One of the classes I am taking this semester is called Essential Community. The purpose of the class is to consider core relational categories that must be engaged to become a community. Our main text for the class is Miroslav Volf's book Exclusion and Embrace.
Yesterday in class we had four guests come visit with us. They sat in on our discussion groups as we worked through different case studies of conflict. Our visitors included an Eastern Orthodox Christian, an African American who pastors an inner city church, an Asian woman, and a Fuller Seminary graduate who works for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he is a Christian and he also self identifies as a homosexual. It was a valuable experience as we conversed together as a class and with our guests.
The general consensus of the class is that we all desire community. And to a certain extent we desire to have community with people that are different than ourselves. We have hope that love, humility, and open and frank conversation can tear down walls of division and ignorance and bring about community. One of the things that was apparent was that (to use the example of dining together) to dine with each other at the table, everyone needs to be able to have a voice. Everyone should be able to say who they are, what they think and feel, and what their desires are. If there are voices at the table that are silent, then violence is taking place, and people are being excluded.
It is easy for me as an educated white male to come to the table. (At least at a place like Mars Hill Graduate School, and in most church settings, especially Evangelical churches.) To a certain extent I do not fear offering my voice at the table. I believe that I will be taken seriously to a certain degree.
So again it is easy for me to say, "Everyone should have a voice." The problem is, is that in reality not every one's voice has equal power. At the table there could be people who are in decision making positions. There could be people at the table who have been victimized, marginalized, and suppressed. So how does the dinner continue with some people having more power than others? Will those with the more powerful voices ultimately silence people at the table? Will the less powerful have to sacrifice who they are to stay at the table? Will the less powerful have to leave the table and sit at another table?
Yesterday we experienced an example of this. At the end of our time together our four guests gathered around a table together to talk about their experiences of our class and of each other. It became apparent that the African American pastor (Joe)and the man who works for the Gates Foundation (Ron) disagreed on some things. Now the powerful and the powerless is not clear in this example (as it is in most examples). But within the church Joe sits in a place of power, he is a pastor. I do not know Ron's entire story, but it seemed like at one time he wanted to be a pastor, but he in his denomination he is not allowed. Could our four guests remain at the table together? Could Ron remain at the table with Joe and continue to be true to who Ron is? Could Joe remain at the table with Ron and continue to be who Joe is? Is that even a violent modern dichotomy that continues the myth of the isolated individual that leads to genocidal violence? These are the questions I walked away with last night.
Is community with people of significant difference possible? There is very little in our experience that tells us that it is possible. Walls are built on borders, new churches are built everyday, genocidal wars continue to be waged.
I guess what I am saying is that power needs to be addressed and discussed. Difference is not going away. Our time on earth will continue to be marked with people of different religions, ethnicity, sexuality, socio-economic status, etc... The power that these different groups have will sway.
So my initial thoughts on power:
One, power must be recognized. It is naive and it can be terribly abusive to not acknowledge the power one has.
Two, power is not going away.
Three, I think (I could be wrong) power prevents community more than difference.
Four, What does Jesus have to say concerning power? Jesus actively (not passively) submitted himself to power to overcome it. (I say this with the utmost sensitivity to people who find themselves in abusive relationships. For instance Jesus does not encourage women to submit themselves to spousal abuse.)
Five, continuing off of point four, in a post a long time back, I suggested that the role of the church is to not be in charge. How does a pacifist vision of church speak to power?
Six, what might it look like for "the ones not in charge" at the table to remain at the table? Could they do it in a way that is not self-destructing? Could they do it in a way that would humble the powerful? That is the foolishness of the cross isn't it? The greatest among us, is the servant of all.
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4 comments:
Hey Jordan -
Love the blog. In fact, I've been meaning to write for months to let you know that your poem titled "Truth is Relational" (post 10/30/06) was amazing, great insights. Reading your most recent post on community, I've found that pride is the biggest barrier to community, while power preserves community. I think in particular of Christ's power at work in the world to preserve his relationship with humanity.
Blessings,
Kelly
Kelly, Thanks for your thoughts. You are right. "Power is a barrier to community" is somewhat ambigous. Pride touches more specifically on the specifics.
Jesus warned his disciples to not "Lord it over as the Gentiles do." He was speaking to an abuse of power.
Jesus also made it clear that He lays his life down, it did not passively happen to him, but rather he choose to go to the cross. It takes power to turn the other cheek (one could also turn the other cheek due to a lack of power). I think that is what you are referring to when speak of the power of Christ to form communities. Self-sacrificial love is an incredibly powerful community building force!
I think if I were to clarify my use of the word power it would be in this sense: When I was in Africa, it was difficult to achieve a sense of authentic community with some of the Africans I encountered due to my power. I was white, these people live in a world that was colonized by whites. I am rich, they are poor. I live a life of choice, there circumstances offer them very little choice. My power greatly affected our relating to one another. So I question, "What needs to take place so that we could have more authentic community?" How can I relate to those with less power than me that does not abuse them, nor patronize them?
And then secondly, I wanted to address what it might look like for those without the power to relate to the ones with it. An obvious example, (that of course is near to both of us) is women in the church. (The issue that came up in our class, was homosexuality in the church. Another example would be the evangelical presence in politics right now. We could also speak to race issues). Power is at play in all of these issues. Not everyone comes to the table with equal voice (even though we all hope that would not be the case). And even if we strip away all of the prejudice, ignorance, pride, and self-hatred power is still at play. Some at the table have more decision making power in our society, in our churches, etc... What do we do with that? How do we go about addressing that relationally?
Is it possible for community to take place among those in charge, and those who are not in charge and who also disagree? Both parties fully believe in the rightness of their claims (and I am not inviting a discussion on the rightness of either :-)) so how then does it play out? And how is power at play? Do those in charge recognize their power? Do they recognize how it can silence the less powerful? Have the powerless found a sense of self? Have they found community that can help them gain a sense of identity? (Wow that sounds patronizing?!) And then how do the powerless engage the powerful?
I can sense it would be easy to read my words as the powerful are wrong and the powerless are right. But that is not what I am wanting to express (the distinction between the powerful and powerless is never very clear anyway). But rather, I am wondering, "How does power impact our communities?"
I had no idea you could write that much in a comment box...good to know! All that said, power...much like beauty, can be "in the eye of the beholder" When we where in Africa you/I had the power of being white, rich, and american...but we lacked the power of language, cultural understanding, and simply being in a different country. Now one could argue which power might be greater or less, but there is no point, the power of being white, rich, and american doesn't matter when you are being mugged, in fact it is probably the reason you are being mugged. All I am saying is that in community the power dynamics are often created within our own heads...the question is how do we break down that perseption. I realize that there is more to this then I have stated here, but for all of our sanity I will keep is short (to late).
Different power dynamics are inevitable in society, but we must learn how to address them, explore them, and to work them out in such a way the these types of power are beneficial to all.
OK, I am rambling now...time to stop.
Jordan -
I often wonder what it must have been like for Jesus as he tried to build intimacy among the twelve. Wonder how he cared for both Simon the Zealot (one willing to kill for Israel) and Matthew the tax collector (a traitor to Israel). Wonder how he helped them care for one another? It's fascinating to study the life of Christ looking at how he connected with both the powerful and the powerless. Thank goodness for the Spirit of Christ (John 17:20-23).
Kelly
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