Again, this is a break from the Doctrine/Story theme that I started the blog with. Fret not! I am working on that part of it, but it takes quite a bit of thought power to set those concepts to “bloggable” terms. Soon though…I promise!
Today (November 22, 2009 and the last Sunday in ordinary time) the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Christ the King. Somehow when I woke up this morning, I just knew that today was a special day. There’s just something about the words “Christ the King” that gives me great comfort and at the same time kinda stirs me up a little haha. So all through the Mass this morning I kept having these small experiences that were pretty cool. The first was during the Psalm. First let me just say this: hearing Bob O’Connor sing is enough to make anyone hear the voice of God! (He really is just an incredible singer!) Anyhow, the words to the response were “The Lord is King! He is robed in majesty!” I tried to imagine the Lord enthroned “high above the heavens” and “robed in majesty”. But I couldn’t! At first I was a little frustrated, because I have a very active imagination. That is generally how I interact with what I’m reading or hearing—by mental imagery. But our King, the Lord Jesus, reigns from a place that we have no capability of imagining! He is infinite and eternal, and we have only experienced the finite and temporal here. As much as I’d like to, and as hard as I tried/try, I just can’t imagine the matchless beauty and grandeur of God, pure and holy, seated on His throne, reigning sovereign, surrounded by unapproachable light, adored by saints and angels, and “robed” in majesty! For perspective’s sake (you know I love perspective!): I have seen some truly breath-taking sights on earth. The Grand Canyon is more than you could ever take in if you stared for hours! The Great Smoky Mountains at dawn are more than awe-inspiring! The scores of beautiful churches and cathedrals raised for the glory of God are a given! But all of these things are temporary at best! They will fade out, erode away, and eventually burn up at the end. But the Lord reigns eternal!! THAT majesty is forever. There has never been a time when He was dethroned and there never will be! I wish I could put this into words better, but I’m failing miserably. The best I can do is ask you to take a moment and try your best to imagine God’s “throne room” and the splendor that must be there! Then realize that your brain is not able to imagine that scene, and whatever you imagined could be multiplied exponentially and probably still wouldn’t come close! There’s just something about that thought that makes me so proud to serve Him, and humbled that He would allow me to!
The second moment I had was during the short time for meditation that I had between receiving the Lord in Holy Communion and having to sing the “communion hymn”. It just dawned on me during that short time of contemplation on “Christ the King”: He truly is the SOVEREIGN KING! No really! He is! Haha I know that’s simple, but let me explain. I was raised in the evangelical south, and there is a lot of talk about “making Jesus the Lord of your life” and so forth and so on. So I guess somewhere along the way, I picked up this idea that He is only King if I allow Him to be, as if He were some kind of New Age idea that only becomes real if I believe Him to be so. What a horrible horrible misconception!! The truth is that “The Lord is King and He is robed in majesty!” Whether I believe in Him or not, He is still the King! Whether I like it or not, He is still sovereign, and He is still the world’s (only) Salvation! What a comfort to know that I am not left with the responsibility of creating my own God. He already is, and in fact, is MY creator!
“To Jesus Christ our Sov’reign King who is the world’s salvation! All praise and homage do we bring with thanks and adoration!
Christ Jesus victor! Christ Jesus ruler! Christ Jesus Lord and Redeemer!
To you and to your Church oh Lord we pledge our hearts’ oblation! Until before your throne we sing in endless jubilation!”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment