Responding to Sinfulness

[God said to Noah] “I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth

and the bow is seen in the clouds, 

I will remember my covenant that is between me and you

and every living creature of all flesh,

and the waters shall never again

become a flood to destroy all flesh.” 

Genesis 9:13-15

Dear Friends,

Sometime in the past few years, I heard about the distinction between soft power and hard power. I’m pretty sure that the context was international relations and how nations interact with other nations.

Hard power is the ability to compel someone (or a nation) to do something through overt force or threat of force. Military action is an obvious example of this but financial forces can also be brought into play. It basically comes down to: Whoever is the most powerful or who is willing to use the most forces gets their way. 

Soft Power, on the other hand, is an attempt to encourage someone else or another nation through goodwill. The basic idea is, “Since we are such good friends, I’m going to help you and provide you with things that you need and I count on you to do the same.” Foreign aid in the form of money, food stuffs, expertise, and personnel are the currency for soft power.

As I watch the news, it seems to me that the use of hard power is becoming the norm. I see it in Venezuela, the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Iran, Ukraine, Sudan and in the U.S. Maybe a more colloquial term for hard power is bullying!

In seminary, my Ethics Professor, Marty Stortz, provided me with the distinction of power over vs. power with. These seem to align pretty well with hard power (power over) and soft power (power with).  In power over, one uses their official authority or superior strength/might/weaponry/wealth to coerce others to do their will. In power with, one develops relationships out of love and compassion to work with others for everyone’s mutual well-being. The goal in power over is to be the winner. The goal in power with is to have everyone win.

When I use this as a lens to view Jesus’ teaching and life, it sure seems to me that Jesus modelled a power with way of being in the world. His compassion and concern for those who were on the weaker side of the power over dynamic seemed to get much more attention from him than those on the stronger side of that equation.

This Sunday, our story is Noah’s Ark. The reason that Genesis gives us for the Great Flood is that God was so disappointed with the wickedness (i.e. sinfulness) of humanity. God used God’s mighty power than to enforce God’s will of destruction on all humanity (along with the plant and animal kingdoms!). In the passage above, it tells us that God put the “bow” in the clouds to remind God of God’s covenant. It gains more insight and meaning for me when I realize that the “bow” God put in the clouds was God’s war bow… God hung up God’s use of force as a way of dealing with the sin in the world! Hmmm…

What does it look like for us to “hang up our weapons” in dealing with the sin in our lives?

Peace,

Pastor Phil