Richard Rohr explores the ways we have used our God-given power for good and ill:
Despite the many abuses of power documented throughout history, power itself cannot be inherently bad. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is described as dynamis, which means power (Acts 10:38; 1 Corinthians 2:4–5). Jesus tells his disciples before his Ascension that “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Then you will be my witnesses … to the very ends of the Earth” (Acts 1:8).
Sustained contact with the Holy Spirit, our Inner Source, allows us to become living icons of true, humble, and confident power. We no longer need to seek “power over” others, because we have discovered the “power within” and know it is a dignity shared with all of life. This is ultimately what it means to be a well-grounded person.
Paul states the divine strategy well in Romans 8:16: “God’s Spirit and our spirit bear common witness that we are indeed children of God.” The goal is a shared knowing and a common power, which is initiated and given from God’s side, as we see dramatized in the Pentecost event (Acts 2:1–13). To span the infinite gap between the divine and the human, God’s agenda is to plant a little bit of God, the Holy Spirit, right inside of us (John 14:16–17; Romans 8:9, 11; 1 Corinthians 3:16). Yet, as many have said, the Holy Spirit is still the “lost” or undiscovered person of the Trinity. If we have not made contact with our true power, the Indwelling Spirit, we will seek power in all the wrong places.
I want to repeat that power, in and of itself, is not bad. It simply needs to be redefined as something more than domination. If the Holy Spirit is power, then power has to be good, loving, and empowering, not something that is the result of ambition or greed. In fact, a truly spiritual, whole and holy individual, is a very powerful person. If we don’t name the good meaning of power, we will be content with the bad, or we will avoid claiming our own powerful vocations. What is needed, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice.” [1]
King further wrote,
If we want to turn over a new leaf and really set a new humanity afoot, we must begin to turn humankind away from the long and desolate night of violence. May it not be that the new humanity the world needs is the nonviolent human?… This not only will make us new people but will give us a new kind of power…. It will be power infused with love and justice, that will change dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows, and lift us from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope. [2]
References:
[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (Harper and Row, 1967), 37.
[2] King, Where Do We Go, 66. Note: Minor edits made to incorporate gender-inclusive language.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, rev. ed. (Franciscan Media, 2022), 102–104.
Image credit and inspiration: cal gao, untitled (detail), 2021, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. We move—from “I” to “we”—honoring each other’s gifts, sharing skills with reverence, and weaving our strengths into a whole greater than any one alone.
Story from Our Community:
For most of my life, every thought process has revolved around solving problems and seeking answers, but I’ve started to practice stillness and silence instead of searching for anything at all. In this new space of contemplation, powerful insights arise at the most unexpected moments. They aren’t the result of my own effort and mental machinations; they are gifts directly communicated to me through God’s love. Our intellects can be clever and ever so knowledgeable, but when we gaze up at the night sky or watch a butterfly, we understand that our minds must take a backseat to the quiet, gentle guidance of God.
—David M.
