Power

Bedtime Theology with the 4-year-old  

(Trying to get child to settle down instead of showing off his new Batman pajamas - complete with cape)

Me: Let’s read about Jesus, he’s a super-hero, too, but he doesn’t have a cape.

4 yo: But he can fly!

Me: He can? How does Jesus fly?

4 yo: He flies with his feet.

Me: Wow, how do you know that?

4 yo: I saw it in a video at church.

Me: Oh, was it a video they showed in Sunday School?

4 yo: Yeah, there was a person in white and they could fly. I’m sure it was Jesus.

It's a funny time of year to write about Jesus being a flying, cape-wearing super-hero, seeing as we're just weeks away from welcoming him as vulnerable newborn. Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent in the Christian church, which marks the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Every year it feels like a precipice - I'm standing on the edge clutching my Thanksgiving leftovers, savoring a few days at home with the kids before plummeting into Christmas concerts/prep/shopping/busy mode. I'd rather linger here a few more days, but the calendar will turn and the ready-or-not holidays keep coming.

My older kids are out of the superhero phase, but my youngest, a preschooler, still wears Batman pajamas and pretends he can fly. He imagines that Jesus has a lot of power and that is true, because true power is shown in the ability to limit it for the benefit of others. 

I asked the kids if they wanted to watch a Christmas movie this weekend, and they chose "The Star," which is on Netflix. Having a degree in theology makes me annoyingly skeptic during religious movies: I may have complained "that part is NOT in the Bible" during several scenes. But the movie served up a decent illustration on power and responsibility (should the donkey follow the royal procession or stick with Mary?) and the ability of one person (donkey) to use their own power to make a difference. 

I learned through faith-based community organizing that power is the ability to act (I also learned that power is organized money or organized people but that's a different blog post). I think about what it took for a divine being to choose to be present with humanity and to live and suffer and die. I think about what it took people I admire to use their power to serve others: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., my mother. I think about what it might mean, this holiday season, for me to use my own power for the good of the world that God so loves. 

Speaking of superheroes, my kids went through a phase where we watched the Incredibles movies on repeat. In the first movie, the main characters are superheroes living monotonous middle class and middle age life (relatable, anyone?), forced to hide their super powers. Eventually, their powers are needed to defeat a villain and everyone has to use their unique gifts to make it happen. The biblical parable about not hiding your talent comes to mind. 

My super powers this weekend felt like those of the average mom variety: ran a Turkey Trot, cooked turkey, washed dishes, bathed kids, broke up arguments and read bedtime stories. In this chapter of my life (on leave from paid ministry), there is nothing happening to put on my resume and I'm making almost no money. But I still have power that makes a difference to someone, and if you're still reading this, so do you. You have the ability to act and it is needed by someone. Maybe it's just needed by you, and even that is enough.