Is Power Taken, Or Given?\u00a0 Or Both?<\/p>\n
\u201cPower-Grab!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAbsolute power corrupts absolutely!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGlobal superpower!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOverpowering!\u201d All of these words and phrases carry with them a sense of brashness, unwieldiness, fear\u2026\u00a0 A \u201cpowerful\u201d person is one that, for most regular folk, should probably be avoided, UNLESS you need the power they possess, that is.\u00a0 When they are wielding their power, lording it over you and yours, that power feels like something to be opposed, marched against, protested.\u00a0 However, when you are unsheltered and in need of protection, that same power can feel pretty darn great!\u00a0 When I need<\/i><\/b> it, I celebrate it.\u00a0 When I feel its weight bearing down on me, oppressing me, demanding things from me, I rail against it.\u00a0 Am I really that self-serving?\u00a0 I think probably so.<\/p>\n
This is the issue that intrigues me most when thinking about power relationships among people.\u00a0 How much of power is taken by brute force or manipulation, and how much is willingly abdicated in exchange for comfort or security?\u00a0 This is addressed in Mary Kate Morse\u2019s book, Making Room For Leadership, Power, Space and Influence.<\/i>\u00a0 In the book\u2019s introduction, the author writes: \u201cPeople don\u2019t just take up the space needed to become leaders; others give them that space.\u00a0 Either they need that person to be their leader; or they are too afraid to challenge the abuse of power; or they themselves are powerless, and no one listens to their voice.\u201d1 \u00a0Can we justly castigate leaders for leveraging power in ways that may not be popular when we have all but forced upon them the mandate to do so?\u00a0 If we are going to hoist a man up onto our shoulders, then gently set him down on the jewel-encrusted pedestal we have built for him, can we cry \u201cfoul!\u201d when he rules with a heavy-hand?<\/p>\n
Power is as much given as it is taken and it is true that \u201c[t]he people in power are often ignorant about the negative emotional impact that powerlessness has on those deprived of voice and value.\u201d2 \u00a0In the incomparable words of the urban poet Ice T: \u201cI don’t know why a player wanna hate T, I didn\u2019t choose the game, the game chose me\u2026\u00a0 Don\u2019t hate the playa\u2019, hate the game!\u201d3 In other words, let\u2019s see if we can do something about redefining the nature of power relationships rather than spending all of our time attempting to unseat those in power, only to occupy those same seats ourselves.\u00a0 We have to change the game.<\/p>\n
I believe we all have been given some measure of power that is rightfully ours to steward.\u00a0 We should use that power in the pursuit elevating the downtrodden, giving voice to the voiceless, teaching by example how everyone should steward their power for the sake of Christ.\u00a0 \u201cWherever Jesus traveled he used his power to catalyze a reformation of thinking about hospitality, outsiders, interpretation of the law, economic systems and the practices of the established religious systems.\u201d4 \u00a0He validated those who were otherwise invalid, legitimated those who would be illegitimate if left to themselves, valued those who were inherently without value.\u00a0 This is the message and end of the Gospel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The powerful working on behalf of the powerless to bring about transformation that is eternal in scope.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1.\u00a0Mary Kate Morse. Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space and Influence.<\/i> (Downers Grove: IVP 2008)\u00a0 Kindle Edition. Loc. 82.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Ibid. Loc. 310<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t Hate The Playa\u2019\u201d Ice T.\u00a0 1999 release.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Morse, Loc. 429<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is Power Taken, Or Given?\u00a0 Or Both? \u201cPower-Grab!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAbsolute power corrupts absolutely!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGlobal superpower!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOverpowering!\u201d All of these words and phrases carry with them a sense of brashness, unwieldiness, fear\u2026\u00a0 A \u201cpowerful\u201d person is one that, for most regular folk, should probably be avoided, UNLESS you need the power they possess, that is.\u00a0 When they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,475,8],"class_list":["post-3730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-lgp5-2","tag-morse","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3731,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730\/revisions\/3731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n