Chotard Doll

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today’s lessons, which belong to Christ the King Sunday, signal the end of Pentecost (the last season of the church year) and make a bridge to the start of the new year that we celebrate as Advent—that inward-turning, reflective time in which we set our minds to await the coming of Christ. And these lessons are pervaded by a profound and soul-searching sentiment of paradox; a paradox that conveys some of the deepest mysteries of the Christian faith.

In the lessons today we hear Christ called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to whom every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth. That seems in line with our human understanding of what a king should be.

But tomorrow we will go to church and enter a season of waiting for the birth of Jesus as a child, birthed far from home and placed in a manger for a cradle. There is nothing kingly about that. Clearly the King we worship is king in our hearts, and the kingdom in which he reigns is invisible and mystical. We become members of this kingdom because we choose to do so. There is no price to pay but obedience. His kingdom is filled with people who are now with Christ in Paradise, and those like us who are on the way, and those who will follow long after we are gone. Because unlike earthly kingdoms, this one is eternal. And Holy.

And so to prepare ourselves for participation in that kingdom, we will enter a time of penitence. We will spend some time looking into our hearts and souls, and recognizing why we need for Christ to come and teach us about a different and better kingdom than any produced on earth. Come, Lord Jesus, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Yours in Christ,

—Chotard