Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
MONDAY, August 15
Luke 1:46-55. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.
Today in the church calendar we commemorate the Blessed Virgin Mary, giving thanks for her willingness to participate in God’s purposes by bearing Jesus, and her faithfulness to her him. In the civil calendar of Korea today, it is Independence Day, celebrating the end of thirty-five years of colonial oppression in 1945.
Sometimes it seems too much to fit all this into one day. Yet hearing Mary’s words in the Magnificat this day, I am struck by this lowly girl’s reflection on how the coming of God would overturn the structures of power and domination. This has always been the hope of oppressed people, and there has never been an end to humans abusing their power over others.
Unfortunately in Korea the end of colonialism did not bring peace and prosperity, but civil war and (in the north) dictatorship. When humans, by our own strength, overthrow power and oppression we often replace the old injustices with new ones. But Jesus, entering into the heart of violence and suffering, opened a new and life-giving way of costly transforming love—and this is of what Mary sings.
PRAY for the Diocese of Rochester (Canterbury, England)
Ps 34 or 34:1-9; Isaiah 61:10-11; Galatians 4:4-7
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What should God’s followers do? Christ paid due taxes, and even though He could easily have overthrown the Roman Empire of that era, He chose not to do so as a human being. Paul spoke of subjecting oneself to authority, even to a cruel slave master. Under most circumstances, it is hard to love unconditionally and forgive, as Jesus did, but it is even harder when faced with oppression. Is Mary’s response in Luke 1: “I am the Lord’s servant … May your word to me be fulfilled” sufficient today?