There is a Kingdom in Africa, that is still truly a Kingdom, at least it was when I was there in 2004. The king has 9 wives, each with their own palace. His people are starving to death, the majority of the population is HIV positive, and most of the children raised there are orphans. It is a beautiful kingdom, the countryside is amazing and the people are good. I don't know anyone that would not agree that the King is wrong to allow himself and his wife such luxuries as his people die.
There is another kingdom where a majority of the population live on less than a dollar a day, the children are ill-educated and exploited in all manor, people die daily of preventable diseases, and wealth is inequitably distributed. One third of the people in this Kingdom use a majority of its resources, they live in large houses and feast on grand meals. This royal class is not royal but simply those with the unearned privilege of being born into the developed world. Even among this class there are starving, homeless, and desperate people born into the right country but not the right home, race, city, or system. The waters of this kingdom team with life that is dieing from pollution, the beautiful mountains are being stripped for coal, the diamond ice caps are melting, nonetheless it is a breathtakingly beautiful kingdom. It is full of tastes and smells too numerous for any one person to experience. No one holds the wealthy class of this kingdom accountable for their neglect.
If in comparing these two kingdoms the only difference I can see is scale, am I any better than history's worst kings and queens?
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1 comment:
Our sermon this morning was about kingdoms. When anyone tries to establish a kingdom on earth, they inevitably destroy a piece of the Kingdom at the same time. The sermon should be available on www.chillifbc.com if you're interested.
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