Sermon for the Last Sunday After Pentecost, Year C: Christ the King (11-23-25)

In the aftermath of WWI the pope at the time, Pius XI, felt a need to address what he and others saw as "increasing secularism, the rise of authoritarianism in Europe, and an undeniable sentiment of despair sweeping across the western world." Fragile world economics had pushed people everywhere to place their even more fragile hope in strongmen and to take hold of the hollow promises these men offered: of security and prosperity - even at the expense of freedom.

On December 11, 1925 Pius declared: "manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations."

And bing bang boom, presto chango we've got the Feast of Christ The King!

But let's admit, today's sensibilities around religious liberty and interfaith cooperation still make the words of Pius' declaration come off as pretty icky, I'll admit. A bit of bible-thumpy-, forcing-Jesus-down-your-throat kind of rhetoric. Also, it's important to say that this rhetoric is not a far leap from painting (intentionally or not) other faiths as dangerous or at least threatening to peace and goodwill among the nations.

We are right to have become critical of this kind of rhetoric, and I think Jesus blesses that care and concern today. After all, he carried out his ministry and called his followers within the context of a multi-faith, religiously diverse culture. And he did it with peace and humility and open-heartedness. And like I always say: if it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us.

But let's also admit that the troubling trends that Pius XI felt compelled to counter, those trends seem awfully familiar today, don't they. We have a growing secularism that is - yes - justifiably unseating the blind and boastful power of militant Christianity from the halls of power. (This is a good thing because that is not the faith Jesus left us.)

And at the same time we have a secularism that is also robbing entire generations of meaning-making tools. We have people young and old struggling to make sense of this holy thing we call life - challenging and turbulent as it can be. We have only to look around to see the outcomes of fear-based political decisions. The US is not an exception: we have gotten into bed with authoritarianism in the hopes of feeling great again about ourselves.

And these among other variables are adding to an increasing level of despair: mental illness remains at crisis levels, senseless mass violence continues to plague our hope for a peaceful life, and people are going to great lengths to feel nothing at all.

So, maybe Pius was onto something after all. Maybe it just needs a little translating for our time.

One way this translation has happened is that some denominations have begun to refer to this feast day as "The Reign of Christ", rather than Christ the King. I appreciate how effective this is at evening out the gendered language. After all, there's no reason we couldn't be following the daughter of God, Christ the Queen and live among the blessing of Father, Daughter, and Holy Spirit. But, that's just not what we were handed down, so please don't shoot the messenger.

And the "Reign of Christ" does still hang on to one important aspect of what this day is seeking to remind us. Not only that Christ is sovereign both in a temporal and cosmic sense, but that this Christ is a different kind of ruler; defined by self-giving love, humility, and service. rather than by a lust for power and vindication, and fueled by unexamined daddy issues.

The only lasting snag I see in this thoughtful re-naming has to do with what role Christ plays in our individual lives. Meditating on the Reign of Christ as an abstract theological idea is one thing. But declaring Christ to be your own king, the sovereign of your very life - that hits a bit differently, doesn't it? We're Americans, dang it! We ain't got no kings! In fact no small number of us have been waving signs around saying as much lately...

But in a beautiful (if not humbling) stroke of theological genius, Luke today reminds us that those of us who profess faith in Christ as God of very God do, in fact, have a king. A different king of King. A crucified King.

The older I get the more it makes sense to hand over more and more of this living, this being, this life to the Christ who laid his own on the line just to show me what it looks like to really live. Who shows me that dying to self - and yes, maybe even dying to some kinds of freedoms - is what makes me truly alive. And alive enough to begin to see that thin holiness that pervades every aspect of this wonderful creation.

As this species continues to kill itself and the rest of this earth in the vain hope of controlling it, owning it, and profiting from it, I continue to gaze up in wonder at that cross. When I want to throw my hands up and say, "We're done with. It's over. There's no saving us now," I look up there and remember the God who not only said - but showed - that the only way to the light is through the darkness. But that he would go first.

I'll throw my luck in with that one. Christ my King, my Sovereign, and my God.

Amen.