by Kelly Pelton (written 17 Mar 2024)

A nation's currency may fail, its money worthless in the world,
but power never loses worth; we want control much more than cash,
for power helps when cash is gone, to keep us in command of things,
to keep us far less vulnerable when times and people become rash.

We Christians, let's make no mistake, are in the world and trade in power,
fancying ourselves good stewards of control for all God's glory;
whether we share power with the sisters whom we call our equals
is another convoluted, very sad and carnal story.

Control is king for fallen people, sole commodity unfailing;
never will it lose its value, always is it in demand.
We do not share it with the ones we do not trust or well-esteem
for reasons of their character or our own prejudice at hand.

We Christians are not "of" the world, and Jesus sets a higher standard,
not of "servant-leaders" hoarding influence and church decisions,
but of servants, all submitting to each other, no one seeking
to be first (pre-eminent) in subtly worded truth revisions.

Share the power. That's respect, to spread the power among equals,
not withholding, only sharing this real currency in this world,
what we call control or power, ceding true control to God who
by the power of His Spirit gets our tight-gripped fingers uncurled.