The Kingdom of Jesus

In this weekend's Gospel reading, Jesus is crucified with a sign over his head reading "This is the King of the Jews." This weekend is the Feast of Christ the King. Roman Catholic preist and author Andrew Greeley writes of our Gospel passage,

This is a medieval feast which uses the metaphor of "king"—a powerful one in those days—to describe the role of Jesus. Today the implications of such a metaphor are harder for us to comprehend, though the fascination with the late Princess of Wales suggests that we still like royalty and royal families—though perhaps we don't quite understand any more the tragedy that is inherent in royal leadership.

In fact, the kingdom which Jesus preached was the kingdom of his Father in heaven, a kingdom of forgiving love with no royal trappings at all, a kingdom which had always been there but which now (through Jesus) were beginning to recognize for the first time. The kingdom of Jesus is summarized in the words of the Our Father—forgive us as we forgive. No matter how many times we say that prayer, the meaning seems to allude us. We expected to be forgiven, but we don't want to forgive.

Note:
At every service this weekend, we will recognize those who joined the church within the past year with a prayer and a small gift. We will also receive pledges for the coming year and will burn them unopened at the conclusion of each worship service. Following the 10 a.m. service on Sunday, we will have a covered dish lunch.