Many people don't like the theological language of Christ as king. They say it is too old-fashioned: democracies don't have kings. They say it is too masculine: we all believe in gender equality. What they don't say is what it means. When we declare that Christ is king, we mean that Christ is the most important matter, the one with the most power for us, personally. On Christ the King Sunday this is a great day to see what this means — whether we like the language of king or not.

 

When we know that Christ is king, we live by grace and not by law. We live by grace and not by the power of our own works. We live what author, Amy Tan, calls "The Opposite of Fate." It is grace. It is engagement. It is, for better or worse, our western religion's activism at work. In contrast to the acceptance …