What a relief to get out of ordinary time.
As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
and an Ancient One took his throne;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousand served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14.
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
Psalm 93
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.
Revelation 1
Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’
John 18
And from the hymns, this – the single most difficult thing for us at St Mary’s Stoke Newington to grasp –
Christ through all ages is the same
Place the same great hope in his name
With the same faith his word proclaim
Alleluya
From George Bell’s ‘Christ is the King, O friend rejoice!’
Bell, bishop of Chichester, was Bonhoeffer’s chief supporter in England
