Greetings, good people of Trinity Lutheran in Pleasanton!

For those following along with our Gospel lessons this month, maybe you join me in feeling that these stories of Jesus seem to be out of place. From Reformation Sunday to All Saints Sunday, and now these stories of Jesus and his journey to Jerusalem that we usually associate with the Lenten season. So what are these stories doing in November? 

I find it helpful to look to where these stories are leading. Our liturgical calendar is once again coming to a close on this Sunday, November 23rd, Christ the King Sunday. This is a festival day in which we particularly acknowledge the power, authority, and reign of God made known in Christ Jesus through his death and resurrection. 

I wanted to share this liturgical framework with you so that you’re not surprised come Sunday. Our Gospel lesson will be Luke’s retelling of Jesus on the cross, and that story is not a light one. It is an important one, a pivotal one, a foundational one, but not one easily encountered. 

We will be hearing from the last moments of Jesus’ life on our last Sunday of the liturgical year. Then we will enter a week of Thanksgiving, and then we start a new church year with looking towards what God brings anew in the birth of Jesus. The timing might seem a bit odd, but I hope that this Christ the King Sunday sets the stage for our understanding of the power, authority, and reign of God coming in new ways and in new places to new people through the birth of Jesus the Christchild. 

Go in peace. Christ is with you.

Thanks be to God!