There are a lot of people who feel powerless in our society today – not only in our own community or even our own country but around the world. Think of how powerless shrimpers in Louisiana are feeling right now as they're faced with the environmental catastrophe of thousands of barrels of oil a day gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and threatening to shut down their entire livelihood. Think of the people rioting in Greece because they're faced with an economic catastrophe most of them can't even understand and whose consequences they feel powerless to do anything about.  In our own context, let me offer a perhaps more mundane example, but one that probably a lot of us can relate to. In 1965, which was the first federal election in Canada after I was born, voter turnout was 74.8%. In 1984, which was the first federal election in Canada in which I was eligible to vote, voter turnout was 75.3%. Regardless of how people felt about politics, people were engaged in the process.. What's happened since then? In our last election, on October 15, 2008, voter turnout was 58.8%. In less than 25 years, voter turnout has gone down by almost 20%. That's a sure sign of people who feel that no one listens; of people who feel that their vote doesn't count; of people who feel that their opinions don't matter. None of us want to be powerless, and yet there are times when all of us have faced circumstances that seem to spiral out of our control, or circumstances that just seem so beyond our ability to change that we just give up even trying. People are in the process of dropping out in droves. There's growing malaise in our society; growing frustration; a growing sense that the people have no power and so why even bother trying to make a difference? It's happening in the church too. I see it all the time. In the last 6 years I understand that Niagara Presbytery – the Presbytery to which we belong – has closed 40% of its churches. (I've only been in Niagara Presbytery 5 years, so you can't put all the blame for that on me!) But we see things like that happening, and as a church we also start to feel powerless – as if we're in an inevitable decline that nothing is going to stop, and so we stop trying to stop it. We stop being creative; we stop looking for new ways to share the gospel; we stop reaching out into our community; we stop believing that we have anything of real value to offer in the face of the very real and very serious challenges confronting both our church and our society, and we sit back and wait for what we increasingly see as the inevitable. Christians we need to reflect on whether we have power – and if so, what type of power we have and what that power enables us and even compels us to do. Should our primary concern be with earthly power, or is there some other type of power we can exercise?

 

     When we discuss power, we often do think of earthly power first – the early disciples of Jesus certainly did. “Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” was their question. They were still in the mindset of interpreting the work of the Messiah (the work of Christ) as essentially political – to restore Israel; to free the Jewish people from Roman occupation. The way they worded the question was telling - “are You … going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?” They were waiting. They were waiting for something to happen tothem, but they didn't believe that something could happen throughthem. Our passage today is the traditional text for Ascension Day – which is this coming Thursday, and which commemorates the resurrected Jesus being taken up into heaven. Look at their posture as this happens:“After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going.” Last week, I talked about the problem of paralysis that can overtake us when we feel overwhelmed. Here's a classic example. They were looking up into the sky, but it was the earth that they needed to be concerned about – they needed to be active witnesses and not merely passive watchers! Our calling is not to look upwards in nostalgia wishing for something better, but to look outwards in compassion to a lost world that needs Jesus. “Why do you stand looking up into heaven?” It's easy for us to be cynical It's easy to look for a perfect world or even a perfect church up there or out there, because the problems seem so obvious and also so insurmountable. We see so many blemishes, so many things wrong. 's so much work and so few workers. The challenges are so great and our ability to meet them seems so limited. It's easier to be like those disciples and just look up to heaven and say “God help us” and leave it at that.

 

     Jesus, however, made sure that His disciples would understand that they had some responsibilities to address the problems and challenges they saw around them and to move forward in faith, rather than to simply look at those problems and challenges and be paralyzed by them. Jesus reminded them that the fate of Israel was in God's hands – whatever was gong to happen with the Kingdom was going to happen at a time “the Father has set by His own authority.” So, we can't just sit back and wait for God to make everything better, because we don't know when that's going to happen, and our unwillingness to move boldly might well leave a lot of the problems we see around us unaddressed. The disciples also got a reminder that God was with them. Those “two men dressed in white [who] stood beside them” certainly were symbolic representatives of the divine presence. The disciples were being reminded in this passage that they couldn't just stand around but that they would have to be active as a part of God's plan. The passage reminds us today that we aren't responsible for fixing every problem (because truly we don't have the power to do that) but we're also being challenged to remember that even if we can't fix every problem, we can address the problems we see; we can try to make something better out of what is. The passage ultimately reminds us that it'God Himself Who will empower us to act: “you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit; … you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”

 

     This passage in fact forms the foundation for the continuing work of the followers of Jesus through the rest of time. When Luke, in his introduction, referred to “all that Jesus began to do and teach” he's implicitly saying that the work Jesus “began” has to continue through His followers of all the ages to come. Using our God-given power we're called to be witnesses to Christ throughout all the world – and we need to remember that while witnesses may not change everything, their witness may cause some things to change. Do we have the power to cause some things to change? Yes! The source of our power is the Holy Spirit. Those early disciples of Jesus, though few in number, began a movement that would change the world – a movement that we're now privileged to be a part of, and I can't imagine that the challenges we face are any more daunting than the challenges they faced. They were overwhelmed as Jesus was taken from them, but it was Jesus' ascension into heaven that cleared the way for them to receive real power. You see, it’s a good thing that Jesus isn't with us now in a human body. If He were, He'd be limited to one place at a time. If He were, you'd have about as much chance of meeting Him as you have of meeting the Queen! As it is, though, Christ is with us and in us by His Spirit every minute of every day wherever we go, as we fulfil our calling of being “witnesses … to the ends of the earth.”

 

     “The earth ” is a big place, so that sounds daunting, but let's not be overwhelmed by the challenge. If we are to be witnesses “to the ends of the earth” let's start close to home – because the world includes Port Colborne! The world includes the West Side and the East Side; the world includes Sherkston and Gasline and Bethel; if you have real courage you could go even farther afield – to Wainfleet! In all those places, we can make a difference because – although we might feel this way sometimes - we're not powerless! We have the greatest power of all – not political office, not military strength, not brute force; not financial clout - not earthly power at all. We have a heavenly power that dwells within us: we have the power of the Spirit of God Who sends us into the world to make a difference by offering Christ to all who feel themselves powerless. By claiming that heavenly power and responding to God's call on our lives, we might not change the world the way those first disciples did, but we might be able to make our small part of it just a little better!