When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, "These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also." (Acts 17:6)
There was once a man who stopped by his neighbors to tell them that his son was stuck in a mud hole and will need help to get out.
"How deep is he sunk?" the boy's father asked.
"About to his ankles," the farmer replied lazily.
"Well," said the father, "only up to his ankles--we've got time to sit here and have a drink before we go."
"I don't think so," the man answered. "He's in head first."
Have things in your life ever been turned upside down? Have you ever been down head first? This year feels like that for many people. But even without a pandemic, life is often just upside and things don't work the way we expect them. Racism, violence, hunger, abuse, abandonment, systems of society that are corrupt through and through - and those are our leaders!
When Jesus came into the world, he certainly turned things upside down. Jesus said things like, "But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first," "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." And peopel dismissed him, mocked him, and crucified him. Yet, when He rose again, he showed that his way is really the only way, his "upside down" way is really the right way up.
All of this says there is hope. When our world is turned upside down, Jesus is on call to turn things right side up.
Loving God, when things get turned upside down, come and right my ship. Amen.