Power for Living – June 1, 2025

Kings 2:1-12, Acts 1
June 1, 2025

Our world is all about power!  Think about it.  We rely on electrical power for everything!  Don’t we?  And we take it for granted.  We always assume it’s there.  And we’re not sure what to do when it’s not.

When a storm takes out our power, what do we do?  Think about it.  When the power’s out and you go into the bathroom, what’s the first thing you do?  You flip the light switch, don’t you?  I do it every time!  That shows how much we just assume our power is always there!

Of course many people now have backup generators.  I remember when back up electric power was called “candles.”  Some people have backup battery systems in their homes.  And many people have them hooked up to solar panels on their roofs.

We’re also concerned about our power chords.  You know, the ones that charge our various devices and screens.  When you pack for a trip, how many power chords do you take?  It seems like I always have at least three!  Usually more than that!  Oh, and don’t forget the little “bricks” you plug them into!  (Of course there are a lot of places now that have USB ports!)

Because you wouldn’t want to be without your phone, right?  Seriously!  If you forget your phone, don’t you feel like one of your arms has fallen off!  And if you can’t find it, you have to look for it!  “Wait!  I can call it!  Oh no, the ringer’s off!”  And what if your phone battery is dead?  Same thing!  I had a phone that had a bad battery.  And I used to carry a portable phone charger.  But you had to keep that charger charged, too, right?

On a large scale, our whole society is more and more dependent on electricity.  The power companies even refer to our energy usage as “demand!”  Think about that word, “Demand!”  We must have it!

I’m told one of the biggest demands for electrical power these days is for these huge “server farms” they call them.  They’re the big “data centers,” that are filled with banks of computers and servers.  They run everything from internet activities, email, cloud services, and now, of course,  “Artificial Intelligence.”  They take enormous amounts of power!

Of course, there’s another kind of power in our world that people are concerned with.  And that’s political power!  And don’t worry!  I’m not going to talk about politics.  Except to say that political power is all about influence and control.  Who’s in charge, and who wants to be in charge?

I love what Jesus said about that.  He told his disciples, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles ‘lord it over them,’ and their great men exercise authority over them.”  “But it shall not be so among you.”  (I love the way he put that!)  “It shall not be so among you.  For whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”  That was Jesus’ idea of political power!  And that flies in the face of our culture’s understanding of power, doesn’t it?

Well, today I want you to think about power in a different way.  And this is more akin to my first thoughts, thoughts about the power that runs our devices and appliances and lights.  I want us to think about the power for living.  What gives us the power to live our lives?  Just like our phones and computers and lights, we need power to live.  What gives us that?  What’s our power chord?  What gives us our ability to function?  What gives us the power and the strength to endure – to keep going and not give up – when we face the hardships of life?

In our story for today, Jesus met with his disciples for the last time.  They were there on the mountain.  And what were they asking him about?  “Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?”  There’s that concern about political power.  That’s why I did want to talk about it a little bit here.  They were still thinking of the earthly kingdom, of freedom from Rome, all that.  But Jesus says, no.  “This is bigger than Israel!” he told them.  “And it’s something you shall tell everyone about it, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!”  This is that big!  That’s the task he was giving them that day!

But right before that, he tells them about the power that will come upon them.  Now, of course he’s referring to the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  We’ll talk about that next week.  But I’d like us to think about this today in terms of the power that he gives us.  The power for living!  The power to endure those difficult times.  The power to face persecution!  It was not going to be easy for those disciples, was it!  They would need that Spirit to sustain them!  And sustain them it did!  The Spirit gave them the power to change the world!

I want us to think about how God does that for us, too!  The God who gives us breath, also gives us the Holy Spirit, so that we can have the power we need to live this life!  I know I need that power – every day!  And I’m sure you do, too!

That’s his promise.  And yes, here at his ascension Jesus is telling them about the Holy Spirit that would come to work through them in miraculous ways.  Ways they couldn’t even begin to imagine!  But, the Spirit would also give them the power to live, the power to persevere, the power to keep going, to keep working in his kingdom.  The Spirit would give them strength when they had no strength left!

When we feel like we have no more strength to carry on, to get us through; when days are dark for us, and there seems to be no end to them; when, yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re pretty sure it’s a train coming the other way!  When we have those days, God gives us the strength of the Holy Spirit.  That’s his promise to us, too.

Remember, these are the last words Jesus spoke on this earth.  And they were about the promise of the Holy Spirit – often called “the Sustainer.”  That’s the third “person” of the Trinity.  We’ll talk about that in a couple of weeks on “Trinity Sunday.”  Just remember, the Trinity is God – the Father, Son, and Spirit – the creator, redeemer, and sustainer.  And I, for one, am grateful for the “sustainer” part of that!

When we need God’s strength, his endurance, his peace, he gives us that same power from “On High” that he gave these disciples.  That’s his promise to us.  And to prove it that day, he was lifted up to heaven before their very eyes.

I’m sure they knew the story of Elijah and Elisha.  I’m sure they knew about Elijah being taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire.  And I’m sure they knew what Elisha asked him just before that.  He was going to take over Elijah’s ministry.  And he knew he would need the strength – the power – to do so!  So he asked for a “double share” of Elijah’s “spirit.”  These disciples didn’t know what was ahead of them, but they knew they would need God’s power to sustain them just like Elisha!  And we do, too!

So, as we close, let’s keep in our minds an “object lesson” from the first part of this.  Let’s think about the various power chords we have for our phones and computers.  And each time we use them this week, let’s think about our “power for living” that we get from God.  Let’s think about the connection he gives us so we can receive that power.  And when we feel like our power is getting low, let’s think about what we need to do to get “recharged.”

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to know of your power in our lives.  Help us to feel the sustaining power of your Spirit, the same Spirit you gave the disciples all those years ago.  Help us to feel that same connection with you, every day.  For we pray in the name of Jesus our redeemer, Amen.