I’ve heard it often enough: “Decide. Are you going to be the chef, or an ingredient?” Be a leader, or be consumed. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said it in slightly different terms at the World Economic Forum in Davos (20 Jan 26) when he cautioned middle power countries “If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” Beneath both are the sentiment that if you don’t get yourself into a position of power you will be a mere pawn in someone else’s game – not important enough to have your loyalty rewarded when more difficult decisions have to be made. The warning is that at those moments you will discover how disposable you actually are.
It’s sobering stuff, and at a certain level it is clearly true. How many people have pledged their loyalty (and sometimes decades of service) to companies which find them totally surplus to requirements when profits sag just a little? Their disillusionment is real. Some vow never again, take a course in assertiveness, and put up protective barriers that can’t be broken through. They are not necessarily better or happier as a result, even if they are less naive.
But what’s a Christian perspective on this? Notice, I say “a” Christian perspective, not “the” Christian perspective, because realistically it’s one of those topics on which there isn’t consensus?
The question behind this revolves around a Christian attitude to influence and power – be it at an individual or a collective level.
On the one hand I have often found myself an enthusiastic advocate for embracing Christian influence and power. I regularly reflect on Abraham Kuyper’s famous declaration, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine'”(1880). Kuyper tried to work out the implications of this during his period as the Netherlands Prime Minister (1901-1905). Reviews on his success are mixed, and he is generally praised for significant advances in education, but censored for shutting down legitimate labour unrest. Politics is a tough game and few come out of it with unblemished reputations.
What is gained and what is lost when Christians try to gain power to extend the teaching of Jesus?
I guess the first dilemma is that Jesus was remarkably unenthusiastic about the quest for power. He warned that those who wanted to be first would be last (Matt 19:30), and refused to be drawn into a debate about the legitimacy of paying taxes to Rome (“pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” Mark 12:17). He willingly surrendered to crucifixion by Rome, in Matt 26:53 opting against calling on the Father for 12 legions of angels to rescue him from the horror he faced. One of the earliest hymns of the Church is found in Phil 2:5-8 – a celebration of the power Jesus renounced that now leaves him in the paradoxical position that every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord! Through becoming powerless, Jesus became powerful. In a different context Paul makes a similar claim, “when I am weak, then I am strong” 2 Cor 12:10.
For all that, I am grateful for the influence of committed Christian leader William Wilberforce in the struggle against slavery. I am proud of the influence key Christians had in the formation of labour movements around the world (despite Kuyper!). As Morgan Phillips, former General Secretary of the British Labour Party said in 1953, The Labour Party “owes more to Methodism than to Marxism”. Wesley’s work amongst the poor and his concern for their working conditions slowly but surely gathered momentum and helped shape and change a political climate. Many good things came from it. I could go on and on. It is a topic I explore in my book “Why Christianity is Probably True” – because outcomes do matter, and I think a very strong case can be made for the positive impact the Christian faith has had on human history (which is not to say that there have not been dark and destructive moments – hence this debate).
One of the repeated refrains in scripture is that we are blessed to bless (starting with Gen 12:3 “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”.) This being the case, shouldn’t we gather all the influence we can and use it for the blessing of the world and the greater glory of God?
Oh, if only it were so simple… But the reality is that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton, 1887). Many assume that being a Christian removes this temptation. They are wrong – dreadfully wrong.
Are there warning signs that power is corrupting? Yes. When? When half-truths are paraded as whole truths we must question our motives. When inconvenient facts are glossed over we must question our motives. When we block our ears to minorities and voices from the margins, we must question our motives. When we are the ones who gain the most from our decisions, we must question our motives (for as Paul claims in 1 Cor 13: 5 love “is not self-seeking”).
When I was on Sabbatical leave in the USA in 2020 (and had to dash back because of the COVID pandemic) I attended a small church which closed each service with this wonderful benediction – apparently a mixture of the writing of William Sloane Coffin and Stephen Shoemaker:
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
May God give you grace never to sell yourself short,
Grace to risk something big for something good,
Grace to remember that the world is too small for anything but truth
And too dangerous for anything but love.
So may God take your minds and think through them.
May God take your lips and speak through them.
May God take your hearts and set them on fire.
Amen.
Lovely, isn’t it? It’s the statement: “the world is too small for anything but truth and too dangerous for anything but love” that keeps coming back to me. By all means search for power and influence, but always remember this: the world is too small for anything but truth and too dangerous for anything but love. If you are giving those away, or if you are on the slippery slope where they are in danger of being compromised, you are paying too high a price.
And if you are paying too high a price, why not consider the Jesus alternative and trust that in losing your life you will find it, and that in being willing to be last, you might suddenly find yourself first. Or as Paul puts it, why not trust that “when I am weak, then I am strong”?
Nice chatting…
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