Power and Discipleship
The Revd Dr Christy Capper, Academic Dean, Wollaston Theological College
In the Clergy Professional Development sessions this year, we have been discussing ethics and power. I’ve been thinking a lot about this subject over the past week, not only because we have an upcoming session, but also because I have been thinking about Pope Francis and how he used power within his role.
For all of us who follow Jesus, not only clergy and Popes, the question of how we use and engage with power is one we need to consider in our everyday lives. Power is part of human relationships with one another and the world around us.
The incarnation of Jesus shows us a God willing to give up power to free others from oppression. In the incarnation, we see that God is willing to be among us as a human person, just as we are. Jesus gave up power and sought after power for the sake of love of those around him; for the sake of giving up his life to free us. He used power when necessary: driving out demons, answering questions with authority, and standing against injustice.
Pope Francis, as a follower of Jesus, also gave of himself. He used his power as Pope to draw attention to those at the margins of the world. He used his power and his voice to speak about caring for the environment, the poor, the refugees, the homeless, and the prisoners.
Theologian and ethicist, Miguel A De La Torre, argues that: ‘Any ethics arising from Christianity that wishes to remain faithful to the gospel message must remain rooted in the praxis of liberation. Christian ethics should first struggle with the question of power and how to crucify power and the privilege that flows with it so that justice and love can instead reign’ (Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins, 12).
What does it mean to struggle with the question of power in our lives as followers of Jesus? This is not a question that we answer in our lives once and for all time, but one that we continue to ask throughout our journey of discipleship. Do we seek power for ourselves? How do we use that power to lift others when in positions of power?
How can we use power for liberation and justice?
What would it look like for all of us to seek after justice and love, rather than power?
To use the power that we have to draw attention to those who are not in the same places of privilege as we might find ourselves?
All of us, at different times, feel disempowered, and it can be easy to think that gaining power will help us to feel like the world is not out of control, that things around us are more certain. But we are not people of certainty; we are people of faith. Our hope and security come not from our own power and resources but from our hope in Christ.
We are to be people of hope, not people of power.
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I recommend reading Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins; it is a helpful book for all of us seeking to follow Jesus and think about what it means to follow Christ as his disciples. It is available at The Wollaston Library.