Who's Got the Power? (Un-doing the Dis)

What is it about the letters D, I, and S… that when you put them together they can start off words describing such potent awfulness? Dismissed, dismayed, discounted, distanced, disowned. I imagine by now, you’ve thought of a few more to add to the dis-list.

It stinks to be dissed, no matter how you finish the dis-word that describes your state of being.

How about diseased? That’s always a fun one. When you’re diseased (or just plain really sick) so many of the other dis words come with it, don’t they. Disconnected, discouraged, distraught, you name it.

I’ve had some time to think about (and live) these dis words the past two weeks, as I’ve been in and out of feverishness and other kinds of viral misery and fatigue. Here I was coming back from an amazing trip to New Orleans, all ready to jump into my work with new energy and ideas, and I got slammed.

So I’m finding myself relating to someone I've not identified with before who shows up in the Bible's ancient history writings, this sick guy named Naaman. What really struck me about the story as I read it this time is that Naaman had just had this mountaintop experience in his career. Everyone wants his autograph, wants to hear his stories of victory… until he gets slammed, shoved right into the hell-hole of leprosy. Disabled, disgruntled, displaced.

Now Naaman’s a power guy. Take a minute to read the story, and you’ll see how everyone around him goes through the regular power chain of command to try to correct this dis-easedness and give him his life back. (Click on the title of this post to connect to the story.)

But the shocker is that it’s not the big guns who have the power to undo the dissing. Naaman’s healing is held in the hands of the little people, the serving people, the only ones who can discern where the power really is. (I was determined to get a positive dis-word in, and I believe I did it!)
Naaman’s servant-girl by all rights could have despised the guy for taking her from her family like so much stolen property. But instead she chooses to share what she knows about where the power is. Then later in the story, Naaman’s other servants talk him out of his pigheaded power notions, so he’ll get in the water and splash his way to healing and new life.

When Jesus walked this earth, he was one of those servant-people who knew where the power was, wasn’t he? He found God’s power in the little people and the little things. Like low-life lepers and fields of flowers and confessing criminals. He tried to get his admirers to stop ogling over his eye-popping miracles and look at where the REAL power is: in serving up yourself to others, in giving your life for the life of the world, in loving the lowly so deeply that God’s power shines for all to see.

Who’s got the power in your life? How does God work through others to un-do your dissed-ness? How does Jesus help you to find that servant-impulse deep inside you, even when you’re at your lowest level of disability? May these and other questions lead you into further discernment and discovery this week…

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Those who came to our Gathering for Grieving Hearts got to splash around a bit at this station where healing oil and prayer were offered. See the post below for more about this time of prayer and connection hosted by By the Way.