Christ the King: A Meditation on George Herbert’s “The Collar”

I write this in the waning hours of the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday before Advent. It is a day to focus our attention on our Lord as the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Alpha and the Omega.

Every day I feel the pressure to put myself first: to look out for number one, to consider that I know better than anyone else what’s best for me. In this fallen world, too often those in authority focus on power rather than on those entrusted to their care… though perhaps we are too ready to hear reports of the abuse of authority, for such stories allow us to cultivate a distrust of authority, an excuse to be disobedient. More subtly, sometimes those who ought to be in authority over us have abdicated that authority, and taken the easier route of saying “Whatever you want, that’s fine.” It’s easier to say “do whatever you want” than to do the hard, unappreciated work of reproof and correction, training and teaching people who don’t want to accept authority.

Yet we have an authority above all other authority. We have a King. We can trust Him with our whole hearts, devote ourselves entirely to Him, and obey Him in all things, knowing that He is perfectly good – indeed, knowing that He loves us and cares for us, even to the point of dying on the Cross for us. And our King will never abdicate His position; He is eternally seated at the right hand of the Father.

Knowing that, we can turn back to our imperfect leaders, pastors, teachers, parents and see in them the echo, as it were, of His perfect authority. Only God deserves our perfect and unconditional obedience, but while we wait for His coming again, we can certainly work a little harder to practice obedience in imperfect situations – so that we, like the servants in the parable from today’s Gospel reading, having been faithful in a very little, may hear our Lord’s voice saying “Well done, good servant!” (Luke 19:11-27).

Where does George Herbert come into this? An Anglican priest and poet, he gave up a dazzling potential career at the king’s court to answer the call to be a pastor over a small, rural parish. Herbert knew well what it was like to struggle with obedience – and he is a model to us, for he chose obedience (hard though it was) and found joy.

Here is Herbert’s poem “The Collar.” Notice the play on words: the title refers to the traditional priest’s collar, which is a symbol of his submission to Christ, but also to “collar” more prosaically as a restraining device. Listen to how the speaker gets angry, expressing his frustration, rebellion, and even his stated intention to reject the calling of service. Herbert lets us know that he understands that obedience can be hard, bitterly hard; he knows that sometimes when we are called to obey, we see nothing but bleakness ahead. And then pay attention to the closing lines of the poem. When we hear God’s still, small voice… how will we respond?

“The Collar”

I struck the board, and cry’d, No more.

I will abroad.

What? shall I ever sigh and pine?

My lines and life are free; free as the road,

Loose as the wind, as large as store.

Shall I be still in suit?

Have I no harvest but a thorn

To let me blood, and not restore

What I have lost with cordial fruit?

Sure there was wine

Before my sighs did dry it: there was corn

Before my tears did drown it.

Is the year only lost to me?

Have I no bays to crown it?

No flowers, no garlands gay? all blasted?

All wasted?

Not so, my heart: but there is fruit,

And thou hast hands.

Recover all thy sigh-blown age

On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute

Of what is fit, and not. Forsake thy cage,

Thy rope of sands,

Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee

Good cable, to enforce and draw,

And be thy law,

While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.

Away; take heed:

I will abroad.

Call in thy death’s head there: tie up thy fears.

He that forbears

To suit and serve his need,

Deserves his load.

But as I rav’d and grew more fierce and wild

At every word,

Methought I heard one calling, Child:

And I reply’d, My Lord.

Related posts:

1. Honoring Christ the King
2. Meditation on Psalm 4