Alfred Lord Tennyson {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson} wrote a great deal of poetry with the medieval knight as his subject. Specifically, he wrote about King Arthur and his knights. What became known as the Knight’s Code, or sometimes called the Chivalric Code, was from his work entitled Gareth and Lynette. Gareth is about to leave home to journey to Camelot to fulfill his dream of joining the Round Table. He says to his mother, “Follow the Christ the King. Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King. Else, wherefore born?” In modern English, “If not to live out these ideals, why else was I born?” It is certain that countless people, like myself, have read and used this as inspiration over the past 150 years. My goal for this ministry is to echo this question to men: “If not for this, why else are we here?”
During an extensive study on the medieval knight, I was intrigued to discover many parallels between the training and life of a knight to the Biblical training and life of a man who chooses to follow Christ. That’s when I discovered these phrases in Tennyson’s writings. I am certainly not the first Christian minister to connect with this concept, but I quickly saw as I began to use The Knight’s Code in teaching men that many made a unique connection to this simple concept. The bottom line is to encourage, inspire, and challenge men (namely, you) to grow in their walk with Jesus Christ using the Knight’s Code as a practical and inspirational tool. And if you are not a follower of Christ, to invite you to explore this faith.
The primary goal of the Knight’s Code is to challenge and inspire men to follow Christ and be His ambassadors in the world. Man’s ultimate purpose! The iconic life of the medieval knight provides an inspirational model for men in today’s culture.
