We’ve forgotten how to not just to talk with each other, but how to listen to each other. The question arises, however, how do you talk with someone who is unalterably opposed to the way you see the world? We’re not talking about politics with a capital P, but the relationship we have with power and those who use it.
Power refers to the relationships between people and whether there is equity in our relationships with others. We usually don’t like to think that we exercise power in those relationships, but we do. Learning how to have a balance with people we know so that the relationship becomes a real friendship can be difficult.
Friendship is achieved when we have equity in our power relationship with another person. The idea of equity in relationships extends to groups as well. Learning how to address power relationships with those who are opposed to a particular worldview that any of us have is difficult but necessary in order to build community.
Prayer for the Day
Struggling to understand the word around us, O Holy One,
We ask for wisdom to discern between competing claims;
Uneasy at how we see people exercise power among us,
We ask for the courage to call out its unethical uses.
Help us, O God, to live as we know we should,
And to use our power as a force for good, not evil.
In the name of the One who guides our paths,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Power is not sufficient evidence of truth.
- Samuel Johnson, English writer, from Works, Vol. 8 (1709-1784)
If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.
- Shirley Chisolm, U.S. Representative (1924-2005)
O Lord, you have searched me and known me,
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You discern my thoughts rom far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and lay your hand upon me
Such knowledge is too wonderful or me, so high I cannot attain it.
Psalm 139: 1-6