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| Photo © Lee Jordan; used by permission |
I have a confession to make. Sometimes, on my day off, I watch Teen Nick. And today I watched a show that revolved around the need to write a new summer hit song. The plot seemed to have something to do with leather jackets, and cheese fries and band members finding girlfriends; the end result was a song called “If I ruled the world.”
I have no idea what the rest of the lyrics were, but it started me thinking, what would I do if I ruled the world? My immediate thought was, get rid of poverty. And wars. And maybe climate change. And then get rid of heartbreak and loneliness and broken relationships. And sickness and sorrow and frustration.
Or, thinking more positively, I’d plant trees and flowers - create beauty - and I’d hug my nephews, and I’d eliminate paperwork so I had more time for people. If I ruled the world. But I don’t.
Except that’s not entirely true. Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” And we do that with the confidence that it is really possible. We believe in God who is creator of all things and continues to give life to the world. We believe in God who is active and involved in history. We believe in God who can rule the world.
But we also believe in God who chooses not to use direct rule. Instead of overriding human free will, and running the world for us, God has entrusted the world and its workings to human beings, to us. That’s what it means in Genesis, when God says to humankind, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.” God has delegated the job of ruling the world to us.
Most of us, however, are not in positions of great political power. We don’t feel like we rule the world. Sometimes it even feels like the world rules us.
Yet each of us does have power, albeit in small measure. We exercise power every time we make a decision. And in aggregate, we do, in many respects, rule the world. We rule the world when we turn on the heat or drive our cars, so that energy security becomes a major focus of our country’s economics and foreign policy. We rule the world when we decide between buying local and buying from overseas, which means more jobs one place or the other. We rule the world when we save money for our retirement and when we give to those in need. There isn’t any easy right or wrong about these actions; all of them shape our world in different ways. But we do in fact, in effect, rule the world.
So what if, instead of abdicating responsibility because we don’t have all the power, we take God’s mandate seriously? It’s New Year, and time for resolutions. What if we dreamed what we could do if we ruled the world, and then began to do it? Piece by small piece?
As for me, I think that this year, I’m going to do three things. Spend part of my gardening budget on planting something that will give the most pleasure to those who pass by. Make a loan through Kiva, to help someone living in poverty. And try my best to reach out to someone who is lonely or struggling. What about you?
