7.25.2020 - week 64
on the problems and purpose of power
our culture's attitudes toward power, or at least toward power's obvious display have shifted dramatically in a few generations. as recently as our grandparents, it was common for folks to appreciate the political accomplishments of their opponents, that is certainly long gone. there are remarkable internet subcultures that undermine the expertise of professional educators, medical doctors, and educated public officials. in the business world, the dress code of corporate leaders slid down a slippery slope from ibm’s coat and tie, to steve jobs's turtlenecks, to mark zuckerberg's hoodie. for all the talk of bullying in our world, it often feels as though the only remaining bullies are the people saying they are being bullied. america, today, is about as anti-power as it has ever been—and so is the american church. and we must accept that the behavior of the powerful is a large part of why ‘power’ is increasingly rejected.
power is having the ability or position to command compliance. those with power make the rules, distribute the money, command the attention and decide the future. Contrary to popular opinion, power is neither inherently good nor inherently evil. it’s a neutral. the god we worship delights in being all powerful. his word tells stories of those in high places doing good, and bad. it also tells of those in low places doing good, and bad.
ephesians 5:25 says,
husbands, love your wives, as christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
ephesians 6:4 says,
fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
ephesians 6:9 says,
masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
these 3 verses located close together near the end of ephesians paint a fascinating picture of how power should be worked and utilized. in each of the 3 relationships examined, the under is to submit. and the superior is to use their power for good, leveraged for those who don’t have it. power must be used to help + bless those without power.
the purpose of power is to empower those without power.
sometimes this selfless use of power is reflected in the refusal of privileges. sometimes it is reflected in bravely changing company dynamics so the future can be secured. sometimes it is continuing to do a job that isn’t personally fulfilling because it feeds your family. sometimes this type of leadership is hiding from those around you just how difficult things are. it can take many forms and must not be reduced to a milquetoast symbolism of parking at the back of the parking lot.
you may be thinking, i don’t have any power. but parents have power over children. bosses have power over employees. adult children have astonishing power over their parents. teachers power over students. in this moment of virtual work, all of a sudden the IT department is the most powerful in the whole company.
i love this thought from andy crouch:
from beginning to end—that is, from creation to judgement day—the Bible is full of references to power. You will often hear pastors say that Jesus "gave up power." And sure, the climax of salvation is the cross, on which Jesus is stretched out, suffers, and dies, having laid down the power in his hands. But as the early Christians reflected on his life, death, and resurrection, they came to a different conclusion. Precisely because they were witnesses to Jesus' resurrection after a violent death, the New Testament writers could no longer acquiesce to the idolatrous fiction that violence is the truest form of power. Instead, they had seen with their eyes, and touched with their hands, evidence of a much greater power at work in the world violence. Power is different than force.
power is not the opposite of servanthood.
rather, servanthood, ensuring the flourishing of others, is the very purpose of power.
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
Last week my small group and I began reading through and discussing our pastor’s recent book: Walls Can Fall about Race, Reconciliation & Righteousness in a Divided World. I had read the chapters and prepared some thoughts and as we were talking about how racism doesn’t just affect African Americans but rather all ethnicities I recalled a situation from my youth. As I told this story I was transported back to the school bus that drove me to my elementary school. I lived in a suburban neighborhood in the northwest suburbs of Chicago so it was largely caucasian but had some diversity. A new girl had moved in recently and after a few months of getting to know each other we were discussing her ethnicity. I knew from looking at her that she was Asian but instead of asking her where she was from I assumed and said that she was Chinese. Shocked and offended, she couldn’t believe I didn’t realize that she was Korean and I remember that the offense lasted a while. Hindsight is 20/20, I should have just asked her instead of assume, we all know what assuming typically does! But, I wish I would have learned right then to be quicker to ask a question.
I spent the rest of my day thinking about this scenario, although it was years ago and I was much more ignorant then it brought me to the pattern I see so often in scripture. Often when Jesus was talking with someone, he answered with a question. Although he could have, you never sense Jesus going for the ‘eloquent, listen to how I have this all figured out’ point of view. Now, while ‘super christian guy’ (the cartoon pictured below) could learn a few things from Jesus, I share this principle not to be extreme and answer everyone with questions but rather a posture to listen, learn, and grow understanding. I have much room to grow in this area but I think thoughtful questions can serve us well as we interact with all people but particularly those who are of a different ethnicity than ourselves. In fact, I read through Matthew this week to find all of the questions Jesus answers with.
Here are some of them...
“Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (8:26)
“Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (9:4)
“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” (9:15)
“Do you believe I am able to do this?” (9:28)
“Have you understood all these things?” (13:51)
“And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (15:3)
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” (19:17)
“What do you want me to do for you?”(20:32)
Could he have answered the questions with an answer, absolutely. Maybe it was so that it wasn’t just for the person he was talking to but to help us as believers use these questions as we grapple with our faith. So often my mis-steps are rooted in my mouth going faster than it should. Maybe Jesus’ willingness to redirect a question with a question was the way he was able to not sin with his mouth. I mean think about that fact, he lived 33 years and he never sinned with his mouth, FOR SURE proof he is God but just spend a minute digesting how simply amazing that fact is. I believe questions help in three ways in particular: they allow us to potentially become better listeners, they can make people feel more loved and understood, and they can breed empathy and understanding. Learn from my mistakes, we can go on this journey together.
cup of leadership
when your personal life (or the broader culture) goes through deep dislocation + pain, it can become tempting to mix correlation and causation, only exacerbating the frustration you already feel. said more simply, not everything is about that thing. this may seem overly philosophical, but trust me, it’s helpful
causation exists when one outcome is directly caused by another. (i.e. the more you smoke the higher chance you will develop lung cancer)
correlation is a relationship between two variables, without provable cause and effect (smokers are more likely to be alcoholics, but one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other)
if you are an hourly worker, more hours worked causes a higher paycheck. - causation
if you are not at an hourly worker, more hours worked may or may not lead to promotions and higher esteem from colleagues. - correlation
your pizza isn’t late because you got laid off due to corona. your children aren’t misbehaving because of existential fear due to having to wear a mask at school. you haven’t gained 7 lbs in the last 10 days because of the stress caused by the mellowing of the protests about systemic injustice seeming to yield a lot of fanfare, but little lasting change.
it may just be that the delivery driver was lazy, you kept kids your up til 11pm watching Hamilton last night and they are overtired, and one of your parents left an entire giant costco cheesecake at your house that you ate over the last week piece by piece (this actually happened to me, thanks dad )
i’m not trying to teach a science class. i’m trying to say this. it’s hard to determine how much of an outcome was caused by certain elements and how much correlation is fair to include. a habit of overly tying day to day life to external or past negative experiences definitely produces unhappiness.
that flat fire has nothing to do with your divorce. this broken relationship doesn’t have to mean anything about your abusive upbringing. you didn’t lose your job this spring because you never regained your confidence after a high school knee injury.
when you take on an overly ‘causal’ relationship with life around you, you limit your own ability to take charge, tend to blame god for every little thing, and can easily become trapped in a victim cycle that limits your potential to build the kingdom of christ.
book review
spiritual hero biographies tend to be either overly lionizing or overly harsh. this look at the life of the founder of the salvation straddled those extremes quite well. there is no missing the negatives effects single-minded devotion to mission had on his family. yet, there is also no missing the incredible things that can be done by someone who lives life with a focused devotion to build the kingdom of god. this book had a ton of interesting insights into the tensions between evangelistic ministry and the complexities added by mercy type ministry. really good.
i have been looking for this book for a long time. there are many theological treatises on gender, but i have never seen a practical look at how to maximize female leadership in church no matter your position. kadi cole ingeniously both validates the need for theological conviction and sidesteps the temptation to intensely moralize her personal position. while poking at the inconsistencies so often present in the way female leaders are treated in church, the author restrained herself from motive assumption or unnecessarily pejorative language. this book is filled to the brim with forward looking helpful suggestions. i really recommend it for any church leader. no matter how conservative or progressive your church might be, this will help.
super christian guy
content this week
this week we swerved in the ‘stop mean christians’ series. we brought my friend, matu, who leads the high schoolers at faithful central into the mix for a conversation, single black woman to married white man, about how privilege can sometimes put a stumbling block (romans 14:13)
my 3 sons are back from a hiatus to preview the return of sports. they were SO cranky while we were making this and i think it seeps out in a cute way
pieces of good news I saw this week
there is an origin story oral history podcast of the office out on spotify. i can’t describe to you how delightful it is. riveting to the max.