10/5/2018 0 Comments Long Live the king When we receive the sacrament of baptism, we are baptized "Priest, Prophet, and King." That sounds really great, but what does it actually mean? It's a big question, too big for one night, certainly, so on Wednesday we settled for taking a small piece and starting to think about it. What does it mean to be King? To answer that we had to answer some other questions first: What kind of a King is Jesus? And then: What is our relationship to Him?
We had a lot of fun, we played games and there was a lot of laughter, but we also had some great conversation reflecting on Jesus' Kingship and the many names the authors of the Bible have given Him. In revelation he is called "King of Kings," "King of the Ages," "Prince of Peace," "Wonder Counselor;" in the Gospels he is called "King of the Jews," "Light of the World;" in Psalms, "King of Glory." I could go on, but I'm sure you don't need me to. Neither did your middle schoolers. We compared what a King is in our imagination to who Jesus is; we found that even though Jesus has all of those titles saying He's a King, He's not much like the things we imagine when we think of a King. He wasn't what the Jewish people imagined while they waited for a Messiah either. As I was preparing for this session, it occurred to me that while it is certainly true that Jesus is King, I more often give Him other titles. For me, Jesus is Comforter, Encourager, Protector, Provider, Leader, and Healer, to name a few. Jesus is my best friend and He is my constant support. He pushes me to do things I could never have imagined I would do. In my trials and in my (many) failures He is there to pick me up, brush me off, and tell me to try again. In times that I feel I can never measure up, He is there to tell me I am a beloved child of God. When I am heartbroken, when I am lost, when the world is unfair and unkind, Jesus heals and comforts, He covers the wounds of this world with Love. In all things, Jesus is my ever present help and companion. My reflections on my relationship with Jesus were similar to the reflections your children had on their relationships with Jesus; it gave us another hint about what it means to be a King. In the Gospels Jesus tells us in a variety of ways what it means to be a King. He speaks about service and about humility in several different places and in several different ways, but in my humble opinion He says it best in John 13:12-15. After washing the disciples' feet He says this: "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you." We are the Body of Christ, we are baptized 'Priest, Prophet, and King.' We've heard those words 1000 times, we sing songs about them, we tell stories about them, we've listened to our fair share of homilies about them. But how different might our world be if we truly believed them? How different would our world be if we lived them out? For me, the challenge this Edge session set is to live out my baptismal call to be a 'King' more fully. I was challenged to look at the way I described Jesus, the one true King, and see if I am living like the sort of King that He is. Am I the words I used to describe Jesus? Am I an encourager? A comforter? A healer? The challenge from this Edge session is to serve as Jesus served His disciples and to serve as He is serving us still. On Wednesday I invited the Edge Participants to pray the words, "Jesus, I invite you to be the King of my heart" for the rest of the week whenever they pray. I challenged them to allow Jesus to guide their hearts, to direct their loves and passions so that they can be the type of King that Jesus is. I invite you to do the same. May the Lord bless you with His abundant love and peace this week.
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