Village Shepherd

It sometimes seems to me that our world is based upon power. Those in top jobs earn enormous salaries while those at the bottom of the pile earn very little. Those in top jobs can decide how many people to employ, who to employ and how much those employees will be paid. They can decide when redundancies are necessary, and who should be made redundant. If their company fails, they may find themselves out of a job, but many of them seem to find that they have a generous golden handshake. It was refreshing to see on the news recently that the boss of Marks and Spencer has opted to receive his bonuses in the form of shares in the company. Thus if the company fails his income is reduced, but if the company succeeds his income increases. That seems right and fair.

Those with power are welcome at top social functions and are mostly revered by the rest of society. Thus top social events are peopled by the rich, the beautiful and the famous. Power seems to be intimately tied in with wealth in our society, thus those who are poor are powerless while those who are rich are powerful.

The church in its way tries to question these assumptions by paying all its clergy the same salary no matter what job they do in the church. But inevitably Bishops receive considerable expenses because the position requires considerable expense, and so tend to have a rather better lifestyle than ordinary clerics. And of the course, power in the church is in the hands of the Bishops.

The church also tries to make a statement by making sure that in every clerical procession, the most important people walk at the back while the least important people walk right in the front of the procession. This is in line with Jesus' pronouncement that the first should be last and the last should be first, but it falls a little flat because everybody knows that most important people come at the end of the procession.

Jesus turned conventional ideas of power on their head. When he said the first shall be last and the last shall be first, he really meant it exactly as it sounds. Jesus knew that God's power is very different to earthly power, for Jesus discovered that he was most powerful at his moment of greatest weakness. When he was hanging helpless on the cross, then he was at his most powerful. Of course, that power wasn't immediately seen or recognized by most people, although the centurion in charge of the crucifixion was convinced that he had seen the Son of God die. But for most it took a while to become apparent, and was made apparent through the resurrection. The power was manifest after the event.

Saint Paul too picked up on this idea that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, and in today's reading from the letter to the Ephesians he says quite a bit about power. He prays that the Ephesians may be strengthened in their inner being with power through God's Spirit and that they might have the power to comprehend the full extent of Christ's love for them. And he prays for all this to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.

What sort of power does God offer us today?

He offers us the power to take control of our own lives. As Christians we need not feel powerless any longer, for if we allow the God within us to expand and fill our inner being with his love, we will grow very strong. Perfect love casts out fear and God's love within us enables us to face anything we have to face and will eliminate any fear we might have.

God also offers us the power to effect change within our lives. We need no longer be ruled by habits and patterns of behaviour which we feel unable to break. Many who attempt to lose weight will know all about patterns of behaviour, for many of us are locked into a pattern of losing weight and then immediately spiraling up again because we find it so difficult to get out of the habit of past eating patterns. It's the most difficult thing in the world to stick to a diet for life! We have other patterns in our lives which may be more subtle but which are no easier to change. But God's power within us can enable us to change any of these patterns.

God's power also contains healing. The key to healing is love and those who are full of love have a very healing presence. Jesus was such a renowned healer because his whole life was full of love and the only place where he wasn't able to heal was his home town where his love was not accepted. Those who love don't judge other people but accept them and listen to them just as they are. Those who are accepted and listened to usually begin to heal quite quickly, especially if the injury is emotional.

This sort of power has nothing to do with material wealth or positions of authority, although it does bring with it a gradually increasing inner authority which other people sometimes find threatening. This power is a free gift from God so is available to everybody. But not everybody wishes to receive it, for it can be demanding and it certainly changes life. It requires great courage to take hold of God's power and not be afraid to use it.

If you think this power is for you, all you have to do is to ask for it and then open yourself to God. You need to allow him right in to your innermost being and you need to begin to face your own personal gremlins knowing that God is there to help you.

It isn't easy, but once you begin to experience God's power, you'll never look back. Jesus knew this, Saint Paul knew this, all the apostles knew this, and all the saints since then have known this. The power is available to you too. If you want it, just ask.