Christ the King – Chrismons
Christ the King Sunday – November 23, 2025
Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Colossians 1:11-21
By Pastor Jane Shelton, CRE
Today we end our church calendar year and begin anew next Sunday with the First Sunday of Advent. Today is essentially the Church’s New Year’s Eve.
We celebrate this day by remembering Christ’s reign throughout the year, and today we will do it through the story telling of the Chrismons.
The word Chrismon is a combination of the words, “Christ” and “monogram” and they are monograms of Christ, and all the Chrismons are made in white and gold to symbolize the purity and majesty of the Son of God and the Son of Man.
Chrismons were created in 1957 by Frances Kipps Spencer, a member of the Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, Virginia. Since I am on Facebook Live, let me just note that Chrismons are a trademark of the Ascension Lutheran Church and materials, patterns, and Chrismons cannot be sold for any profit-making venture.
If you see something here today that you want to make for your tree, that is great and wonderful, but you cannot make anything to be sold for profit without violating the trademark.
Now, let’s move on to share the stories behind the Chrismons!
Our youth will walk these down the aisles so you can see them better, and then they will hang them on the tree. Also, after the service, if you would like to go into the choir loft so you can see them on the tree, you certainly may do so.
First, I’m going to start with what I call the ANGEL GABRIEL, and we only have one of these. Angels and archangels such as Michael and Gabriel, represent the spirits God created to praise and serve him, and were often God-sent as messengers. They told people of the Birth, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. I love this angel with the long trumpet pointed upward to sound out the announcements of God.
The symbols or lettering that you see in the Chrismons are Greek, and there are two popular or familiar symbols that you will recognize. The first is the XP, or CHI (the X) and RHO (the P) meaning Christ the King.
The Second, is the IHC pronounced IOTA (ee-OH-tuh) ETA (AY-tuh) SIGMA representing the first three letter of JESus in Greek, or his monogram. It is also more recently seen as IHS.
Another Greek lettering is the A and what looks like an UPSIDE DOWN HORSESHOE. These symbols represent the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
We also have the ICHTHUS written in the FISH. The I is Jesus, the X is Christ, O for God, Y for Son and C for Savior. Much of Jesus’ ministry centered around fish. He chose his disciples while they were fishing and told them he would make them fishers of men, and he fed the hungry with fish. The fish was one of the first ancient symbols of Jesus and remains today. We have a lot of FISH!
While we are talking about fish, let’s talk about the biggest boat in the Bible, NOAH’S ARK and RAINBOW that represent the covenant God made with Noah in the Old Testament, and God made the new covenant with the Church through Christ.
We have a second boat that is a symbol of the CHURCH SAILING TOWARD HEAVEN. I’m also currently reading a book that refers to the sailboat as a symbol of the free-moving Holy Spirit.
Staying on animals for a moment, let’s move to the DESCENDING DOVE that came down as the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism. The DOVE is also a symbol of PEACE.
And my favorite, the BUTTERFLY, represents transformation and the immortal soul, living forever and never dying.
We have flowers, the WHITE ROSE for purity, which can also represent Mary the Mother of Jesus. The second flower here I think is a LILLY representing the Resurrection as the seemingly dead bulb in the ground springs forth and emerges into a beautiful Lilly, just as Christ rose from the dark tomb into the light.
We have the vine representing the CROWN OF THORNS or crucifixion.
THE ROSE IN THE FIVE-POINTED STAR represents the Nativity of our Lord, the rose being Mary and the human side of Jesus; the five-pointed star representing Jesus’ divinity or Epiphany, derived from a Greek word meaning appearance or revelation of God.
We have SEVEN-POINTED STARS at the top of our trees that represent Seven Gifts of the Spirit (See Isaiah 11:1-2, 1 Cor 12:4-11 and Romans 12:-8), and we have EIGHT-POINTED STARS that represent man’s regeneration through baptism. One of these stars is ENCIRCLED as the symbol of eternity, ever-lasting life, or never-ending life. We’ll go ahead and put the other Circle Chrismons on the tree, including the Cross in Eternity.
Moving from the Cross of Eternity in the eternal circle we will talk about the different cross Chrismons.
We have the CROSS ATOP THE ORB symbolizing Christ’s dominion over the world.
Next is a GREEK CROSS recognized by its body and arms of equal length. It is a balanced form.
The LATIN CROSS with a longer body and shorter arms is sometimes called the Roman Cross. This is the most common form of cross that you will see and is often used when showing the crucifixion.
We have the CROSS POTENT, a symbol of our Lord’s physical and spiritual healing powers.
We have a CROSS CROSSLET, reflecting the spread of Christianity to the North, East, South, and West showing Christians have carried the Gospel to the four corners of the world.
The CELTIC CROSS, my favorite, has a circle surrounding the center of the cross to symbolize eternity.
Our other Celtic symbols include the TRIQUETRA (truh-Kway-truh), also known as the Celtic Knot, eternal life with God; unity and eternity.
The TRIANGLE and the THREE ENTWINED CIRCLES are popular symbols of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit made One. When the TRIANGLE and ENTWINED CIRCLES merge, they become the TRIANGLE & TREFOIL, a representation of the eternal Godhead.
The Cornerstone, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone of the church which has the FISH, CROWN, ANCHOR (Cross of Hope), ALPHA and OMEGA, DOVE, and SHEPHERD’S CROOK (the Good Shepherd).
And last two, the SCROLL or TEN COMMANDMENTS, representing the Written Word of God, and the HEART OF GOD, the symbol of LOVE.
Here in these symbols, we see Christ the King, the reign of Christ, the one descended from David to be called, THE LORD IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
We have been rescued from the power of darkness and given the light of love and eternal life by the grace of God.
All the fullness of God dwelled within Christ, and we have been reconciled to God by the blood of the cross. We are saints chosen by God and given an inheritance of peace in eternity.
When I originally planned to tell the story of the Chrismons, I ordered several of the books explaining the Chrismons, and what I didn’t know is that there are Chrismons that go through the events of the Year beginning with the Triune (Father, Son and Spirit), and follow the seasons we celebrate: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost.
These are the movements of the story we celebrate in Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday.
I thought it would be neat if we could have volunteers to make two of each of these symbols to add to our trees.
I’ve made a copy of the Christian Year Series, and if you are interested in making any of these Chrismons, please pick up a copy of the sheet after worship, and write your name on the master sheet next to the one you would like to make! We should be able to get patterns from the books that I have, and we can look at some of these and make them from looking at the pictures.
So, I’m expecting to see all my artistic people’s names on this sheet, and any “wanna be” artistic people!
Now let’s remember that we will be hanging the greens putting out poinsettias following worship.
A special thank you to our youth who have done a fabulous job hanging the Chrismons! We’re going to reward them with a lunch AFTER the rest of the Christmas decorations are up.
Next Sunday will be our first Sunday of Advent that begins our New Church Year. The Advent books are available to be picked up on the narthex tables.
BENEDICTION:
May God bless and keep you through this week of Thanksgiving,
May the Love of Jesus surround your tables on Thanksgiving Day,
And may the Holy Spirit enliven shared time with family and friends.