Everyone Who Belongs

The traditional name of this final Sunday of the liturgical year is Christ the King Sunday. Many still embrace and use that nomenclature. Our traditions run deep. There is no hard and fast rule over what this service of worship should be called. We ask that you consider rethinking what it means to be king. We ask, because Jesus confronted those in power to do that very thing. His challenge to Pilate was not simply avoidance. Jesus wanted Pilate to think differently about what it means to wield power. That was Jesus’s whole approach to life and ministry, and certainly was consistent in his suffering and death. To lead is to serve, to have power is to lay it down in sacrificial acts of love.

Let our worship on this “reign of Christ” Sunday acknowledge that this kind of leadership is so rarely seen in this world. And maybe we need to call ourselves, our nation, and our world to set aside our obsession with power, with military might, with weapons we dare call peacekeepers and listen again to that call to turn our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks – whether those swords are physical weapons or words and attitudes and policies that are designed to wound and not heal.

Again, we can and should celebrate the one we have chosen to follow. Let us sing about Christ the king, even as we are coming to a new understanding of what that means. Let us pray to the one we will follow with our whole hearts. Let us explore new ways of describing, of naming, of claiming this Christ as our own – not our own property to define as we will, but our own guide to new ways of thinking and being in the world. Let us learn to lead like Jesus, as we seek to live a life that matters.

Call to Worship

Leader: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Holiness is the beauty of God’s temple while time shall last.
People: We worship God in the sanctity and freedom from our sins, which Christ gives us through his life’s blood.

B. David Hostetter, Prayers for the Seasons of God’s People: Worship Aids for the Revised Common Lectionary Year B, (Abingdon, 1999), 216.

Prayer of Petition: We Seek a New Order

(inspired by John 18:37)

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king.
For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." (John 18:37)

Loving God of power and justice and peace,
In our broken world
We seek a new order
Where there is courage to speak truth to power
We seek a new order
Where there is mutual support in church and community
We seek a new order
Where there is abundant time for healing
We seek a new order
Where there is peace and freedom for all

From the Monthly Prayers page of the Christian Aid website, http://www.christianaid.org.uk. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/11/prayer-new-order.html.

Choral Reading

He’s Coming Back Again
(Based on John 18:33-37)

Leader #1: Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33)

Leader #2: Jesus answered, “Did you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” (John 1834)

Choir/congregation (singing):

I know it was the blood, I know it was the blood,
I know it was the blood for me.
One day when I was lost, he died upon the cross,
I know it was the blood for me. (Traditional African American)

Leader #1: Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” (John 18:35)

Choir/ congregation (singing)

He never said a mumblin’ word. He never said a mumblin’ word.
He never said a mumblin’ word for me.
One day when I was lost, he died upon the cross,
I know it was the blood for me.

Leader #2: Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over … But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36)

Choir/ congregation (singing)

He’s coming back again. He’s coming back again.
He’s coming back again for me.
One day when I was lost, he died upon the cross,
I know it was the blood for me.

Leader #1: Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” (John 18:37a)

Leader #2: Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37b)

Choir/ congregation (singing)

He’s coming back again. He’s coming back again.
He’s coming back again for me.
One day when I was lost, he died upon the cross,
I know it was the blood for me.

Marilyn E. Thornton, Africana Worship Book for Year B, Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua, eds., (Discipleship Resources, 2007), 125.

A General Prayer for the Day

(The Reign of Christ)

Almighty, Eternal and Holy God, who is, who was, and who is to come, worthy are you to receive our praise and thanksgiving. Here in this holy place where you have promised to dwell among us, we gather to offer our praise to your holy Name. To you be glory and dominion forever.

Your revelation in Jesus Christ gives life to our bodies and souls. He has shown us the way to everlasting life and has promised to make us priests and a royal nation, but not in a place that we can see in the here-and-now. Still, we try to fit your ways into our expectations and then we grumble when you do not conform. Where we have doubted your wisdom and your truth, forgive us, good Lord.

Jesus was born to come into the world and bear witness to the truth. He has said that whoever is of the truth hears his voice. By the outpouring of your Holy Spirit equip us to bear witness to that same truth and so help others in hearing your voice.

On this day we await your coming in power and might to reclaim your Church and establish the reign of righteousness. In that same power we ask you to take into your care those whom we have named this day; relieve their suffering, end their captivity and restore their brokenness.

O God, our Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, hear our prayers and in your mercy, answer them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

And Also With You: Worship Resources based on the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, (OSL Publications, 1993), 149.

Prayer of Confession

ALL: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!

One: Why is this king riding a donkey?

All: Hosanna! Blessed is he who strong and mighty, even the king of Israel!

One: Why is this king being beaten?

All: Hosanna! Blessed is he who conquers in battle, even the king of Israel!

One: Where is his army? Why is this king alone?

All: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!

One: Why is this king hanging on a cross?

ALL: O God, forgive us when we get so caught up in our own expectations of who we want your Son to be that we miss the truth of who you are.

Assurance of Pardon

Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. I will forgive your sins and give you rest. In the name of God the Almighty, we are forgiven.

The Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 3, Year B, compiled and edited by Beverly A. Zink-Sawyer, (Abingdon, 2002), 146.