Use your power for good
Photograph by J W via Unsplash
Rev. Dr. Christine A. Smith
“I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.”
“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled,” reads Luke 14:11. The desire for power is not new. Using power (within the context of control) – to have “the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events” – is not new. When used to alleviate pain, serve humanity through providing resources, advancing equity, or expanding opportunity, power can be an amazing thing.
In the hands of those with nefarious intentions, power can make us groan. Many in our nation are groaning today. After years of slow but steady progress toward diversity, equity, and inclusion, America is rapidly digressing into the dark patterns of the past. In one month, the Trump administration has unleashed executive orders that have demonized and targeted immigrants, unraveled diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, and practically decimated government agencies through massive firings and cuts. These agencies include the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration, the Social Security Administration, and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Google has removed Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Pride Month, and other cultural observances from its 2025 calendar, stating that the holidays were no longer “sustainable” for their model. Increasing numbers of businesses are ditching their DEI policies. Under pressure (or in some instances, in excitement) from the president’s expanding “vision” for America, companies such as John Deere, Ford, Black & Decker, Target, Walmart, and McDonalds have removed DEI from their operations. Some of them carried out these changes even before the January 2025 inauguration. At the end of 2024, banking giant Goldman Sachs removed a policy that required any company it takes public to have at least one woman or one person of color on their boards.
We are being called to make a difference. We are being called to make a difference. We are being called to use our power – godly power, good power – to create spaces of compassion, resources, advocacy, and hope.
Indeed, these are dark, dangerous, and distressing times. One might be tempted to lose hope. Rather than retreating in despair and defeat, I would like to suggest that we embrace and follow the words of womanist giant, Sojourner Truth:
“I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.”
Born a slave in 1797, Isabella Bomfree endured cruel, inhumane, and unimaginable treatment. She was sold four times, married as a teenager, gave birth to five children, and had four of them sold by slavers. In 1827 she took her baby girl Sophia and ran away to some abolitionists named the Van Wageners. They bought her freedom for twenty dollars and helped her to get another one of her children back. She became an itinerant preacher and traveled with contemporaries such as William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Hearing God’s call upon her life to “preach the truth,” Isabella changed her name to “Sojourner Truth.”
Despite all of the pain and injustices she experienced, Sojourner chose to shine her beaming light of courage. She joined other abolitionists in speaking out boldly against the institution of slavery, preaching, advocating for, and demanding civil and women’s rights. She was honored to receive an invitation to meet President Lincoln in 1864. (Read more about Sojourner Truth’s life in this article.)
Yes, it would be easy to cower in the corner and keep our heads bowed down by anguish. But we are being called, like Sojourner, to “preach the truth!” We are being called to make a difference. We are being called to use our power – godly power, good power – to create spaces of compassion, resources, advocacy, and hope.
Jesus called his disciples to be salt and light. May we shake our proverbial salt shakers, and beam our love-filled lights to let a troubled world know that all is not lost. Together, with collective power for good, we shall overcome!
Rev. Christine A. Smith, Ph.D., has served as the senior pastor of Restoration Ministries of Greater Cleveland (formerly Covenant Baptist Church, Wickliffe, Ohio), in Euclid, Ohio since 2006. She currently serves as the American Baptist Women’s Ministries Director of the Rudd Empowerment Center, and the Assistant Dean of the Progressive National Baptist Convention’s Midwest Region, Congress of Christian Education. She is the founder of “Women Together in Ministry of Greater Cleveland,” and author of the blog, “Shepastor,” dedicated to equipping and encouraging female clergy. Her first book, Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling: Equipping and Encouraging Female Pastors, was published by Judson Press in 2013.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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