As the first chapter of A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh ends, young Christopher Robin asks the narrator, “Is that the end of the story?” They reply, “That’s the end of that one. There are others.” And Christopher Robin talks about how he—or maybe it’s Pooh—remembers the other stories, but he also forgets. And anyway, he “likes having it told to him again. Because then it’s a real story and not just a remembering” (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1926, p. 20).

Last Sunday (November 24), we celebrated Christ the King (and marked the end of the church year) by remembering all the stories of Jesus throughout the seasons of the church year (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost). By hearing and telling the stories again, they become real again and connect us again to the one we worship – Christ our King.

The words of “O Christ, What Can It Mean for Us” (ELW 431) reminds us of all the ways Scripture shows us that we worship a different kind of king:

1 O Christ, what can it mean for us

to claim you as our king?

What royal face have you revealed

whose praise the church would sing?

Aspiring not to glory’s height,

to power, wealth, and fame,

you walked a diff’rent, lowly way,

another’s will your aim.

2 You came, the image of our God,

to heal and to forgive,

to shed your blood for sinners’ sake

that we might rise and live.

To break the law of death you came,

the law of love to bring:

a diff’rent rule of righteousness,

a diff’rent kind of king.

3 Though some would make their greatness felt

and lord it over all,

you said the first must be the last

and service be our call.

O Christ in workplace, church, and home,

let none to power cling;

for still, through us, you come to serve,

a diff’rent kind of king.

4 You chose a humble human form

and shunned the world’s renown;

you died for us upon a cross

with thorns your only crown.

But still, beyond the span of years,

our glad hosannas ring,

for now at God’s right hand you reign,

a diff’rent kind of king!

Thanks be to God that ours is a different kind of king and we live subject to his rule of love.