her imperial highness the intern

Naming matters. Names are symbols that describe, that represent, that inform. I am a King. I am a Kaiser. I am neither a man... the first prerequisite for actually holding the positions that my names indicate... nor a monarch. I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister a cousin, a niece and, hopefully, someday... an aunt. I am a King (thought aesthetically I prefer king). It is a joy to be a king, it is a joy to be identify myself this way. I could not give that label up.

So I didn't. But, for two years I have been a Kaiser, too. Wife is still something I am getting used to, partner I like better. I can be a partner. I am connected to a family that is not my own, but that I can make my own. I am working on all these new relationships that are represented by this new label. I am a work in progress as a Kaiser.

Which is why I am a king kaiser. My name is the topic of conversation everywhere that I go. My friends joke about the different royal labels that we can name our children so that they can have the most royal names ever. Strangers, mostly who see my credit cards, driver's license or name tags, comment on it all the time. Before I even started working at MBCC... they were making fun of my name. Labels matter. Names matter.

In the same way, what we call Jesus, how we refer to God matters. I am supposed to preach the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It is Christ the King Sunday, according to the liturgical calendar.

Not a name I am comfortable with. Oh the irony.

I can be a king... this is about family and not about royalty. But can I conceive of a Savior who is a king? who IS royal?

Born and bred in a democracy that rejected monarchy, the practical concept of king is incredibly foreign to me. Born and bred in a feminism that rejects patriarchs, the ideology of a king is foreign (and little repulsive) to me. So what do I do? What do I preach? Can I reconcile my images of Jesus, my symbols of Jesus and my labels for Jesus with Christ the King?

It remains to be seen. Check in after Thanksgiving to find out (and I am taking suggestions...).