November 23, 2025 - Christ the King Sunday: Though the Mountains Tremble...

November 23, 2025  Christ the King/Commitment Sunday
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Psalm 46 and Colossians 1:11-20
“Though the Mountains Tremble…”
Douglas T. King

Okay, I will admit it, it is not as warm, candlelit, and atmospheric as Christmas Eve, nor as brass and timpani enhanced as Easter.  Nonetheless, we will celebrate it.  Happy one-hundredth birthday to the youngest of our liturgical holy days,  Christ the King Sunday.  It was established by Pope Pius the XI in 1925 in response to what he regarded as the destructive forces of the modern world: fascism across the globe, secularism in the west, and the rise of communism in Russia.  Pope Pius sought to oppose the totalitarian claims of these ideologies with the rule of Christ. Pope Pius looked at the world and saw a time of great uncertainty and fear and a people who were looking for somewhere, anywhere, to place their ultimate trust and allegiance.  

Perhaps not so different a time as we find ourselves in today.  I have never seen trust at so low an ebb.  People do not trust the government, the media, the scientific community, just about any institution you can name, including the church, and most glaringly, do not trust each other.  When trust precipitously declines in a variety of contexts it makes us all vulnerable to placing our trust in things that are not worthy of it.  People become vulnerable to radical ideologies and conspiracy theories and all manner of toxic possibilities.  They become desperate for answers which may or may not be helpful or true.  

On Christ the King Sunday we turn to the one to whom we can indeed place our deepest trust; the one whose answers speak the deepest truth.  Our reading from First Colossians is believed to be taken from a Christ hymn praising the cosmic nature of Jesus Christ.  The first thing I am always struck by is the promise of what is being offered to us, endurance and patience and joy.  I will gladly jump to get in line to receive these three things.

But that is not solely what is going on in this text.  The scholar, Syliva Keesmaat refers to this as a “Subversive Creation Hymn.”  They remind us that the city of Colossae was a part of the Roman Empire.  And the message of the empire was that “the power of the empire holds all things together, creating peace and reconciliation through military might and violence…” In our text from Colossians we hear of a different entity in charge, “…all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together…”  And, furthermore, “…in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross.”  

The Roman emperors were considered actual gods and the demonstration of their power was by immense military might.  This hymn in Colossians challenges who is actually divine and the nature of what ultimate power looks like.  The infamous Pax Romana, the peace of the empire, was achieved with the sword.  We get word here of God found in human form, however not that of the emperor, but in Jesus Christ.  And Jesus Christ brings peace not by swinging the sword at others, but by sacrificing himself to reconcile all things.  
The Colossians are being told that they do not ultimately live in Caesar’s empire but in Jesus Christ’s kingdom.  And the values and ways of doing business in Rome are not the values and ways of doing business under God’s reign.  It is in Jesus Christ and his kingdom where we must place our ultimate trust.  And thus place our trust in living into those values to which he calls us peace, reconciliation and self-sacrifice, regardless of what the world may tell us.
 
In this time when certainty and trust have become such scarce and valuable commodities we are in urgent need of the endurance, patience and joy Colossians offers to us.  When uncertainty appears to be the only constant we need to find a ground of certainty that is unshaken.  When mistrust seeps into every aspect of public life we need a North Star, a palpable direction to turn, an entity to whom we can measure all of our choices and allegiances.  

The portrait of Christ that is painted for us here is all-encompassing in scope.  Hear the language once more, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him…”  

This is an image of the cosmic Christ.  Christ is perceived as residing within and reigning over every last corner of creation.  There is no element of matter where Christ does not dwell.  We are blanketed by Christ.  We have Christ dwelling within the very essence of who we are. When we are told in Colossians that we will “share in the inheritance,” we are being told that Christ is so deeply embedded within us that we too are God’s beloved children never to be forsaken.  Our redemption is guaranteed because there is no way to separate God from God, and with Christ within us, we are forever linked to God.
 
This remarkable reality does indeed offer us endurance, and patience, and joy; the kind of endurance, patience, and joy that can live in the deepest marrow of our bones; the kind of endurance, patience, and joy that will allow us to “not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.”; the kind of endurance, patience, and joy that allows us to live lives of peace, reconciliation, and self-sacrifice.  
 
Our Stewardship campaign this year, “Rooted in God’s Grace,” reminds us that our deepest sustenance comes from God’s promises to us which we find in scriptures like these texts from Colossians and the Psalter.  

But it is not always so easy to hold fast to these promises and values when the world shouts otherwise.  Doubt can easily find a home in our hearts.  There is a story of a parishioner coming to see her pastor.  She admits to her pastor that on some Sundays, as everyone rises to affirm their faith, she finds herself struggling to believe what the affirmation of faith claims.  And then on other Sundays when she rises for the affirmation of faith her trust in the words is deep and complete.  

She wondered if there was something wrong with her faith.  Her pastor quickly reassured her.  No, there is nothing wrong with your faith.  We all struggle to believe at times.  On the Sundays when you are struggling to believe, rest on my deep belief.  And when I am struggling to believe, I will rest on your deep belief.  

The only way to engage in this spiritual journey of ours; the only way to stand strong in endurance and patience and joy through all of life’s twists and turns, is to walk on the path together; to share this message found in scripture together; to carry both our burdens and our joys together.  In Colossians we heard we share in the inheritance together.  We share in the kingdom and its values together.  

As we dedicate our pledges, or continue to consider our pledges for next year, we need to remember that our commitment of time, talent, and treasure to this community represents our commitments to our God and to each other.  

It is Christ that holds together all of creation.  And we are given the gift of embodying that universal interconnectedness right here in our corner of that creation.  May we be connected and thus sustained by one another.  May we stand strong together as fellow citizens of God’s kingdom found in Jesus Christ.  May we generously contribute to the future of whom we are called to be together in this place and throughout our world, a people of peace, reconciliation, and self-sacrifice, strengthened by God’s endurance, patience, and joy.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.