Bulletins
November 20, 2022
Download the Bulletin as a PDF20 November 2022
Ordinary Form
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
2Samuel 5,1-3
Psalm 122,1-2.3-4.4-5
Colossians 1,12-20
Luke 23,35-43
Extraordinary Form
Last Sunday after Pentecost
Colossians 1,9-14
Psalm 43,8-9
Psalm 129,1.2
Matthew 24,13-25
The End
The word “end” has a few casual meanings and a specific philosophical meaning.
Casually, when we refer to the end of something we refer to an extremity, be it its back end… or its front end ironically enough. A tight end and a defensive end play facing different endzones. By “end” we might be speaking of the conclusion of an activity or event, especially if we verbalize the word and decide to end something ourselves, which will be elusive if whatever it is will continue for days/weeks/months/years or paragraphs/pages on end. In a group activity it will be difficult to keep your end up if in the end you are the only one who cares… unless you have an end-around or if it pleases you to no end for everything to depend on you.
We use the idiom “to what end” in the form of a question. For instance, to what end am I explaining all of this? Is it to string sentences end after end until I fill the column? Asking “to what end?” inquires about the purpose of something. Here we enter into the arena of philosophy. The end or purpose of something is what Aristotle calls its final cause, that ultimate purpose which explains why a thing is what it is.
Death saddens us but the end of life is glory. The untimely death of a young life is a tragedy. Brief or long, a life is a gift and its end is heaven. Being or existing is an activity that belongs to God. When He created you He gifted you with the promise that your soul will be forever. If your soul stays close to Him it will be forever young and happy because it will be fulfilled in its purpose of manifesting the glory of God. We need not be frightened about the end of our lives or the end of the world if we have lived for God’s purpose. If having a purpose for living is an unfamiliar thought, we might want to stop and reevaluate where our life is headed. If life is already so full of disappointments that we doubt if our life has meaning, then we need to seek out the loving, merciful Father who sent His onlybegotten Son to rescue our souls with the price of His blood.
Live? Love? Suffer? To what end? To give glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world with end. Amen.
Rev. Christopher J. Pollard
