How can we worry about impeachment when the Megxit story continues to unfold?

In case you have been off-planet for the past few weeks, Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have decided to call it quits on cutting ribbons and waving to crowds.  The press has dubbed it Megxit. Oh, the pay is good and the hours aren’t bad, but it’s a younger brother job and there’s not much future in it. Harry and Meghan want out.

Apparently, the prodigal prince plans on gathering his young family and the bit of the inheritance he calls his own and taking a journey into a far country.  It turns out that Canada is the far country of choice. But not all Canadians are sure they should welcome Harry, Meghan, and the no longer senior royalty entourage. Maybe Canadians just don’t like the prospect of reckless living.

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s most important newspaper and just this week spoke out against a Megxit to Canada.  The opinion piece was titled, Harry and Meghan, and Why Members of the Royal Family Can’t Live in Canada. You ought to read it. I had not expected such theological insight from Canada’s most important newspaper.

The editorial begins by reminding its readers the House of Windsor is Canada’s royal house, too. But there’s a big difference on this side of the Atlantic. The Canadian monarchy is virtual; it neither rules nor resides. Our royals don’t live here. They reign from a distance. Close to our hearts, far from our hearths.

It goes on to say, Canadians like their monarchy, and visits by the Queen and other members of the Royal Family tend to produce outpourings of public enthusiasm. But while the people who embody the Crown pay visits from time to time, they don’t set up a home on the premises.

How Canadian are so many of us American Christians.

Jesus is King. Christians have been saying that for a long time, long before Kanye West.

C.S. Lewis plays with the image in Mere Christianity, and I love the picture he paints. Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

Yes, we have a monarch, King Jesus.  Maybe we could start calling Christmas “Christxit.” He left his Father’s throne above, we sing.

But to borrow the Globe and Mail’s brilliant insight, like Canadians we modern Christians prefer a virtual monarchy that neither rules nor resides. Reign from a distance, King Jesus.

Christmas and Easter, sappy stories with happy endings: Jesus sometimes produces outpourings of public enthusiasm.  But please, Lord, don’t set up home on the premises.

Of course, that is exactly what Jesus did.  He set up home on the premises. Our premises. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)  He intends to be close to heart and hearth. No virtual King, he.

Taylor Hudson, the great missionary, is credited with the line, “If Jesus is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.”

Too often we want to live in the far country, our lives spent in reckless living. We want a Lord who is not Lord at all. A virtual king will take no notice of our reckless love for injustice and petty pleasure. He won’t hear our reckless gossip and slander or see our reckless rejection of the outsider. A virtual king won’t care that we like his likeness on the money we use to satisfy our selfish longing – that even with his picture on our currency, it is mammon by any other name.

How Canadian we are.  We want a virtual King. We don’t mind if he visits from time to time, but, please Lord, don’t set up a home on the premises.

See you Sunday