Reign of Christ Sunday
Ordinary Time, Fall 2007
Cycle
C, Proper
29
November
25, 2007
Title: Executing justice and righteousness
Song leader: Roger
Worship leader: Kathy R.
Speaker: Linda
Texts: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians
1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
Jeremiah 23:1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and
scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 23:2 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.
23:3 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. 23:4 I will raise up shepherds over them who
will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor
shall any be missing, says the LORD. 23:5 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.
23:6 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."
Call
to worship, adapted from Psalm 46,
Leader: God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble.
All: Therefore we will not fear,
though
the earth should change,
though
the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.
Leader:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the
holy habitation of the Most High.
All: God is in the midst of the city; it shall
not be moved;
God
will help it when the morning dawns.
Leader: The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms
totter;
God
speaks, the earth melts.
All: The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of
Jacob is our refuge.
Leader: Come, behold the works of the LORD;
see
what desolations he has brought on the earth.
All: God makes wars cease to the end of the
earth;
God
breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
God
burns the shields with fire.
Leader: God speaks: "Be still, and know that I
am God!”
All: The LORD of hosts is with us;
the
God of Jacob is our refuge.
Colossians 1:11 May you be made strong with all the
strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure
everything with patience, while joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who
has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 1:13 He
has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom
of his beloved Son, 1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 1:16
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. 1:17 He himself is before all things, and
in him all things hold together. 1:18 He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have
first place in everything. 1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased
to dwell, 1:20 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 his
cross.
Luke 23:33 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. 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for
they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his
clothing. 23:35 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!" 23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and
offering him sour wine, 23:37 and saying, "If you are the King of the
Jews, save yourself!" 23:38 There was also an inscription over him, "This
is the King of the Jews." 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged there
kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and
us!" 23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God,
since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 23:41 And we indeed have
been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but
this man has done nothing wrong." 23:42 Then he said, "Jesus,
remember me when you come into your kingdom." 23:43 He replied,
"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Quote
to ponder:
When will our consciences grow so tender that we
will act to prevent human misery rather than av enge it? --Eleanor Roosevelt:
Introduction:
In
honor of the holiday we just celebrated this week here’s a fowl story—
chicken, though, instead of turkey—
maybe some turkeys,
too....
Some
time ago, scientists at the British Rolls Royce built a gun specifically to
launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners, and military jets, all
traveling at maximum velocity. This was to simulate the frequent incidents of
collisions with airborne fowl so that they could test the strength of the
windshields.
American engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the
windshields of their new high-speed trains.
Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the American engineers.
They went to the local supermarket and bought the required fowl.
When
the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked and speechless as the chicken
hurtled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to
smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's chair
in two and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin, like an arrow shot
from a bow.
The horrified Yanks sent Rolls Royce the disastrous results of the
experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the British
scientists for suggestions.
Rolls Royce responded with a
one-line memo:
"Defrost the chicken."
And
here’s another thought from across the pond on
the human form of turkeys,
from Lachlan McLachlan, Scottish
humorist:
Light travels faster than sound. This is why
some people look bright until you hear them speak.
I
realize this morning that
I’m
really putting my turkey neck out on a block here
because I want to speak about
something
I know almost nothing about—
quantum mechanics—
and link it with something else I
know even less about—
the future.
So I may end this morning looking a little
less bright...
Every
now and then it is fun to explore
something outside of one’s
comfortable familiar routines,
whether that is with your feet, your
heart, or your mind.
One
of the things that I occasionally try to explore is quantum theory
though I lack the math background to
make sense
of even the most basic
articles on the subject.
But
it is fun to explore...to wonder,
to try to understand and make connections.
So
come with me on a quick walk
through some of the intriguing and
challenging things
in this strange microcosmic world;
and
I really do think that it is good ground work for thinking about the future
on this last Sunday of the church
year.
(This
is the Reign of Christ Sunday;
next week we begin a new church year
with the first Sunday in Advent.)
Looking for help
understanding the future in the quantum world:
The
basic definition of quantum mechanics
is that it is a branch of physical
science
that
attempts to explain the behavior of energy and matter
at an atomic and subatomic level.
Have
I lost you yet?
While
I love science, I’m not as good at making it really fun, like Annette does...
Maybe
it would help to know
that the theories of quantum
mechanics are foundational
for things that are becoming a part
of our everyday normal world,
like electronics and
nanotechnology, fluorescent lights,
as well as the various medical
scanning devices
that are saving lives
right here in Boise.
So
thank quantum mechanics when you use your computer,
your Ipod or cell phone,
turn on an energy-efficient light,
or need an MRI or CT
scan...
One
of the things I find so fascinating about the quantum world
is that when you are working with
subatomic particles
a whole new set of rules apply.
Isaac
Newton’s physics,
solid common-sense rules that have
helped us
understand and respond to the
material world around us for 320 years, simply
aren’t adequate to help us navigate
in the bizarre new
quantum world.
Our
intuitive grasp of Newtonian physics does help us estimate how
and how hard to whack a golf ball
or whether that great football pass
is likely to be intercepted
but
Newton’s laws don’t seem to rule
the ultra-small world of subatomic
particles.
In
fact, what is so baffling is that this quantum world
doesn’t seem to be ruled by physical
rules at all
as we have known them,
rather, there are very
slippery probabilities,
or possibilities.
For
example, a moving particle like an electron
can be measured precisely in terms
of two things:
its location and its
momentum.
So
can this podium.
And
if we were to loan it out as we do occasionally,
we could keep accurate track of
where it is
and how fast it is being moved
all
the way to the Statehouse steps for the vigil on Good Friday.
But
here’s the slippery thing about subatomic “things”:
Unlike
the podium,
when you measure an electron’s
location
then you can’t measure its momentum with any certainty at all.
Or,
you can accurately measure its momentum—
but then there is no certainty about its location.
This
puts our concepts of the four dimensions—including time—
in complete limbo.
Even
more bizarre is the quantum leap,
the
ability of an electron
to be able to leap from one possible
orbit
instantaneously and
directly to another—
without ever showing up or “being”
at any of the points between...
as
if our podium could disappear here and instantaneously be at the Statehouse.
One
author says that this
‘"jump" from orbit
to orbit is as strange and unexpected as would be a case in which someone
stepped out of a doorway in London onto the streets of Los Angeles.”’ (see end citation)
There
is one more little bit of this spooky quantum world
that is absolutely fascinating to me
and
that is the evidence that in this realm
there is no such thing as an
objective observer;
just the act of having an observer present
affects the outcome of
the experiments.
Reign of Christ:
Okay,
so how in the world does this apply to the end of the Christian year and this
Reign of Christ Sunday?
First
of all, on this last Sunday of the church year,
you would expect the texts to look
back over the past,
maybe do a little reminiscing...
They don’t.
They
look to the huge possibilities of the future.
I
was very much taken with one possibility in particular,
a play on words, actually.
In
the Jeremiah text that is printed in your bulletin
there is an interesting phrase in
verse 5.
Jeremiah
writes in God’s voice about the future,
when a descendent of King David’s
will
“reign as king and deal wisely,
and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land.”
In
the Luke passage
we are hit unexpectedly with the
crucifixion
on the opposite side of the year
from Holy Week....
May
we describe Jesus’ death as another kind
of execution of justice and
righteousness?
The
opposite kind of execution?
Instead
of a ruler executing justice as
Jeremiah describes
by carrying it out,
by ruling the people
with righteousness,
attending to
the needs of the flock,
in the Gospel reading,
the one who stands for
justice,
represents
righteousness,
is executed, terminated, put to death.
Miscarriage
of justice effectively kills justice;
precisely the point of the current
outcry
from both Republicans
and Democrats
about the current national loss of
trust
in the credibility and
evenhandedness in the Justice Department.
The
Reign of Christ Sunday is unlike most Christian special days
which were put on the church year
calendar many centuries ago.
First
called Christ the King Sunday,
celebration of The Reign of Christ
Sunday came about
as a direct
“response
to the crisis of leadership earlier in [the last] century.
[It was instituted by the Pope] in
1925.
Mussolini had been dictator in Italy
for three years,
Stalin was coming to power in
Russia,
and
Hitler's popularity in Germany was just beginning to take hold.
Despite
the rising to power of these dictators,
Christ the King Sunday asserted
that nevertheless Jesus Christ is
Lord,
and 'he shall reign
forever and ever'
(as we boldly sing in
the "Hallelujah Chorus").
This day stands as a critique to every form of earthly power.
It stands as a sign of hope
in the face of our
current crisis of leadership.” -- Paul J. Nuechterlein, emphasis his; from a sermon delivered at Emmaus
Lutheran, Racine, WI, November 25-26, 1995
A quantum perspective:
On
The Reign of Christ Sunday,
we remember that God’s realm—
which contains all that
we understand as reality—
is far bigger than the issues and
dilemmas that surround us here, now.
Here
are some ideas and images from quantum theory
to help give us handles into the
future:
The
future “certainties” that we see are far from the sum total.
We
see Newtonian physics,
we see the physics and politics of
greed,
coercion and violence as
solidly inevitable.
They are not.
The
Reign of Christ Sunday reminds us
that we live in a tiny bubble in a
far greater reality;
what seems so solid and
inevitable to us in this realm
is not the whole picture,
even though it seems to be all we
can see.
We
have probabilities, possibilities, which can be shifted.
The
pun on the execution of justice gets
at this:
it can be justice upheld or justice
killed
and sometimes there are quantum
leaps
from one possibility to
the other.
An
example of this is the execution of Jesus:
on that routine day with its routine
triple crucifixion,
the
Roman executioners never imagined
the empire-shaking impact of the
death
of that inconsequential,
insignificant central man.
Reality
can be pierced and shattered by a new reality,
like a death that works backwards,
like quantum theory, like a frozen
bird....
Even
as observers we carry the ability to change systems, effects.
My
prayer partner at WTBG is a monk in that Benedictine monastery.
Somehow,
she got the idea that all of us thirty Protestant clergy women
coming to the WTBG retreats are
incredibly wonderful beings;
She
thinks that I am wise,
widely experienced, and because of
surviving heart disease,
especially gifted and
blessed by God.
She
expects everything I say to be momentous—
and it’s amazing what comes out of
my mouth.
I
wish I had had a recorder.
Wasn’t
there a movie a long time ago about a gardener
who happens to wear a really good
suit,
who is thought to be someone really,
really special
and all the world hangs on his
simple words about gardening,
seeing them as having
deep philosophical
significance about life?
That’s
what I feel like when I talk with Sr. Betty Jean.
Coming
back to Boise, I had a chance to talk with someone
who sees me as provincial, a little
slow, maybe stupid.
You
know what?
When
I talk with that person,
I am precisely all of those things, too!
We
affect each other in ways we are not always conscious of;
just our presence can change the air
we all breathe.
(Being
salt and light in the world is how Jesus talks about this.)
Conclusion:
The
repentant thief on the cross beside Jesus said, "Jesus,
remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, today
you will be with me in Paradise."
What we see as a certain future of disgrace,
despair, death in our realm...
is
today
in the Paradise that surrounds us,
in
the timeless
endless
potentials
of
the Reign of Christ.
NOTES:
Quantum mechanics (QM, or quantum
theory) is a physical
science dealing with the behaviour of matter and energy on the scale
of atoms and subatomic particles / waves.
When you describe the energy of a wave in this
manner, it seems that the wave is carrying its energy in a certain number of
little packets per second. This discovery then seemed to remake the wave into a
particle. These packets of energy carried along with the wave were called quanta by Planck.
Quantum mechanics began with the discovery that energy is delivered in packets
whose size is related to the frequencies of all electromagnetic waves (and to
the color of visible light since in that case frequency determines color). Be
aware, however, that these descriptions in terms of wave and particle import
macro-world concepts into the quantum world, where they have only provisional relevance
or appropriateness.
It followed from this interpretation of the
experimental results available and the quantum theory that Heisenberg subsequently created
that an electron could not be at any intermediate position between two
"permitted" orbits. Therefore electrons were described as
"jumping" from orbit to orbit. The idea that an electron might now be
in one place and an instant later be in some other place without having
traveled between the two points
was one of the earliest indications of the "spookiness" of quantum
phenomena. Although the scale is smaller, the "jump" from orbit to
orbit is as strange and unexpected as would be a case in which someone stepped
out of a doorway in London onto the streets of Los Angeles.
For
moving particles in quantum mechanics, there is simply a certain degree of
exactness and precision that is missing. You can be precise when you take a
measurement of position and you can be precise when you take a measurement of
momentum, but there is an inverse imprecision when you try to measure both at
the same time as in the case of a moving particle like the electron. In the
most extreme case, absolute precision of one variable would entail absolute
imprecision regarding the other.
The
consequences of the uncertainty principle were that the electron could no
longer be considered as in an exact location in its orbital. Rather the
electron had to be described by every point where the electron could possibly
inhabit. By creating points of probable location for the electron in its known
orbital, this created a cloud of points in a spherical shape for the orbital of a hydrogen atom which points gradually faded out
nearer to the nucleus and farther from the nucleus. This is called a probability distribution. Therefore, the
Bohr atom number n for each orbital became known as an n-sphere
in the three dimensional atom and was pictured as a probability cloud where the
electron surrounded the atom all at once.
This led
to the further description by Heisenberg that if you were not making
measurements of the electron that it could not be described in one particular
location but was everywhere in the electron cloud at once. In other
words, quantum mechanics cannot give exact results, but only the probabilities
for the occurrence of a variety of possible results. Heisenberg went further and said
that the path of a moving particle only comes into existence once we observe
it. However strange and counter-intuitive this assertion may seem, quantum
mechanics does still tell us the location of the electron's orbital, its
probability cloud. Heisenberg was speaking of the particle itself, not
its orbital which is in a known probability distribution.
Classical physics had shown since Newton that if you know the position
of stars and planets and details about their motions that you can predict where
they will be in the future. For subatomic particles, Heisenberg denied this
notion showing that due to the uncertainty principle one cannot know the
precise position and momentum of a particle at a given instant, so its future
motion cannot be determined, but only a range of possibilities for the future
motion of the particle can be described.
These
notions arising from the uncertainty principle only arise at the subatomic
level and were a consequence of wave-particle duality. As counter-intuitive as
they may seem, quantum mechanical theory with its uncertainty principle has
been responsible for major improvements in the world's technology from computer
components to fluorescent lights to brain scanning techniques.
The term
eigenstate
is derived from the German/Dutch word "eigen," which means
"inherent" or "characteristic." The word eigenstate is
descriptive of the measured state of some object that possesses quantifiable
characteristics such as position, momentum, etc. The state being measured and
described must be an "observable" (i.e. something that can be
experimentally measured either directly or indirectly like position or
momentum), and must have a definite value. In the everyday world, it is natural
and intuitive to think of everything being in its own eigenstate. Everything
appears to have a definite position, a definite momentum, a definite value of
measure, and a definite time of occurrence. However, quantum mechanics affirms
that it is impossible to pinpoint exact values for the momentum of a certain
particle like an electron in a given location at a particular moment in time,
or, alternatively, that it is impossible to give an exact location for such an
object when the momentum has been measured. Due to the uncertainty principle,
statements regarding both the position and momentum of particles can only be
given in terms of a range of probabilities, a "probability
distribution". Eliminating uncertainty in one term maximizes uncertainty
in regard to the second parameter.
Therefore
it became necessary to have a way to clearly formulate the difference between
the state of something that is uncertain in the way just described, such as an
electron in a probability cloud, and effectively contrast it to the state of something
that is not uncertain, something that has a definite value. When something is
in the condition of being definitely "pinned-down" in some regard, it
is said to possess an eigenstate. For example, if the position of an
electron has been made definite, it is said to have an eigenstate of position.
A
definite value, such as the position of an electron that has been successfully
located, is called the eigenvalue of the eigenstate of position. The
German word "eigen" was first used in this context by the mathematician
David
Hilbert in 1904. Schrödinger's wave equation gives wavefunction solutions,
meaning the possibilities where the electron might be, just as does
Heisenberg's probability distribution. As stated above, when a wavefunction
collapse occurs because something has been done to locate the position of an
electron, the electron's state becomes an eigenstate of position, meaning that
the position has a known value.
Excerpts from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_quantum_mechanics (emphasis added)