sermon for Christ the King

A Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King All Saints’ Episcopal, Southern Shores, NC November 25, 2012 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 Psalm 93  Revelation 1:4b-8 John 18:33-37

Today is the Feast of Christ the King when we proclaim that the one for whom we are waiting in Advent is not a cute little baby, or even a sage teacher, but Christ the King. The lessons underline the metaphor of Christ as King, ruler of our lives. In the Hebrew Testament lesson, Daniel in his dream, or night visions, sings:

I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

The writer of the Revelation sings of the Christ: “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

In John’s Gospel, Pilate asks if Jesus is the “King of the Jews”, to which Jesus responds that Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world. Jesus changes the definition of what it means to be King. So, what do we mean by King?

One definition of “King” is from Monty Python and the Holy Grail when King Arthur and Patsy ride through the town and meet the Large Man, the Dead Collector, and a peasant woman:

Large Man: Who's that then?

Dead Collector: I dunno. Must be a king.

Large Man: Why?

Dead Collector: He hasn't got s**t all over him.

King Arthur: I am your king.

Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.

King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?

[Angelic music plays... ]

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.

Dennis the Peasant: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Arthur: Be quiet!

Dennis the Peasant: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

For us Kings are relics of Days of Yore and, like Dennis the Peasant, we find it hard to take Kings seriously. In our modern society Kings are well-dressed people, or as the Dead Collector says, those who don’t have excrement all over them, before whom we carry out nostalgic ceremonies, giving the appearance of paying deference to royalty. But a King is only a figurehead about whom we will say nice things as long as he benefits the agendas of those who have the power in that society. I think of the Olympics and the Royal Weddings in England this past year and how the Royals were trotted out and everybody liked them. But were we going to listen to a thing they said? Are we going to follow them or just put them on a shelf while the “adults” do the business? Kings have some economic benefit in that their doings and swellings increase tourist dollars when they are trotted out for civil ceremonies. Is that the kind of King Christ is?

This weekend started what is known as the Christmas shopping season, the time when we say publicly things like “Merry Christmas”, as if Christ is King. I start to shudder when the merchants and municipalities put up Christmas decorations to encourage more sales. It is the time when we dress up images of Christ as King and make sure no excrement is sticking to the one who was born in a barn and perform ceremonies to increase that agenda.

I read in the paper that the city of Santa Monica, California has made the decision to cancel the 60th annual Nativity Square display at a local park. The city had a complicated lottery system to determine which of the competing religious institutions would be allowed to have displays each year. The paper said:

The trouble in Santa Monica began three years ago, when atheist Damon Vix applied for and was granted a booth in Palisades Park alongside the story of Jesus Christ's birth, from Mary's visit from the Angel Gabriel to the traditional crèche. . . . Vix hung a simple sign that quoted Thomas Jefferson: "Religions are all alike -- founded on fables and mythologies." The other side read "Happy Solstice." In 2011, Vix recruited 10 others to inundate the city with applications for tongue-in-cheek displays such as an homage to the "Pastafarian religion," which would include an artistic representation of the great Flying Spaghetti Monster. The secular coalition won 18 of 21 spaces. Two others went to the traditional Christmas displays and one to a Hanukkah display.

"It's a sad, sad commentary on the attitudes of the day that a nearly 60-year-old Christmas tradition is now having to hunt for a home, something like our savior had to hunt for a place to be born because the world was not interested," Hunter Jameson, head of the nonprofit Santa Monica Nativity Scene Committee, said in advance of the hearing.

Mr. Jameson is quite right, the world was not interested in hearing the Christmas message when Jesus was born, and it is still not interested. The message is not about something that happened 2000 years ago but what is happening in our hearts right now. Is the Kingship of Christ something to be found on public land as an unattended display about tradition to help the economy and tax base, or is the Kingship of Christ made alive by how we live out God’s love in our daily lives? The world has its own agenda, but our King Jesus’ agenda is to change the world, not redecorate it, by changing us.

As the Peasant woman said in the Monty Python skit, “Well, I didn’t vote for you!” It is about voting for Christ as my ruler - not with a ballot, but with the dedication of my daily life. Do I do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God - or do I waste energy and decorate public monuments for figureheads? Either Christ is my ruler in my life or I am playing a charade. On the Feast of Christ the King, it is a good idea to make a decision.