Sermon - The Rev. Leah D. Schade, Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, PA

Nov. 27., 2006, Christ the King

Texts: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37

“The Cosmic Christ”

Christ the King Sunday has always been a difficult holy day for me to appreciate. I’ve never been comfortable with the kind of language we use on this day.  There’s something about using words like “throne”, “scepter”, “footstool,” and “exalted” that strike me as being very patristic and hierarchical.  And I don’t think I’m the only one who struggles with this kind of imagery. In fact, one of our Confirmation students, Alina Hess, asked a question in her sermon outline from two weeks ago. She was responding to Rev. Nellie Greene’s sermon which talked about the Reign of God. And Alina asked, “If God is our King and reigns over us, could he ever take over or become a dictator?  Does God control us?”

I thought, what a big question from a 7^th grader! You see, even our children are sensitive to the patriarchal baggage in our liturgical language. Just consider this word, “Lord” we use. It comes from the English feudal system, “lording over” someone - it’s a loaded word that carries with it a lot of negative baggage. But I recently came across the work of the theologian Matthew Fox who is a former Catholic priest and author of the book, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, and he had some interesting things to say about this word “Lord,“ especially as it relates to our understanding of Christ as King. What Fox points out is this: the word “Lord” is older than the English aristocracy. It’s actually a Greek word, kyrios, which means “the ruler of the universe”. It’s not an earthly title – it’s a cosmic title. And so he proposes an expanded understanding of Christ as King, calling it instead, The Cosmic Christ.

Fox suggests that this image of the Cosmic Christ is, in fact, an archetype. Now, what’s an archetype? It’s a term made famous by the philosopher Carl Jung who said that there are certain images, icons, symbols and motifs that are common to all peoples of all times, across all races and cultures, across all generations and religions. For example, there is the “mother” archetype, the “joker” archetype, and, indeed, the “king” archetype. Archetypes show up in our dreams, in our playing cards, in our fairy tales, all over the place.

So what is the Cosmic Christ archetype? Well, remember when Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king? And Jesus responded that his kingdom was not of this world? What Jesus was saying is that the divine power that he embodied goes far beyond whatever label or box we might try to put him in. The Cosmic Christ refers to the Mind of God, if you will.  It is at the heart of all creation, and is found in the wisdom of every religious tradition.

This very ancient stuff we’re talking about here, something that predates all the religions. You can see it in the image of the Ancient One that Daniel envisions. It’s the Alpha and Omega - the beginning of the beginning, the end of the end. And if you look at the wisdom literature of all the world’s religions, you can find this archetype of the Cosmic Christ. You see, the Cosmic Christ archetype in all its fullness and diversity is about the mystery of life, death and resurrection in the universe. And you may not realize this, but we Christians are not the only ones who have this motif. It’s the Buddha nature, it’s the Jewish Messiah, it’s the Tao, it’s the Dance of Shiva in Hinduism.

The theologian Meister Ekhardt says that God is a great underground river of flowing, rushing, living water of wisdom that no one can stop and no one can dam up. There are wells going down to that river. There is a Buddhist well, a Native American well, a Wiccan well, a Muslim well, a Christian well. We have to be willing to go down into that well, make the journey, descend into the depths, and use the mystic tradition to get us to that River of Wisdom common to all traditions.  As Thomas Aquinas says, “All truth, whoever utters it, comes from the Holy Spirit.”

The Cosmic Christ archetype even provides a platform where science and mysticism can come together. Eric Jensch, in his book, The Self-organizing Universe, which is like the bible of physicist, said that God is the mind of the universe - the self-organizing principal of cohesion and organization that evolves as the universe evolves. It’s the mind in all things, in the fire, in the ecosystem, in the amoeba, in the galaxies, and in us.

It’s a cosmic story that goes back to the very creation of the universe. Think of that Big Bang theory we’re taught in science class. That supernova had a life, death and resurrection, in that it birthed the elements of the universe as it exploded. Its death brought new life - helium, hydrogen, the beginning of galaxies. This means that Nature itself contains this imprint of the Cosmic Christ. It is in every place, in every creature. That’s the revelatory power of Nature.

Think of the doxology we sing or speak at the time of Holy Communion. The Eucharist is filled with this Cosmic Christ language and imagery, all drawn from the poetic visions of the book of Revelation. Doxa means glory, radiance, beauty - it’s a cosmic word, it’s the radiance that permeates all things. Hildegard of Bingham says that there is no creature that does not have a radiance. A tiny single-celled sea creature, an elephant, a redwood, a baby. Think of it - every atom in the universe contains photons - radiance, light rays! It’s everywhere! The glory of God, the radiance of the Cosmic Christ is in all things!

Every person is a unique expression of that radiance - there is no one else in the history of the universe who was you, or is you, or ever will be you. You, too, are the Alpha and the Omega. You are the first and last you. And there is but one Wisdom, one Beauty, one Mind that flows through it all. The Cosmic Christ archetype has the energy to wake us up, to touch every part of our being.

And this is all fine and good, but it still does not address Alina’s original question - what’s to keep this Divine Power from becoming abusive, dominating, all-consuming. Well, here’s where the Cosmic Christ archetype becomes so important. Because the Cosmic Christ is not just about Divine Glory. It’s about suffering as well. Jesus says that when you feed the hungry, when you clothe the naked, you are doing this to me! He is directly identifying with the brokenness and vulnerability of this world, of our human society. So the Cosmic Christ is not just about the light in all things, it’s about the wounds in all things, says Fox.

Fox says that this is Christianity’s greatest contribution to the wisdom tradition - to remind us that because of the crucifixion story, the Cosmic Christ is not just present at the time of light and life, but at the time of suffering and death, darkness and destruction. So, if we want to fully understand the Cosmic Christ, if we want to truly enter into this Christ the King Sunday, we have to be willing to embrace not just the light and glory of Christ, and the earth, and of ourselves, but also face and embrace the profound suffering and injustice done to God, and the earth, and ourselves.

You see, coming to church and being a Christian is not just about being comforted and pious. It’s about encountering the Cosmic Christ in those places where injustice is happening, in those places where domination and death are happening. When Pilate asks Jesus this question, “Are you a king?” it’s the question that all the powers and principalities are asking. It’s the question we’re all asking. We want to know - who is lord of the universe? Is it the land developers or the corporate executives? They’re certainly acting like they are. Is it the military machine or the heads of Wall Street? We certainly act like they are.

But what the ancient prophets and the book of Revelation are saying is that, no - glory belongs to the Lamb of God. Did you ever wonder why it’s the Lamb of God? Why not the cosmic sheep? Because it was the lamb, the child, who was slain on the cross. And it is always the child who is slain by imperialism, by war, by domestic abuse, by any form of arrogance and domination. It is always the child, those most vulnerable, who suffer when some other entity or person take it upon themselves to say that they are the ruler of the universe. It’s that cosmic lamb we have to guard and protect in ourselves - it is the cosmic vulnerability that we have to honor if we want to worship the true king, the Cosmic Christ.

That’s why we cannot sing about this “feast of victory for our God,” without also remembering that at Good Friday, we sing about the “sacred head now wounded.”  The crucifixion story is about how Christ became yet another victim of state-sanctioned murder, and the sun became dark and the whole earth shook. It’s a cosmic experience! The temple curtain is rent in two - that’s ancient Jewish teaching - that when a just person is killed unjustly, the whole earth trembles. When another species becomes extinct, the whole universe is rent in two. When a woman is raped in Darfur, the whole universe shudders. When a child is shot in a drug-related shooting on the streets of Philadelphia, the entire cosmos shakes. God suffers and dies every time another crucifixion happens in our world.

But remember that after the dust settles and the gravestone is in place, and the only sound is weeping in the garden – that is when the Risen Christ appears.  Notice that after the resurrection, no one says, “we have seen Jesus”. No, they say, “we have seen the Lord.” The Lord has risen. The Cosmic Christ, the Lamb of God, the woman in Darfur, the child in Philadelphia, the last bird of the species has risen.

This is what we mean when we talk about Christ the King.  The birth of the earth; the suffering of the earth; the renewal and resurrection of the earth. This is what we sing about in our hymns. This Cosmic Christ, this radiant, vulnerable, suffering, resurrected one is who we trust, who we worship. Come, let us worship Christ the King, the Lamb of God, the Cosmic Christ, who was, who is and who is to come. Amen.