Midweek Faith Lift
June 4, 2025
“Power & Concentration…on What?”
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
June 2025
"In my early life as an activist, marching in the streets, bullhorn to lips, I used the language of resistance. Resistance - to everything- from war to white supremacy to the destruction of the earth - was necessary for survival. In the traditional activist playbook, we resist the actions of our opponents with the goal of removing them from power. But the longer I spent listening to the stories of marginalized people, tending to their wounds, the more I heard a deeper longing - for a future where we were all safe and secure in our bodies, free to pursue our dreams, where our social, political, and economic institutions supported not just our survival but our flourishing. We could resist with all our might and never deliver such a future. We needed to do more than resist. We needed to re-imagine the world."
~Valerie Kaur, “See No Stranger”
And a fun story about how that might unfold….
On the way to preschool, the doctor had left her stethoscope on the car seat, and her little girl picked it up and began playing with it. The girl had not shown curiosity about what her mother did for a living, so it made her feel good to know her daughter was showing an interest. “That’s Mommies stethoscope,” she explains. “You listen with this part and the sounds go in this part” “Oh, I know,” says the little girl. “I know all about it!” The doctor, so proud at her smart little girl, prompts her, “Show Mommie how it works.” The child picks up the stethoscope carefully and speaks clearly into it: "Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"
As we explore the Spiritual Power of Power, these two stories seemed to really work together to highlight the energy of concentration and focus when it comes to power. The first story about the energy of resistance was particularly insightful in that we can see the truth that concentration of energy on what we “DON’T” want does not really yield the results we “DO” want. We usually get more of what we DON’T want! Concentration and focus on imagining a world in which everyone is valued, every person matters and we are all supported in flourishing, that is a much different path than merely resisting.
It is not about taking power away from anyone, i.e. the opposition; it is about empowering everyone! That is a very different journey and understanding of power and it moves us into the energy of spiritual Power. It takes true spiritual Power to not just imagine this kind of world; it takes concentrated effort and focus to bring it about and to maintain it. And sometimes it is messy and confusing. What is it that we need to understand about power, both spiritual and human? Rev. Linda Martella-Whitsett says it this way:
We were created for power. It’s in us to succeed, to move forward, and to accomplish. As is true for all our abilities, power can be used to improve or control our material life and it can be cultivated as spiritual power for inner transformation as well as for blessing others. Divine Audacity, p. 106
How do we use power to improve our lives, support inner transformation and serve as a blessing for others?
Answering those questions takes clarity, insight, imagination, wisdom, compassion and understanding and willingness. It takes spiritual Power, concentration and focus to discern the most workable answers and to identify what we DO want. Sometimes, it is much easier to see and say what we DON’T want, so that is what we do, we resist. However, things come into sharper focus when what we DO want is threatened or taken away, as we are experiencing right now in our country. We have awakened to realize that we value our democracy and our democratic institutions, our true freedom, our way of life.
There is human power and spiritual power in this process of awakening and we are seeing that in action right now as people take to the streets to speak for what they do want. There is Power when large numbers of us keep speaking up for what is Truth, what is good and what supports our collective flourishing.
The focus of the energy of Power is in the throat and it is all about speaking up and being heard. When we stand up and speak up for Truth, spiritual Truth, then we are standing in the spiritual energy of Power. Our collective focus or concentration is essential for the exercise of Power that is transformative. And these times call for transformation in a big way!
What is true for us is that we are like the little girl in the second story. We have a stethoscope, but we don’t really understand how it works! We have human power, a sense of agency, and we think we fully understand what that means. We think we know how to exert our human power without truly understanding what is needed to do that. The doctor understands that when she uses the stethoscope, she is focused exclusively on listening, and listening to one thing at a time. When she listens to the lungs, she does not also try to listen to the heart at the same time! That would be ridiculous and ineffective, right?
But how often do we try to do just that? How often do we try to “multi-task” in order to be more efficient? Multi-tasking is a myth and is never really effective. What happens in that effort is that we lose focus, we lose power and concentration and we miss what is truly there, what is truly important. Our energy gets scattered as we get distracted and lose focus and most importantly, concentration. It takes enormous effort and concentration to truly remain focused on what we Do want and to maintain that focus. It is not easy to maintain one’s attention on what is most important in the face of distraction and opposition and hatred.
If you saw the movie “42” which told the story of baseball player, Jackie Robinson’s entry into the all white major leagues, you watched an incredible display of both human and spiritual Power. In the face of a constant barrage of racial slurs, Robinson persisted in his focus on what was true: he was an outstanding baseball player who deserved to play in the major leagues of baseball. There were times he wanted to quit, for sure, and he had overwhelming feelings of defeat and frustration in the face of all the racial hatred coming his way.
Robinson wanted to play baseball; he had clarity and focus that empowered him to maintain his concentration and succeed. He let his amazing baseball skills speak for him. It was not easy, nor did it happen quickly, but over time, he transformed baseball and was a blessing to his teammates and all who came after him. That is what true spiritual Power looks like in action.
So how is it that we, in these challenging times of great opportunity for transformation in our country maintain the laser like focus and concentration of a Jackie Robinson? There are so many ridiculous distractions, so many people using a stethoscope like it is a microphone at McDonalds! We want to tell them they are not doing it right, that it doesn’t work like that, but each one has to discover that on their own. That is a process that takes time and willingness to admit you are wrong and seek to learn how it really all does work when we create a world that supports flourishing for all.
Our use of spiritual power is to maintain focus on the more just, beautiful and peaceful world that we do want. Our job is to stay connected to Spirit, to our higher energy, to maintain that focus and not get distracted by all the “what if’s” and “resist that’s” that come our way. It is interesting that we do not need or have to know all the particulars of how it will unfold. It is the Power of Faith that sustains us in the energy of concentration as we trust that Love is doing Love’s perfect work. We do our part, we do our own work to pursue Understanding with humility and continual learning so that we can show up and speak words of Truth from a voice of Spiritual Power that can’t help but be heard.
This creates the possibility of transformation for everyone, for all of us, because we are all in this together; there is no “other” there is just us. One vision to focus our energy is to see all of us celebrating one another, not just tolerating each other. That is what it will eventually take for true empowerment for all. This statement by A.J. Willingham of CNN sums it up well, he says:
I've been thinking about the difference between tolerating and celebrating. When you tolerate someone, it's as if you're forcing yourself to acknowledge they exist. But when you celebrate someone, you're letting them know you actively appreciate their existence. They bring something valuable to the world, just by being them.
- AJ Willingham, CNN
Collectively, we can transform our vibration, our power energy to really see and celebrate one another with single-minded concentration on what is good, what is true and what is beautiful. In the words of the apostle Pau:
Phillipians 4:8
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What do we want more of? Let’s collectively think and pray about these things!
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb