The Not So Ancient Origins "Christ the King" Sunday (tomorrow)

Lutheran Forum ^ | R. David Nelson

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Pope Pius XI established Christ the King Sunday in 1925 to counter what he regarded as the destructive forces of the modern world: secularism in the west and the rise of communism in Russia and fascism in Italy and Spain, harbingers of the Nazism soon to seize Germany. Pope Pius intended to oppose the rule of Christ to the totalitarian claims of these ideologies. By intention or coincidence, the festival of Christ the King also landed on the last Sunday in October, coinciding with the Protestant celebration of the Reformation.

In the reform of the Roman liturgy after the Second Vatican Council, the festival of Christ the King moved to the last Sunday of the church year. Thus, it no longer served as a “Counter-Reformation Day” celebration. But the new location proved to be more than an ecumenical gesture. Placed at the end of the church year, with its traditional eschatological emphasis, the festival now proclaimed Christ as “the goal of human history, the focal point of the desires of history and civilization, the center of humankind, the joy of all hearts, and the fulfillment of all aspirations,”1 in short, a positive reconstruction of the festival’s original polemic against political ideologies. The three gospel readings—for the brand-new three-year lectionary—present Christ as the Son of Man coming in glory, confronting the rulers of this world, and reigning from the cross.

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http://www.celebrationarts.net/images/_alpha/ToJesusChristOurSovereignKing.mp3 ⧉

1. To Jesus Christ, our Sov'reign King, Who is the world's salvation, All praise and homage do we bring, And thanks and adoration.	Refrain: Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler! Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!
2. Thy reign extend, O King benign, To ev'ry land and nation, For in Thy kingdom, Lord divine, Alone we find salvation. (Refrain)	3. To Thee and to Thy Church, great King, We pledge our hearts' oblation, Until before Thy throne we sing, In endless jubilation. (Refrain)

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Renaissance music for the poem. Orlando Gibbons, 1623.

The Eight Beatitudes

Matthew 5:3-12	Orlando Gibbons, 1583-1625
1. Blessed the poor in spirit, they are heirs To wealth untold, for heaven itself is theirs.	2. Blessed the meek, for without strife their hand Shall be victorious, and possess the land.
3. Blessed are they that mourn, for God one day Will comfort them, and wipe their tears away.	4. Blessed who hunger and who thirst, unskilled in wiles, for justice, for they shall be filled.
5. Blessed the merciful, for they’ll obtain The mercy which they grant their fellowmen.	6. Blessed the clean of heart, for they shall see The Lord in all his cloudless purity.
7. Blessed are the peace-makers kind and mild Children of God they shall be justly styled.	8. Blessed are they that suffer in the right, For heaven’s kingdom shall their cares requite.