Today is the Feast of Christ the King in our liturgical practice. It marks the end of the year. Next Sunday we celebrate Advent 1. It begins a new year. Four weeks ahead of the secular schedule. I often write about the isolation of catholic Christians in American society. Pagans, secularists, and "spiritual-but-not-religious" folk have no interest. "Religious-but-not-practicing" is a fast growing segment of the population and they are disengaged from liturgy. Practicing-but-Evangelical consider such practices to be unfaithful. So talk of new year and end of the year is not a widely held belief.
Today is the Feast of Christ the King in our liturgical practice. It is a challenging feast because in America we do not readily embrace monarchy. The only King in Memphis is Elvis (or Jerry Lawler for wrestling fans) and he is dead and not risen. The term king resonates as an image, but is not part of popular imagination. It is fantasy language for different places and different times...
We vote. We decide. If there is a monarchy in our nation it is probably self-rule, self-determination, and self-centered. It is hard to worship a King when we are busy demanding and fighting for our own rights. Kings are not part of that equation.
Jesus' Kingship is of a different source. It is ultimate and unlimited. He is not just a king, but King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Ruler of Rulers and Master of Masters. Yet, as we proclaim such glorious things we continue to live in a world seemingly untouched by His message and unaffected by His governance. The long list of evil and suffering is strong argument indeed that whatever else He may be, Jesus is not in charge.
Our reading from Revelation 1:4ff today did put a spin on that Lordship. Jesus is the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earh. He freed us from our sins by His own blood and made us a royal natoin of priests to serve His God and Father. Such rule is of a different nature.
We are priests, we the ones who embrace such an identity. The sin and brokeness of the world is not a proof that Jesus is ineffective, it is, rather, the very thing from which He saves us. And "the long time in coming" argument is merely a description of the situation already articulated in the Bible. Yes, we wait, but waiting (and worshipping and obeying in hte meantime) is our identity. Someday He comes. Whether such waiting is futile or not remains to be seen. But believers choose to worship the coming King. And we begin the next year with four weeks called Advent. The liturgical celebration of waiting. And that is why I love being a catholic Christian. Our liturgical calendar is true.
>The long list of evil and suffering is strong argument indeed that whatever else He may be, Jesus is not in charge.
ReplyDeleteJeff, it's interesting that you should write this at this time, because it ties into an issue I have been thinking about recently. As the parent of a very young child, you are of course aware of the danger of children dying of hyperthermia in locked cars. According to the article below, there have been over 500 such instances in the past 20 years, and it generally happens now about 38 times a year, or just over one death every 10 days.
If, as we are told in Scripture, not a sparrow falls but that God sees it, He must be perfectly well aware that a child is dying in a car the whole time it takes the little thing to succumb. If you or I were aware of such a thing and did nothing to intervene, we would be morally and legally culpable. What should we think of the idea of Divine Providence in the light of such an event?
http://ggweather.com/heat/