Ruth Harvey considers the message of Luke 1 and walking on the other side of power.

Luke 1: 46 – 53 (NRSV)

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’

THE Iona Community was honoured to host the 40th anniversary gathering of Church Action on Poverty (CAP) at Iona Abbey in 2022. This powerful agency has been working over the years supporting churches to “embed a concern for poverty and injustice into every aspect of their mission, worship and communal life.” Their key values of ‘dignity, agency and power’ are brought to life in a book by that name full of resources for churches and individuals concerned with poverty.

The life of Jesus, particularly as portrayed in the Gospel of Luke, is a showcase in honouring the dignity of the most marginalised. As he turns the tables of the money lenders in the temple (Luke 19:45–48) he challenges the corrupt power embedded within leadership structures and amplifies the voice of the weakest while also putting his life on the line. In the story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7) Jesus raises up the dignity of the littlest, the least, the lost, reinterpreting our sense of ‘worth’ and ‘value’ as lodged in God’s love for each, rather than calculated by the coinage any earn or inherit. In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) we come face-to-face with our value-driven actions: When do those with power ignore the needs of those without, and ‘walk on the other side’? When do those with agency of their own share it with those without, and ‘kneel by the side of the weakest’? These are questions for individuals, churches, political parties and political leaders.

The ‘charter for revolution’ more usually known as Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), embeds, like the work of Church Action on Poverty, the values of dignity, agency and power locally, nationally, and globally. A young, unmarried, pregnant woman with little agency in her milieu is here given a voice. Mary’s potent juxtaposition of poverty and wealth; impotence and power; humility and pride have become the raw data for revolution, from racial justice campaigns to global debt cancelling programmes to the founding of Poverty Truth Networks.

In this series we are looking at the Justice and Peace commitment of the Iona Community through the lens of scripture. Our fifth commitment says that ‘we believe that everyone should have the quality and dignity of a full life that requires adequate physical, social and political opportunity, without the oppression of poverty, injustice and fear.’

Woven with the words from Luke’s Gospel, let this commitment be a reminder that the path on which Jesus takes us is the path of dignity, agency and power for all.

‘Dignity, Agency, Power: stories, prayers and reflections from 40 years of Church Action on Poverty’, edited by Niall Cooper, Chris Howson and Liam Purcell, Wild Goose Publications, 2022.

Ruth Harvey is Leader of the Iona Community. Find out more about, and join the Iona Community at www.iona.org.uk