Empowered by God - Luke 24:46-53 - 5/8/05

Tonight we come to the last Sunday in the church season of Easter. Over the past weeks since Easter we have been looking at the scriptures that recount resurrection appearances to the disciples. In the scripture for this evening we hear the last account in Luke's gospel as Jesus commissions the disciples for the work that stands before them. These are the people who have lived and worked and served with Jesus during his life on earth. They were the witnesses to the ways of Jesus. In the coming days they will be the people who will begin the early church. These fearful, disheartened, very human, men and women will be transformed into the people who will risk everything in order to carry on the work of Christ. Empowered by God to turn the world upside down.

Empowered by God. What does it mean for us to be a people who are empowered by God?

1 ) To be empowered by God means we never face a day alone. When we wake up each morning before our feet are on the ground we have the assurance that God goes with us. God will be involved in each minute, each situation, each encounter with another person. Every challenge we face, all the joys we celebrate, the normal routine happenings in our lives -God is a part of all of life. Last Sunday Louie sang one of my favorite hymns - Because Christ Lives. The words of the chorus go like this: "Because Christ lives I can face tomorrow, because Christ lives all fear is gone, because I know God holds the future life is worth the living just because Christ lives." Because Christ lives no matter what tomorrow brings God is every present. Because Christ lives I may be afraid, but God knows the way. Because Christ lives God is in the next moment, and the next moment and the next day and month and year. Life is worth the living because Christ lives. Hope is alive even in the most barren of deserts. Even in the midst of the worst life may bring. Even when it seems like we can't go on life is renewed, springs back to life. The Creator, our Creator has blessed us with life and is always presence, empowering new life even through death and resurrection.

2) To live a life empowered by God means that God gives purpose, God gives direction, focus for our lives. In our time of worship, when we go to Outrageous bingo, when we give out food at our Food Bank, when we march in the Pride parade, wherever we find ourselves during the week God's presence gives meaning and guidance for our lives. The presence of God is vital to who we are and how we make decisions that affect our lives every day. Where we work, who we befriend, our partner, our decisions on where to live everything that we do should begin from God being the center of our lives. God our Creator, knows us in the core of our being and wants what is best for us. God our shepherd will indeed look for us when we get lost, God our mother will hold us in loving arms when the road ahead seems overwhelming. God our Sustainer will provide for all we need to bring us to wholeness and happiness. Our part is always to keep God at the center of our lives. To ask for help. To indeed pray that God's will may be done in and through our lives. To make all of our decisions based on what God would have us to do. Prayer is our connection to the Source of life. Prayer needs to be a part of our daily living. Finding that quiet place at the center of our lives where God abides even when the world around us is full of chaos. We can experience the peace that God brings when God is the focus of our heart's desires.

3) A life empowered by God is alive with possibilities. As surely as the tree blossoms in the spring, as surely as day follows night, God's world is alive with possibilities for new life. Have you ever noticed, usually in hindsight, how God makes a way when there seems to be no way. When we look back over our lives it seems that when we thought things were at their worst God was already opening this door, closing that door to bring us to a different place then we may have intended. At just the right moment, when we're ready, something will change in our current situation and things won't seem so hopeless. It may be a new job, a person who comes into our lives just when we need them, it may be just the right word planted at the right time that will help us to change direction or see that God really is involved in our lives. We are empowered by God and nothing or no one can stop us from becoming all that God has in store for our future. Our part is to trust that God is in control and is making a way for new life to happen. I am reminded of that inspirational poem :"Footprints" and indeed when we feel at a loss, when we reach that lowest and most troublesome times in life, it was then that God carried us. No matter what the outward signs, the way we feel, God loves us so much that we will be carried until we're ready to walk again empowered by God's life in us. Possibilities abound, new life flowers even in the desert when we trust God with our lives. When let go and let God.

Our homework as we prepare for Pentecost next Sunday is to pray about the ways that we need God to empower our lives anew. Is there a situation in your life that is challenging you right now and you need to know that God is involved? Are you seeking a purpose, direction, trying to make a decision that needs God’s guiding? Or do you need to be open to God's new possibilities as you look at an issue, a problem, a concern in your life? May God empower our lives as we seek to make God the center of our lives in all that we say and do.