christ the king

We recessed with the traditional Diadem tune of All Hail the Power of Jesus Name. The sopranos and choristers sang the descant on the fifth verse. At this point, the choir is bunched in the aisles at the west end of the church, under the tower, and the congregation hears us from behind and in the middle.

Little mistakes here and there, during the service. Lots of froggy voices among the clergy. And still, the service held together, through a baptism and eucharist.

Mother F. said that this feast day at the end of ordinary time in the church calendar was set in 1925, to counter the horrors of human kingdoms in the early 20th century (i.e., the Great War).

Perhaps it was meant as a summing up of all those kingdom parables often read in the Sundays after Pentecost.

The gospel was Pilate's questioning if Jesus thought he was the king. Jesus questioned him back. It is before his death.

If Jesus comforts us, he also unsettles us. The gospel is more than a challenge. It questions our intuitive assumptions, our basic nature, the way we see the world, in the sort of way that a change in location or elevation changes the way we see a landscape. This kingdom, this king, so different from the worldly models we know by heart.