Sunday Worship at 10:00 am! See you in church as you are able.

Can't make it to church? Watch us Live! Now Livestreaming Worship

To view our 10:00 AM Sunday worship service on YouTube live, click on the live worship link on the RELC home page on Sunday mornings during the worship hour and be redirected to the YouTube live stream. The Live Stream will "go live" at 9:55AM on each Sunday morning. To view the service at a later time, go to our YouTube Channel. Click on the videos tab to browse archives of past services. Click on the Subscribe button and create an account to be notified when Live Streams are started or when other videos are added. For any questions, please contact the pastor.

New Seating Routine for Sunday Worship

At its most recent meeting, our Reopening Planning Group has proposed to try a modification of our physical distancing seating routine to accommodate larger attendance at Sunday worship. Happily, more people are coming to worship of late, but that has also presented challenges in finding seating when every other pew is roped off. Thus, beginning on the First Sunday of Advent, November 28, we will no longer rope off pews, allowing for greater flexibility in how we are seated. That said, we still ask you to maintain physical distancing as best you can, seeking to keep a three to six foot distance between you and the next individual or family. We also encourage you not to sit directly in front of or behind another individual or family. This means also making the best use of the middle sections of pews. Ushers will be available to assist you with seating options. Masks will still be required of all worshipers. The Reopening Planning Group proposes that we try this out and adjust our practice accordingly, especially with attention to how Covid infection rates are affecting our area. Thanks as ever for your patience with our practices during these ongoing unprecedented times.

Occasions for Advent and Christmas

Advent begins this Sunday, and Christmas will be upon us soon. Mark your calendars now for the following noteworthy occasions as we mark the seasons in our life together::

• Wednesdays in Advent (December 1, 8, 15, 22): Advent Evening Prayer via Zoom at 7:00 pm featuring members who will offer reflections on what gives them hope in a seemingly hopeless time in our troubled world. The bulletins and Zoom links for these services will be sent out via Constant Contact on Tuesdays as part of the Pastor’s Midweek Messages.
• Sunday, December 12 at 3:30 pm: Event for All Ages, Parsonage outdoors, the Light of Christ in a season of shadows.
• Sunday, December 19 at 10:00 am: Service of Lessons and Carols as part of our usual Sunday worship.
• Sunday, December 19 after worship: decorating our church for Christmas.
• Sunday, December 19 at 5:00 pm: Christmas Caroling and Worship outside the Parsonage, an opportunity for those unable to worship with us indoors to share in singing and worship in anticipation of Christmas.
• Friday, December 24 at 5:00 pm: Worship for the Whole Family on Christmas Eve.
• Friday, December 24 at 9:00 pm: Christmas Eve Worship with Choir.
• Saturday, December 25 at 10:00 am: Worship on Christmas Day.
• Sunday, December 26 at 10:00 am: Worship on the First Sunday of Christmas..

Seeking Someone to Produce Sunday Bulletins and Newsletter

With Monika Carney’s departure as our office administrator and in the interim while we carefully assess our congregation’s current staffing needs for administrative support, we are seeking someone with whom to contract to produce our Sunday bulletins and our bi-monthly newsletter. This work requires someone skilled at desktop publishing, and will come with a generous stipend. While the preparatory work can be accomplished remotely from a computer at home, final production of the printed bulletin will require coming into the church office to make hard copies on our office copier. If you are interested in performing this task or know of someone who might be, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ASAP for further information.

An open invitation – Racial and Social Justice Learning Group

Over the past year, we participated in Pastor Linman’s Monday evening Bible study sessions (recently focused on “social justice” references in scripture) and the year-long monthly deep dive discussions co-led by the Pastor and Youth Director Amanda Lindamood into the challenging book “Dear Church, A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S.” These validated our belief that continual learning about social justice is needed and is essential for us and for our RELC community.

As one step in this effort, we’re offering to facilitate a regular gathering of those interested in exploring this topic and learning more together. We envision this group:

• Broadening individual understanding and identifying how it might lead/influence actions at RELC and in our lives.
• Self-identifying discussion topics and sources of information (e.g., books, articles, films, news events, personal experience, etc.)

To get started, we propose an in-person meeting at RELC (pandemic-permitting of course) starting after the holidays on January 19, 2022 at 7 p.m. to discuss the first few chapters of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity” by Dr. Robert Jones (available in local libraries, on-line, in paperback, etc.). We anticipate the group will also establish its ground rules then (meeting schedule, format, process for picking topics, etc.)

If you are interested or just want to inquire further, please contact either of us. Any and all will be welcome. We look forward to hearing from you.
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ELCA Youth Gathering 2022—It's Not Too Late to Commit!

The ELCA Youth Gathering is scheduled to take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota July 24-28. This event is for high school aged students. Rising High School freshmen are eligible to attend, as well as those who just graduated from high school. If you are interested, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Collection of Food Items for AFAC on Sunday, December 5

We will receive donations of food items for AFAC on Sunday, December 5, in conjunction with our regular worship service.

Your Generosity at Work in Arlington

We have recently received letters of thanks from the following organizations we financially support to benefit those in need:

• Offender and Aid Restoration (assistance to those released from prison in their re-entry into society)
• Fellowship Square (affordable senior housing)
• Arlington Food Assistance Center (alleviating hunger and food insecurity)

October Financial Update

The below chart is a summary of RELC’s finances for the year to date as of October 31, 2021. The columns titled “(a) YTD Giving,” “(b) YTD Expenses” and “(c) Giving minus Expenses” provide key data for our three primary financial funds.

This data shows that our general fund is currently running significantly below our actual expenses for the year and below our giving levels for this time last year. This trend has been worsening during the first ten months of 2021.

Please continue to donate during our newly reestablished weekly service or send in your contributions through Simply Giving, by using the “Donate Now” button on RELC’s website or by sending your contribution check to the church office in the US Mail.

Please prayerfully consider what this information means to you as we work together to support RELC’s ministries..

Altar Flowers Sign Up

In keeping with RELC’s custom prior to the pandemic, we will resume ordering flowers for the chancel, beginning on Rally Day (September 12, 2021). If you would like to participate in flower dedications, please sign up on the calendar, which will be placed in the hallway just outside of the kitchen. Please be sure to inform the church office for whom the flowers should be dedicated to, preceding the Sunday that you have assumed responsibility for the embellishment of the Nave. There will be recognition of your dedication in the church bulletin. Please also note that you will need to submit a $40 check to the church office for the flowers. The check should be paid to the order of Resurrection Lutheran Church, and should include a memo which identifies that the donation is for the church flowers. Sending great thanks to all who partake in serving and glorifying God and RELC, through your gifts of flowers during the worship service.

Helpful Tips for Our Young Families During Worship

A bit of noise from children of all ages is indeed a wonderful blessing throughout our church. But if you feel the need for an additional space, our lounge around the corner is fully stocked for your use. Speakers in the space allow you to hear the service so you won’t miss anything. You will find a changing table and a couple of couches, which may be a welcomed sight for nursing mothers. Since we are maintaining physical distancing, we encourage you also to use our “pray-ground,” the carpeted area with table and small chairs, at the back of the church.

Faith Formation Calendar

Click below for the current faith formation calendar that includes activities and resources for all ages:

RELC Home Pentecost Faith Formation Calendar 5/23/2021 - 11/28/2021.pdf

Monday Evening Bible Study on Themes of Justice in the Bible

This Bible Study continues on Monday evenings at 6:30 and will meet for several weeks. This series focuses on how themes of justice variously appear in the Bible, in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures. If you are interested in participating, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. All are welcome to join in!

For Your Prayers at Home

In addition to our usual prayers of intercession in our home worship, we encourage your prayers throughout the week for the following:

• Roy Guenther
• Nancy MacDonald
• Bob MacDonald
• Grant Aldonis
• Norm Olsen
• Ellie Barnes
• Judy Frank
• Effie Stallsmith
• Malcolm Stark
• Barb Jensen
• Charlotte Boeck
• Lynn Kiewel
• Phillip Swingler
• Maria Liwski
• Tucker Dean
• Irene Belcher
• Sharon Kravetz
• Analyse, Ramon, and Nicky Villatoro
• John and Anneliese Arnold
• Julie Bates
• The family of Janet Wray
• The family of John Showman

For those whom you know, consider sending a card, or an email, or make a phone call. These additional expressions of prayerfulness can make a big, healing difference in people’s lives and promote their sense of well-being. For current contact information, if you don’t have it, kindly reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Prayer Requests

Should you desire to make prayer requests for persons you care about, or desire prayer for other concerns, please contact Pastor Linman with those requests: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 703-972-2076. Pastor will make certain that the names you provide will be included in the Prayers of Intercession for Sundays, and for your prayers throughout the week. Making your requests known to Pastor Linman will allow him to follow up with you directly – as your requests for prayer help set the agenda for our Pastor’s ministry at Resurrection Church.

Arlington County Covid-19 Response

Click here for the latest updates on our county’s pandemic response as well as official and current information concerning vaccinations.

Secret Santa Project: Target Gift Cards for Arlington Public Assistance Clients

You can help make Christmas brighter for some of Arlington's most vulnerable residents by making a donation to our Secret Santa Project from November 7- 28.

Make all checks payable to the Church and put Secret Santa on the memo line. Drop checks in the offering plate or mail them to Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church 6201 Arlington Blvd. Arlington VA 22205- 2034. You can also use the Donate Now link in the upper right corner of our website. Or you can purchase your own Target gift cards in amounts of $25.00 or less and use the same methods mentioned above for getting them to the Church.

Many of our Benevolence partners use the gift card model because, among other reasons, the recipient of the cards gets to choose just the right gifts for the members of their family and it's been shown to help strengthen family bonds when gifts are selected by parents or other loved ones.

If you have questions contact Gail Flatness 703 944 3462 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for your generosity,
Your Social Ministry Committee

Current Routine for Worship Indoors

We continue our worship indoors this Sunday at 10:00am. To alleviate any concerns and to help prepare you for your return, here is what you can expect:

First, out of loving concern for young children and others not yet able to be vaccinated, we ask that ALL worshipers wear facial masks. Secondly, we will maintain physical distancing, erring on the side of caution. These two basic practices serve as the foundation for safety and guide all other practices.

Upon arrival: kindly find your seats promptly on arrival to avoid congregating in the narthex. Every other pew will be available for seating. Please do not try to sit in pews taped off. Ushers will be available to assist you with seating options.

Offering: your offerings will not be collected. However, offering plates located near the front of the church are available for your use. When you come forward for communion, you may place your offering in one of the plates on stands near the chancel.

Communion: Holy Communion will be offered in both kinds, with bread being dropped into your hands, palms facing up, and wine administered from a pouring chalice into a container you bring from home. Intinction, dipping bread into the cup, is not permitted for reasons of hygiene. Communion will be continuous, with worshipers forming one line in the center aisle to receive both bread and wine at the direction of ushers. One side of the church will commune first, and then we’ll move to communing the other side. Return to your seats via the side aisles closest to you.

Upon Departure: kindly leave the nave promptly at the direction of ushers and avoid once again congregating in the narthex. If you wish to remain on church grounds for conversation, and we hope you do, please adjourn to the fellowship hall downstairs or outdoors beyond the Washington Blvd. entrance.

Misc. Considerations: Automatic hand sanitizer dispensers on stands are available for your use in several locations in the church building. If you forget your face mask, we have extras for you, and likewise small paper cups if you forget a container for communion. Worship indoors will be very similar to that which we have been doing outdoors, a simplified, somewhat shorter version of Resurrection’s normal worship practice.

We very much look forward to seeing you in church!

The best ways to contact Pastor Linman

Here are the best and most direct ways to contact Pastor Linman. The email address given for his professional and pastoral use is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Pastor Linman’s direct dial phone number in the church office is: 703-972-2076. Please leave a message there if Pastor does not answer. He monitors and responds to his messages throughout the day even when he's not in the office. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you.

Other Announcements?

Should you have announcements that you wish to communicate in this weekly message as committee chairs or those responsible for other ministry initiatives at Resurrection, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by late Wednesday mornings for inclusion in the message for the coming Thursday. Thanks!

Week of the Last Sunday after Pentecost, Reign of Christ

Dear Friends in Christ:

This past Sunday was the Last Sunday after Pentecost – Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday – which brought to a close another year in our church’s liturgical, seasonal calendar. This coming Sunday, November 28, is the First Sunday in Advent, which becomes a kind of liturgical “Happy New Year” for us as we embark on a new year of grace. In the three-year lectionary cycle, we now enter a year that features Luke’s Gospel on many of the Sundays of the year.

While we refer to the liturgical years as cycles, and that is true, as each year features the same festivals and seasons with lectionary readings appointed for a three-year repeating pattern, I invite you to think of our sacred time as spiraling, not simply cyclical. Yes, there are repeating cycles, but time also marches on into the future, namely, into God’s promised future when the divine promise is that Christ will come again to usher in the fullness, the completeness of God’s dominion even here on earth.

So, the cycles do not simply repeat themselves. While the festivals and readings do repeat, they offer the story of Christ and of God’s scriptural word in ever changing seasons and epochs of human and ecclesial history. This season of our life together in this world continues to be marked by the claims of the global pandemic. This season of our life together also features increasing concerns about climate change, as weather-related extremities are increasing in number and intensity from one year to the next. The timeless word will inevitably speak in new and poignant ways in relation to the particularities of our historical moments.

Because of the changes and chances of life, the appointed lectionary readings and the themes of the festivals that we observe and celebrate can take on new meanings for us. The timeless, changeless truths of God’s word erupt with nuances of meaning, renewed emphases on eternal meaning, which results in a freshness of the word in whatever season of history we enter into. In such ways, we come to understand anew that “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

Considering Advent, it is perhaps my favorite season of the church year, for a major feature of its energies anchors us in our present time, while pointing us also to God’s promised future. That is to say, Advent is not simply a looking back, though it involves that to be sure as we hear again proclaimed the ancient words of the prophets and others who heralded Christ’s first coming. And yes, Advent culminates in the celebration of Christmas, a looking back to the birth of Christ, but this time also reveals the ways in which God’s word becomes flesh, incarnate, among us even now. That said, again, Advent speaks directly to our particular time now, the between times of Christ’s first advent and the promise of Christ’s ultimate advent to come again to usher in the fullness of God’s reign of peace, well-being, of commonwealth for all people and all of creation.

Our contemporary in between times can be fraught, as if we are caught in a kind of limbo between what Christ started some two thousand years ago and that future promised time shrouded in mystery about when and how Christ will return. And this two-thousand-year (so far) history can seem like a long time, especially when the earliest Christians expected the immanent return of Christ perhaps even in their lifespans. But as I have been fond of saying in Bible Studies and sermons, two thousand years even in the time of human evolution and societal development, not to mention geologic and cosmic and divine time, is but the blink of an eye. While we might claim delay, from God’s perspective there may be no delay at all.

And even amidst our already-but-not-yet epoch, we confess that Christ is fully present with us in word and sacrament, while the Holy Spirit continues through these means to guide us into all truth. Moreover, this is not wasted time, for God has been sending us on a mission for two millennia to proclaim in word and deed the good news of Christ in a world desperate for such good news.

Thus, as we continue to bask in Christ’s presence, and as we look to God’s promised future in Christ, Advent, finally, is a season of hopefulness, indicated by the seasonal color of blue which will be featured on the vestments that I wear and the cloth adorning the place of proclaiming the word. In Christ, we have abiding hope even amidst a seemingly hopeless time in the life of our troubled world. It is that spirit of hopefulness which makes the season of Advent so very compelling to me, and perhaps to you, too.

Here’s what you can expect programmatically in our life together as a congregation in the coming four weeks of Advent:

• Wednesdays in Advent (December 1, 8, 15, 22): Advent Evening Prayer via Zoom at 7:00 pm featuring Resurrection members who will offer reflections on what gives them hope in a seemingly hopeless time in our troubled world.
• Sunday, December 12 at 3:30 pm: A worship event for all ages, Parsonage outdoors, the Light of Christ in a season of shadows.
• Sunday, December 19 at 10:00 am: Service of Lessons and Carols as part of our usual Sunday worship.
• Sunday, December 19 after worship: decorating our church for Christmas.
• Sunday, December 19 at 5:00 pm: Christmas Caroling and Worship outside the Parsonage, an opportunity for those unable to worship with us indoors to share in singing and worship in anticipation of Christmas.

With abiding hopefulness in Christ Jesus as we await his advent now and in future days and years to come,

Pastor Jonathan Linman

Please join us for a live stream of our 10:00am Worship Serivce on Sunday, November 21, 2021, the Last Sunday After Pentecost and Christ the King Sunday. If you missed the service, then please click below for a replay.

• Worship Bulletin for November 21, 2021
• Pastor Linman's sermon transcript

Last Sunday after Pentecost 25/Lectionary 34B, Reign of Christ, John 18:33-37

Picture Pilate’s headquarters, the place where Jesus was summoned to be questioned concerning the complaints about him brought by the religious authorities. Pilate was the Roman governor for the territory of the Jewish people, an agent of an ancient superpower, the Roman Empire.

Given that, Pilate’s headquarters may well have been an impressive place architecturally, and no doubt outfitted with some very nice things. Roman ruins suggest some pretty opulent buildings.

To help your imagination, think of the many embassy buildings located throughout the District of Columbia. Such images might help you imagine Pilate’s headquarters.

Surely Pilate’s place came with all the trappings of power. Power in a worldly sense. Maybe there were mosaics adorning the walls, ceilings and floors that pictured the emperor or perhaps military conquests by Roman armies. Maybe chariots and horses were depicted. All symbols which suggest raw power, perhaps that conveyed through violence.

Today is the last Sunday after Pentecost, known as the Reign of Christ, or Christ the King Sunday.

Thus it is that those who decided which biblical stories to include in the Revised Common Lectionary chose the story from John’s gospel for this day, the story about Jesus coming to Pilate’s headquarters to be questioned about being a king.

Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jewish people?” Jesus then queried Pilate, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate then revealed, “Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”

Then Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world.”

The world in John’s Gospel cannot finally be reduced to the spatial qualities of ancient cosmology, with the world or the earth “down here” and heaven or eternity or the divine realm “up there.”

Rather, world in John designates particular qualities of power relationships and ordering of societies that stand in distinct contrast to eternal or heavenly or sacred qualities of such ordering. Remember that for John, eternal life is something that begins here on earth even now. Thus, God’s reign is on earth, as it is in heaven, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer.

So, when Jesus says to Pilate that his kingdom is not from this world, he’s saying that the qualities that mark the dominion with which he is associated are distinct from the ways of the world.

Jesus elaborates, revealing the ways of the world, “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Judeans. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

That is to say, Jesus seems to be implying that worldly ways would involve violent rebellion, insurrection to keep imperial hands off Jesus so that he might assert his own power over against that of Rome, fighting fire with fire, exchanging force with force.

Of course, it’s noteworthy that Jesus doesn’t directly admit to being a king. Pilate asked in response to Jesus seeming to imply he was a king, “So you are a king?” Jesus continues some evasion so as not to be labeled and misunderstood, and replies, “You say that I am a king.”

So, what’s going on here? How do we begin to make sense of this exchange between Pilate, the representative of empire, and Jesus who represents something quite distinct from empire?

The light of clarity begins to shine in the final half of the final verse of today’s gospel: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

“To testify to the truth.” That’s the opening to seeing what kind of kingdom, what kind of reign and dominion Jesus is associated with. The mission of this reign is to testify or witness to the truth.

“I came into this world to testify to the truth.” The Greek word translated testify here is the same word from which we receive the word martyr. So we might say that Jesus is to be martyred to the truth, or martyred because of or for the truth.

Which brings us directly to the cross.

I began this sermon by inviting you to imagine in your mind’s eye Pilate’s headquarters. What about Jesus’ headquarters, as it were? In Jesus’ kingdom, where does Jesus hold court? Where is his throne?

That place is Golgotha, a barren hill outside the city walls, a place of execution by Roman powers. That’s Jesus’ headquarters, if you will, a very different setting from that of Pilate’s place of power. The cross, then, is Jesus’ throne. Jesus holds court there offering words, final sayings from the life-giving tree of his throne, arms outstretched to take us all to himself, testifying to the truth about himself and about God:

• To his executioners, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
• To the repentant criminal hanging next to him, Jesus revealed, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
• To his mother and beloved disciples, Jesus lovingly offered, “Woman, behold your son…. Behold, your mother.”
• To the divine one whom Jesus called Father, Jesus pleadingly asked in agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
• Describing his condition, Jesus stated, “I thirst.”
• Testifying to completion, Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished.”
• Finally, again addressing God, Jesus says on his final breath, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

These are not statements from the worldly kind of king housed in the likes of Pilate’s headquarters. Indeed, Jesus’ realm is not from that world.

What happens to Jesus on the cross is his embodied testimony to the truth, the truth that God loves us and gives all for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave is only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Truth is a big word in John’s Gospel. The truth about Jesus’ identity has its fullest and most vivid display on the cross and in the empty tomb.

Jesus’ kingdom, his reign, his dominion is one of truth and truth telling, a truth that sets us free. Elsewhere in John, Jesus is recorded as having said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

All of this is indeed in stark contrast to the qualities of dominion in the kingdoms of this world, which are more often marked by death not life, imprisonment not freedom, hatred not love, lies not truth.

Fast forward to our own day. Where now is it that Christ reigns? How is it that this kingdom, this dominion comes about even now? Martin Luther helps us here in the Small Catechism and his explanation to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Your kingdom come.” Luther explains that God’s kingdom in Christ comes about “whenever our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that through the Holy Spirit’s grace we believe God’s holy word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity.”

In other words, this kingdom is not located in a headquarters, but in the meeting place of assembly. Right here in this place when the Spirit assembles us around word and sacrament when the truth is testified to again and again right here in our midst, the Spirit generating our belief in God’s holy word, the Spirit birthing our godly lives here in time and ultimately in eternity.

This kingdom of Christ finds its way to us in the power of the Spirit, even entering into our night visions which are often night terrors as suggested by today’s first reading from the apocalyptic narrative from the book of Daniel which speaks of a throne of fiery flames, wheels burning with fire, and a stream of fire flowing from the One who sits in judgment of all people.

But in Christ, these night visions also reveal, as Daniel writes, “one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven.” To this one, Christ, was given a dominion that is everlasting, that will not pass away, a reign that will never be destroyed (cf. Daniel 7:13-14). Thanks be to God that night terrors give way to the reassuring, calming presence of Christ, offering the peace of Christ.

It’s into this reign of Christ that we are baptized, the dominion of Christ finding its way to us in water and the word all wrapped up in the Spirit’s coming for our own personal Pentecost – thus fulfilling in small but powerful ways what appears in today’s reading from Revelation where we hear the truth that Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Christ is the one who loves us and frees us from our sins by his blood, and makes us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and father, Christ who is given glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (cf. Revelation 1:5-6)

Moreover, this reign of Christ also finds its way into our own bodies when we eat the bread and drink from the cup, becoming participants with Christ in his holy reign.

Finally, the reign of Christ finds its way to the wider world when we leave this place, fed and thirst quenched, to go back to that world bearing the truth of Christ the king in word and deed as we lovingly serve our neighbors in need.

This is what we celebrate and extol on this last Sunday in the church year, another day to honor Christ our King. Amen.