Home > Resources > Leadership > Planning Worship

Christ the King Sunday
Ephesians 1:19-23; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 1:15-20
Howard Vanderwell and Norma de Waal Malefyt

Christ the King Sunday

Many churches may not be familiar with Christ the King Sunday. For those who carefully observe the events of the Christian year it is the last Sunday before Advent begins. As such, it helps worshipers who are already thinking about Christmas to remember that the event of Christmas is about much more than a baby in a manger—it's about a sovereign Christ! Even if you do not identify the day as a special celebration, we encourage you to consider this theme for the Sunday before Advent begins. Marking the kingship of Christ makes a healthy transition that leads directly from Ordinary Time into Advent, the Christmas cycle, and the remainder of the Christian year.

The theme of the Lordship of Christ is integral to the message of the entire New Testament and certainly to the faithful practice of Christian worship. So this Sunday aims to focus our attention and our worship on the cosmic character of Christ's reign over the world.

For this Sunday, we make suggestions concerning passages to consider for preaching, songs and music to use, and items to include in the liturgy. You will find many more ideas in other sources; we particularly recommend The Worship Sourcebook (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, FaithAlive Resources, and Baker Book House, 2004, pp. 673-685) for a wide variety of suggestions.

Scripture Suggestions

The Worship Sourcebook (p. 674) provides a wide variety of Scripture suggestions for this Sunday. It also provides statements of faith from the confessions of the church that apply to the theme of Christ the King Sunday.

If you are following or considering the Revised Common Lectionary, you will find that the following are the prescribed passages for this Sunday:
     Jeremiah 23:1-6
     Luke 1:68-79
     Colossians 1:11-20
     Luke 23:33-34

Three epistolary passages give us Paul's teachings about the Kingship of Christ. We suggest these for your sermon. You may select any one of them, or a combination of them. You may also wish to draw upon the vision of the King's return in Revelation 19:11-16. The three Pauline passages are Ephesians 1:19-23, Philippians 2:9-11, and Colossians 1:15-20. We suggest that this service include multiple Scrhipture readings (see below for suggestions).

Sermon Suggestions

1. Our world is a frightening place, as indeed it has been for centuries. War, violence, terrorism, and the unpredictable setbacks in family, marriage, health, and business keep us all on the edge of our seats. Consequently the human spirit suffers anxiety, emptiness, and a skepticism about whether religion (any religion) can answer our questions . . . yet a deep hope that it can!

2. The Christian faith is built on the conviction that Jesus Christ has a cosmic reign. His reign is supreme, his authority is cosmic NOW. We do not need to wait for some coming day when his reign will begin. It is in place NOW, in spite of all appearances to the contrary. So our affirmation of the reign of Christ is an act of faith.

3. The reign of Christ as King is directly tied to and the result of his humiliation and redeeming work. Because of his incarnation, ministry, suffering, death, and burial, the Father raised him from the grave and placed him at his "right hand."

4. Christ, as King, is largely concerned with the Christian church. He is head over all things "for the church" (see Ephesians 1:22-23), which is his body.

5. The implications of this present reign of Christ are far-reaching—we have security and hope, we are assured of an advocate, we can expect the consummation of all things, and we have a world-and-life-view that is unique to Calvinism.

Music Notes

Glossary of Hymnal Abbreviations:
PH        The Presbyterian Hymnal (Presbyterian Church USA; Westminster/John Knox Press)
PsH      The Psalter Hymnal (Christian Reformed Church; Faith Alive Christian Resources)
RL        Rejoice in the Lord (Reformed Church in America; W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company)
RN        Renew! (Hope Publishing Company)
SFL      Songs for LiFE (children's songbook; Faith Alive Christian Resources)
SNC     Sing! A New Creation (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Christian Reformed Church,
            Reformed Church in America; Faith Alive Christian Resources)
TH        Trinity Hymnal (Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church in America; Great
            Commission Publications)
TWC     The Worshiping Church (Hope Publishing Company)
UMH     The United Methodist Hymnal (United Methodist Publishing House)
WOV    With One Voice ( Augsburg Fortress)

Here are some suggestions for congregational song and service music that would be appropriate for this service of worship. All music is listed by hymn tune (where applicable) and text title. Additional resources based on the hymn tunes follow. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but we hope the suggestions here will jump start your own ideas for using music in your Christ the King service .

AZMON (“Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”) PH 386, 466, PsH 501, RL 363, RN 32, SNC 66, SFL 19, TH 164, TWC 130, UMH 57, 59, 422, 608, WOV 745
Organ:

Handbells :

Alternative Harmonization for Organ:

CORONATION (“All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name”) PH 142, PsH 471, 630, RL 593, RN 45, TH 296, TWC 95, UMH 154
Organ:

Piano:

Alternative Harmonization for Organ:

DARWALL'S 148TH (“Rejoice, the Lord Is King”) PH 155, 430, PsH 408, RL 110, 578, 596, RN 270, SFL 180, TH 18, 181, 301, 310, 524, TWC 86, 262, 312, 320, UMH 715
Organ:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonization for Organ:

Choral Anthem/ Concertato:

DIADEMATA (“Crown Him with Many Crowns”) PH 151, PsH 48, 410, RL 600, RN 56, SFL 181, TH 295, 316, 575, 669, TWC 92, 618, 756, UMH 88, 327, 421, 513
Organ:

Piano:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

Choral Anthem/ Concertato :

DUKE STREET (“Jesus Shall Reign”) PH 307, 423, PsH 412, RL 233, RN 255, 296, TH 7, 16, 59, 441, TWC 16, 239, 745, UMH 101, 157, 438
Organ:

Piano:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonization for Organ:

Alternative Harmonization for Piano:

ES FLOG EIN KLEINS WALDVOGLEIN (“Hail to the Lord's Anointed”) PsH 72, RL 232, TH 311, UMH 203

HE IS LORD (“He Is Lord”) SNC 160
Piano:

KING'S WESTON (“At the Name of Jesus”) PH 148, PsH 467, RL 336, RN 279, SNC 265, TH 163, 285, TWC 722, UMH 168, 592
Organ:

Handbells:

Alternative Harmonizations for Organ:

LORD, I LIFT YOUR NAME (“Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”) RN 4, SNC 157
Piano:

Handbells:

MIT FREUDEN ZART (“God Has Gone Up with Shouts of Joy!”) PH 7, 483, PsH 138, 465, RL 570, 146, RN 52, SNC 34, 154, TH 4, TWC 8, 50, UMH 126
Organ:

Handbells:

PICARDY (“You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd”) PH 5, PsH 341, RL 188, 289, RN 229, SNC 182, 221, TH 193, TWC 167, UMH 296, 626
Organ:

Alternative Harmonization for Organ:

Alternative Harmonization for Piano:

Choral Anthem:

“Praise Him! Jesus, Blessed Savior” SNC 48

“You Are Crowned with Many Crowns” SNC 158
Piano:

Additional Choral Resources:

Liturgy Suggestions

1. It is important that the entire liturgy—songs, readings, and prayers—reflect a confidence and joy that Christ is King. The opening of the service should reflect this strong spirit, as should the conclusion of the service. Both the opening and the closing of the service will then shape the spirit of worship for this day.

2. Include confessional readings that will be strong affirmations of faith in the reign of Christ. Here are some possibilities:

3. The Prayers of the People in this service should reflect confidence in the current reign of Christ while acknowledging the pain of all creation and society as it "groans" right now (see Romans 8:22). This prayer should involve a delicate but very important balance of three considerations—our confidence and security in the reign of Christ, our sadness and grieving at the pain of our world, and our loving intercession for those who are suffering now. After these three the prayer should move into a spirit of anticipation for the return of Christ to bring the culmination of all his purposes.

4. Because there are multiple Scripture passages that apply to this theme (see The Worship Sourcebook, p. 674), this is an ideal service in which to include multiple Scripture readings by multiple persons, each with a one-sentence introduction that points to the theme to listen for in each reading.

5. Because Christ the King Sunday is both a conclusion of the Christian year and a transition into Advent and the Christmas season, we encourage you to include in your liturgy—by spoken word, prayer, or song—encouragement to make preparation for the beginning of Advent which will take place next week.

Litanies from the Belgic Confession

Since you may find the form of the readings from the Belgic Confession difficult to use in public worship, we provide here a few possible reformulations from articles 26 and 37. Because these have been formulated into responsive form, a congregation can more easily use them as affirmations in worship.

The Intercession of Christ

Do we have access to God?
We believe that we have no access to God
except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor:
Jesus Christ the Righteous.
He therefore was made man,
uniting together the divine and human natures,
so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty.
Otherwise we would have no access.

Suppose we had to find another.
Who would love us more than he who gave his life for us,
even though "we were his enemies"?
Who has as much prestige and power as he who is seated
"at the right hand of the Father,"
and who has all power
"in heaven and on earth"?
And who will be heard more readily
than God's own dearly beloved Son?

Has God really given His own Son as our Intercessor?
Yes. It has pleased God
to give us his Son as our Intercessor,
so let us not leave him for another—
or rather seek, without ever finding.
For when God gave him to us
he knew well that we were sinners.
Therefore, in following the command of Christ
we call on the heavenly Father
through Christ,
our only Mediator,
as we are taught by the Lord's Prayer,
being assured that we shall obtain
all we ask of the Father
in his name. (Belgic Confession, art. 26)

The Last Judgment (I)

Who will appear at the end of time?
When the time appointed by the Lord is come
(which is unknown to all creatures)
and the number of the elect is complete,
our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven,
bodily and visibly,
as he ascended,
with great glory and majesty,
to declare himself the judge
of the living and the dead.

Will everyone see him when he comes?
Yes, all human creatures will appear in person
before the great judge—
men, women, and children,
who have lived from the beginning until the end
of the world.
They will be summoned there
by the voice of the archangel
and by the sound of the divine trumpet.

What about those who have already died? Will they miss it?
All those who died before that time
will be raised from the earth,
their spirits being joined and united
with their own bodies
in which they lived.

What about those who are still alive?
As for those who are still alive,
they will not die like the others
but will be changed "in the twinkling of an eye"
from "corruptible to incorruptible." (Belgic Confession, art. 37)

The Last Judgment (II)                                             

What will happen when Jesus comes again?
The "book" (that is, the consciences) will be opened,
and the dead will be judged
according to the things they did in the world,
whether good or evil.
And then the secrets and hypocrisies of men
will be publicly uncovered
in the sight of all.

But isn't that a frightening picture to think of?
With good reason
the thought of this judgment
is horrible and dreadful
to wicked and evil people.
But it is very pleasant
and a great comfort
to the righteous and elect,
since their total redemption
will then be accomplished.

Are you eager?
We look forward to that great day with longing
in order to enjoy fully
the promises of God in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. (Belgic Confession, art. 37)