Today is the festival of Christ the King. During this past year our liturgical cycle has moved from the whole world waiting for its Savior, through the coming of an infant in poverty and obscurity, his dying, rising, and returning to the Father, the church's own pilgrimage in the image of Christ, to his final coming trailing on clouds of glory. Today we reach the liturgical end of the story. Today our liturgy celebrates the high point of creation, when humankind and all that is, even death itself, will be subjected to Christ. This is so clearly expressed by the apostle Paul when he wrote, "When he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power" (1 Corinthians 15:24). Walter J. Burghardt states: "At the close of the church year, the…