Until now I’ve been a little sceptical of ‘Kingdom Season’. In the time between All Saints and Advent, the language of majesty and ruling comes to the fore – and all that talk of dominion can seem just too imperialist and patriarchal, too like the structures of power around us. This year, though, it’s felt different. Perhaps it is because now the gap between what counts as glory, rule, and might in the world and the values of God’s Kingdom have just seemed so far apart that the real meaning, the real subversive intent, of the scriptural words feels so much more apparent. For when Jesus, the prophets and the Apostles speak of the God who is truly powerful, truly righteous, they are not borrowing words and ideas from the courts and empires around them. They are striking at the heart of the imperial rule that surrounds and seeks to control them, denying its grip and asserting instead what is truly real and truly divine.

To use the language of God’s Kingdom is to challenge our society’s whole vocabulary, the words we used to describe the world. And it feels especially important when those in authority in this world are so open about their own ambition and when concern for the common good seems to be breaking down across the world. To look to God’s Kingdom, to speak of divine majesty and glory, is to resist the structures and priorities of self-seeking desire, and to point instead to the new horizon, where all are loved by God and where all are precious in God’s sight.