Christ Reigns

I am an instruction book person. I read the instructions on a new saw, on a Covid test, on how to change my car’s headlamps, and I even read the instructions on a new recipe – at least the first time I make it. That’s why I was shocked to discover while I was at SSJE, the monastery in Boston, MA where I spent a year as an intern, that The Episcopal Church does not observe Christ the King Sunday. Most of our sister denominations do: the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Churches, Moravians, some Methodists and Presbyterians, many other Anglicans, and many more denominations observe this final Sunday of the Church Year as Christ the King.

Certainly, since the Collect and Readings for tomorrow – I had a very busy week – have the character of celebrating Christ the King, it is not the official title of the day. Now, before I say anything else, I do not begrudge anyone the celebration of Christ the King or the Reign of Christ or whatever celebration of Christ’s sovereignty. And that is also the character of every Sunday. Part of what is meant to set this Sunday apart is that this is Christ the King returning at the end of time to reign forever. The Lectionary has been building to this for a couple of weeks. We retain in our Readings the memory of the seven-week Advent where the first three weeks, which are now the last three weeks of the year, revolved around the Parousia, or the second Advent of Christ. We’ve been hearing about the End of the Age and now we will transition to the first Advent of Christ. Thus Christ the King is the turning point where we go from the End to the Beginning.

Not a bad celebration, but there’s a historical reason that I’m not as into this particular version of the celebration. You see, originally this Feast was established in 1925 and was celebrated in October. Who established this Feast Day? Pope Pius XI. And why would he do this? To counter act the rising tide of democracy and secularism in Europe. He may have been concerned about nationalism in Italy since he was basically a prisoner in the Vatican (go read up on the Roman Question) but essentially, the Pope saw a changing landscape and refused to work with it.

The Church in general, not just the Roman Church, has believed for a very long time that we are/should be at the center of Western Culture. We have crowned monarchs, funded the arts and sciences, generated some of the greatest philosophical mind of the last two millennia, and recreated cultures all over the world in our own images. But that’s not the world Pope Pius XI lived in and it is not the world we live in. The world no longer owes us its allegiance.

The question at the heart of John’s Gospel, which we will read in the liturgy, is spoken directly: What is Truth? The irony in the reading is that Pilate is staring at Jesus and asks this question to the face of Truth, but for us the question runs deeper all the way to the core of our being as a faith community: What is Truth? The truth about Christ the King Sunday is that is was a vain attempt at the end of Christendom to maintain a hold on something we had lost a long time ago and still have not regained. We are no longer the center of gravity of culture. And that is OK.

When Jesus and the Apostles were out there running around they were a minority of a minority religion. They were out there standing against Empire and culture alike. They were the Truth in the midst of lies: All people have dignity. All can be saved. God is still acting and creating and loving. And we have a part to play in that.

The loss of Christendom is, I believe a net positive for the Church. We are approaching what Pope Francis called “a poor Church for the poor.” We must look into our own poverty, our own lacking, and see that Jesus fills that. We must see where we are rich and see God’s providence. We must look to our neighbor and see them, hear them, love them for who they are. We must open our arms as wide as the cross to welcome in all: rich and poor, young and old, strong and weak. We must abandon the last traces of our own Kingship if we ever want to see Jesus’ true sovereignty.

As we gather to celebrate the Creation, the Resurrection, the Descent of the Spirit, and the coming Re-Creation, let’s take a moment tomorrow to recognize the Truth: Christ Reigns. But Christ does not reign for our purposes, Christ reigns for God’s purposes: to reconcile all things in Christ and to make all things new. Let’s take our place in God’s purpose and reign with Christ.