12 April 2006

Ron Sider on Christ and power in "Christ and Violence."

There are many kinds of force or coercion... I believe that one can distinguish between forms of coercion which love and respect the other person as a free moral agent responsible to the Creator and forms of coercion that do not. It is possible to use psychological, sociological, or economic coercion in a way that respects and preserves the other person's freedom to persist in saying "No." A law with legal penalties does that because the person can decide to disobey and accept the penalty... A consciously constructed Christian community also does that even though (as sociologist rightly points out) enormous coercive power is at work. One can engage in all the above forms of genuine coercion and still lovingly appeal at the same time to the other person as a free moral agent responsible to God to choose to repent and change.

I do not tend to use the word coercion in a positive light in my own conversation. Here it is simply on par with the concept of force that has many sides to it. Let me share little example of the "enormous coercive power" that comes within the Christian community. Last evening I returned home from a short stay in the hospital. I was not feeling very strong after being in bed for so long. I received a call from a friend in the neighborhood. He said that he thought the guys who play basketball on our church parking lot were playing too late a too loud. He is a tall guy who carries himself confidently and was driving in "official city car." I'm not so big, drive a hybrid, and probably looked a bit mousey last night. Within five minutes, I was able to approach all of the groups, explain the situation at hand, ask for their assistance, and lay down a warning that held some consequences. Why do I say this? Well when I approach one dark car with two guys sitting in the front seat, I tapped on the window to ask them to lower it. The person sitting closest to me simply looked through the tinted window as though I was interrupting his life. The other guy recognized me and said, "It's the preacher." The window open, we had our discussion, and all was well. Even though I was not the pastor to any of these young men, there was still this "enormous coercive power" in the air that these young men respected and it allowed me to help create a pattern of behavior in that lot. Knowing that, it is so important to understand what this power can do for both the good and the bad...and I'm sure we can all tell stories of both uses.

Connection: Within the bounds of a single spoken sentence, we can carry quite a bit of power in what we say. It is so important to prayerfully weigh our position and the words we use before we use them. Even the gestures and words of parents who is seeking certain actions from a child must be used in a responsible and creative way rather than a way that destroys and damages our children.

Lord God, guide us this day in all we do and all we say. Make us instruments of peace who honor and respect others and yet who are able to stand up and defend the rights of all so that no side is diminished to the point of losing their sense of worth and hope. Amen.