Sermon Christ the King 2019

Sermon. 24 November 2019. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford

Feast of Christ the King

Luke 23.33-43

Brothers and sisters, there’s no getting away from it, there is a lot of politics in the air just now. I might add there’s a fair amount of talk about the monarchy around now too. And we find ourselves gathering in Church for the Feast of Christ the Universal King. So the themes of power and monarchy (kingship) are around for us in Church too. It seems we just cannot get away from them.

This Feast of Christ the King is not ancient. You’ll remember from my previous sermon on this day (…in 2016…) that its origins are in the 20^th century. Most commentators say it was introduced in part to make a political point. Not a party-political point (Gd forbid!), but something about politics at its broadest, which means everything to do with how we exercise power to build community. For in the early decades of the 20^th century, powerful political ideologies were about, nationalism, fascism, and communism in particular. And the Church (the Roman Catholic Church at this stage) wanted to make the point that over and above all human power, or underneath and underlying all human power, or indeed over against all human power, there is the power of Christ, for Christ is King of the Universe, Christ reigns.

That might sound triumphalistic: our Gd reigns! Our Gd, not yours! That sort of thing. But we need not think of it in that way. We might instead say that here is a Feast which invites us to lay aside all impulses to despair, and find a new confidence, a new trust in Gd and Christ.

We are now in - and I’d say are going to stay in - uncertain times in our own political life. I’d say also that that’s true whoever wins the election, and whatever happens regarding Brexit. The issues are complicated. Our politics is harsh and antagonistic. Forces will clash.  

But we can lay aside all impulses to despair and cynicism (…and I fully accept that when it comes to politics we might be despairing about quite different things!...) lay aside all impulses to despair, and find a new confidence, a new trust in Gd and Christ. Christ reigns.

Except that things are worse than that. However difficult our domestic politics, they might actually just shield our attention from politics in the wider world. Wars, official and unofficial, militarism, terror dominate the international scene, with all their horrific, monstrous consequences. And to say there are no easy answers is an understatement.

But we can lay aside all impulses to despair and cynicism, and find a new confidence, a new trust in Gd and Christ. Christ reigns.

Except that things are worse than that. Even if suddenly peace broke out throughout the whole world, we’d still face what we are now properly calling the environmental crisis. That we as the human race are living in such a way that the planet is burning up. And here again, we are not quite sure what to do (although we do know there are some things we must stop doing).

But we can lay aside all impulses to despair and cynicism, and find a new confidence, a new trust in Gd and Christ. Christ reigns.

Except that things are worse than that. For we who are worrying about all these external matters face all our own struggles in life, struggles in our Church family, our own families, and our own personal life. This is broader than sin, though sin is part of it. And sin in the Christian tradition is bigger than just getting things wrong. Our sinfulness can have a hold on us. (At least my sinfulness can have a hold on me.) So things are very much worse than that because even when it comes to us - we who may hope that Christ reigns, or believe it, or know it – even with us, the things that impede the reign of Christ are still there and still active.  

But, here too we can lay aside all impulses to despair and cynicism, and find a new confidence, a new trust in Gd and Christ. Christ reigns.

So let us be blunt: wherever we look – the world, our nation, our Royal Family, our family, our streets, and, yes, also our Church, and yes even in our preparations for Christmas – things are not as they would be if it were clear that Christ reigns. To be even blunter: impulses to cynicism and despair are quite natural and can even be expected. 

What, then is to be done?

What’s to be done? I don’t have anything to say. Or rather I don’t have anything more to say. I have already laboured the one point that I wish to draw from this Feast today.

The Church teaches us that we are, here and now, free to treat this Feast as an invitation, an invitation to do something (at least) to lay aside all impulses to despair and cynicism, and find a new confidence, a new trust in Gd and Christ. We can meditate on how Christ reigns.

How? How might we meditate on how Christ reigns? Certainly, indeed, by contrasting Christ’s power with human power. Human power is coercive, is insecure, is rivalry.  Christ’s power is loving, is generous, is not in competition with us at all. Yes. But there is another thing.

In the Bible, royalty does not only stand for power. It can also stand for beauty. Not that kings and queens are necessarily (all that) beautiful, but the idea is that they can attract beauty to them, build beautiful palaces, and so on, and so show us beauty. Indeed, when the Bible says we are to reign with Christ, it may well be saying we are to be given a share of His beauty. So I say boldly that if, when you meditate on how Christ reigns, you find yourself meditating on His beauty and the beauty of holiness, you are being true to the truth of this Feast.  

Amen.