As some of you know, I am enrolled in the Certificate for Advanced Theological Study program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. I am currently taking a class in Faith-Based Community Organizing. This week, we have been talking a lot about power. I was amazed at all of the ways I had internalized the word “power” as something negative. I wonder if you may have experienced the same thing?

As Christians, we have often internalized the gospel of Jesus as a gospel of self-emptying power. Unfortunately, many Christians have taken this to mean that we ought to endure all kinds of suffering. This impacts those who are already most marginalized– the poor, people of color, women, LGBTQ+, undocumented immigrants, and so on. If we believe that power is bad, we ultimately bow to the status quo of inequality and exploitation. The power systems that are in place will continue, even if they go against our most fundamental values as followers of Jesus.

Think about some of the things you value most because of your faith: safety? equality? education? freedom? health? The gospel calls us to consider the needs of our neighbors and act in love. What if power wasn’t a bad thing? What if, instead, we thought of power as the ability to act? You could use your power, and I could use mine, and together, our collective power could work together to act for the values we hold dearest to us. This is the task of the church’s public witness. When we pray “on earth as it is in heaven,” we ask God to empower us with the Holy Spirit to do the work of building the kingdom of heaven, the beloved community where all would know the abundance of life God has called us to.

So, friends, let us pray for God’s power to be at work among us to act for justice.

Questions for reflection: What is an issue in our community that breaks your heart and why? What value comes to mind? What do you wish we could do about it? What is one thing you personally could do about it today?