I pledge allegiance to -- what? . . . by Ben Groth

How many of you have been in a country where there was a real, live, monarch? I’m not talking about the Queen of England or the Prince of Wales, royalty with honorary titles, but about a King or Queen who is the center of power in the country. A real monarch makes commands that others must follow, and a real monarch demands obedience to the throne.

I recently spent a week in Saudi Arabia, a country that is ruled under a real, live King. I found the sense of political authority there to be much different than what I am used to here in the US. In the United States, I often feel that the government is sort of a wide-ranging, but diffuse organization that administrates much of the country. Although I may not agree with a specific decision by our congress, it was usually made by people who were elected by other folks in our country, and I understand that part of the “deal” in living in the US is that the elected representatives may not be who I wish they were, but that they were (ideally) voted in through a fair process.

The full name of Saudi Arabia is actually “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” and the country makes no effort to hide the fact that King Abdulaziz bin Saud is its ruler. On the contrary, portraits of him are a common sight, and many important buildings and institutions have his name in the title. Examples of this would be “King Abdulaziz Public Library” or “King Abdulaziz University.”

Take a look at a part of what serves as the Saudi Constitution (from Chapter 2, "Monarchy"):
Article 5
(a) The system of government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is that of a monarchy.
(b) Rule passes to the sons of the founding King, Abd al-Aziz Bin Abd al-Rahman al-Faysal Al Sa'ud, and to their children's children. The most upright among them is to receive allegiance in accordance with the principles of the Holy Koran and the Tradition of the Venerable Prophet.
(c) The King chooses the Heir Apparent and relieves him of his duties by Royal order.
(d) The Heir Apparent is to devote his time to his duties as an Heir Apparent and to whatever missions the King entrusts him with.
(e) The Heir Apparent takes over the powers of the King on the latter's death until the act of allegiance has been carried out.

Article 6   Citizens are to pay allegiance to the King in accordance with the holy Koran and the tradition of the Prophet, in submission and obedience, in times of ease and difficulty, fortune and adversity.

Article 7  Government in Saudi Arabia derives power from the Holy Koran and the Prophet's tradition.

We can see from this example that the Saudi State is very serious about two things, that it is an Islamic state, and that it intentionally centers political power around the King. Article 6 sounds somewhat similar to wedding vows in America, a pledge of allegiance through the best and worst times in our lives.

This Sunday, many Christians around the world will be celebrating Christ the King Sunday, and the question I’d like to ponder this week is this: What would our lives look like if we confessed Article 6 of the Saudi Arabian constitution in this way,

“[We] are to pay allegiance to [Christ] the King in accordance with the holy [Bible] and the tradition of the [Church], in submission and obedience, in times of ease and difficulty, fortune and adversity.”

Christ the King Sunday has a fascinating history, according to this article    by Carey Gardiner Mack:

Christ the King Sunday is a relatively new development. It does not bear the history of many long-held church traditions such as All Saints or Christmas or Easter and does not possess the deep and traditional biblical backing of these celebrations. Pope Pius XI brought Christ the King Sunday into the church's liturgical year in 1925. He was attempting to do several things, but mainly to advance the message of God in Christ over and against that of the political forces moving in the world at that time--people like Mussolini and Hitler.

The idea that Christ is King over and against earthly political forces and not just on the side of our own political forces is something we all need a strong reminder of. However, the best reminder comes not from me and my limited experience, but from the appointed Gospel text for Christ the King Sunday.  Take a look:  Luke 23:33-43

This is a disquieting image of our monarch, a profoundly ironic text in the light of what we normally associate with “Kingship.” To say, as this reading from Luke implies, that the moment of crucifixion is the strongest argument we can make for Christ’s Kingship is to actively subvert a culture that views wealth, power, and fame as the primary markers of success.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “The sermon on the mount is there for the purpose of being done. Only in doing can there be submission to the will of God. In doing God’s will we renounce every right and every justification of our own; we deliver ourselves humbly into the hands of the merciful Judge” .

In some ways, these words by Bonhoeffer are the hardest we can ever hear. When we are directed to a passage  Matthew Chapters 5-7  that blesses the poor, the peacemakers, the merciful, the meek, and the hungry (among others), we are confronted with a way of life that directly challenges how we are taught to evaluate a “successful” life in American culture.

We often work hard to align the authority of the gospel with our positions, beliefs, and prejudices, making sure that our rock and our foundation is built on nothing less than the  "Faith of Our Fathers" .

To proclaim Jesus as our King, we must abandon this and put Christ at the center by proclaiming the painful redemption of a broken world, not the righteousness of our own privilege. Some ideas for reflection this week:

• How do our political and social commitments detract from a life led in allegiance to Christ? How are they shaped by our faith? Do we strive to wed religion and politics as the Saudis do, or do we separate them into different compartments of our lives?

• How can we act differently to proclaim our allegiance to Christ through actions, not just in our creed? Where do we actually place Christ in our pecking order of authorities that influence our lives? How do we keep from letting our boss’s directives or media messages influence our decision making more than our faith?

Please feel free to join in the conversation, by leaving your comments and looking out for the comments of others. You can also join in an audio skype conversation Thursday at 7pm (EST), November 18. You need to have downloaded the program from skype.com and have a microphone with your computer (as most laptops do). Then add "bythewaycommunity" to your contacts list on skype, and call in on Thursday.