Jeremiah 23:1-6 / Colossians 1:11-20 / Luke 23:35-43

About Christ the King Sunday:

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is the day that brings the cycle of the Christian liturgical year to an end, but looks forward to its turning again on Advent Sunday.

Today we celebrate Christ as glorified Lord and King, a powerful reminder that praise of Christ’s king-ship is always the theme of the Christian calendar, and is vital to the daily fabric of our lives in particular.

The spirituality of this day must never be forgotten or understated. No one recognized this more than Henri Nouwen in his Sabbatical Journey: "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 vic-torious 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.”

Almighty God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.