“POWER!”

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

August 28, 2022

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:1-6 NRSV)

We’re going to talk a little bit this morning about POWER.

And as we get started, I want you to think about what it is that gives you a feeling of power…? 

Here are a few examples to help grease the wheels of your thinking…

What about any of you? How might you answer that question? (silly or otherwise…)

I might say getting a string of green lights…or one of my kids saying, in response to something I’ve asked them to do, “Sure, Mom. I’m happy to do that.” YES! Or hitting the punching bag hard in my kickboxing class! Or a more serious one–if someone were to come up to me and say, “That sermon you preached last year–it totally changed my life.” I think that would make me feel pretty powerful…

Any more thoughts?…

We don’t talk much about power. But we probably should. 

It’s real. It affects us and others. We use power. We give away power. We have power OVER others. Others have power over US. We talk about power dynamics–at work, in our families, in other relationships, in politics. Sometimes we feel powerful at other times we feel powerless. Sometimes POWER–especially our own power–is something we’re aware of, but I suspect much of the time, it’s not. 

But power–who has it, who doesn’t, when it’s exercised, how it’s exercised–all of that affects all of us, all the time. Whether we are aware of it or not, the presence and absence of power is a primary factor in how we all live our lives, a primary factor in how we all relate to one another. And I don’t just mean “we,” as in we who are gathered here. Or “we,” as in we who live in Los Alamos County. Or “we,” as in we who are Americans. I mean “we,” as in we who are created beings living on this planet. 

Whether we are aware of it or not, the presence and absence of power is a primary factor in how we all live our lives, a primary factor in how we all relate to one another. And we don’t talk about it very much. Or at least, in my experience, in my circles, not enough.

Some of you may recall that in June I was away for a week, participating in the Nollau Leadership Institute, which is a year-long leadership training program sponsored by the Council for Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM), which is an organization affiliated with the United Church of Christ. (phew!) 

There were 22 of us all together–17 participants and 5 facilitators–from all over the country and from a variety of settings (not just churches), and we talked about a variety of topics during our time together, ranging from different types of faith-based leadership to our own experiences of leadership to embodied leadership to social justice and leadership…and more!! In 4 ½ days. !! 🙂 

But during one of the days in particular, we talked about POWER. And it was thought-provoking. And it was hard. And it was good.

There’s no way I can share very much with you, this morning, about what we talked about, with regard to power (although I hope in coming weeks and months, I will continue to find ways to engage with all of you around some of the topics we explored at the retreat). There is one piece of our conversation, though, that I’d like to share with you; it’s one of the slides the presenter shared with us….

I know it’s hard to see–so I’m going to walk you through it…

The first column is titled “Dimensions of Diversity,” and has the following categories: Age, Race, Ethnicity, Sexual/Affectional Orientation, Physical and Mental Ability, Religion, Socioeconomic Status, Education, Gender Identity, Citizenship Status. 

The next column lists the characteristics of people in those categories who are considered BETTER THAN others–more desirable, more valuable–who, therefore, have more POWER…

Age? Middle aged

Race? White

Ethnicity? Western European 

Sexual/Affectional Orientation? Heterosexual 

Physical and Mental Ability? Able-Bodied/-Minded 

Religion? Christian 

Socioeconomic Status? Wealthy/Upper Middle Class

Education? College-educated

Gender Identity? Men, Cisgender

Citizenship Status? Citizen by birth

The column after that, as you can see or might guess, lists the characteristics of people who are considered–yes–LESS than others–less desirable, less valuable–and who, therefore, yes, have less power. Often FAR less power. 

Age? Very young and very old

Race? People of color/BIPOC [Black/Indigenous/People Of Color]

Ethnicity? All others(!)

Sexual/Affectional Orientation? Bisexual, gay, lesbian, etc. 

Physical and Mental Ability? Physical or mental disability, neurodivergent 

Religion? All others(!)

Socioeconomic Status? Lower Middle Class/Poor

Education? High school or less

Gender Identity? Women, Transgender

Citizenship Status? Naturalized Citizen by birth, work visa holders, undocumented persons

I suspect that most–if not all–of us who are here this morning can claim “membership” in quite a few of those categories in the second column…right? And the greater the number of those categories in which we find ourselves, the greater our power. Whether we realize it or not. Whether we claim it or not. Whether we use it for good, or not. 

The greater the number of those categories in the second column in which we find ourselves, the more power we hold, particularly in this country. 

And the greater the number of categories in the third column in which someone finds themselves, the smaller their power. The less desirable they are considered, the less valuable  they are considered. The less power they have. 

And again, this is true, in our country, at this moment, whether we are aware of it or not. 

So what the heck does this have to do with any of our scriptures???? Well, you could argue that it’s related to the Gospel passage for today, with its talk of the place of honor as opposed to the lowest place, and exalting yourselves vs humbling yourself… And I suppose it is! 

But I want us to look at the Hebrews passage. At the first half of the Hebrews passage. 

At the part that says this: 

“Let mutual love continue…. 

…Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:1-6 NRSV)

What does any of that have to do with our conversation about POWER??

Well, it seems to me that in those words, in those exhortations, the author–who is believed to be Paul–was encouraging behaviors that would upset the normal power distribution! 

1st: Let mutual love continue. Love for one another like sisters and brothers. Like family. Not hierarchical love. Not love that has to be earned. Not love that only goes in one direction. Not love that is only for the benefit of one. Not love that’s based on external qualifications, like education or wealth, or inherent characteristics, like race or gender. But mutual love. Love for one another just because. Love that goes both ways, that works for the good of all, that is freely given and unconditional. Let mutual love continue.

Next: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. A stranger in those days would have been an outsider. Someone who didn’t belong. Someone who was from a different place, who perhaps spoke a different language, whose cultural traditions and practices were different. Someone whose family was faraway, someone for whom it might have been difficult to find a safe place to stay. Someone who, given all of those circumstances, very likely would have had very little power, in a Jewish community. And so the Jews–the Hebrews–were being reminded to share the power they had, to equalize the power distribution, to use their power in that setting to make sure those without it were taken care of. You belong–use that sense of belonging to include others. You have food and shelter–use them to care for those that don’t. You are part of a community and experience safety–welcome others into that community, with generosity and kindness. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Next: Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Talk about a power differential–those who are in prison as compared to those who aren’t?? Those who are being tortured as compared to those who aren’t?? Don’t take it for granted that you are free; use your freedom to show kindess to those who aren’t. Use the power that comes with being free–or in our cases, that comes with being middle-aged, and/or white, and/or of Western European descent, and/or heterosexual, and/or able-bodied and/or able-minded, and/or Christian, and/or upper middle class, and/or college-educated, and/or cisgender men, and/or US citizens by birth… Let all of the power that comes with all of that remind you of all those who are not all of those things, and especially of all those who are not ANY of those things…and then use that power to care for them, to lift them up, to work for their freedom and empowerment…

Next: Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled… That represented an equalizing of power between men and women–unheard of in those times. And not a given, still today. Paul was saying both partners in a marriage were to honor the relationship, and hold it as sacred, honoring one another. Both partners. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled…

Next: Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have… More money means more power, right?? Those who have more of the former automatically have more of the latter. Who doesn’t want more money? Who doesn’t want more power? A love of money leads to greed, leads to selfishness, leads to looking out for #1, leads to even greater distortion of power dynamics…. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have… There’s no need to want more and more and more; appreciate what you have. Be grateful for what you have. Be content with what you have….

Why?? “For God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” 

And therein lies the source of all of our power. God. God being with us. God being faithful to us. God promising to never leave us. 

“For God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” 

That is where our true power comes from, regardless of our Age, Race, Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, Physical and Mental Ability, Religion, Socioeconomic Status, Education, Gender Identity, Citizenship Status, or anything else!! 

“For God has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’” 

Our power comes from God and God’s presence with us and within us. All of that other power? That worldly power? The power granted to us by those other things? That power is at our disposal to equalize the power distribution in the world around us. That power is at our disposal to use to empower others.

Listen one more time, and consider what I consider as an invitation to partner with Jesus to turn the world right-side up… 

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’”

Amen.