Vulnerable Power
"We like control; God, it seems, loves vulnerability. In fact, if Jesus is the image of God, then God is much better described as “Absolute Vulnerability Between Three” than “All-mighty One.” Yet how many Christian prayers begin with some form of “Almighty God”? If you’re immersed in the Trinitarian mystery, you must equally say “All-Vulnerable God,” too!" -Richard Rohr
I'm not sure at what age it begins, I guess it's different for every child, but it is fairly early on in the life of a child that they start to fight for self sufficiency. It is a positive social move that we instinctively develop. With my kids it begins with insisting that they get their own drinks. I walk into the kitchen to see a stool pushed up to the counter, my child balancing on the stool to reach the glasses. They are sure that they will be able to pour the gallon of milk by themselves when in all honesty they usually end up with more milk on the table than in their glass. For the most part, I am ok with the kids learning and failing in this way. My oldest is obsessed with doing things on his own. He will make his own dinner, toasted bread and cheese, because he rarely approves of what we are eating. He always gets his own drinks, gets himself ready in the morning and makes his own breakfast. He is learning that the more he can do by himself, the more control that he has. If he is thirsty, he doesn't have to ask us for a drink and then wait for us to get it. He can just grab a drink. If he is hungry and he doesn't like what we are having for dinner, he has to make his own dinner. If he is ready for breakfast or to take a shower in the morning, he doesn't have to wait until I am done helping the younger siblings, he can just get started. There is a lot of power in that.
Later in life, as our age increases and the physical realities of getting older start to kick in, we begin to see what it is like to once again become vulnerable. We need someone to make our meals for us, to get us drink, and even to bring the spoon to our mouth. All of life is like a mountain climb toward self sufficiency followed by a downhill race to vulnerability. Most of us would view self sufficiency as good and vulnerability as something less desirable. We even say things like "he is so needy", or "ugh, can you believe how clingy she is" . Our society views people who are dependent on social programs as lesser, second class citizens. Senior Citizens are placed in nursing homes, retirement communities or Florida. Seeing someone reach an age of vulnerability is more than we can bare. Those who are sick are placed in hospitals so that another person can tend to the needs of the vulnerable. Maybe if we put them on the third floor of a concrete structure, we won't have to face our own possible futures. The homeless are arrested for loitering, told they can't sleep in parks, not even allowed to sit with a blanket on a set of stairs. The most vulnerable in our communities are chased from view of the public.
Our culture is in love with power. We celebrate the strong and powerful in sporting events. This culture worships the self-made business man that clawed his way to the top. Our schools have stadiums built around the football field for the entire community to cheer on young men who are testing the limits of their bodies while at the same time most people aren't aware there is a chess and robotics team. This is the narrative of the world since the beginning of recorded history. The strong are the ones who write the history, the ones who dictate the way that a people worship and decide the fate of those who are weak. Throughout history, the "winners" were the one's who had a stronger god. As a result, we as believers, hold an image of an almighty God and we will fight to the death to defend his name.
In the quote at the beginning of this post, Rohr suggests a different reality from the spiritual power structures than the one our own society demands. What if the revelation of God, in the person of Christ, points to an equally all-vulnerable God? What if the narrative of almighty God, all-powerful God, does more harm than good in this current climate? We must atleast admit that the image of the invisible God, while still displaying a power that in many ways is beyond this age, flexes its muscle through a display of vulnerability. Fetus in the womb of a young woman, child wrapped in rags, parents on the run from a ruler gone mad, prophet speaking truth to the powers of this age, martyr led around by Roman soldiers, Messiah hanging from a cross, and the list goes on. When God displays His character in the actions of Jesus we see a self emptying God not a self aggrandizing, self sufficient God but one who is dependent on the other. The almighty God of pagan mythology depends on no one. He acts for himself and by himself and for his own amusement. We must see that the God of the Hebrew Bible never operated in this way. The God revealed in the New Testament showed this truth in the working of God through His Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a people who have, deposited within us, this same wonder working power, should we not be called to a power through vulnerability and not self sufficiency?
I like to think about how these things flesh out in the life of the church. I think first of all, there is nothing wrong with teaching our children to be self sufficient, to a point. I just think that self sufficiency takes a negative turn when it alienates us from the life of the church. Vulnerability means being able to tell people you need help, confessing your sins to your brother and sister in Christ and deferring to another person's strengths. I think vulnerability also means welcoming people who look radically different from you into the life of the church. It means putting yourself, your church family and your actual family at risk for the purpose of proclaiming the Good News. A vulnerable way of being in this world won't be a way to display how good and talented you are but it may point to a power that is simultaneously beyond you and within you. It will excite and confound us all to the glory of God. Our pride has left us, just like my son, with more milk on the table than in the cup but it isn't too late to ask for a little help from a friend.