COVID-19 has impressed upon
us a feeling we Americans do not like to acknowledge: powerlessness. We seize
the day. We chart our own course. When life gets tough and challenges confront
us, we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. These old canards, reek
of half-truths. Yet, we cling to the mythology of self-determination.
COVID-19 has ripped this independence from us. Maybe that’s
good. We need to need one another, and we are poorer for it when we refuse to
recognize our own need. When we step in bold self-reliance, our ability to thrive
is limited to our own abilities. When we lean on one another, help each other,
and live interdependently, we go places we never imagined. When we live depending
on God for life and for good things, we discover there’s no limit to the
wonders we’ll behold and be part of.
I’ll begin my 2023 preaching examining power and powerlessness
as we look at Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 on January 8. I was powerless to prevent
COVID from interrupting my family’s Christmas celebration. I had the power to
affirm and validate my relative’s disappointment. I had the power to pray for
her and promise her we will get together soon and resume the family time that
was interrupted.
I cannot force my children to be who I think they should
be. I have the power and the opportunity to get to know who they are and to love
who they are, just as Jesus loves me as I am.
I cannot make people in my community be nicer to each
other and be kind even across the combustible political divides that so threaten
our unity and neighborliness. I do have the power to be kind. God empowers us
to be good neighbors.
I urge you to recognize areas of life where you are
powerless. Acknowledging it is no weakness. Rather, to name your powerlessness is
to see it and to see that it is not as overwhelming as you fear. Name your
powerlessness. Ask God to show you the power you do have. Ask God to redeem
your powerlessness, to meet you in it. And learn to live depending on God in
all things. That’s my word for our church as we step into 2023.
