Reflection for Today ▶️ ⏹️

Take the Knee, chalk pastel by Tobias Mayer, 2023

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:11

Taken literally, the name of Jesus, this directive can only apply to Christians, but taken essentially, where the name Jesus is considered synonymous with the concepts of love, compassion and restorative justice, and the term God is considered synonymous with "purpose greater than self" we have a suggestion for anyone, from any faith or no faith, to appreciate the sheer awe of life—along with an invitation to stand up to oppression. This being recently demonstrated by the "take the knee" movement started by Colin Kaepernick in 2016,1 and continued through to today despite political opposition from the likes of UK home secretary, at the time of writing, Priti Patel.2

Every knee should bow to justice, and every tongue confess that humanity is worth more then politically-fuelled hatred of our fellow human. We can only change things when we own our own part in the original dysfunction. It starts with humility, with confession; it starts with kneeling.

1 Taking the Knee, wikipedia
2 What's taking the knee and why is it important?, BBC, 13/10/2021