Diocese of Chichester

The Bishop of Lewes, Will Hazlewood writes:

Kingship

If you had told me this time last year what was going to happen in 2020, I don’t think I would have believed you. Every aspect of our lives, physical, emotional, economic, and even spiritual have been affected. The things so many of us hold as sacred - health, freedom, employment, family, and social interaction have been affected. It is so easy to look back to the time before COVID as a care free utopia, we say things like ‘when we can get back to normal’ as if the world before 2020 was a perfect place, which we all know it wasn’t!!

For too long our society has lived under the myth that we just need to look after ourselves and our immediate families to gain happiness and contentment. COVID has starkly reminded us that we share a connection with every other human being on the planet, and the natural world that nourishes and sustains us. As people of faith we believe in a God who created all that is good and wills us to be co-creators in his glorious kingdom.

The feast of Christ the King at the end of the church’s year reminds us that we live in Christ’s kingdom; a kingdom of love, truth, and justice. A kingdom where we are loved as unique and beautiful, made in God’s image. A kingdom that we inherit through the waters of Baptism. It is a relatively new feast, inaugurated in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. At a time of rising levels of fascism and dictatorships this feast was created to counter the claims of secularism by holding up the model of Christ, as King of the Creation, whose just and gentle rule is supreme.

Christ the King concludes the Christian year with a climactic celebration that focuses on Christ as glorified Lord and King - a powerful reminder that praise of his Kingship is always the theme of the calendar. In addition, this festival also deepens awareness of the final end of all things in the triumph of Christ. It brings the cycle of the liturgical year to an end, but looks forward to its turning again on Advent Sunday.

Henri Nouwen in his Sabbatical Journey: wrote "on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, Christ is presented to us as the mocked King on the Cross as well of the King of the universe. The greatest humiliation and the greatest victory are both shown to us in today's liturgy. It is important to look at this humiliated and victorious Christ before we start the new liturgical year with the celebration of Advent. All through the year we have to stay close to the humiliation as well as to the victory of Christ, because we are called to live both in our own daily lives."

May we seek to inhabit the humiliation and the victory

+Will 

It's Christ the King at Christ Our Lord church!

This coming weekend is the Feast of Christ the King. Across the country, there are many churches who have either been given or who have chosen this designation as the title of the benefice or parish. To be a Church of Christ the King is to be a constant reminder to the local community of the importance of Jesus, of heaven and of glory.

Revd Howard Schnaar, is team vicar of the "Christ the Lord" Church Broadfield which, it would seem, is the nearest to the title Christ the King we arrive at in the Diocese of Chichester. And, so, the folk in Broadfield rise to the occasion and celebrate their Patronal Festival this weekend.

Howard told the diocesan website this week: Christ the Lord church indeed celebrates the Feast of Christ the King as our Patronal Festival. Not only are we the only church named ‘Christ the Lord’ in our diocese, but we are also the only shared church building working in ecumenical partnership with the Roman Catholics and Broadfield Christian Fellowship .

He adds: "We love to come together on this feast as three congregations and worship, celebrate and give thanks to our Lord and King. Broadfield is a very diverse community and many of the Catholics come from Mauritius and are part of the Community of St. Joseph. This community always brings great exuberance and devotion to leading us in song as well as huge pots of tasty food for after our service.

"Broadfield Christian Fellowship also brings not only a great love for our Saviour, but also the Scriptures. Much prayer is offered by us, but it is truly a wonderful way to finish the liturgical year on a high with a joint joy-filled celebration. I feel truly blessed to be part of this committed partnership in the gospel and celebration in Christ the King. Sadly, this year we are limited to celebration on Zoom, but we have much to be thankful for! "