The Same Mighty Power…

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.

This is from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church, which I read as a benediction at the close of our Sunday mornings at Third Space. It takes my breath away every time I read it. “This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead…” Sometimes - okay, maybe most times - we miss the significance of what is happening in our community. We faithfully keep coming out, participating, meeting here with God and with our friends and, for the most part, we love it. Oh yes, it has it moments when things are not as we wished - everything in life does - but we’re here. We could be a million other places, but we’re here. After a while this seems perfectly normal - perfectly ordinary. As a result of all this ‘ordinariness’, though, we sometimes miss the fact that something extraordinary is happening.

Do we have any idea what this really means? I think a great deal of what happens in our community appears underwhelming. This morning we sat for a few minutes of silent prayer before beginning our discussion. To a casual observer this might seem odd, or perhaps it seems like nothing is happening. But in our frenzied, stress-filled world the opportunity to sit in silence is a rare and precious thing. If you were with us this morning you may have been uncomfortable with the long, still silence. Of course, the ‘long’ silence was just under four minutes. At the end of that prayer time there was an incredible spirit of peace and stillness in our room. And yes, I know God is always with us, but this morning, as I prepared to break the silence by reading Psalm 100, I could feel God’s presence. I treasure those moments.

We then talked a great deal about what Third Space means to us; about what our experience here has been like. As various people were sharing their thoughts I thought, “this is it - this is what real community looks like”. As the discussion went on I began to hear stories of God at work in people’s hearts, drawing us to himself in the midst of this community. It was so beautiful.

“This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead…” We have no idea what God can do, and can scarcely imagine what he will do in our community this year. We live in the ordinariness of knowing God, not fully realizing the astounding, awesome, mind-boggling power that God possesses. You see, it’s not just the power to speak the universe into existence, to shape reality, to stop time, to walk on water. It’s the power to speak into our hearts, to touch our deepest inner self with his incomparable love. The power to create planets? One day science may do just that. The power to whisper love into the depths of my deepest pain, to calm, with his gentle but powerful presence my greatest fears, the ability to change the very nature of who I am by nothing more than his presence? We have no idea the power that the Holy Spirit possesses, no idea what God can do. Sometimes I don’t know how we’re going to do this or that; sometimes I wonder where Third Space goes from here. In the end, maybe it’s not a lack of faith that makes me think that way. Maybe it’s taking this beautiful thing - God in the midst of our Third Space community - for granted.

I want to make you a promise, Third Space: I’m going to dream big dreams from now on. Go ahead, dream big dreams, too. Bring your dreams, bring your hopes, bring your talents and your gifts and your desires. Open your hearts and your lips and your voices and share in the wonder and the beauty that is God’s love in this community and in this city. If we do this, and even if we do only this, I’ll promise you one more thing: Heaven will break out on earth. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead…”