"No Kings Day" | Bishop Diana Akiyama | Sunday, June 15, 2025

If you are a follower of Jesus, every Sunday is No King's Day. Every Sunday is No King Day. Why do I say that? Because what we know from the gospel: whenever Jesus mentions a king, or the kingdom, or the reign, he is talking about God, not himself. He is talking about a reality that is not an earthly reality. He is not talking about an earthly king.

So he tells us over and over again: this earthly idea of one man ruling as king is over. In the kingdom of God, every Sunday is No King Day.

What we know from that scene that we all read about on Good Friday is that the powers that be were trying to instigate something. They were trying to belittle, or goad, or humiliate Jesus into doing something that would reflect back their desire for conflict. They wanted him to resist, to fight, to meet power with power. But he did not. He remained peaceful. He remained loving. He was even forgiving. And he even healed a soldier who came to arrest him.

All those efforts to instigate some kind of resistance in the formula that the powers that be would recognize was not engaged. Why? Because every day that we follow Jesus is No King's Day.

Now, I could say that if you're an Episcopalian, every day is No King's Day, because when the colonies were looking for a bishop to lead them, they went to the Church of England and asked for a bishop to come consecrate a bishop—the first bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Not called that then, but soon would be called that.

The king said, "You must promise to put yourself under the authority of the king. You must promise fealty to the King of England." And of course, the colonies were like, "No."

So the Church of England said, "Then we will not send a bishop to consecrate a bishop for you." So where did we go? We went to Scotland, and that's how Samuel Seabury ended up to be the first bishop of our Episcopal Church in the United States—because the colony said no king on this land. We will get consecrated through another part of the Anglican Communion, but not in any way, shape, or form so that we have to swear allegiance to a king.

I'm just letting that sink in. It's very important to remember that if you are a follower of Jesus, if you are following the stories that we understand about what Jesus taught and what he lived and what he died for, it was a world in which the only king that we are paying attention to is our God—our king. And that's what Jesus was saying: "My God, I will form myself to the reign of God, not to an earthly king."

How did he do that? Again, we heard him say throughout his life that the means by which he was able to hang on to that grounding, that centering in God, was by over and over again reminding his followers—and I'm sure himself in prayer—of the Trinitarian center in which he stood, which grounded him and which allowed him to remain calm in the face of awful violence.

"I am created by God, for God—God's mission, not mine. No ego here. I am obedient to God, and I am living my life as God asked me to do: to show the people who can see and hear in this world what it means to serve God in all people. And I will do that by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when I leave and am resurrected and ascended, the Holy Spirit remains—returns and remains—so that all who have followed me, and all who will follow me, will know that Holy Spirit, will be grounded in the knowledge that they are created in God's image, and will remember what I taught and lived and died for on this earth."

Grounded in the Holy Trinity. Focused on God. Every Sunday, every day, is No King's Day.

Which is why today is particularly important for this congregation—because we are confirming, receiving, and reaffirming some of our pilgrims here, who have made a very considered decision to come into this body of Christ and affirm that they understand that it's not about them. It's about Jesus Christ. It's about following God. It is not about power and force and violence. It is about peace and justice and love.

So when they come forward and I lay my hands on them, I hope you will all engage in prayer as well and bring that Holy Spirit into this space, so that when they leave, they will be the light of Christ—just as you are—and show the world what it means to follow Jesus is to say, every day, No King's Day.