Christ the King
This coming Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the last day in the long season of Pentecost. The collect for the day begins, “Almighty God, your will is to restore all things in your beloved son, the king of kings and lord of lords…”
Some years ago, Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a “Christ the King Sunday” sermon. The setting for her sermon was our National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Her description of the Cathedral is stunning. It’s as if you are on a journey, entering through the great doors with arches depicting the Creation. The High Altar is a long way away. To get there, you walk past the monuments of the faith, past the memorials to human achievement and long gone Saints, and past the great pulpit carved with the profiles of the apostles. Finally, you arrive at the high Altar and, as Barbara Brown Taylor says:
“Where Jesus sits on his throne at the end of the time. He’s surrounded by all the company of heaven, as he balances the round earth on the palm of his hand. It is Christ the King, preparing to judge the world. Preparing to evaluate everything that has happened since all things came to be.”
On various days throughout the Church Year, we worship Christ the Baby, Christ the Teacher, Christ the Friend, Christ the Healer and so on. This coming Sunday, however, we stand before the throne to worship Christ the KING. It is a special, important and significant day in the Church year. I urge you to make a reservation to worship Christ the King, our Lord, this Sunday in person or worship Him in the virtual way. Pay homage to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then, the next Sunday—the First Sunday in Advent—we begin preparing for our Lord’s birth, reminding us how our King came to us in great humility.
