“Your power-with exceeds all power-over.”

“Your power-with exceeds all power-over.”

This is one line from the interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer by enfleshed* that we prayed together on Sunday. The line has stayed with me for days. It affirms that God’s power is not one meant to overpower us but to accompany us. It is a reminder of the counter-cultural nature of God’s ways. In a world wrought with power struggles and expectations for us to strive to succeed at the expense of others, a “power-with” approach offers new directions for living. What difference could such an approach make in our personal relationships? What difference could it make more broadly in our community and world? Power-with that exceeds all power-over is the vision of a new world—the reign of God on earth as it is in heaven.

*enfleshed is a collective that “creates and facilitates spiritual resources for collective liberation through prayer, liturgies, art, meditations, teaching, and other resources.”

The Disciples Prayer 

-as interpreted by enfleshed
Mother of us all, who dwells within and beyond,
Sacred is your name.
May your holy vision for collective flourishing come to fruition among us.
May your dreams of justice, love, compassion, and connection be enfleshed on earth.
Provide us today with what we need to be nourished in body, soul, and heart.
Forgive us for the harm we cause as we seek to forgive those who have harmed us.
Lead us away from everything that destroys and liberate us from the hands of evil.
For you are the ultimate source of hope.
Your power-with exceeds all power-over.
Your presence incites eternal wonder.
All praise to you, our comfort and strength.
Amen.

Blessings,