Episode #40: 2 Christropher - Chapter 19 - Authority

Jan,15 2026

<-#39: 2 Christopher - Chapter 18 - Mayor#41: 2 Christospher - Chapter 20 - The pastor ->

On authority, power, and the weight of listening

19:1

In those days, the town named me mayor,

not by contest,

but because no one else wished to be.

19:2

I accepted with unease,

for I felt no crown upon my head,

only eyes upon my back.

19:3

I went to Christopher and said,

"They call me authority,

but I do not feel it."

19:4

Christopher answered,

"That is because authority

is not a thing one feels."

19:5

I said,

"Then what is it?"

19:6

He replied,

"Authority is the trust others place in you

when they choose to listen."

19:7

I said,

"But I have no power to command."

19:8

Christopher said,

"Power and authority are not twins.

They only resemble one another from a distance."

19:9

I asked,

"Which matters more?"

19:10

He answered,

"Authority without power is insecure.

Power without authority is personal."

19:11

He added,

"In a healthy place,

they rarely rest in the same hands."

19:12

Then he said,

"In truth, there is only one person here

who holds authority."

19:13

I said,

"Who?"

19:14

He looked at me and said,

"You."

19:15

I protested,

"I only have authority

because people listen to me.

I seek no power.

You have more power than I do"

19:16

Christopher replied,

"Only because they listen to me. I seek no power."

19:17

I said,

"My wife is a teacher."

19:18

He answered,

"She seeks power only

to give it away to children.

She seeks no power"

19:19

I said,

"My mother-in-law is revered."

19:20

Christopher said,

"She would gladly lay that reverence down

if it were taken from her.

She refuses power"

19:21

I asked,

"Then who wants power in this town?"

19:22

Christopher answered,

"That is the right question."

19:23

He said,

"For now, no one seeks it,

and so it rests lightly in all of us."

19:24

"But power is patient.

It waits for vacancy.

It waits for your actions to decide"

19:25

I said, confused

"What will my actions decide?"

19:26

He replied,

"They will teach those who come after you

what kind of authority is possible here."

19:27

He said,

"If you rule by listening,

others will learn to listen."

19:28

"If you grasp for control,

others will learn to grasp harder."

19:29

He added,

"The question is not

whether power will appear,

but whom it will serve."

19:30

I asked what he meant,

"Power over the people,

or power for them?"

19:31

Christopher answered,

"That choice is made quietly,

long before anyone names it."

19:32

And I understood

that my title mattered less than my posture,

and that authority, once borrowed,

must be returned intact.

19:33

So I resolved to govern as one passing through,

leaving the position unguarded,

and the people unafraid.

<-#39: 2 Christopher - Chapter 18 - Mayor#41: 2 Christospher - Chapter 20 - The pastor ->