From Saint Mary the Virgin, NYC The ANGELUS Volume 15, Number 52 November 24, 2013 FROM THE RECTOR: HIS KINGDOM IS FOR EVER The Prayer Book lectionarys three-year cycle takes lessons from Matthew, John and Luke for the last Sunday of the church year, commonly called, Christ the King. This is the third year of the cycle. On Sunday we hear from Lukes gospel the dialogue among Jesus and the two criminals with whom he is crucified. Next year we will hear the Great Judgment from Matthew, and the following year Johns account of Pilate saying to Jesus, Are you the King of the Jews? Like Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi, the celebration of the kingship of Christ is thematic, not a celebration of an event in Christs life. Christmas, for example, celebrates the birth of Christ-and we have two gospel accounts of that event. The original 1979 Lectionary actually offers two gospel choices in the years that John and Luke are read. Instead of the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate about Jesus kingship, one may read Marks account of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Instead of Lukes dialogue from the cross, one may read Lukes account of Palm Sunday. (Its hard to imagine a sermon on a palm gospel on what is commonly called Palm Sunday. Its really the Sunday of the Passion-so a gospel about Jesus triumphal entry is not an entirely unattractive option for a preacher on Christ the King.) In previous Prayer Books, the last Sunday of the church year was simply, The Sunday before Advent-the church already had a number of festivals associated with the kingship of Christ: Christmas, Epiphany, and Ascension. The gospel was Johns account of the feeding of the five thousand. The collect for this Sunday, now used in part on the Third Sunday of Advent, heralded the new church year: Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer [1928] 225]) Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925-when bishops of Rome still considered themselves prisoners in the Vatican. He fixed the celebration on the last Sunday of October with the gospel from John, My kingship is not of this world. During the revision of the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1960s the festival was moved to the final Sunday of the church year. That was a very good, serendipitous idea. Its association with papalism has receded and the commemoration has been widely adopted by other denominations. (One notes that the phrase Christ the King makes its first appearance in a Prayer Book in the text of the 2006 revision of the lectionary.) There is tremendous spiritual truth and power in the hymns inspired by the kingship of Christ. On Holy Cross Day, September 14, 2001, the fires set by the terrorists at the World Trade Center were still burning-and though we did not know it at the time they would burn for 100 days. At the Sung and Solemn Masses that day we turned to one of the most powerful hymnic expressions of Christs kingship, Martin Luthers A mighty fortress is our God. I quote only the final half-verse: Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, The body they may kill, Gods truth abideth still, His kingdom is for ever. This Sundays gospel proclaims that as Christ was dying on the cross he was still the Lord of all. Jesus said to the criminal who asked him to remember him when Jesus came into his kingdom, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Which reminds us that the greatest celebration of Christs kingship is Easter Day. Stephen Gerth
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 16:40:20 +0000
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