When was the last time you felt like a loser? Probably not over the past few weeks — unless you are like me and hail from New England. It was hard to be a New Englander as the Eagles triumphed in the Super Bowl – even though I am not much of a football fan. Do you hate me? I hope not. Unfortunately, there have been too many words of hate sprinkled throughout the good-natured teasing and claims of power resulting from this recent triumph.
Let’s be honest, we are more comfortable with power than with powerlessness, more comfortable with control than lack of it and more comfortable as winners than losers. Who wants to be on the sidelines when you can be standing on the top of the world holding the trophy? Who’s going to listen to the losers when they can preen with the powerful? Well, actually, many will see beyond the obvious, as they have throughout spiritual history.
Buddha traveled with the beggars, Christ kept company with those on the fringes and Black Elk shared the suffering of the Native Americans . These are just a few of the spiritual leaders that have walked with the powerless and away from the powerful. It is uncomfortable. But until we can learn to be comfortable with discomfort and acknowledge our own powerlessness, I fear we will miss the depths of our souls.
Chaplaincy offered me a chance to live in powerlessness. To be a part of the intimate moments of human suffering, knowing full well that I could not alter the course. That I could not fix the situation but only walk through it with those I served, was a heart-centered learning moment. To be fully powerless and to see the grace in it.
Those moments can be our most profound teachers as they represent our greatest fears and our biggest denials. We are forced to meet them face to face. But that meeting is not easy.
It is much easier to shame others, to threaten and to curse those who threaten our positions of power – real or imagined. We destroy their icons and symbols in an effort to destroy their essence, sometimes with our words and sometimes with gross acts of violence. All to preserve, protect or procure power.
But every now and then, we allow grace to break through with a transformation; that holy moment of an experience that allows us to live into the world of the powerless, to join forces with the “losers” of the world. In those moments we join with the spiritual leaders of all traditions in the choices that change lives. We walk hand in hand and heart in heart with the less fortunate.
Let us revel in the successes of the day with joy – but not at the expense of doing harm to those already hurting. Let’s not focus so much on the touchdown that we miss the trials and tribulations of the suffering. There is no trophy for that.
The Reverend Dr. Deborah Darlington is from the lovely little state of Rhode Island but serves people from traditions that span the globe. She speaks on Interfaith regularly and can be reached at GraceMatters@TheSpaceForGrace.com
