electricity, power, and authority

A nugget from this morning's sermon reminded of a political story with a key principle. Both are worth sharing...

Today, Dave mentioned saying that "he had no power" (referring to the impact of the recent storm and the subsequent loss of electricity). His friend clarified/corrected him by saying that "he had no electricity".

The point: We have power, discretion, free will, choice, etc.-- to some extent. We are not automatons; our world is not deterministic-- from quantum physics to individual choices.

For Christians, the question is theological as well. Christians have access to the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within all believers (Rom 8:9). Of course, Christians can have access to this Power and not tap into it. How sad when Christians forsake the living waters to dig their own (broken) cisterns (Jer 2:13). More broadly, non-Christians have access to the free gift of salvation through God's grace. How sad if they are uninterested or try to earn it on their own-- and forsake the power and grace of God, in its manifold manifestations.


Now, to a story on authority and power from the campaign...

When I was speaking at a candidate forum in New Albany, one of the candidates for coroner shared an interesting story/joke: She noted that the coroner has the authority to arrest the sheriff-- and in a social setting, she had jokingly reminded the sheriff of this. He replied (jokingly?) that this was true, but he had a SWAT team.

As she correctly analyzed:
-She had the authority, but probably not the power to arrest him.
-He did not have the authority, but had the power to use (and abuse) to prevent his arrest.

So, too, it is with much of government: the exercise of power, without the constitutional or moral authority to do so.