Collect: Proper 29 (and The Third Week of the Seven Week Advent)

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-behaved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords:  Mercifully grant that the people of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen

Jeremiah 23:1-6 . . . the Lord denounces the rulers who have so poorly shepherded the people of Israel.  God will gather the flock together and give them new shepherd, especially a just ruler in the line to David.

Luke 1:68-79 (Song of Zechariah) . . . the child will be called the prophet of the Most-High and will make a way to the Lord

Colossians 1;11-20 . . . Paul prays that the Colossians may be strengthened to meet whatever is to come, and he praises the Son as the visible likeness of the invisible God, through whom all things were created.  He is the head of his body, the church, and the source of its life.

 Luke 23:33-43 . . . Jesus, as he hangs upon the cross, is mocked as the Christ and the King of the Jews.  To a thief crucified with him he promises Paradise.

Sermon by Kristin Adkins Whitesides

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Heaven helps those who help themselves,” says Rev. Dr. Kristin Adkins Whitesides, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Winchester, Virginia. The self-help industry is worth about $10 billion according to market researchers. But today, on Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday, Whitesides preaches on Luke 23:33-43, giving Christians a different view of how we can be saved, and it is not through “self-help.”