Christ the King
This week is the last week in the church’s year and as a result we celebrate Christ the King. According to the Saint Cyril of Alexandria, “Christ has dominion over all of the creatures, a dominion not seized by violence or usurped, but by his essence and by nature. His kingship is founded in his human and divine nature”.
We live as though the world, and all things in it, belong to us, so this festival also acts as a timely reminder that we are only temporary custodians of this wonderful world. The astrophysicist Carl Sagan jokingly said that if we wanted to make an apple pie from scratch, we would need the whole universe!
- We need a kitchen, lights, cooker – technology;
- Apples, flour, sugar and water – agriculture, with clay, metals, atmosphere, sunlight;
- Electricity and energy for cooking – the most basic building blocks of the universe;
- The ground that we work on;
- Ourselves, the atoms in our bodies owe their origins to stardust.
Everything is connected, there is no getting away with it, and Christ the King is behind it all. If we are to be in tune with him, we want to make sure that we are singers in His chorus and not hecklers or disrupters.
Maybe we should ponder that as we stir up our Christmas Puddings this week (or come to the Repair café).
Rev’d Mark
Readings for Sunday 20th November (Christ the King)
Colossians 1: 11-20
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Luke 23: 33-43
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’
Readings for the week ahead
Monday 21st – Revelation 14: 1-5, Luke 21: 1-4
Tuesday 22nd – Revelation 14: 14-19, Luke 21: 5-11
Wednesday 23rd – Revelation 15:1-4, Luke 21: 12-19
Thursday 24th – Revelation 18: 1-2, 21-23, 19:1-3, 9, Luke 21: 20-28
Friday 25th – Revelation 20: 1-4, 11- 21:2, Luke 21: 29-33
Saturday – Revelation 22: 1-7, Luke 21: 34-36
