Love: A Force More Powerful

They have insufficient safety mechanisms around them and can cause harm to those who are vulnerable and impressionable. One girl is dead and her ex-boyfriend in a psychological facility. Haller finds himself fighting against a corporation with huge resources and they pour money ($50 million was the final offer) at the plaintiffs to make the case go away and silence them. When they reject that offer, witnesses are threatened with violence if they testify. One suicided out of fear. It made me thing about power.

We see evidence of humanity’s need for power and control in so much of life. Young (and not so young) who get behind the wheel of a fast, powerful car and feel the sense of exhilaration as they press the pedal to the metal and fly down highway and byway. They are in control of a great power, whether wisely and skilfully or not is another question. In political manoeuvrings there is the desire for power and to have authority they can wield for good or ill. Across the world we see examples of egotistical (narcissistic?) leaders taking control and abusing power to dominate people, violate human rights and use violence and fear to control and manipulate people. We experience this on our news feeds as world leaders use violent and threatening rhetoric against those whom they don’t like or consider enemies. Some take violent action against those they don’t like – refugees/asylum seekers and migrant communities are oppressed; minority groups are persecuted; they initiate wars with nations they are opposed to or want to dominate… in some places they remove enemies and opposition, incarcerating them or ‘disposing’ of them. Power is exercised through violence and abuse; it dominates and oppresses. Scientists will tell us that the power of the human race to dominate and destroy land and habitat, is contributing to climate change and environmental crises across the globe.

Whether through wealth, positional authority, legal controls, fame or any other means, many seek power they can wield. This is power that people can hold, control and use. It is power in their hands and at their disposal and it can be very dangerous! Such power requires great wisdom and compassionate awareness. It should be about the common good of the Earth and all inhabitants but rarely is. There are a few leaders who have been formed through struggle and suffering, whose egos are suitably ‘squashed down’ and who can handle such power with grace and wisdom. I think of the likes of Nelson Mandela, who through the crucible of suffering (27 years imprisonment) was humbled and vulnerable and gained wisdom. Alas, much power wrests in the hands of foolish and greedy individuals who are self-interested and think little of others. 

This week across the Christian Church, the third major festival occurs. It is called Pentecost. Originally this Greek work indicated the Feast of Weeks (a week of weeks after Passover – hence ‘pente’= 50 days). It was also called Shavuot, a Jewish Festival of harvest but also recalling Moses receiving of the law on Mt Sinai. The context of the story is the first Jewish Festival of Pentecost after the first Easter (set against Jewish Passover). The disciples and followers of Jesus were gathered together awaiting the promised gift of the Spirit to come to them – in power. As they waited, prayed and on this day prepared for the celebration, there was a sound like wind and something like tongues of fire fill their room.  This was Luke’s attempt to describe the Spirit coming upon the people in power.  In the story (Acts 2:1-21), there is confusion and chaos as people are filled with this ‘power from on high’ and their joy, hope and the experience overwhelmed them and flowed out into the city of Jerusalem. This fearful, uncertain group of people suddenly spoke out with courage and faith, in languages of the world they inhabited. Jerusalem, filled with pilgrims from across the Empire had people of many language and culture and they all heard the proclamation of God’s love, grace and Reign in the language of their heart. The joy, passion and vitality of these followers of Jesus overwhelmed many people who responded by joining the group that quickly swelled in number and continued to do so as God’s love and Presence in Spirit transformed them.

The power they felt and experienced was not a power they could control or manipulate. It was a power they had to submit to and give themselves up to. It was and is a power that transforms people and communities as the flow of love and justice, wonder and hope, joy and mercy floods life. It is about the Reign of God that stands over and against all the reigns of kings, queens and rulers of all the dominions on Earth. It is a Realm of love that draws us out of ourselves and connects us through relationship as a human family that is part of the material world of time and space, which finds life and being in the heart of God’s love. This is an uncontrollable power that carries us along. It overwhelms us, like the Apostle Paul who, on his mission to round up and imprison Christians, was overwhelmed on the Damascus Road, brought to his knees by a light and a voice. He submitted to this power and let himself go into its wonder and life and was given a new direction, mission and way of being that was not his but the Spirit of God’s. 

This power of the Spirit is the power of God’s love, creative, inclusive, courageous, and life-giving for all people and the Earth! It is power that we cannot control, define or hold onto for our own desires. It is a power that is realised in confession and surrender – confession that we all need grace, love, forgiveness, hope, healing and peace. We surrender into this flow of God’s love, a force more powerful in the world, one that transforms and renews, is generous and lifts up the poor and weak, including all into a community of love, grace, hope and peace.

The difference between these powers is that one we want and believe we can have, own and control and the other we must let go of ourselves and allow its flow to take us where it will. This is a journey of faith, trusting that God’s love and grace is sufficient and answers the deepest yearning of the human heart. It is the realisation that God is our destination, our home and where we belong, and this power of Spirit will lead us into new life that is connected and relational. We are drawn into a unity where our diversity and difference are recognised and become a gift as we each contribute the best of who we are and what God has given us for the benefit of the whole. The power of the Spirit is lifegiving love for all people, all creatures and the earth itself.