Power for what ?
Marbuen Diaz serves on the team at Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT . Here he explores power and the counter cultural example Jesus leaves us to follow .
A powerful memory .
When I look back to the memory , I always arrive mid-scene . A 10-year-old kid standing in the middle of the classroom .
Shamed . Paralysed . Tears uncontrollably streaming down my face from feeling helpless . I was a new immigrant of just a couple of weeks and my Year 4 teacher was towering over me and repeatedly yelling , ‘ Do you understand what I am trying to say !’ I did , indeed , understand – I just felt powerless to respond .
His strong voice struck fear into my young heart and it made me feel like I didn ’ t belong . I am almost certain that wasn ’ t his intention , but it is what I remember vividly as my welcome into a country I now call ‘ home ’. Since then , there have been many similar incidents which have upheld the narrative that I was different and I didn ’ t belong .
It ’ s taken many years to work that stuff out , including seeing counsellors . I am in a much better place now but that same feeling still creeps in here and there , when an authoritative teacher-like figure raises their voice towards me .
That feeling of fear , alienation and powerlessness . Though a different story , it is a similar cry that our First Nations brothers and sisters expressed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart . In absorbing the inequalities that their peoples experience , I can hear their heartache when they say , “ This is the torment of our powerlessness .”
The dynamics of power .
A quick Google search will help us understand a biblical word study on ‘ power ’. I looked up the different kinds of Hebrew and Greek words that paint a picture of how the ancient world viewed ‘ power ’. But I am less interested in its definition and more curious about its function – how power is used .
In human history , we have seen ‘ power ’ used horribly . I am sure we could all think of times when human beings thought they had the solution to the world ’ s problems , only to discover that it is usually at the cost of other people ’ s freedoms , rights and even lives . It has been a ‘ torment of powerlessness ’ indeed . Unfortunately , in many instances – including sadly , in Christian mission – power has been used atrociously .
RESONATE ISSUE 41 | PAGE 5