Advent 2. December 11. Luke 11.

http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+11 (Click the link to continue the story)

Where does power come from?  Are you powerful?  What makes you strong enough?   When do you feel powerful?  When do you feel weak or vulnerable? 
Chapter 11 is about power.  A lot of Luke's gospel deals with power.  Powerful governments and systems of oppression.  The power of money, violence, and cultural affirmations.  Who is powerful in our cultural context?  Men?  Those with wealth?  Whites?  Organizations that claim to empower people--women, minorities, marginalized peoples---start with the idea that power resides outside of those groups and within some other groups.  Power has to be taken.  It is rarely shared or surrendered.  People don't easily give up their power.  With power comes privilege, voice, resources, access.  Power is often concentrated among a few.  And the majority population is rendered powerless.  Even in electoral democracies we wonder who has the power---since the choices at the ballot box are limited to those who often already have power---wealth, public fame, white maleness.  White men are still disproportionately in charge of corporations, government, and other institutions that influence society at large. 
Prayer on the lips of everyday people is a form of subversive power.  Calling on God, the all powerful creator of light, to hear and respond to us is audacious and maybe even insane.  Yet Jesus prays and invites us to do so, as if we are asking a parent for bread.  Jesus also sees prayer as something more than just selfish asking for bodily sustenance.  Prayer aligns our hearts and minds with God and places us in opposition to that which is not aligned with God.  There is evil.  Demonic systems of oppression that cause suffering, illness, exclusion, and hatred.  People, from individuals to whole groups (races, ethnicities, non-confirming genders, sexualities) are demonized by the powerful who decide what is "normal" and "good" and what is not.  Jesus suggests that power is given and spent to confront hatred and the things that separate us from God and one another. There is a religious elitism and exclusion that Jesus rejects.  Confronting the powerful with the Spirit's power can be dangerous and also transformative. Even abusers of power can be turned around by God.  Prayer begins with an acknowledgment:  I am not GOD.  God is God.  God is almighty sovereign.  This is the first step into the life of the Spirit.   
And I am needy and vulnerable.  Every day.  My life depends on others. I do not survive in isolation.  Acknowledging that there is no self-sufficiency, but that all are connected, is the second step into the life of the Spirit.  This is the source of true power.  God is great.  God is good.  I am not.  I need God.  God is generous and supportive.  That which is neither generous nor supportive is not of God.  In the power of God, I confront and reject all that stands against God's love and justice (which has been revealed to people and passed down to us through the holy scripture, the law and prophets, the Word. 
What is power?  The ability to act.  What is the power of the Spirit?  The ability to act in concert with the mind and heart of God.  Jesus has this power and offers it to us. This is prayer.  To ask God.  To seek God. To knock on the door of God's house.  To welcome the kingdom of God in our midst.