Human Power Structures

Events of the past couple of years have brought short-comings of the UN Security Council into sharp focus. One permanent member nation launched unprovoked aggression against another sovereign state, and yet is allowed to keep its permanent status. And now there is widespread agreement that a ceasefire should be called in another conflict, but this can be vetoed by just one nation. All the while the lives of ordinary people are literally blown to ruins, as if nothing was learnt from the 'war to end all wars', or the war that came after that!

The key reality to grasp is that all human constructed power structures have capacity for being flawed - because of the fallen nature of mankind. We have to pinch ourselves and recognise that this applies at every level: from the school tiddlywinks club, to regional & national politics, right up to the international stage of the UN. It is an enduring spiritual problem that we have to recognise in ourselves, and that it will ever be so until Jesus returns.

We have to be honest and admit that churches and church structures should be understood in the same category - capacity for being flawed - for they are human structures too. Our faith in Christ does not immunise us from this - though hopefully with the 'renewing of our minds' (Romans 12) we can both mitigate and do better.

The UN was founded after World War II, but let's face it: the security council (with its five permanent members) was established by the winners of that conflict. The flawed assumption at the time was that 'being winners equalled having enduring good wisdom for all future issues'! Over decades and generations things change - human societies are in fact quite fickle and often have poor collective memories.

Surely the incarnation of Christ, with his physical birth, cross and resurrection all combine to teach us that human systems and structures - while inevitable and necessary - should all be seen as provisional and open to question. The way of Jesus cut through human power structures like a knife through soft butter (so to speak) and opened our eyes to thinking way different to the 'winners & losers' mentality.

In our contemporary witness to Christ we will have to accept the ongoing presence of human structures, but at best we need to keep them at arms length to explaining how the Good News of Jesus is available for all.