Justice General Assembly: A Reflection on Power

July, 2012
Sitting on the school bus heading out to the candlelight vigil at the
Maricopa County Detention Center, I had to admit to myself that I was a
little nervous. Utterly determined, but nervous. Two friends and I had
strategized hours in advance to make sure that we would have seats on
a bus, and there we were, rattling along toward something uncertain.
We had been warned that there would be armed counterdemonstrators
the Minutemen who support the deportation of undocumented
immigrants. As we rode along we broke into song hymns and protest
songs. The singing made me feel strong. We sang as we stepped out of
the bus. We sang as we walked past the Minutemen. We joined a river
of people in yellow T-shirts emerging from other buses, and joined our
voices as we took our positions, and held up signs and battery powered
candles. The T-shirts, the signs, and the sheer numbers of us turned us
into a force, but the singing bonded us into a purposeful, powerful
community. My nervousness turned to joy, and to a sense that there
together we had the power to foster change in Arizona and in the United
States.
About three days into Justice GA, I had started to notice that there
seemed to be a common theme in a number of workshops I attended,
and it made me start to pay extra careful attention. That theme was
power. We have all talked about what going to Phoenix felt like the
eye-opening, thought-provoking moments we experienced - and one of
mine came when a panelist noted that social activists often seek
influence rather than power. Ive been thinking about this ever since.
Its true that we often assume that power is wrong and bad; that it
corrupts and is used only for personal gain. But power itself is neither
good nor bad. Rather, it is how it is used that determines its moral
value. Power can be defined in different ways, but ultimately, power is
the capacity to act. It is the capacity to get the things we need and want.
Over and over again in Phoenix we were urged to build and use our
power by seeking relationships, by being in conversation together, by

joining together with partners. I learned to think about power as the

ability to take action with others, not to do things to others.
Where does this power come from? The candlelight vigil at the
Detention Center taught me that power comes from community; from
our shared values and aspirations. We gathered together for a common
purpose. And when we chanted We are with you! loud enough for the
detainees to hear us, we were offering the power of love. Reverend
Doctor Rebecca Parker noted in a workshop that our power could be
summed up in four words: we believe in love. That is, she said, our
source and our destination.
It mattered that we went to Phoenix. The morning of the candlelight
vigil, two of us, dressed in our yellow T-shirts, left a coffee shop and
were racing to get to the convention center before the start of the
morning worship service. We walked by a young woman with her little
girl, barely noticing them, when suddenly the woman called after us.
Excuse me, she said. Are you with the people who are here protesting
for immigration reform? We stopped in our tracks to talk to her. I
saw you on the news last night, and I just wanted to thank you all for
coming here, she said. It is so wonderful that someone has come down
here to talk about love.
Lets keep talking about love. Lets keep talking about justice. The
immigration conflicts we encountered in Arizona take place here in
Massachusetts as well. As we learned to say, Todos somos Arizona
we are all Arizona. Let us embrace the power we have as a religious
community. This church has shared its power over and over again
through our service and our generosity to this broken world. As we
have heard a lot this past year, we know that what we do matters. How
will we use our power next? I hope you can join us in a conversation
today and in the days following. Lets keep going to Phoenix over and
over again. May it be so.