Thy Kingdom Come - The Kingdom of Christ Sunday
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
November 23, 2025
Each September in the Swiss alps shepherds carry out
their annual “Schäful” sheep drive, a time to gather the sheep scattered in
alpine meadows near the area’s glaciers and lead them back to the village of
Belalp where their owners take them back. Climate change has led to more grass
for higher grazing as the glacier has receded, however, it also eliminated that
glacier that once provided easy crossing of a gorge created a new challenge. Authorities
took the unusual step of blasting a path into the rockface and building a
suspension bridge. In spite of the effect of human caused obstacles and the burden
of creating a safe path for sheep, good shepherds appear. At end of their trek,
the sheep are lovingly and painstakingly brought back to their owners and given
floral garlands. They will winter well. The adventure will happen again and
again as sheep will be sheep and hopefully shepherds will appear.
All well and good, but though my experience of gathering
creatures is limited to trying to corral pets into a carrier for the vet, thanks
to the movie “Babe” I do know that the sheep would not simply or easily be
driven home without the right leader. So let’ s slow down the process so we
perceive it more clearly not only for a good ending but those bits in the
middle where we live most of the time.
Sheep and shepherds must maneuver in a single line along
a ledge in the side of a cliff only wide enough for one or two side by side.
Peril feels close with steep climbs and descents and only occasional spaces for
rest. To really get a grasp on how the
sheep would respond after being frightened I turned to our own Dr Erin Luley
who is not only the deputy Veterinarian for Pennsylvania, she and her husband
Jon, and kiddos raise and care for sheep and goats. She told me about the
“flight zone.”
One of the most basic concepts in handling sheep and
other livestock is the flight zone. All animals have a flight zone- an animal's
personal space. It is where the animal feels comfortable and
unthreatened. Anyone entering this space can make the individual feel
uncomfortable or even threatened, depending on the circumstance, and will cause
them to move away from you. The size of an individual’s flight zone will vary
based on things like past experiences, and personality. It can also change in
size depending on their surroundings, the situation, and how they are being
approached.
If the sheep aren't familiar with you or where you want
to move them, it’s challenging. And the best approach is to move slowly,
calmly, and quietly, so you don’t allow splinter groups to develop. Be calm in
chaos.
A flock can look and sound chaotic. Amid the noise and
the blur it can be hard to perceive anything else. When we find ourselves in a
harsh, noisy and chaotic world, this is the space of “I lift up my eyes to the
hills, from where will my help come?” Even when God is already endeavoring to
bring us back from wherever we have been scattered, in the middle of it, things
don’t seem clear. It’s no wonder this imagery is used in Jeremiah- we too have
these same patterns of crowd dynamics. Bad shepherds want to keep us in chaos,
feeling unsure.
Then it can be hard not to be led astray by those who
capture our attention but will not attend to us. To be in danger of those who
prey upon us only to be sacrificed for other’s whims. We can be harmed by those
who misuse and abuse power and trust until we realize we are in fact not at all
in good places but can’t see the bridge back, and the path seems overwhelming. We
hear the prophet speaking for the Lord about shepherds who have scattered the
sheep. They have not attended to their sheep, causing them distress and dismay.
Now God speaks- not only of gathering the scattered, but
first of having driven them away. Away from distress. From the outside we can
say that there is a difference between being scattered and being driven to
safety, but not so for the sheep on the ledge who feel closer to panic unless
they can trust the shepherd.
When we feel like we’re in exile, or have become
strangers in a strange land. When we
face our own woes, God offers hope: a loving and persistent God who will send a
shepherd to be called the “Lord of righteousness.” The God who makes things right,
who sets things in their right relationship. Who wants to help reset and
restore and recollect us. This is who we know and celebrate as Christ. This is
the Christ’s kingdom for us.
As important as it is to name him the ruler of the
kingdom, it is equally important that we perceive just how different Christ’s
vision of kingdom is from all the other alternatives swirling around us.
Christ’s kingdom is not loud and demanding, it’s a
kingdom of love. Scripture tells us, “without love we are a clanging gong or
clashing cymbal.” To use today’s language, people often flood the zone. The
flight zone. Too many attacks and intrusions keep us scared and confused.
Christ reminds us to put away our weapons because he is
the Prince of Peace. Jesus’ earthly ministry demonstrated power and authority
by being a calming presence in chaos- the storm on the sea, the swirling
demons, when we feel beyond hope or redemption. Starting in conversations where
Jesus asks “what is your name?” “What brings you here?” Questions that build
trust. That we hope someone will ask us. Jesus fills empty places and sends
people on the way they were meant to travel to the places that speak of home.
Putting us in right relationships again and again. The thief on the cross will
ask Jesus to remember him. Re-member me. Put me back together. It takes painstaking
love and extravagance.
Back to those sheep in Switzerland, you know there have
to be more modern, cost-effective things that are more profitable, or flashier
than caring for a small group of sheep. It’s hardly a wise bottom line in the
business world, but the bottom line in kingdoms we devise so often scatters. Christ
comes to draw us close and draw us home as our king and our shepherd.
The devotion and joy of forging a new path in remote
mountains for sheep instead of just proclaiming that’s the way it is, was no
simple labor. Learning their flight zones to slowly guide was surely tedious at
first. But I swear the sheep I saw that got the garland was smiling with the
eyes of longed for peace. Jesus says his sheep know the sound of his voice. It
may sound different to each of us but it always sounds like love. It always
leads us to quiet waters, green pastures and restored souls. This is the
kingdom.
Wherever you are struggling, enter this kingdom. And then
remember that the sheep also have a role in the flock- leading each other
behind the shepherd. We’re not waiting for a kingdom some other day, we are
working together for a kingdom that already IS in Christ our shepherd.
The one who willingly traded might for mercy. Who
wouldn’t rest until he declared to those who seemed the farthest from God on
crosses that he would deliver them from evil. For this is the kingdom and the
power and the glory we long for, we need and Christ is ready to reveal to us
and through us.
Today again we will pray as
I hope you do each day, the Lord’s Prayer. And as we pray now- Lord, Thy
Kingdom Come. Amen.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K.
Hetrick, 2025 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in
part without written permission.
Sermon Texts:
Jeremiah 23:1-6
1 Woe
to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says
the Lord. 2 Therefore
thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who
shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock and have driven them
away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil
doings, says the Lord. 3 Then
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have
driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful
and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds
over them who will shepherd them, and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed,
nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
5 The days are surely coming,
says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he
shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness
in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be
saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be
called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Luke 23:33-43
33 When
they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there
with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 [[Then
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”]]
And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And
the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved
others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen
one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked
him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and
saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There
was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who
were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save
yourself and us!” 40 But
the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the
same sentence of condemnation? 41 And
we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for
our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then
he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He
replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
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