The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm – Luke 1:68-79
Second Reading: Colossians 1:11-20
Gospel Reading: Luke 23:33-34

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

This is the final Sunday of the liturgical calendar.  This Sunday is the crowning jewel on the Christian year.  It is the finish line.  It is what we have been building to in a genuine way—this Sunday is Christ the King Sunday.  Next Sunday begins a new liturgical year.  The story of Advent, Christmas, then on to Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and the great journey of the church in Ordinary Time—it will all begin again next Sunday.      

The text—oh, this text.  It carries us far afield from the gaze into glory.  The text carries us to the place called The Skull.  The text carries us to the cross with our Christ in the throes of agony and death.  We are far afield from the splendor of reigning on high.

But that is the moment we get it.  It is the moment we discover, in order to see who this God of ours is, we do not only look all the way into the splendor of heaven.  Rather we look down—all the way down to the depths of the cross.  In the death of Jesus, we see who this God of ours is.  It is there in the agony of dying where we see the character of God.  Forgiving.  Promising.  Suffering.  Giving over of the self.  Sacrificing.  Not disconnected.  Not removed, but still inviting.  “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
Chief Imagination Officer
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk