Claiming our POWER

It’s all about power. The people in Egypt are trying to claim their power, as are people in so many countries around the world. In my life, I find myself wanting to have the community that I am a part of claim our power to make a difference in our city. For me, as a progressive Jewish woman, claiming power effectively is a constant challenge. Many of us learned as children how to be nice girls, how the worst thing we could do is get someone angry with us. Yet, the very nature of asserting one’s power leaves one open to angering others. Whatever we do, someone will strongly disagree.

In Philadelphia, the progressive religious voice has often been silenced. We have given up without forming an effective voice for social justice. A new organization, POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Reconstruct) is hoping to change that. On Sunday, six of us represented Mishkan Shalom at a meeting of POWER. There were 27 congregations represented (churches and synagogues in Philadelphia). We all gave our input on what issues we would like a new organization that is committed to interfaith community organizing in the city to address. Mishkan representatives stood up and expressed our desire to focus on education, the environment, hunger, and immigration. Other congregations shared their interests. Ultimately, we began to look into next steps to making a difference in Philadelphia on the issues that most people were interested in beginning to address: education, public safety, housing, and others. And now, we can try to move ahead.

It’s time to claim our power in Philadelphia. It’s time to let our officials know that we won’t tolerate a substandard education system, dangerous streets, and inadequate housing. It’s time to join together with the other congregations in the city and to speak out, letting our public officials know that we are not afraid of angering them; we are not afraid to join together with others in the city show share our frustration and who are ready to demand change.

This is happening in the name of our spirituality. It is happening because people feel “called by God” to speak out. It is happening because if dozens of churches and mosques and synagogues exist in Philadelphia and do nothing about changing the living standards of the people in the city, it is a disgrace.

I left the POWER meeting on Sunday excited and ready. For me, God is the power that moves me to act toward building a world of greater justice. If we can join together with hundreds of others who share that belief, imagine what we can accomplish!

I hope to write more about POWER in the weeks and months ahead. Maybe we, progressive religious people in our city, can finally find our voice and make a difference.