The king

 For the past seventy years we have been used to the phrase 'the Queen' so that it's taking some getting used-to, to hear or see the words 'the King', such as on Friday night, when the strapline under Charles as he spoke to the nation via TV, was 'HM the King'. 

Yes, we know it's what he was born to become, but he's been waiting so long, and the queen seemed such a permanent fixture, that something of that expectation had slipped from this mind, at least. Well, the reality has arrived at long last for him. 

Christians can experience something of the same mindset with regard to the reality of Christ the King. We celebrate that feast on the last Sunday of the Christian year in mid-November, immediately before the beginning of Advent- an affirmation that Christ is all in all, is supreme and King in all creation. 

And yet, as we look around our very broken world, we know that in some deep sense, this is not so, at least not yet. And the temptation is maybe to downplay, forget, fail to see, possibly deny, the reality that Christ's triumph from the cross, his resurrection and ascension, has already taken place, and we are in the endgame, where the mop-up operation is taking place. 

Now and not yet. For Charles, the promise has been fulfilled. For us in the faith, we continue to pray 'Come Lord Jesus'.