lent 2023 day 22

Allegiance.

I was watching some romantic film on the telly this afternoon and it culminated, as every good romantic film should do, with the man getting down on one knee to propose to the woman.   Every time I see a proposal I think back to my own which did not involve any kneeling and I have to confess to feeling a teeny tiny bit bit cheated.  Because for some inexplicable reason most girls feel that being knelt in front of when being asked for ones hand is required and desired.   Today I got to wondering why 

Professor Google tells me that the custom of kneeling before ones intended goes back to the days of knights and ladies.  Chivalric codes demanded that knights knelt before their lords to show allegiance - it was a sign that someone was submitting themselves to the authority of their master at the same time as yielding their sword and their services to them.  When someone proposes on bended knee, they are in effect saying that they submit to that person, taking the lowly place and that they offer themselves hook line and sinker for their partners' good.   Not a bad way to start a marriage, even if most blokes dont quite realise that this is what their kneeling actually means 😊

As I was looking into the kneeling thing the word ' allegiance' came up.  Its a good word. These days it seems to be mostly associated with Americans pledging allegiance to the flag.  But we all give our allegiance to lots of things all the time.    It just means loyalty or commitment to a cause or a person.  Of course it is where the word ' allies' comes from.   Our allies being those who share our allegiances.  It seems to me these days loyalty is a much lacking element of our society.  In our throw away culture we dont seem to value faithfulness, perseverance, stickability, fortitude.   It is easier to walk away from the marriage than to suffer through it. It is easier to abort the baby than to sacrifice for it for 20 years.  It is easier to leave the job than to persevere with difficult work colleagues.  Easier to move church than to sweat it out through  disappointments.  Loyalty and allegiance is not easy.  Its taking daily decisions to stay, to see it through, to keep promises, to give without reward.  

We are all happy enough with the concept of bowing the knee to Jesus, but how good are we at giving our allegiance to each other?   Will we stand up for our church, defend our faith family against the criticism and attacks of the world?  Will we humbly submit to our leaders and offer them our swords? Will we go where they ask us to go ( to clean the toilets or serve in the creche or on the welcome team?) Will we always speak well of our spouse and defend them in public while we serve them in private?  Challenging isnt it?   It is all the rage to ' take the knee' at the moment. But bowing the knee to Jesus means we also get to bow the knee to His body the church.  Of which He is the head.

Maybe its a good thing that most prospective grooms dont think too hard before dropping to one knee. If they really counted the cost before they proposed we might have significantly fewer brides walking down the aisle than we do !



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