Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the traditional feast of Christ the King. It was instituted as a response to several forces. The first was a rising secularism and the  increasingly aggressive assertion of state power in the early 20th century. It also served as the Church’s answer to fascism — effectively declaring that the Church answered to one Lord.I find it to be an ever more needful feast day. Throughout Church history we have seen it court earthly power.

Whether it’s the cozy relationship between the Anglican Church and the crown, the outsized presence of Episcopalians in the Oval Office and Supreme Court, or the worldly wealth and power amassed by Prince Bishops, we have witnessed the Church function as a body that too often is used to bless the affairs of rulers or that has tried to chart the course of nations and empires. 

The challenge is that each time we compromise for the sake of politics power, we also seem to compromise our witness to the crucified Lord we serve. Christ the King is the reminder to us that we have no other master, no other Lord, than the one we’re baptized to follow. We serve him best when we are an uncompromising voice for truth, justice, and peace. In that role we become not another competing ideological force but the leaven of truth, the salt of the earth. 

Of course, we have a voice to share and each are called to be active in our communities. But that should be action that is exercised for the sake of the other and not for us alone. It is a voice that should give voice to those who go unheard. 

This Christ the King Sunday let us recommit to following one Lord, with one hope, following God’s call to love. There are many who would claim our allegiance — let us pledge yet again to follow the royal banner of the Prince of Peace and Lord of Life. 

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert