How Great Thou Art

Sermon for Christ the King RCL 11/22/2009, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: 2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37

We have a problem this Sunday, my friends.
This Sunday is commonly called Christ the King Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the Church Year, when we gather together all that we have heard and learned over the course of the past year and collect all of that together in celebration and commemoration while pointing ahead to the final end of the story.

The final end of this story is Jesus Christ, who not only is the Alpha – the beginning of our human story – but also the Omega – the final goal of humanity. We proclaim his today as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

And this is where our problem begins. We Americans do not particularly like kings. In fact, we rejected the whole idea of having a king to rule over us some 230 years ago! In general, we Americans have been known to mistrust those in authority and to fight to protect our individual liberties at any cost.

Some in the Church, recognizing this problem, have attempted to change the language we use in order to address this issue. Many of you have heard it. Instead of the kingdom of God, they speak now of the reign of God. As if somehow that change in wording is supposed to be less offensive to people today.

But there is some value in this change of language. If we think it through, “kingdom” suggests a place, a particular realm where a king is sovereign. But our King cannot be defined by boundaries of space and time. The word “reign”, however, points to the personal rule of the one on the throne. “The reign of the King.”

But, no matter what precise words we may use, we do worship Christ as King of all the earth. Alive today, active in guiding the world, we honor Him this day as King. No lands are beyond his reach; no language is beyond his understanding; no person is beyond his touch. He is the faithful witness: the one who stood before Pilate and Herod and the Sanhedrin to proclaim the truth, who offered his life in his Passion for the healing of the nations.

He is the firstborn of the dead: the first raised from the dead among many brothers and sisters, a large family of his own redeeming, the one who loves us and frees us from our sins.

He is the ruler of the kings of the earth: every earthly king and president and emperor exists to serve him and to do his will. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice.

In spite of all these words of praise, it is impossible for us truly to understand with our minds what it means that Christ is King.

In a few minutes, we will sing together the great evangelical hymn, How Great Thou Art.
The story of this hymn is amazing. It struck me this week as a parable of Christ as King of all the earth. The words of the hymn were first written by Carl Gustav Boberg in Sweden in 1885 after experiencing an amazing summer-time thunderstorm. Three years later it was paired with an old Swedish folk tune and it began to be sung in Swedish protestant churches. It had nine verses originally, but only the first 2 verses of the hymn as we know it today. The song migrated to the Swedish immigrant community in Estonia, where it was appreciated by a German Baptist. He translated it into German and the hymn began to grow in popularity in Germany. The German version of the hymn was then translated into Russian and it moved into Russia.

Stuart Hine was a British Methodist missionary sent to work among the people living in the Ukranian mountains in the 1930’s. Hine learned this great hymn while working there in the Ukraine. He wrote the third verse (“And when I think, that God his Son not sparing…”) based on the actual words of Ukranian Christians who were experiencing a profound repentance and conversion of heart.

Later, after WW II, Hine was working among Polish refugees in England. Once, he spoke with a Polish Christian man who was separated from his wife, and who, since it was highly unlikely that he would find his wife again, expressed his longing to be re-united with her among the saints in the age to come. Hine wrote the fourth verse which we know today. “When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation, what joy shall fill my heart…”

But the story continues! Hine published the hymn in a Gospel songbook which British missionaries took with them around the world. And a missionary working in Africa brought this hymn back with him to America in 1951. In a few years, How Great Thou Art became one of the signature songs of the Billy Graham Crusades. And now it ranks as the second most popular hymn in the world behind Amazing Grace.

Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, England, Africa, America. This King moves among all of the people of the earth, and works to touch the hearts of all with his power and his love. We humans tend to think so small: my town, my people, my country. But our King knows no boundaries of time or space.

Do you think that Carl Boberg, walking home from church in high summer in Sweden, getting wet in the rain, viewing the rainbow over the bay as the bright summer overtook the sky once more, - do you think he could have ever imagined the Christians all over the world for decades and centuries to come would sing the hymn of praise he wrote that day? Can any of us know how our King will use the offerings of our gifts and talents and treasures to increase his reign in the hearts of humanity?

The One who meets us in this place; the One who feeds us at this table; the One who teaches us how to live; this One is the King of all the earth. This Christ works and moves in ways that are beyond our understanding. He is the King. We are his kingdom; he reigns over us with grace and peace. And for that, we give our thanks and praise. Amen.