Readings for Sunday Feb 7, 2010
I was in the church on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, overhearing my Pentecostal colleague preaching about power. A Filipino Pentecostal church uses our space on Sunday afternoons, and I’m usually long gone by then, but this week I was intrigued. I didn’t hear the whole sermon; didn’t really agree with a lot of the theology of it; and felt uncomfortable with the high emotionalism of the style of preaching – I guess it’s a good thing that we have different styles of churches because I’m sure those folks would feel as uncomfortable with my preaching as I do with theirs! But I was struck by the preacher’s insistence on power. God’s power. God’s power which is available to us if we call on it. God’s power which transforms everything. God’s power which will empower us. God’s power which will make everything better. When we feel powerless, we need to reach for God’s power.
Judging from the way the preacher harangued the congregation, those folks frequently feel powerless.
So do I.
In my rationalistic, post-modern 21st century way, I too wonder about the power of God, and about feeling powerless. With all the authority that people like me grant to science, rationalism, psychology and medicine – authority which is well earned, I think – what’s left for the power of God to do? Do we even believe in the power of God any more? If so, what’s like? What does it do? What difference does the power of God make to the world?
Someone was telling me recently about going to see the movie “Legion.” According to the trailer, here’s the premise: the last time God lost faith in the world he sent a flood; this time he’s sending a legion of angels. It seems to be a movie about human beings can fight back against the power of a wrathful and disappointed God.
I haven’t seen the movie; don’t really want to. But I’m fascinated by how our 21st century post-modern imaginations are still captured by the idea of an angry destructive deity who wants to hurt us. All too often, “power” is simply short for “power to destroy.” Power on the silver screen is shown with explosions, earthquakes, tsunamis and buildings crashing to the ground. The power of God is most obvious in apocalyptic imagery. And the power of human beings is shown in exactly the same ways.
When we feel powerless to change things, we reach for that which seems most powerful.
The fascinating thing about the Legion trailer is that the human beings think they can fight the angels. They think they can stand up against that kind of super-human destructive force, and actually preserve something worth saving about humanity. In the same way, the hero of Harry Potter is the boy, not the wise wizard; the “good guys” in Avatar are the peasants with bows and arrows up against a science-fiction army with laser weapons. There’s a theme running through here – that a different kind of power can confront the super-human destructive forces that appear so domineering.
That’s the kind of power I see operating in today’s lesson from Luke. The power of God is the power to bring abundance into the midst of scarcity – to fill the fishing nets that were empty all night; to transform water into wine; to transform 5 loaves and two fish into enough for 5000. It’s the power to inspire people to discover ways to engage the destructive forces in creative and life-giving ways. It’s the power that grows out of weakness; the power that is life-giving rather than soul-destroying.
If God’s power is to send angels to destroy the world … I too would rather side with the humans who want to fight it. But if God’s power is to ensure that everyone has enough fish to eat … and if that’s the power that can be marshalled against the destructive force of laser beams and CGI explosions … then let the power fall on me!