Christ the King (Year B, 2009)

Entrance	Crown him with many crowns
Kyrie	Kyrie II from Paschal Mass (Alan Rees)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Psalm	The Lord is King (Paul Wellicome)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Lord, for the years
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Eucharistic Acclamations (Bernadette Farrell)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Christ the King (mcb)
Communion	Te Saeculorum Principem (chant) & Jesus, Remember Me (Taizé)
Postcommunion	The Truth From Above (Traditional, arr. R Vaughan Williams)
Recessional	Hail Redeemer, King Divine

Christ’s kingship, today’s readings tell us, is characterised not by grandeur but by truth:

It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen.

and in our Lord’s own words:

I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.

We sang Vaughan Williams’s haunting arrangement of the traditional This is the truth sent from above. The key to it was not to let the voice of the narrator (in this case the choir) intrude on the narrative itself, with its simple yet profound encapsulation of the whole history of salvation. We sang it unaccompanied, and began and ended with unison verses. The effect was arresting, at the end especially, I thought.

As well as our opening and closing hymns celebrating our Lord’s kingship, our hymn at the preparation of the gifts prayed for Christ’s kingdom to come on earth:

Lord for ourselves; in living power remake us –
self on the cross, and Christ upon the throne,
past put behind us, for the future take us:
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

Te saeculorum principem is the office hymn for second vespers of today’s feast. We sang it in alternation with the words from St Luke’s Gospel, addressed to the crucified King: Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.