So this Sunday we celebrate Christ the King. I've always been somewhat ambivalent about kings and sovereignty and all that. I mean, I grew up in the country that spit in the eye of the King of England. But that attitude sounds a lot like those "stiff necked" people Jesus spoke to when they said, "we've never been slaves to anyone" forgetting all those previous years of captivity (to say nothing of the Roman occupation which they seemed to have forgotten). Rulers of any kind, especially iron-fisted, "I'm right and you're wrong" despots are not my favorite kind of people to say the least. So again, I reiterate, that Christ the King Sunday makes me edgy.
Until and unless I remember what and who the Christ we are talking about references. Jesus was the antithesis of the despot we think of as King. Time and again he was dismissed as just some itinerant preacher with a special bag of tricks he pulled out of his hat (TA!DA!) like feeding 5000 people or healing the blind. He was a pesky fly to be swatted away in his day. And swatted away and squashed is what the rulers of his day did to him. But remember, he had the last word on Easter Sunday. So what exactly are we "celebrating" on this Sunday? It isn't Easter yet...we still have to get through that juggernaut of Christmas celebrating!
A few years ago we saw a PowerPoint of what it meant to be the King, as in the Christ. Unfortunately, I can't remember most of it. But fortunately, I remember the power behind the words and the absolute conviction of God's rule. I remember the voice of the person speaking asking if we'd seen the King? If we had witnessed his majesty? And I remember at the time thinking, well no, I don't think so. But if we look around the evidence is clear of God's power, might and yes, majesty. And Jesus came to show us not just the awe-inspiring power, but the breath-taking love that the Almighty has for us. Have you experienced his sovereignty? Well, I've seen quite a few powerful, majestic and frankly miraculous things this past year alone! The secular world scoffs and says, well, really, they were just ordinary events. But in my heart I know them to be the glimpses of God's love and yes, power over the things of the world and even circumstances. And I know that I have asked God's grace and love to surround those I love and grant them peace. I cannot know for sure who has felt this, but I know as sure as I'm sitting here typing, God is with them because God loves them, no matter who they are or even if they acknowledge that presence. If that isn't power and might, I don't the know the meaning of the words! And I'm an English major!!
So yes, we celebrate the ruler of the heavens and the earth. Not because of God's power and might (or should I say, not JUST because), but because he doesn't rule with an iron fist. He is maker and ruler of all through love and justice and the most unbelievable power of all...Grace. May the peace and grace of God be with you all. Amen