God as King? I don't think so ....

To someone from a democracy, in which the Queen is s figurehead living in a far-away country, the idea of God as King has always been a bit foreign.

This post from Rory Cooney, sharing the back story of one of his recent hymns has some interesting quotes, which got me thinking about it some more.

" the image of God we've inherited from monarchy and haven't shaken off, an image of God derived from power"

Since moving to Ireland, I've been struck by the extent to which monarchy is the model of church for so many people: bishops are princes, and the Pope is the king.   It just doesn't feel right though.   A king is just not something I need in my psyche.

Faith is sustained through the love of the person of Christ

Some quotes from:   http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/these-chicago-catholics-have-a-game-plan-for-evangelization-72415/

the Christian faith must contain a personal encounter with Christ because “the reality is, though, that people will find it difficult to die for a detached notion.”

Creating discipleship is more than an ethical problem – and Catholicism is more than “an intellectual system with a moral code attached to it.”

The faith can't be sustained solely as an idea, or even as the sacrifice required in the Christian life and as seen in martyrs and saints, he said. Rather, it's sustained through the love of the person of Christ.

On liturgical dance

Great quote on liturgical dance, from http://www.musicformass.blog/2017/05/30/what-came-first-rhythm-or-melody/

I’m not altogether convinced by the sort of liturgical dance I have seen, because it tends to be done at people rather than by people, and I think the point about liturgy is that we all do it together, especially the music.

Amen to that.  Liturgical dance is said to be praying with our bodies. But is it prayer for others who are just watching, not taking part. No matter how attentively they're watching, they're still present but not participating.   Their bodies are not engaged.