Mark 5: 27-31; 2 Corinthians 8: 7-12

In touch with power

Do you ever feel powerless, powerless to change the course of your life, the state of your health, and your family, the safety of your loved ones or the future of your country? The children’s book where the Wild Things (Maurice Sendak, Harper and Row, 1963) are was turned into a movie. I am half through watching it so don’t tell me how it ends. In the movie a lonely boy leaves his home to find a little sail boat which takes him to an island populated by large, kind hearted but not very bright furry animals and monsters. At first the boy is in danger of being eaten, being as small as he is. But as powerless as he has felt at home, he did learn that he has the power of story telling. And he uses it on animals. He makes up stories about all the powers he has and before he knows it he is crowned king by the large furry tribe. That’s as far as I got .

Friends, we may not be aware of it, but power is always an important question in our lives. Perhaps we have worried less about it in this country, for in the memory of all you here this country has always been the most powerful country in the world.   It has also been a reasonably well functioning democracy. In other countries that is different. For many years I taught university and in a seminary in a country with one President for 33 years. He was all-powerful. His picture was in almost any public room. He was always looking over my shoulder when I was teaching, even though I know I was personally not in great danger. The people in such a country get accustomed to powerlessness. They depend on each other, their wits for survival and the grace of God. Years later, when I taught at the seminary in San Anselmo, I always had my students read the book PastorPower by Martha Ellen Stortz (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993). She talks about three kinds of power the pastor can experience: “Power over, “”power within, “power with.” “Power over” is the kind of power that we see in executive branches and in corporations and the police: you can make people do things because of that power and there are consequences if you don’t obey. I have always shied away from that kind of power in my work here, because I don’t believe it works. I believe it is largely the reason I am still here.   Then there is power within. Power within a kind of spiritual power . It takes the form of charisma. Charisma can have a huge impact, but it is also easily manipulated. Not my strong suit either I’m afraid. However, it is Jesus’ strong suit. The woman in the story in Mark touches the suit in fact, she is in touch with His power garment and Jesus feels the power flowing out of him. He immediately knows that. Finally there is “power with,” it is the power of numbers , of solidarity, of group action that involves an entire congregation. This always exists. It is all about organizing people around kindness and love and inclusion and widening that inclusion. This is the kind of power Paul appeals to in the Corinthians. He is telling them you have the power in you and you can do something about turning that power inside you into a force for good around you. “Look,” he says “the Macedonians, those people up north with funny accents, they did it.”

Friends, in the healthy church the power over is executed with a soft touch through policies and board decisions, the power within is available to all who have faith and the power with is at our finger tips when we organize around the common good.

This makes me think; maybe you and I should embrace powerlessness. Isn’t it in reality what life on this planet is about. The basic condition is powerlessness. Nevertheless we can chip away at that powerlessness by finding the nuggets of power that are presented to us. I believe that with God’s help the power of the good and kindness will in the end prevail. But God needs our help. We need to make sure that it does prevail . May God make us kinder and more determined yet.