The
Feast of Christ the King: 24 November 2013.
This feast is celebrated on the last
Sunday of the Christian Calendar!
Sunday 1 December 2013 is the first
Sunday of Advent, the “New Year” of Christianity.
A liturgical Prayer for the Feast of Christ the King
on 24 November 2013:
Gracious God and heavenly Father, we come into your presence in the name
of our Lord Jesus, the Almighty Christ and King of all!
Today, Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate your glorious victory. We gladly
bring honour to you, our Redeemer, who has not only redeemed us when we were
lost, and bought us for God your Father with your precious blood, by your death
on the cross and your resurrection, but also ascended to the right hand of God
as King and Lord of all. We rejoice that
your Kingdom has come on earth, just as it is in heaven.
We bring honour to you, our Saviour, whom we call Christ, the King, who
victoriously reigns now, and reigns forever.
You, dear Lord, dealt with our every need, delivered us from every
enemy, healed us from all sin, harm and injury and you are worshipped when
heaven and earth bow down before you as Lord of heaven and earth. One day every
knee shall bow and every tongue confess, that you, Lord Jesus, are the King of
kings and the Lord of lords!
Majestic Lord, everything promised about your reign
has not happened on our earth yet! You are the King, and yet, your dominion is in
many ways not visible and is still coming to us and to our world. We live in hope, and in faith, that we truly
heard the Word of God, that testifies that you will come in glory to effect in
the smallest detail of your glorious reign.
King Jesus, thank you that you not only bring salvation to us, but
through your work that you do through the ministry of your Church, you bring
redemption and salvation to the whole world, yes, to the ends of the
earth. Your people accept the grace that
you bring, and commit their lives to the power of the Holy Spirit who empowers
your children and your Church to fulfil
your commission to preach the gospel to everyone. Now bring justice wherever we
serve you and bring hope and light where darkness still hides your glorious
reign and salvation.
Dear Lord of every aspect and facet of our lives, help us to live only
for your honour, glory and reign. Help us to be obedient, by the power of your
resurrection and of your Spirit. We know that nothing will separate us from the
love of God that we received in Christ our King and our Lord!
We pray for all your servants, majestic Lord! For those who preach your
word and for those who listen. Protect and guide all the missionaries sent to
the ends of the earth to proclaim salvation in you. Guide and keep them and
bless their work for you. Call many more
servants to do your work and make us obedient to your call.
In your mercy, heal the sick and comfort those who are weeping. Set the
captives free and grant relief to the poor.
Sanctify those who are powerful and influential and humble and bring to
fall those who are proud.
Bring to an end the kingdom of darkness and let your majesty shine as
the light of the world.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us your peace.
And now, great King of kings and Lord of lords –
have mercy on us, and on all your people.
In your Name, Lord Jesus Christ, we pray!
Amen.
Scripture
Lessons for the Feast of Christ the King:
Jeremiah 23:1-6;
Psalm 46;
Luke 22: 14 - 30.
Sermon Ideas,
using the reading from Luke 22: 14 - 30.
Luke 22: 24 –
30: A dispute also arose among them as
to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings
of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them
call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the
greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the
one who serves. For who is greater, the
one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the
table? But I am among you as one who serves.
You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in
my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Introduction: At the institution of the Lord’s Supper,
Jesus offered his disciples the “Cup of the New Covenant” and established his
Church on his sacrifice on the cross and on his glorious resurrection. No more
would the sacrament of the Passover reminds of being delivered from Egypt, but
the sacrament of his Supper would remind of deliverance from the kingdom of
darkness and entering into the glorious reign of the Almighty Christ. In the
same way, the sacrament of Baptism would replace the Sacrament of Circumcision
and initiate all the believers and their children into the Church, the sharp
sword of the Kingdom of God that brings life and purpose to every facet of our
lives.
Because the Prince of Peace reigns and we are the beneficiaries of his grace and mercy!
Because the Prince of Peace reigns and we are the beneficiaries of his grace and mercy!
What does his
reign brings to our lives, today?
Jesus,
Ruler and Judge, is like one who serves.
Although
the one who sits down to eat is greater than the one who serves him,
Jesus
rules like the one who serves and not like the one who sits down to eat.
At
his Table Jesus establishes a Kingdom where we receive from him forgiveness,
purpose and assurance of his love and redemption, while we may sit down to
enjoy his love and his mercy.
Therefore
we serve and honour a King who enables us, who delivers us, who employs us and
who serves all our needs in every aspect of our lives.
We too should
be servants like our King is, serving the lost world, and the
Church, with all the benefits of his
broken Body and his Blood.
·
The kings of
the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call
themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.
·
The greatest
among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
·
Disputes among
Christians about who are the most important show that they still embrace the
worldly values of authority and power, and not the example that Jesus gave us
of “ruling through service” and “winning through sacrifice”.
Jesus
as the one who displays love, enables freedom from sin and oppression of evil
and redeems believers from the tyranny of both sin and sinners.
Christ
creates a kingdom and establishes priests for God his Father who serves as he
did and rules as he does. It is therefore
not to earthly powers that Christians owe allegiance. It is not around political parties, cultural
groupings or any other caucuses that Christians should unite!
We,
Christians, are a nation composed of various tribes, cultures and languages, but
we share first and foremost the authority of our holy Christ, who sought us and
bought us and made us partakers of his New Covenant and his glorious Kingdom
that grants salvation, freedom, love, justice and righteousness to our world by
serving us and feeding us of himself.
To
him we dedicate our worship, our obedience, our allegiance and our service and
in his Name we proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near!
We are called
to unite under the rule of Christ, to become rulers and judges (verse
30) according to his example. As such
our allegiance to Christ may lead us to resist political tyranny, economical
oppression and corruption and cultural divides and enmity.
Yet
most of all, as we unite under the rule of Christ the King - as
we stand by the Christ in his trials and the trials of his Body on earth, we
testify that he is the true Saviour of the world, the deliverer from sin and
judgment and our hope for the future, even for eternal life!
“You are those
who have stood by me in my trials. And
I confer on you a kingdom, just as my
Father conferred one on me, so that you
may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel.”
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