St. Ann rectory has the most doors of any rectory I have ever lived in. If I start in my bathroom, I have to go through 8 sets of doors to get into the church. Likewise, if I start in the kitchen, and go up the back stairwell, it is 7 sets of doors. If go up through the main staircase, it is only 5 sets of doors. There is one place in my room where I can see 7 sets of doors. In hallway outside my bedroom, I can see 12 doors. There are other places where I can see 11, 10 and 8, without moving. Finally, there is one spot where, if I stand just right, I can see 13 doorways. I sometimes joke that the architect of St. Ann’s rectory was paid by the doorway…
And then, to complicate matters, there is no ONE master key that opens all the doors of this St. Ann plant. There are a few keys that open a lot of the doors (and I don’t want to even think about how many people have those…) but there is no one MASTER key that opens all the doors to this parish. In that spot just outside my door where I can see 12 doors, I need at least 4 different keys. You need one key for the parish center, and another for the PC kitchen. Another for the men’s club storage closet. Another for the bar. And the concessions stand. And the closet that turns on the lights on the field. And for the principal’s office. And the Early Childhood center. But, if you wanted to get into every room and every place of this Saint Ann parish with one key, you could not do it.
So, what does this have to do with the feast of Christ the King? Just this. I wonder how often in my own life, I live my relationship with Christ the King like the doors to the rectory and parish plant. I wonder if I have ever given Christ the master key to all the rooms of MY life.
• The Lord can be King of the religious side of my life <show a key> – I’ll let him in there. But the rest of the doors of my life are closed and off limits.
• He can come into the front part of the rectory – I’ll meet him there. <show a key> But heaven forbid, I allow him into my office – let’s keep that work/spirituality division nice and clean.
• He’s welcome into the kitchen where I cook and prepare meals, <show a key> but the doorway to the TV room is off limits. Why should it matter what I watch.
• Jesus can be the King of my table fellowship – sure, I’ll invite him, in prayer, to be present at every meal. But I am not going to give him the proverbial key to the door of my wallet – that money is mine to use as I see fit.
• I will let him into the “personal side’ of my world, but don’t ask me to put that ‘personal faith’ into practice in the public world by protesting the death penalty, or by making a stand on gun violence, or predatory lending practices, or letting Syrian immigrants into our country, or any one of a hundred social justice issues that we are invited to be aware of.
Folks, either Jesus is the King of ALL of your life, or he is not King. Either we give Jesus the key to all the doors of our world or he is NOT Christ the King.
This week, take a look inward. Who has the keys to the rooms of your life? Your personal doors? Your family life doors? Your sexual life doors? Your professional life doors? Your public life doors? Who owns the most keys to the doors of your life? Is there anyone who owns ALL of them?
I suspect that all of us live with a lot of doors that separate one area of our world from other areas, just like the doors of the rectory. On this feast of Christ the King, there is just one question that really matters. Have you given Christ the Master key to your life?