Note #9100 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06058 Feb. 3, 2006
The power of the cross, the power of the empty tomb
Gospel has messages for the powerful and powerless, Law tells educators
by Jerry L. Van Marter
ST. LOUIS - The "cycle of gospel living" requires those with power to give it up, and those who are powerless to be empowered, keynoter Eric Law told the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) Friday in his third address to the 1,200 Christian educators gathered here.
In every situation, Law said, there are those who are perceived to have more power and those who are perceived to have less. A careful reading of the Gospel stories, he said, will reveal that Jesus had distinct messages for the powerful and the powerless, and often power-shifted between the two in the stories he told.
In simplified terms, he said: "The powerful are drawn to the triumph of the empty tomb, while the powerless, who suffer the greatest, are more drawn to the cross." Without the dynamic tension between the two, he said, the powerful lose sight of the Biblical principle of self-sacrifice, and the powerless never experience resurrection.
"Both empowerment and the giving up of power are necessary for the gospel message to be complete," he asserted.
How is this dynamic reflected in real life? Preachers are perceived to have more power than congregants, he said, "and so it is incumbent on them to listen to their parishioners the rest of the week, so that their sermons are informed by the experiences of their listeners and so that parishioners feel empowered by the messages of the sermons."
And look at missionary activity, he said: "Missionaries are taught to learn the language and then preach longer and louder until people believe. If they spent more time listening and observing for the already present divine in their mission fields, it would make for far different missionary activity."
In short, he said, "The powerful are challenged to shut up and listen; the powerless are encouraged to speak up."
That is the point of "mutual invitation," a method of dialogue gaining acceptance in the church and in other multi-cultural situations where cultural differences - and hence power dynamics - are most pronounced. In mutual invitation, every speaker is allowed to speak once before any speaker is allowed to speak twice.
It means, Law said, "that the powerless are consistently invited in, and the powerful learn that giving up power is not so bad - because your turn will come around again." The powerless are empowered because "they know that the opportunity is always there for a person to pick up power when that person is ready for it."
How do we teach the powerful to let go, in our power-driven society? And how do we empower the powerless? New Testament theology has the answer, Law said.
"The gospel says to the powerful that the cross (letting go of power) is not the end of the story, that resurrection is coming."
By the same token, he said, "God doesn't want us to be on the cross all the time - powerlessness is not permanent, because of that same promise of resurrection."
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