’High Flight’
”Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings…”
John Gillespie Magee was born in 1922 in Shanghai. His father was a U. S. citizen and his mother was British. They were serving as missionaries in China.
In 1939, John won a scholarship to Yale. However, after completing his freshman year there, he wanted to do his part to resist the Nazi threat. In 1940, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, was trained as a pilot, and in 1941 was sent for combat duty in England.
During a flight one day in late summer, he scribbled “High Flight” on the back of an envelope, and later sent a copy to his parents.
On December 11, 1941, his Spitfire collided with another plane and the 19-year-old pilot crashed to his death.
“And while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
Jesus talks about John the Baptist. But John isn’t there to hear him because at this moment he is in Herod’s prison.
John’s crime was to criticize Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. John will pay the full price for this when, late one night, an executioner is sent from Herod’s birthday banquet to cut off John’s head.
There had been many prophets in Israel’s history. Jesus says that John is the greatest of all because he was privileged to see the fulfillment of what the prophets had proclaimed – the Kingdom of God present in a new way in Jesus.
We live in the time after Jesus – the final stages of God’s plan. It may be a long stage (perhaps millions of years), but it is the final stage. We need to remind ourselves of how different creation is because Jesus is now part of it.
All that remains is for the human race gradually to live the way we were created to live – in peace, love, and forgiveness. That’s how the kingdom of God comes about. (That’s also why it might take a few million years.)
So, because of the coming of Christ, the reign of God is present in a new way, and I am to help make it more present. That has some implications for the way I live my life today. Like what?