URC Daily Devotion 30th May 2019

When you read the Magnificat, you can’t avoid the fact that it’s deeply political, economic, and social.  When the poor are lifted up and the rich are sent away empty, God’s kingdom is breaking out. When the hungry get food, God’s kingdom is erupting among us.  When a poor, unmarried, pregnant, peasant woman clenches her fist and sings about the victory of God, it says something to Washington, Moscow, and Westminster.  When a baby cries out in the ghetto, and the stars start acting strangely, Herod beware. When a congregation prays “yours is the kingdom” the local Council ought to get nervous.  The Church exists to sign, to signal, to sing about that tension whereby those who are at the bottom are being lifted up and those who are on top are being sent down.

Kingdom is a risky, dangerous, word, but it’s a word that so much of the world loves.  Kings build their kingdoms and defend them with murderous intensity. Nowadays, of course, the people are “King”; we live in a democracy.  But don’t make the mistake of thinking that because democracy has made us kings over ourselves everything is alright: modern history has demonstrated that democracies are every bit as murderous as dictatorships in defending themselves.  Remember that we pray “Kingdom” immediately after we have spoken of temptation and evil.