WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.040 Blessed be God. 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:03.759 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:10.240 Let's pray together. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:11.679 Almighty God. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.160 To you, all hearts are open. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:15.279 All the secrets. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:18.960 And from you those secrets are hidden. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.280 Cleanse us of our hearts. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.239 By the inspiration of your Holy Spirit. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.800 That we may perfectly love you, and will we magnify your holy name through Christ. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:32.880 Amen. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:41.920 Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:44.960 This is the first and greatest commitment. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:47.200 And the second is like unto it. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.679 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.600 On these two commitments hang all the law and the prophets. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:01:00.560 Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have compassion upon us. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:02.399 The Lord be with you. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:05.680 Let us pray. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:29.920 Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things, and your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:30.799 Amen. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:38.879 As you're being saved, our children are invited to Children's Chapel and the deck with Miss Maite and Miss Julia. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:08.560 These are the last words of David. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:19.439 The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man whom God exalted, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the favorite of the strong one of Israel. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:23.039 The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.520 His word is upon my tongue. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.159 The God of Israel has spoken. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:43.280 The rock of Israel has said to me: one who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:46.960 Is not my house like this with God? 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:53.199 For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.039 Will he not cause to prosper all my health and my desire? 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:06.639 But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be picked up with a hand. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:14.800 To touch them one uses an iron bar or the shaft of a spear, and they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.719 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:32.960 A portion of the Psalter today is Psalm 131, verses 1 through 13. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:38.159 Read responsively by half verse. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:47.120 How he swore an oath to the Lord. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:53.759 And now to the I will not come under the roof of my house. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.039 I will not allow my eyes to sleep. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.080 Until I find a place for the Lord. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.639 The ark, we heard it was an epithet. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.120 Let us go to God's dwelling place. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:22.000 Let us follow our needs before God's dwelling schools. 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:25.279 Arise, O Lord, into your resting place. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.079 You and the ark of your strength. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.439 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:34.639 Let your faithful people sing with joy. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.040 For your servant David's sake. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.319 Do not turn away the face of your anointing. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.639 The Lord has sworn an oath to David. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.040 And his fruit will not break it. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:51.839 A son, the fruit of your body, will I sit upon your throne. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:05:01.199 If your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their children will sit upon your throne forevermore. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.759 For the Lord has chosen Zion. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:07.040 And desire for the holy habitation. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.399 This shall be my resting place forever. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:12.879 Here will I dwell for my time. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.600 I will surely bless the provisions of Zion. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:20.000 And satisfying the Lord. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.800 There will I make the horn of David flourish. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:33.680 I will prepare the land for my enemy. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:38.000 As for his enemies, I will clothe them with shame. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:51.600 Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:50.079 Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:59.839 To him who loved us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priest serving his God and Father. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.759 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:04.959 Amen. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.639 Look, he is coming with the clouds. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:16.879 Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:18.959 So it is to be. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:20.000 Amen. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:29.360 I am the Alpha and the Omegas, says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.000 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.759 Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.759 What have you done? 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:38.159 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not from this world. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:44.799 If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.320 But as it is, my kingdom is not from here. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:52.720 Pilate asked him, So you are a king? 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:56.639 Jesus answered, You say that I'm a king. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:01.919 For this I was born, and this I came into the world to testify to the truth. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:05.679 Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.639 The gospel of the Lord. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:38.320 We've arrived at the last Sunday in the church year, so when we come back next week, it'll be Advent 1. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:45.840 And since 1976, which is when the new prayer book came out, it's now 45 years old, it's worth pointing out. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:51.600 We've had this tradition of making today Christ the King Sunday. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:53.840 Maybe you've heard this language before. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:10:11.600 And part of the reason I think we circle back to this story here at the end, if you think about the way we've done the calendar for the last year, we spent a whole lot of time in the green season of Pentecost, where we were supposed to grow new roots and produce some fruit. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:17.679 And today I want to suggest Rickard Funded with the fact we got more growing to do. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:25.360 This is why we come back to this story, which is at best a miscarriage of justice. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:26.960 This is a story. 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:33.840 It reminds us that we need something yet, which is why we're going to come to Advent next week. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:41.039 Reminded of what we need, we start to yearn for the coming of love, hope, joy, and peace. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:43.759 By the way, we're going to need to do this again next year. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:44.799 Let's just be clear. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:49.919 Like we're always going to be confronted by our need to grow. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.799 And no matter how much we've grown, there's more fruit that a hungry world needs. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:57.600 Now it's also the day. 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:08.159 But pretty soon after that new prayer book, the General Convention decided today is also Restorative Justice Sunday. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:10.399 Restorative Justice Sunday. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:16.240 Now, to be honest, these two I think go together pretty well if we'll have them. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.919 First, let's talk about Christ the King. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:23.759 I don't want to bother you, but I'm going to bother you. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:26.399 Jesus says he's not a king. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:28.960 He says that in the reading. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:33.039 And he says that his kingdom is not of this world. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.120 Now, we could hear that a couple of ways. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:39.759 We could hear, oh, by saying that, is really him being the king. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:46.960 But I want to suggest to you, Jesus himself says, I am not that, that's what you call me. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.519 I'm not here to lord it over you. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.480 I'm not here to tell you what to do. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:12:05.360 I'm not here to be the kind of tyrant you're used to called Caesar or Pilate or whoever it is that you will tolerate some kind of hierarchized form of leadership where your faith means you do what I say. 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.480 I'm interested in making disciples, not clones. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.879 If you like to call Christ the king, nothing wrong with that. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.679 We're not obeying him, let's just be clear. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.399 More about that in a second. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:25.440 If we say the guy's the king, we're committing treason all the time, left and right. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:32.240 He says, My kingdom's not of this world. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:39.840 We could hear that, I think, in the wrong way, which is human beings are fundamentally bad and evil, so we'll never get it right. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.000 Remember, we've been reading Revelation the last two weeks. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:45.120 We hear it today. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:52.159 The new Jerusalem is not when we leave the earth, it's when God lives among mortals and every city gate is open. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.759 God is not saying we can't do it. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.080 Jesus is saying to Pilate, Rome isn't doing it. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:10.159 My kingdom is not of this Roman world, which is predicated upon domination. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:15.440 Look at the justice meted out in the story. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:18.000 The justice meted out in the story. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:22.320 Jesus is arrested because he bothers people, not because he breaks the law. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:25.279 Can we be clear on that? 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.960 He bothers people who are in authority. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:30.720 He does something like loiters. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:34.000 We don't put up with loitering, but we don't like it. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:36.720 It's not that it's evil, we just don't like it. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:42.879 So when people loiter, what we do is we call the police to remove them so we don't have to deal with people we don't like anymore. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:48.559 And then they get something on their record which makes it really hard for them to get a job. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.600 That's one form of justice. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:54.080 It is. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:56.480 It's one form of justice. 00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.639 It's the one that most often comes into our mind, and I'm going to speak for myself. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.159 I'm a Libra. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:06.879 You know the whole scales thing? 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:07.679 That's me. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:09.919 On the Myers-Briggs I-N-T-J. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.159 So I'm like a double Libra. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.039 I've got the spiritual gift of criticism. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:20.559 That's in one of the hidden texts, you know, that God gives that gift. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:27.519 And what we normally think of as justice, I want to suggest to you, is what we call retributive justice. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.720 Retributive justice is when we get even. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:39.759 Now, it doesn't always mean revenge, but it does mean we'll settle for punishment instead of fixing a broken system. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:46.480 To be honest, I think it's because we often don't know what else to do. 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:50.480 I know how to get even and I know how to punish, kind of. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.559 And since the other things are hard, I'll settle for what I know how to do. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:59.919 It's very, very convenient. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:11.519 And asking questions about God's kind of justice, which we call restorative justice, I often don't know how to fix those problems. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:20.639 And so rather than being overwhelmed by what I don't know how to do, I'll settle for what I do know how to do, which is punish and get even. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:29.519 And that's where I think Jesus says, my, I want you to hear this intentional switch. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:35.200 My kingdom is not of the retributive justice world, is not. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:41.840 God is interested in a kingdom, not a kingdom. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:50.639 And I put before you something very biblical that we often forget because it's been taken away from us. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:55.120 There's a verb in Hebrew called vara, and it means to create. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:59.759 And there's only one entity in the Bible that can create anything, and it's God. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:02.000 Human beings cannot create. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.200 We can make stuff, we can do stuff, but we can't create. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.759 So if I were talking about chemistry, the elements are made by God. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.200 And maybe we can play with them, but we can't make elements. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:16.879 That's not completely true, right? 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:17.919 But this is an analogy. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:19.039 I hope you hear this. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:26.240 Which means when God creates us in God's image and likeness and says we're very good, we can't end that. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.279 This is good biblical theology. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:39.039 We cannot uncreate the dignity that is our birthright as being made in the image and likeness of God. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:50.080 Sometimes we can't see that in people we call villains, which are really just people we don't understand, more often than not. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:17:02.000 And so what we say is it's a fallen world and it's sad, and really that's because we don't hold on to the discomfort of trying to look at how people are basically doing the best they can with what they have and trying to give them more. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:05.759 That's what restorative justice looks like. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:11.839 People are doing the best they can with what they have, and it's our job to equip them to be able to do more. 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:22.559 I want to name a few ways in which I see us struggling with this, if you don't mind. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:28.240 And I want to remind you, I did not go to school to be a political scientist. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:30.000 I have a math degree. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.359 I don't even know how to like solve real problems, I just know how to make new ones up. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:35.119 That's what you do in math. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:41.279 And even worse, I went to divinity school, so I'm even another step removed from solving real problems. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:49.920 But I want to name some because I think this is our opportunity here at the end of the Christian year to be confronted by problems we still live into. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:51.920 So let me name the first easy one. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:56.640 I went to buy a prescription the other day, and I have insurance that I pay for, and it's expensive. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:59.119 And yours is too, I suspect. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.400 And I went to get this prescription, and they said, Oh, you've got to get this approved, we have to wait over the weekend. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:05.599 I said, Well, I want it now. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.039 What's the cash price? 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:08.880 The cash price is$10. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:10.480 That's easy. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.200 Oh, just curious, what would it be with my insurance? 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.000 $25. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:19.599 Friend, that's a problem. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:21.759 That's a problem. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:31.920 I've got friends that work across the street and they love what they do, but they would quit today except they were afraid about losing their health insurance. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:33.440 That's a problem. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:35.119 That's a justice problem. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.480 Sometimes I read books that are about things I don't understand. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.440 Let me tell you what I understood from reading debt, a 5,000-year history. 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.400 There's this little nation in the Caribbean called Haiti. 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:53.440 You've probably heard of it. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.599 It's pretty much the poorest country in the world, year after year after year. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:00.640 The story of Haiti and the debt that it's in goes like this. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:06.960 Once upon a time, Haiti was one of the first banana republics on behalf of the French government. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:11.359 After a while, the Haitians decided they didn't want to be a banana republic anymore. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.599 They wanted to be an independent, sovereign nation, so they had a revolution. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:17.440 They were successful. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.400 The French did not appreciate that, so they sent an army to subdue the Haitians. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:23.680 The army was defeated. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:25.759 The Haitians won round two. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:45.359 So what France did is they convinced the rest of the modernized world, including America, to say that not only did Haiti have to pay back all the capital they'd taken in their revolution, but they also had to pay for the army the Haitians had defeated, that they sent to subdue them. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:50.240 And everybody decided Haiti owes that debt. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:54.160 A debt that how on earth are they going to pay? 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.480 I mean, what's what do we call that? 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:06.799 I guess you could call that retribution, but you sure can't even call that justice, can you? 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:15.359 Haiti is one of the most beautiful and mineral-rich islands in the Caribbean. 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:19.200 And until 10 years ago, they didn't have an X-ray machine. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:21.680 Because they couldn't afford one. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:27.440 And what we often say is, well, it's because they're a third world country. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:29.839 But we don't live in three worlds. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:31.359 We live in one. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:38.640 And is quality health care predicated on your ability to pay, or is it something we deserve? 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.480 We haven't figured this out. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:44.240 I don't know how to solve the problem, but we're confronted again today. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:46.640 This is a problem that needs to be solved. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.759 Even if I don't know how to do it. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:02.000 The reason it needs to be solved, and I did talk about economics for a second, and I'm going to do it again, but I want you to hear the word economics we've relegated to some kind of like dollars and cents category, and it's worth thinking about the word means. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.640 It's a Greek compound word, two words put together. 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:12.559 The first is oikos, which means household, the second is gnomos, which means like law or rule of the household. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:22.319 So we can talk about the economy, but today Restorative Justice Sunday invites us to think about God's household. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:26.799 And what are the ways in which God's household ought to be ordered? 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:29.839 Ought to be ordered. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:33.039 Because God's household is not of this world. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:36.480 This world of retribution. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:48.720 This is way before I was really into like this word that I'm gonna talk about this word in a second. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:56.319 Before I was into like social justice stuff, uh, there was this clamor around the year 2000 to forgive the third world debt. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:57.519 Maybe you've heard about this. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:58.799 I didn't know much about it. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 I thought, well, that's interesting. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.759 Those people took loans that they just can't pay back, and now they don't want to pay them back. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:11.759 Having read this book, though, Debt, a 5,000-year history, I was curious to learn who took out those debts? 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:14.319 Warlords. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.240 Warlords like Robert Mugabe. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:21.920 If you don't know anything about him, I suggest the film The Last King of Scotland because it's horrific. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:31.119 Robert Mugabe and other warlords took out these loans from Europe, put that money right in their pocket, and left. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:36.720 And now we insist that those countries pay those loans out. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:39.599 They didn't ask for that money. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:43.279 They didn't see any of it, but they must pay it back. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:51.920 Now, I'm not going to tell you that canceling a debt like that is straightforward and easy. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:23:02.160 I am going to say that this whole third world debt problem we talk about is complicated and retribution isn't going to fix it. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:13.920 Not only because you can't squeeze blood out of turnips, but when you charge people more than 20% interest, there's a word for that in the scriptures. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.200 It's called usury. 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.119 And it's wrong. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:27.680 We decided if people take out credit card debt, they deserve to pay 27% interest. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.240 But in God's economy, it's wrong. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:36.720 I don't know how to solve that problem. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:39.599 Because I wish people wouldn't buy stuff they can't pay for. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:41.680 But it's not that simple. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:46.880 There's all kinds of plays about this. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:59.440 Maybe you've seen Les Miserables, in which Jean Valjean steals bread to feed his starving sister, and as a result, he is put into a forced labor camp for five years. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.559 Never mind that it takes five hours to make bread. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:04.079 Five years. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:09.920 Of course, at the end of that five years, he's given a parole paper that says he's a dangerous criminal. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.799 Which means, how's he going to get a job? 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:19.519 By the way, that hadn't changed. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:32.319 Most of you know that if you get a felony, you have to put it on every job application for the rest of your career, and that most people, I'm included, when I see a felony, I'm like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to take that risk. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.559 That isn't even retribution, though. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:38.240 Retribution says you serve time in jail, it ought to be evened out. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:40.000 But we don't even behave like that. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.519 You serve time in jail, I'm not hiring you. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.599 That's how we behave. 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:49.839 And we call that justice, and all that is is revenge. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:51.920 It's a problem. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.359 We had a guy come over our grass here at church. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:00.240 He committed a violent crime when he was 20. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:02.720 He served 15 years in jail. 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:09.039 During that time, he earned an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:17.680 He got put back in jail for violating his parole because he opened a Facebook account. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:24.400 And his ex-wife said he was trying to get to her. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.680 Because he opened a general Facebook account. 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:33.440 So he went back in jail for more than a month, and because it was COVID, he was in solitary confinement. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:44.799 When he got out, he got one of those low jack trackers so he could be under house arrest. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:48.559 Turns out a couple of times during that the battery went out. 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:54.400 And when the battery goes out, it means you violate your parole. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:02.000 So what he had to do is drive to his parole officer to get the low jack fixed. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:06.319 But the minute the battery goes out, there's a warrant issued for your arrest. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:08.160 Now, you might be thinking. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:10.799 They'll figure all that out. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:14.240 You know, after they arrest him and take him to jail again, they'll figure that out. 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.559 They probably will in a couple of months. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:31.680 But Johnny told us what jail was like for him, which included no heat or cool, leaking sewage pipes, and people, frankly, who are so depressed that they're just interested in beating you up or killing you. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:35.279 Sounds like revenge to me. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:37.839 It's a problem. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:40.160 I don't know how to solve it. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:48.559 But I think Christ tells us you can't put a problem down just because you can't solve it. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:51.359 It's still a problem. 00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:56.319 I don't have those skills. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:59.039 I'm gonna be honest, I don't have those skills. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:03.920 I know how to like parse theological words that nobody but me tends to care about. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:07.119 But I can name that this is a problem. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:15.440 And just to be really clear, we had a really ugly, controversial trial this past week. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:25.279 The sad thing is, most of us care more about that verdict than what's gonna happen to four families who have now had their lives ruined. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:31.920 We focus on the easy part, guilty or not guilty. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:34.000 Two people are dead. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:43.119 Another person was mortally wounded, and then the perpetrator or the hero, whichever side you come out on, is 17 years old. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:45.519 Now I can tell you what it's like. 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:53.279 Because I've seen my father do this, to live the rest of your life knowing you've killed a human being. 00:27:54.480 --> 00:28:00.799 I heard Andy Doyle say one time in all of his wisdom, you know why we're always gonna have chaplains in the army? 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:04.079 Because we all know it's wrong to kill people and then we do it. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:06.319 That's why you need a chaplain. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.039 We use that word justice so cheaply. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:15.839 Was justice served in this trial? 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:20.160 And most of us don't bother to think about how are these families gonna go forward? 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:23.759 What's restoration gonna look like? 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:30.880 Because we can't even imagine that, we go the easy, cheap way, and we talk about retribution or right or wrong. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.279 And that's why we need a Savior. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:43.279 That's why we're gonna come back here the next four weeks and we're gonna say, God, we hope for the wrong things. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:45.519 We hope for the wrong things. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:48.559 We hope for the easy ones, not the restorative ones. 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.720 God, we'll settle for quiet instead of peace. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:56.400 As if those have anything to do with each other. 00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:01.759 We'll settle for happiness instead of joy. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:05.279 Because the two have not much to do with one another. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:12.000 And we only settle for loving people when we feel like instead of practicing love, no matter how it feels. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.480 That's the course Advent's going to take us on. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:16.640 And Christ confronts us with it today. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:21.759 And he confronts us not by being the king of kings, but by being the kin of kin. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:25.119 There's this mystical image. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:27.119 You probably have heard this church language before. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:29.599 This is more Theo speak, sorry. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:33.039 Imminent and transcendent. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:38.640 Imminence is when God is alongside us, like Emmanuel. 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.640 And transcendence is when God's ways are so much higher than our ways. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:43.519 Right? 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:46.559 Makes the form of a cross. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:56.559 One of my favorite Jesuit theologians says God is more present in us than we are in ourselves. 00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:01.119 God is more present in us than we are in ourselves. 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:05.200 The part of God's presence we're aware of is God's eminence. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:12.400 And the part of God's presence in us we're not aware of is God's transcendence. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:18.880 And this is how Christ, King of King, Kin of kin. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:24.400 Jesus is more present in us than we are in ourselves. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:30.480 And if we want to live in God's economy, we recognize that presence in one another. 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:35.359 Now, we got to hear this line in the Psalm. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:43.039 He talks about the wicked being thorny and hard to touch, and that's going to get consumed in the fire. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:43.920 And don't you understand? 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.279 That's our Christian hope. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:49.200 Because wicked people aren't wholesale people, they're thorny parts of me. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:31:02.799 And what God invites us to do in Advent is to have those thorns that, frankly, I often prick myself with, destroyed not for my punishment, but for my enjoyment. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:05.440 Because God's really clear. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:18.400 When the prayer goes like this, your will be done on earth like it is in heaven. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:22.799 That's what restorative justice is about. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:28.000 That's why it comes right before Advent. 00:31:29.680 --> 00:31:45.839 And I want to say, particularly because of this parish, you go over there across the street and you can see that people in this parish build a rocket I would never get in with a slide rule. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:55.200 If we can do that, and we did that, we can do this. 00:31:56.400 --> 00:31:57.680 We can do this. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:01.759 Revelation tells us we can do this. 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:06.880 We can engineer restorative justice starting here. 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:09.519 We got the engineers that can do it. 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:10.240 We do. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:16.400 We got the hearts, we got the souls that can do it. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:23.519 And this is how we show reverence to the kin of kin. 00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:29.039 Or the king of the kings, whichever strikes your ear. 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.240 By living into the economy of God. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:35.839 By bringing around the engineers. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.119 I'm not one of them, but I know some in the room. 00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:42.640 To help re-engineer what justice looks like. 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:51.279 Last thing I want to tell you, sometimes we hear this bit like, oh, I don't know why we keep talking about social justice. 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:54.559 Because in the Bible, that's the word righteousness. 00:32:55.519 --> 00:32:59.599 Righteousness and justice are the same. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:06.880 A long time ago we decided we'll be pious in church and do whatever out there. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.640 And that has a capital S accent. 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:29.200 So we're invited to be grateful where God has brought us, but to open ourselves for Christ's coming anew, to raise us to real hope, real peace, real joy that comes with it. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:31.440 And the real practice of love. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:38.079 Pledges that we've made, that we're going to bless in just a second. 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:41.839 They're not going to solve the world's problems. 00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:43.920 But they're things we've chosen to do. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:54.799 We have chosen to make these pledges, and we're going to put them in God's hands in just a few seconds and say, God, we know you can do more than we can ask or imagine. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:57.920 Do it. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:01.119 We'll go with you. 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:04.079 That's what we're going to consecrate. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:06.799 That's what we're going to celebrate. 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:11.280 That's who I want us to be together. 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:28.400 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. 00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:31.360 We believe in one God. 00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:41.920 We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ. 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:42.559 We believe. 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:26.719 On the third day, in the hand of the Father. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:31.039 He will come again in the glory of the children, living in the dead. 00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:38.480 And since we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Earl of Life. 00:35:38.719 --> 00:35:41.440 We proceed from the Father and the Son. 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:45.360 With the Father and the Son, He is given to glorified God. 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:48.159 He is spoken to the prophets. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:52.320 We believe in one Holy Gather and Apostolic Church. 00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:56.239 We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:01.199 We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:31.519 Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. 00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:40.400 We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of the world, and for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love. 00:36:44.239 --> 00:36:50.480 We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side. 00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:52.800 We pray to our ground and go. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:37:01.840 We thank you for setting us to tasks which demand our best efforts and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us. 00:37:02.239 --> 00:37:04.159