Earlier last week, an important event happened in the life of our Church of England.

I refer to the opening of the new General Synod, our Governing Body which together with the Bishops debates and formulates the policies and practices of the Church in this land.

Not everyone shares the view of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, an important Christian teacher in the early Church, who said:

Synods and councils I salute from a distance, for I know how troublesome they are. Never again will I sit in those gatherings of cranes and geese.

However, like all Synods, the General Synod is a far from perfect body, made up of a wide spectrum of humanity with all its foibles and differences. The coming 5 years of the life of this Synod will doubtless see times of rancour, disagreements, upsets and genuine pain but through all that, courageous decisions will be taken and the Will of God may well prevail, even if at times it seems a distant dream.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, in his opening address to this week’s Synod, spoke of seeking the Will of God as part of the vision. He said:

Once you’re here, you are also committed, just by being here and praying together, to listen and look for a vision that is that of the whole Church, a vision that is in accord with God’s purposes for His people…

He went on to say that Synod is part of our Church’s way of discerning God’s purpose for us and he reminded the members that they are to serve and nourish a vision.

Her Majesty the Queen, in her address to the Synod spoke from her own faith and reminded us what is at the centre of the Vision of which Archbishop Rowan spoke.

She spoke of the renewed hunger, in a world in which so much is false and short-lived, for that which endures and gives life its true meaning. She said that The Christian Church can speak uniquely to that need, for at the heart of our faith stands the conviction that all people, irrespective of race, background or circumstances, can find lasting significance and purpose in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Vision which we Christians are therefore to strive for is that which Jesus gave to us in the Gospel and nothing less will satisfy.

Later that same week, another important event occurred in the life of our Church, and that too, was about Vision.

I speak of the Confirmation service which was held here, in this Church, last Thursday when 45 people – 29 adults and 16 young people, committed themselves to our Lord and were themselves claimed by Christ as his new disciples, for whom the Vision of God and His Kingdom of Love are to be central to their lives.

At an important part in the service, they were asked,

Later they were asked whether they would seek and serve Christ in all people and whether they would acknowledge Christ’s authority of human society.

To these and other questions, they gave their ‘Yes’ and, in return they were told that God has called them by Name and made them his own.

What they were committing themselves to was nothing less than the Gospel of Jesus Christ which they promised would shape their lives – as it must shape the lives of all Christian people – as they, with us, grow into Christ’s own people who strive not only to see the Vision of God but to work for its fulfilment in our world today. That is their calling as it is for all of us – and it requires our total involvement. There is a truth that having a vision is fine but to make that vision real it requires a lot from us to fulfil it. As Cardinal Suenens once wrote in a book about Church Renewal:

Happy are those who dream dreams and are prepared to pay the price to make them come true.

For Jesus, the Vision or ‘dream’ was to win all hearts to His Father’s love and the price he paid to make that vision come true was the Cross.

Those who seek to work for God’s Vision for his world must be under no illusions – we are called to engage in a costly work. Being a Christian is no soft option. It demands, as the Poet T S Eliot put it, not less than everything.

That is the cost Christ Jesus paid in order to claim us as His own and if we are to claim hearts and lives for God, then it must be so for us.

Now that’s a tall order and therefore we need to constantly have a Vision of God which will draw us, compellingly, to himself. It is a wide vision and a big aspiration. As wide, in fact, as the Gospel itself, and as big as we can make it.

We all know, however, that there are many claims on our lives and it is not always possible to keep this Vision of God alive in our lives.

We know that, with the best intentions in the world, we sometimes slide from our following of Jesus Christ. Our hearts, on fire at moments when we say ‘Yes’ to God, as we did in Confirmation, are sometimes lukewarm.

So how do we keep the Vision of Christ and His Gospel alive in our hearts? Let today’s festival speak to us.

Today we keep the feast of Christ the King. It is the last Sunday of the Church Year and next week is the Church’s New Year’s Day – Advent Sunday when our thoughts and prayers turn again towards Christmas. Not the Christmas we see on television, in the shops, or in the world at large. That Christmas began some weeks ago and will end at midnight on Christmas Day. The Christmas I speak of is the beginning of God’s vision for His people – and it begins when He comes amongst us to live our life from within. The big word for this beginning is Incarnation – which to put more simply is what happens in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

But, as our Church year unfolds, we learn that this Christmas beginning moves towards its climax which is the Easter event of Crucifixion and Resurrection. Resurrection itself leads to the Ascension and to the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost.

As we walk together through the Church Year we take part in the Vision of God constantly unfolding as week by week, we are shown the big picture.

It culminates today in this feast of Christ the King with its Vision of Christ reigning in Glory, in Heaven, at God’s right hand.

As Paul writes in today’s New Testament Lesson – part of his letter to the Ephesians – In Christ God worked a great power and  put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

It is a huge picture that Paul paints of Christ in Majesty and in Glory – the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who rules over all that God has ever created not only on earth but in the entire Universe.

In one of the country parishes where I served before coming here, the East Window was of Christ the King, reigning in glory. He is pictured seated on a throne, in robes of richest red, holding an orb – the kingly symbol of the world, surmounted by a Cross. At his feet is the Gospel opened with the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet – Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end. On his head, Christ wears a crown and from his side there is an arching rainbow, the symbol of holiness, divine promise, peace and hope.

Whenever I think of Christ the King, it is this image that I looked at above the altar every Sunday, that comes to mind.

It isn’t that hard to picture it because I told the people that when I left I would probably take their East Window out and carry it with me. They obviously worried that I was serious because before I could get to it, they presented me with a large framed photograph of it and it hangs in my study, just above the computer!

So I can look at it every day and remind myself of this big vision of Christ the Lord of all – the Christ I profess to serve and whom I hope I do serve. It calls me back constantly to the Vision of the Gospel that I must proclaim – as you must proclaim, if we are to bring to God’s care and love all whom he sends to us for Him to bless and love into His Kingdom – through us.

The trouble, of course, with big visions is that we sometimes think they are beyond our reach. Even Christ in Glory seems so far beyond us that we can do little but stand in awe before Him.

It’s a bit like looking at that bright speck in the night sky at present, not far from the moon – which is the planet Mars. We can look at it, but we cannot really comprehend it – it’s all too vast. We become insignificant in the face of the constellations as we stand, miniscule on this revolving globe, held in place by something called gravity.

So we have to bring this glory of Christ down to earth. Not in the sense of making it less than what it is but rather of locating it in another place.

The clue to that place is in the hymn, ‘At the name of Jesus’ which, after taking us to heaven where Christ reigns, turns us towards ourselves.

Verse 5 begins:  In your hearts enthrone him – and that is what we must do. We must find a space in the very heart of our being where Christ can reign in glory. In that way, we bring the Vision of Christ right into our lives and from there he reigns – through us.

People see him in our lives – radiating from the centre – pouring out his love to others – claiming them for himself. That is what we must aim for.

This is action of discipleship – not just telling people about God but showing him in our lives – showing that he matters to us and that we are different because he is there. The Queen told Synod that they must speak of Christ from the heart of faith. So must we – and we speak best not in words but in actions.

For that speaking to be genuine and authentic we must first worship Christ as we find him in our own lives.

It is here, in the very heart of us that Christ must be enthroned. There we can, as St. Paul reminds us in today’s lesson, know him, so that with the eyes of our heart enlightened we may feel his power working in us – the power to love in His name – a power that is the limitless power of God. We have this power within us because Christ our King reigns in our hearts. Nothing, therefore, can stop us from showing Christ to the world. Except of course, our own timidity.