 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Friday, June 3, 2022 “The Lord is King…”What do we mean? Does it still work?   King vs Governor or President Americans in general, and Episcopalians in particular – who take our expression of faith directly from the English Church – have a complicated relationship with monarchy. At least, most of us do. But I am convinced that there is something important that we need to reconsider and redeem in the idea itself. Obviously nobody wants a dictator or a tyrant. But we know that elected leaders can take on that role as well as any king or queen. Clearly we like to think we have a voice in the election of our leaders – but recent events and discoveries here and elsewhere make it clear that not all elections are fair, free or offer equal access to voting. And it is also evident that we don’t always make very good choices. The biggest stressor for us, though is something else. We have absolutely no one who is not part of the political governance but who represents us all, who is the face of the country, who works on behalf of us all regardless of political party, and cherishes the nation as a whole, over a long period of time. And that is what Britain has had, that we have lacked. Queen Elizabeth’s family endeared themselves to the British public during WWII after they remained in bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace throughout the German offensive. The Queen refused to send Elizabeth and her sister Margaret to Canada for safety. She famously said that, “The children won’t leave without me. I won’t leave without the King, And the King will never leave.” Later, Princess Elizabeth herself trained as a second lieutenant and both drove and repaired military vehicles during the war. They belong to everyone. The reigning Queen of England has served steadily for 70 years, through all the enormous changes the world has experienced. For all those years, the English and members of the commonwealth, have been able to take the Queen for granted – in the nicest possible way. She has been there. And no matter the difficulties and tragedies, she has remained steadying, and hopeful: an un-anxious presence. It seems that the vast majority of her countrymen and women are entirely content to be represented by a benign, unifying institution. In April, 1947, long before her father died, the very young Elizabeth, just coming of age, spoke these words on the radio: “There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors – a noble motto, ‘I serve.’ Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did.” But through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible to any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple. “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” But I shall not have the strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do. I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it. “It is difficult to think of another promise, made by one so young, that has been so faithfully kept over such a long era. If we are willing, we do have that image and that unifying faithful reality in the Lord God, whom the Bible, in both testaments, names “King.”  Kingship in the Bible and in the Church It’s everywhere. And the vow that young Elizabeth made, made by generations of knights before her, reflects Jesus’ own “princely” attitude throughout all four gospels. And Jesus demonstrated that service to the people of God, in the Name of God, all his life, and finally by refusing to run away even when it was clear that he would be killed for so perfectly representing the real King – the Lord God. It is oddly popular right now in certain circles to talk about the “kin-dom” of God rather than the kingdom. It’s weird. And it doesn’t work. In such a kin-dom, as I read it, there is no final authority: no one who as the “author” is tasked with forever demonstrating what it mean to be something: guarding, guiding, saving, protecting, and finally representing everyone. But we all know by instinct and by experience that in actual practice that simply doesn’t work. We simply do need One who stands outside us to tell us who we are – and what we are. Without that, there is a tendency to demand identity from anyone who claims to be “the only one who can fix it.” Governance within the church or any nation is complicated. Even God relegates his kingdom authority to all of us – his Spirit – his compelling Love, the work of the Kingdom of God on earth.And Queen Elizabeth hasn’t involved herself in the machinations of political rule, either. Parliament exists for a good reason.Unfortunately, even many American Christians, rejecting literal monarchy, also reject the metaphorical and symbolic and quite real kingship of Christ as the eternal representative of God for us, and the model for our life in God’s Kingdom, and as the authority that redeems and identifies us. Then it has been too easy to hand over that authority to a political leader whose interests may not align even a little with those of the Lord, the King. And that is a trap from which it has not proved easy to escape. We aren’t a theocracy. We can’t expect the country to follow the Lord Christ, or to obey and rejoice in his kingship. But we are the Church. And the authority of Christ the King ought to triumph over all human authority for us, and to stand over every other claim to loyalty and obedience, and to be sufficient for us. And it ought also to bring us tremendous joy. The reality of the Kingship of Christ has been a steadiness to Elizabeth II, as well, and God has certainly “made good” her vow. May we who inherit the Kingdom of God, living as the representatives of the Lord God, filled with the Spirit of God, be as steady and as clear in our loyalty as she has been. Psalm 97:1 “The Lord is King; let the earth rejoice;let the multitudes of the isles rejoice.” Psalm 47:6-10 “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is king over the nations; God sits upon his holy throne. God reigns over the nations; God sits upon his holy throne. The nobles of the peoples have gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham. the rulers of the earth belong to God, and he is highly exalted”.   |
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