rules by birthright is not easily understood by us.
Yet that is the imagery of today’s scriptures.
Today it wouldn’t be a bad idea to point out what “kingship” entails.
Use a flip chart and start to make a list.
Ask your congregations for words that they might associate with an earthly king.
Add their suggestions to the chart and talk about how the earthly king might correspond to Jesus as King.
Expect words like crown, castle, throne, realm, queen, power, subjects, scepter
Create a little chart, adding the heavenly counterpart to the analogy.
In the Bible, God speaks mostly to individuals. When he wants to get the attention of many, He sends a messenger. A prophet. A king. His Son.
Gatherings of the faithful have been the traditional settings for explanations of God’s Word, delivered by one earthbound messenger—the preacher!
This was difficult to do more than once every seven days.
The sermon is the focal point of gatherings of the faithful. It was the most efficient way to reach people—back then.
Sermons were developed for people accustomed to listening to speakers. The pedestal was the norm. The pulpit made sense. These days, if you don’t grow up in the Church, your opportunities to listen to orators are few. As for the pulpit . . . people aren’t coming in once a week to stare at it any more. It’s easy to understand. Their listening caps are dusty!
The modern mind thinks differently. With all the information available to us, we’ve learned to process ideas in bite-sized pieces. We can wish this weren’t so, but it is. Very few people will listen to a 30-minute sermon and those that do drift in and out of attentiveness. This is natural, but listeners criticize themselves and interpret this as “they aren’t getting anything out of it.” They actually feel a little guilty and soon tend to stay away.
The Information Age brings new opportunities to connect and communicate. Pastors can be a daily presence in their congregation’s lives without anyone setting foot in a church building. They will have to learn the power of short and sweet. It will be a new expression of daily devotion. Effective communicators will hone their messages to 150 words. Pastors are in a unique position to do this with a local slant that will interest a following. BUT, they won’t be limited by geography!
This approach to preaching has more potential for growing a faith community than the dedicated weekly sermon delivered to only the most faithful.
You’ll need to tap into the web and social media, though. It’s there. It’s powerful. USE IT!
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Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
2×2 Sections
Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 • 2 Samuel 23:1-7 •
Kings are a foreign concept to Americans. We read about kings in story books. We respect the monarchs of other countries, but the idea of being a subject under a king that rules by birthright is not easily understood by us.
