By What Authority?

The lectionary for June calls us to examine the question of authority. We face this question as we assess the meaning of our faith and our ministries. "By what authority?" concerns our identity, affirmations, visions, and the journeys we have been on.

This question is about a standing ground from which to say yes or no. It examines what we are prepared to live with and what we refuse to live with. It is the question of whose rules, words, and symbols will have power over us.

As you use this lectionary, I suggest the following as a model for engaging the texts with your life and your living with the texts.

Meditation: Take quiet space with the phrase, "Be still and know I am God." Alternate the emphasis of the phrasing: Be still ....Be still and know..., etc.

Reflection: Be with the questions offered and/or develop your own.

Action: Allow this engagement to make a difference in your daily living.

Yvonne V. Delk is a Sojourners contributing editor. She was the executive director of the Community Renewal Society in Chicago when this article appeared.

June 6:The Authority of Belief and Disbelief

Deuteronomy 4:32-40, 2 Corinthians 13:5-14, Matthew 28:16-20 , Psalm 33:1-12

"And still some doubted." In Matthew 28:17 we are confronted with the question of belief and doubt. In the face of all the evidence—the experience of wonders and ecstasies, the life, struggle, death, and even the mystery of the third day—still some doubted. How do we know what we know? How are we authorized to do what we do? How can we claim what we claim?

Jesus' ministry in the New Testament has to do with authority: "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me" (Matthew 28:18). However, Jesus creates a crisis because he offers an alternate notion of authority, one that the world cannot tolerate. It is the authority to doubt and to forgive; to say that we are no longer going to be tested and measured by law, competence, achievement, or success; to touch a wound, without being unclean.

This authority is not based on right conduct, but on patient openness that empowers persons to speak to each other, to listen to each other, to trust each other, and to be changed by each other. This kind of authority provides us with the space to affirm one another as daughters and sons of God who may not always have the right answers or the only answer, yet share a sacred journey.

In Matthew, Jesus announces that it is time to go to Jerusalem, to meet the authorities, and even to die. He offers his disciples a journey, not legalisms. It's a journey of alternative routes.

Faith and belief require that we witness to what we believe on the way. The journey is a rhythm of celebrating mountain top experiences and victories as well as valleys and doubts. The places of belief and disbelief become the standing ground for our authority and provide us with the space to exercise our yes and our no.

Meditation: "Be still and know I am God." Reflection: Name your doubts. Engage them; allow them to breathe. What and where are the places of your sacred standing ground? Action: Say yes...say no. And mean it!

June 13: The Authority to Cross the Boundaries Genesis 25:19-34, Romans 5:6-11 , Matthew 9:35-10:8, Psalm 46

"Go to those everywhere who have lost the way. Tell them to take heart, for in all the earth, across all borders, behind every fence, in spite of all the Caesars, the kingdom of God is at hand" (Matthew 10:6-7). Matthew's passion for the church's mission cuts across all diversity of geography and civic location, language and racial root, philosophy and religious heritage, class and economic condition. The good news is for all—there are no boundaries, no limits.

Jesus came that we might find a way across the walls that divide. But if we say this too quickly or too simply we will underestimate the reality of what divides us, and the unity we seek will be superficial. The authority to move beyond bondage requires us to face honestly and openly that which separates and divides—to engage in confession, repentance, and freedom for a new journey. Only then can we embrace the new unity as deep reality.

In a time when walls are higher than bridges, when alienation, estrangement, and separation define the state of affairs between and among the peoples of the Earth, a new moment is emerging. The kairos moment creates space for us to bring down the walls and to cross national, cultural, ecclesiastical boundaries. It will lead to new visions and dreams that hold the promise of change. As we cross the borders, we find new ground upon which to stand and witness.

Meditation: "Be still and know I am God." Reflection: Draw the path of your journey for this week. Where and how high are the walls? Where are the borders? What is your confession? Action: Consciously choose to build a bridge rather than add bricks to a wall. Participate in a border crossing.

June 20: The Authority of Truth Genesis 28:10-17, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 10:24-33, Psalm 91:1-10

"So have no fear of them: for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known" (Matthew 10:26). Jesus instructs his disciples not to be afraid to speak boldly the message that they have received, and not to be afraid of the truth. Truth is something active. It does something. It liberates us.

Truth is the grasp that we have on the world around us; it is the understanding of who we are and who others are. If we are to boldly proclaim the good news, we must be armed with the authority of truth. This requires a clear analysis of our political, economic, and social situations and our personal conditions. If the diagnosis is not deep enough, not full enough, we will heal the wounds lightly. We will cry "peace, peace" when there is no peace.

Truth-telling and truth-facing means that we have an honest appraisal of human sin. You and I know that we do not like to face the truth of our sins. We hide our sins behind high-blown terminology and deceptive euphemisms. We do not like to call a thief a thief. We call him or her a kleptomaniac. We do not like to call a lie a lie; we call it an inoperative statement. We do not like to call a failure a failure; we call it the mere achievement of an incomplete success. We do not like to call racism racism. We call it applying the standards, not noticing that the standards remain in the hands of those who manipulate them at will.

The authority for our ministry and mission is rooted in the one who is "the Truth," who frees each of us to face the truth in our own lives and to be bearers of the truth in the world around us.

Meditation: "Be still and know I am God." Reflection: Be clear, yet gentle, with some truth-telling for your own life. What truth is seeking your face? There is no need to run or to hide. Allow the truth its liberating, transforming power! Action: Choose something in your life--a need in a relationship, a situation in your work, a faith witness--and claim the truth, as you know it, boldly.

June 27: The Authority of Conflict Genesis 32:22-32, Romans 6:3-11, Matthew 10:34-42, Psalm 17:1-7, 15

"I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). The Word and authority of Jesus Christ does not always bring harmony and peace; it also brings conflict. The Word breaks through our comfortable assumptions and blocks us from continuing with business as usual. The Word separates and divides.

Jesus does not offer escape from conflict. He doesn't suggest that by loving God, all the other conflicting claims of family, work, and self will be resolved. Jesus is clear about the cost. To put God first means conflict with family and pain for those we love the most. The embracing of the authority of Jesus Christ requires of us separation and relinquishment. This is a time to let go of egos, exaltation of self, pride, arrogance, greed, selfishness, and materialism.

We let go of our private definitions and surrender to our names as the people of God. We are no longer named by the world, or the culture, or class, or privilege. We are named by the Spirit of God. In the words of Roberta Flack, we can say: "I told Jesus that it would be alright if he changed my name. He told me that the world would turn away from me if he changed my name." The change in identity not only affects one's relationship with the world but also with one's immediate family. "He told me that your mother and your father won't know you if I change your name. But I told Jesus it would still be alright if he changed my name."

Change can produce conflict. It can lead us to a path where we feel like strangers in our own homes, separated by longings we can't express, convictions we can't explain, commitments we can't give up. Jesus comes and disturbs the little peace that we have. He extends us beyond ourselves, beyond our own parents and children to a new sense of family in which all people are our sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons.

We have been called to walk with authority the path of conflict, contradiction, suffering, and death. This is not easy. Yet it is the path that leads us beyond the grave to resurrection and new life. "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). Thanks be to God!

Meditation: "Be still and know I am God." Reflection: What is your name? What conflicts are you living with or avoiding? Where are the places of surrender for you? Action: Name the change. Stand in the conflict. Know the separation. Celebrate the path.