restoration

The metaphor of Christ as king has lost a lot of its power. In America, while we are well beyond where we were during the Revolutionary War, we have an aversion to the monarchy. In England the royals are basically figureheads who fill the tabloids. In Spain, the king is an amusement to the rest of the world; can you believe he told Chavez to "shut up"? Elsewhere, kings are associated with the hoarding of goods while others suffer. It is for these reasons, among others, that I had such a hard time answering the question "where is the reign/kingdom of God in...?" that came up on many a seminary assignment. It is just so old, so hard to comprehend in a democratic society and especially in a church with such a mixed relationship with the Monarchy (the first American Prayer Book was just the 1662 English with references to the monarchy crossed out).

So as I approach preaching Christ the King Sunday I'm thinking about this language. I'm wondering if the image from Jeremiah isn't a better one. Even though shepherds are few and far between these days, they carry much less baggage with them. To think of Jesus as the shepherd of the shepherds is helpful to me. To see him as the restoring power in a world full of shepherds pulling flocks this way and that. I might work on some other images for Christ the King Sunday. Helpful in this task will be Brian McLaren's The Secret Message of Jesus in which he devote a chapter to postulate various metaphors for the kingdom of God.