Endings and Beginnings May 14th, 2023
Just in recent days we witnessed the transition of monarchs in the United Kingdom and the coronation of King Charles III. After Queen Elizabeth’s passing on September 8, 2022, her son Charles instantly became King – and the cry rang out around the Commonwealth (as it did to the whole world), “The Queen is dead. Long live the King.”
Do any of you remember the last time anything like that happened?
Just after King George V died in early 1936, the Throne was taken by his brother Edward VIII. But even though Edward instantly became King, it wasn’t until before his coronation later in the year he abdicated to his brother George VI – the father of Queen Elizabeth who ascended to the Throne on Feb 6, 1952.
Does anyone remember, with a voice more solemn than usual, the announcer telling you of the death of the king — the king who had led his people to victory in World War II; the king who had come to symbolize bravery and perseverance; the king who had ruled over a mighty empire and seen its dissolution; the king who had not even wanted to be king and became so only after his brother had left the throne to marry the woman he loved. That king was now dead and a Queen was suddenly made ready to wear the Crown; to receive the fealty of the leaders of the Commonwealth and to step into a role for which she prepared all her life. “The King is dead. Long live the Queen.”
With these words it is announced that this is not to be the end but the beginning; that the death of one monarch will not be the end of the story or of kingly rule; that there will be continuity down through the ages. Elizabeth ascended to the throne to reign as monarch until that day when those ancient words would be heard again, "The Queen is dead. Long live the King."
Our lives are made up of a whole series of endings and beginnings, and each of them is marked sometimes with joy and sometimes with sorrow. There are endings and beginnings that come when single people choose to begin a new life together in marriage. There are endings and beginnings when couples have children; when families bring those children for Baptism - surely one of the most profound examples of endings and beginnings. There are the endings and beginnings of graduations, promotions, and transfers; and there is for all of us the ending of this mortal life and the hoped-for beginning of an eternal life with Christ Jesus our Lord.
Such endings and beginnings are not just personal events. In our nation, we have elections that bring an end to one era and signal the beginning of the next. Around the globe we see the collapse of systems of government and the rise of new ones. For all of these there is a beginning and an end. Our lives of faith are also governed by such beginnings and endings. Each year the calendar of the church rolls on bringing us endings and beginnings.
Any time there is an ending, there is also the reality of new beginning. To preserve continuity; to maintain a sense of balance while earthing else is changing – this is the challenge of our lives on Earth.
Friends, on this very special day in the life of the Congregation here at Sutherland’s River Presbyterian Church, we will meet in this building for the last time. It is an ending that for most is not very welcome. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way”, we say. So much has happened here over the years that for the community of the faithful who not only attended services each week but were also baptized, married and hoped to have their funeral here, the loss of this sacred space is very real indeed.
But it is not the end of church – real church – the kind of church the Bible talks about, that’s ending. The church, as God promised those many hundreds of years ago, will never fail. It will look different than before – like the days of Communion tokens, paid pews, and no organ music are now nearly forgotten – and we will have new memories to make in news ways.
The words of Jesus "Love one another as I have loved you" resonate over and through the centuries and remind us that change – endings and beginnings of old - were just too radical for the people of his day to carry on too. Jesus ate with sinners! He talked publicly with women! He fought against the legalism of the religious leaders of his day as he tried to introduce the idea of love and salvation by grace through faith. The imprint of years of tradition was just too strong in so many areas and so, much of Jesus' teachings were watered down if not conveniently forgotten.
We love the past. We like to think that the future is going to be just like we remember the past. In any Church newspaper you see that many church members have trouble with changes in society which are being reflected in church – like same-sex marriage and ordination of gay clergy. So we look to the past for security, authority and peace. But families (and churches) have to live in the present and cope with the movement and pressures of the present. So we - the church family - also have to live very intentionally in the present and see how God still loves us unreservedly. He accepts us as we are, even as we cope with the end of one thing and the beginning of another. And it is out of that love and acceptance that repentance and change comes - out of the relationship that is first established through love.
Once upon a time, a little boy’s mother was pretty sure he would come bouncing in to greet her on her birthday at some unearthly hour in the morning as small children are wont to do. She awoke early and waited - but nothing happened - the house was suspiciously quiet. She got up and looked in his bedroom - no one there - or in any other room in the house! The last room she looked in was their newly decorated lounge room with its off-white shag carpet and newly upholstered furniture. As she wondered where on earth he might be, he burst in the back door - saturated from the rain which was falling and ran into the room, his hands behind him, his mud-covered rubber boots brushing against the sofa and chairs and leaving marks everywhere. Then he brought his hands around from behind his back - and there was a bedraggled, but colourful bunch of flowers.
“Happy birthday, Mom!”
She gathered him, and the flowers and the mud in one big embrace and thanked him like only a Mother can do. I ask you, who at a time like that would have seen the mud as more important as the love?
God demonstrated through Jesus that love is more important than mud. It is as we realise and accept that kind of love - love that cleanses the mud off, that we change, and make the effort to be 'mud-free'. And that's the kind of love that Jesus is talking about here - an "all-embracing love' Jesus demonstrated that love most forcibly when he washed his disciples' feet - it is that kind of love which moves us to reach out to those who are hungry for something without knowing what it is that they are yearning for.
Today we celebrate the reality of Jesus’ love for us and it is also a day when we pray that, through his risen power - that power he promises us by the Holy Spirit - that we can truly love one another as Jesus loves us, and that even though the old is gone, the new is here. And it is welcome.
May God be praised. AMEN