We are all republicans really

Last week at the Gospel Choir evensong I said in my short talk, "In the end, we are all Republicans - really," I hold to this, even for the most ardent of fans of our British monarchy.  And so, having left you all in suspense here is my development of that idea...

As modern people who take pride in our independence, we are all allergic to kings and do not want anyone to 'long reign over us.' I defy anybody who wants to be subject to an autocratic rule. Are we not after all democrats where the people, rather than the accidents of a medieval bloodline, are sovereign? A constitutional monarchy is a wonderful compromise and does not really impose its will upon us. Our last instance of autocracy is given in the lyrics of a Monty Python song:

The most interesting thing about King Charles the First is that he was 5 foot 6 inches tall at the start of his reign, but only 4 foot 8 inches tall at the end of it.

Of course, this is not simply to focus on Charles the First, because in reality what followed, namely Oliver Cromwell, our "Lord Protector" brought in an age of tyranny like no other. From the Renaissance onwards, Europeans opted for a new statecraft where power drained from kings to supplied to citizens. And, as philosophers emphasized the autonomy of the human person, we bought less and less into monarchs ruling, reigning or subjecting themselves to us. 

The Church universal carries with it some of the pomp and ceremony of medieval barony and privilege, even the most reformed of congregations can be prone to megastar preachers who seek our praise and adoration. A very humble bishop never liked the trappings and was once approached by a sycophantic cleric who sought to genuflect and kiss his episcopal ring. The humble prelate said 'I have put the ring in my back pocket - please do not attempt to kiss it.' 

Atheists identified that the last monarch requiring toppling was God Himself.  In the crazed writings of Friedrich Nietzche brought God to the gallows, and proclaimed that God was dead. 

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"

This theme of deicide (toppling and killing God) is worked out in Philip Pullman's children series The Northern Lights which the author saw as an antidote to the Christian subtext he so despised in the Narnia Chronicles.  However, I think Pulman is naive to get middle class boys and girls to cry 'republic' in the face of the Kingdom of Heaven. Revolutions rarely solve problems. Two of the greatest novels, The Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables show up the moral and political chaos of revolutions. (My son is currently reading as part of his English - Animal Farm and will soon move on to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.) And you cannot help look at so many of our recent revolutions, like Mugabe who came to power in 1980 having overturned Smith and promised so much. His tyranny like so many others was probably worse than what proceeded it. 

We do not want Kings lording it over us but the revolutions that remove them can be just as awful. So how does talking about Jesus Christ as the King of Kings help us? I say this because maybe like me you sense it too - modern Europeans and others do not anybody telling us what to do. Why should we pray for a kingdom then if the idea is so indigestible? The only solution out of this conundrum that makes any sense is that NOT ONLY is Jesus Christ is a king like no other BUT that his reign is CRUCIAL to our wellbeing, survival, flourishing, salvation, transformation. Christianity in all its texts poses that this king is the key to our destiny.

I have come to believe (speculating here!)  that the first time Simon Peter came close to realize what sort of kingship Jesus was offering, and that he was in the presence of the king of kings, was when Jesus took the towel and the bowl and washed his chief disciple's feet.  I sense that this was more of a transcendent moment than being present at the transfiguration and seeing Jesus dazzling white and glorified. The kingship on offer is one of complete service from the one who has not come to be served but to serve. It is not just words, words, words, but was lived out as he lived in poverty, ministered without hesitation to anyone, spoke up for the poor, and died on a Cross.  Peter seemed to understand what Pilate failed the next day. "So you are a king," was said out of sarcasm.

I believe that as human beings we are made to have our eyes always on another horizon. Not the opiate that Marx believed religion could be but rather the horizon that points to a life beyond our egos. This horizon tells us that life has a meaning and destiny beyond selfishness, mere genetics, and that as a species we can find a unity like no other in that common vision. The commendation at funerals says 'A horizon is just the limit of our sight - lift us up Lord Jesus so that we can see more clearly.' May he lift us all up.