A different sort of king
Damian Entwistle (8 November) points out the tragedy – and, I might add, the grievous sin – that ‘Christ is King’ has become a slogan for fear-fuelled politics. He sees this as a reason to drop the slogan, while setting out how much its users have misunderstood what they say. But let’s not confuse the baby with the bathwater.
What’s clear is that recent users of this slogan don’t see what sort of king Christ is (much like those who expected a warring messiah), and what it means for our political lives that he, and no human ruler or government, is in charge. If Jesus is king, if he alone rules in our hearts, as the early Friends testified, then it’s a profound blasphemy to let politics get in the way of love of neighbour, to let other principalities and powers have any kind of ultimate value.
Something or someone will always be the living centre of our attention. Would that it were Christ, who has come to teach us what it means to give ourselves to love. If we could listen to him above the noise of right and left, then we might hear, with the early Friend Sarah Blackborow, ‘Love is his Name, Love is his Nature, Love is his life’, and we might witness that this is a very different sort of king, that we are members of a very different sort of kingdom.
Matt Rosen
Just one action
Calling all Quakers to join JUST, a new online initiative for peace in the Middle East, inspired by the Quaker American Friends Service Committee Action Hour which has been running for over a year.
We meet for a short time on Mondays at 7.30pm to update ourselves on latest news, witness in silence, take at least one action, and share with others what we are doing locally – our small wins. You can sign up at www.campain.org/just-sign-up. Or email actionhourcampain@googlemail.com for a link.
Nicola Grove
