God's place in change

Proper 22--Christ the King, Series C

For the last few years, I have referred to the last Sunday after Pentecost as "The Reign of Christ," because I heard all the reasons that preachers in particular struggle with calling Christ our King. The ELCA was in a time of "renewing worship," when old things were passing away but new things had not yet fully revealed themselves. People experimented and were creative. Some things worked; others did not. Determining what things go into which category is an ongoing conversation. I am still pondering a celebration of the Eucharist in which the presider prayed the third-century Eucharistic prayer attributed to Hippolytus (ELW Eucharistic Prayer XI): "We give you thanks, Father/Mother, through Jesus Christ, your beloved Son...." Including a punctuation mark in our address to God did not work for me.

This year, I opened the liturgical calendar in Evangelical Lutheran Worship and discovered that we call the last Sunday after Pentecost "Christ the King." We also continue to address God as Father in the Eucharistic prayer attributed to Hippolytus. The decision was made for me. For some these are good decisions; for others they are not. My point is not to debate any of the decisions that went into ELW but to highlight an aspect of the worship context in which we preach these days. A new worship book invites us to preach on God's role in change.

In his national bestseller Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change (second ed., Cambridge: Perseus, 2003), executive development consultant William Bridges defines transition as a three-phase process that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the new situation that the change brings about (p. 3). Every transition can be understood as consisting of three threads or strands--an ending, a neutral zone, and a new beginning. In every transition, things end. While some will celebrate the decommissioning of LBW and With One Voice, and others will grieve it, all will feel a sense of loss, say, when the words of a psalm, creed, or hymn are different from what they have known for years. The second strand of transition is a neutral zone, what I call a liminal strand--that in-between time when the old is gone but the new has not fully arrived. Some want to rush through this wandering in the wilderness to the land of promise; others enjoy the freedom and creativity that the liminal strand affords. And here comes the point I want to make: When a new beginning--such as a new worship book--comes, some will grieve what was for them the pleasant experience of the neutral zone. At least for now, decisions have been made. The last Sunday after Pentecost will be known as Christ the King.

This season of Reformation Sunday, All Saints, and Evangelical Lutheran Worship strikes me as a fitting time to preach about God's place amid change--and not just because I wrote a book on the subject (When God Speaks through Change: Preaching in Times of Congregational Transition [Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2005]). We can help our hearers sort out what is constant and unchanging--God's unconditional love for us and all creation in Jesus Christ--from those things that change to facilitate the proclamation of this good news. We can invite our hearers to lament and celebrate, to reminisce and anticipate. We can consider whether God brings change or protects us from change but know that God never abandons us in change. We can also help our people to realize that, like all living things, the church grows and changes as it lives more and more into the Reign of Christ, and to discover the ways that God calls us to live into God's reign.

Pastor David L. Miller, LSTC's Comelsen Director of Spiritual Formation, who wrote this series of Preaching Helps, offers scriptural reflections that ground and nourish Christians' spirits amid the stress and excitement of change. Ordained in 1980, Miller served congregations in Nebraska and Kansas before joining The Lutheran magazine as a senior editor in 1987. From 1999 to 2005 he was The Lutheran's editor. He has written hundreds of articles and has reported from more than thirty countries, winning numerous awards for feature writing, editing, and photography. In 1999 Wartburg Theological Seminary granted Miller a doctorate of divinity for his significant contributions to the ELCA and the international Lutheran community.

A spiritual director, David studied Christian spirituality at Catholic Theological Union, Loyola University, the Claret Center, Chicago; and the Academy of Spiritual Formation, Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of Friendship with Jesus: A Way to Pray the Gospel of Mark (Augsburg, 1999), a contemporary adaptation and exploration of Ignatian contemplation, a way of prayer central to the famous spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola. He is a frequent keynote speaker and retreat leader at events for laity and clergy across the country in Lutheran and ecumenical settings. He is committed to nurturing the life of prayer and spiritual discernment in Christ's church that all may know and be filled by the loving mystery revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Miller is deeply influenced by the spiritual tradition of Ignatius Loyola. He is also well versed in classical figures from the history of Christian spirituality and mystical theology such as Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis De Sales, Julian of Norwich, the Desert fathers and mothers, Gregory of Nyssa, and Thomas Merton.