Power

Thinking about "power" this morning.

 

Oh how we love it!

I think perhaps the sin of the garden

in that wonderful symbolic tale from Genesis

 

was the sin of power

 

“you will be like God”

(or at least king and queen of the world)

knowing good and evil

 

it was a clever twist on the truth

of course

but then there are those skilled at twisting the truth

who constantly fill our ears

with half-truths, twisted truths

 

there was a truth here, for knowledge is power

the power to do good or do ill

 

in this case humankind knew all about good

and knew God

what they gained, by knowing “good and evil”

was evil alone!

 

clever

 

I don’t know, for sure what that story means

other than somehow human kind was introduced

to its dark side

 

and has never looked back

alienated from the sacred and

walking out of paradise into

a world of dirt and toil, envy and violence

a world of pain

 

and it all revolves

around power

 

the power to control and use God

(please God, respond to MY sacrifice, not his, or hers)

the power to build a stairway to heaven

 

it is not that power is inherently evil (I think)

as it is a matter of how we choose to use power

 

will we use power on other people

or will we use power for other people?

 

will we use power to amass great wealth

or will we use power to help the poor?

 

will we use our power to welcome and include

or will we use power to reject  and exclude?

 

will we use power to control

or will we use power to free?

 

will we use power to coerce

or will we use power to motivate?

 

will we use our power for ourselves

or will we use our power for others?

 

Sacred power is always used sacrificially

if Jesus taught us nothing else, he taught us that

if the cross taught us nothing else, it taught us that!

 

it is not easy, the path of transformed power

the lure of abusive power is strong

and we, like Adam and Eve, are seduced into think

that sacrificial power is no power

 

and so we hug political power

and scream about “TAKING” (not winning) our country back

more than happy to impose our will on others

 

so we drive big cars, and live in big houses

and carry big guns

and make rules to make sure

that “they” don’t get in

and “they” can’t vote

and “they” have to believe in our exact version of “god”

 

we use power to “own” the other

 

that is power, but it is not a power that moves us forward

it is momentary in nature,

and always, in the end, crumbles beneath

the weight of selfishness, hate, and excess

 

sacrificial power is real power

it is the power of compassion, and generosity

it is the power of kindness

and welcome

 

the power of forgiveness

 

it is the power of God for the reconciliation of the world

 

so we have a choice

what kind of power are we going to embrace?

the power of domination?

or the power of service?

 

it is an important choice

for there is only one path back to the garden