A Sermon Preached at St. Stephen’s on Nov. 26, 2006, by the Rev. Cork Tarplee

            The new movie “The Queen” presents a fascinating contrast between a monarchy of the state and a monarchy of the heart. On the one hand there is the pomp and power of the British monarchy.  On the other is Princess Diana.   People were invested in Diana because she touched something in their hearts: her willingness to get her hands dirty in order to help people in need and her refusal to compromise her marriage for the sake of appearances.  The result was a tremendous—and to the British monarch, an unexpected—outpouring of grief when Diana died.  There is a contrast here between a monarchy built on pomp and power and a monarchy of the heart built on the values of honesty, service to humanity and to peace. People grieved so deeply over the loss of Diana because she represented a kind of monarchy that made heart-sense: she offered a role model people could identify with, a role model that valued what we all know in our hearts is important.

            This notion of a monarchy of the heart is on my mind today because in the ancient calendar of the Church today, the last Sunday of the Church Year, is devoted to Christ the King, and because our Gospel reading this morning contrasts Jesus’ kingship of the heart with the political power of Pontius Pilate.  The Gospel celebrates a King who particularly did NOT have the trappings of political monarchy: no wealth, no military force, no social status, and no pomp. Jesus is in custody when he stands before Pilate, beaten, powerless, penniless and alone, and yet he answers truthfully when he tells Pilate that he has a kingdom which is not of this world.  Throughout the Gospels we have seen this kingdom, a kingdom of the heart and spirit.  It is a kingdom of service to others, a kingdom of integrity, a kingdom of love and a kingdom of justice. It is a kingdom manifested by healing those who are hurt and wounded, by washing the feet of the disciples, by preaching good news to the poor. Jesus is surely not a king in the ordinary sense, but he is the king in the most important sense: the king of our hearts—the role model that we pray for the grace and courage to be like.

            It is particularly fitting that today we baptize into Jesus’ household Addison Leigh Myers. Every time we baptize an infant, we remind ourselves again that Jesus is the king of our hearts.  The Epistle to the Ephesians describes the goal of the Christian life: that we should all grow up into “the full stature of Christ.” As C. S. Lewis put it, the purpose of our life is that we should all become “little Christs.”  All of us sitting in this room know that we won’t be miracle workers and we won’t be sinless, but we would not be sitting in this room if we didn’t harbor in our hearts the hope that we might grow into more loving human beings, that we might grow to be of more use to our fellow human beings and that we might live our lives with more integrity.

            Our baptismal covenant spells it out for us.  Our solemn promise today before God is put our faith into practice: to remain a part of the community of faith, to admit our mistakes and strive to do better, to act as people of hope, to seek Christ in all persons, and to strive for justice, peace and the dignity of every human being. We repeat that promise today because we all need to remind ourselves that Jesus is the king of our hearts. Jesus is king, not in the halls of power, but everywhere people follow him in serving others.  Jesus is king, not through force, but wherever people seek peace.  Jesus is king, not where people lord it over each other, but wherever people see each other as equals and empower each other.

            This is a grand and hopeful ceremony, this baptism that we do today.  May it be more than just a form of words.  May it express our deepest longing: that Jesus really is the monarch of our hearts.                                                                                   AMEN