I first came upon the idea of the “project of power” as a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. It was via Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. Mahan’s theories and conclusions shaped modern geopolitical power in the 20th century. If you think about it, it was the United State’s ability to project sea power from the continental United States 6,000 miles away to the nation of Japan that was perhaps the key strategic element in winning the war in the Pacific. Even today in our current crisis in Israel and Gaza, the United States is able to project power with two carrier strike groups sent into the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent to further hostile actions, especially from Hezbollah. 

Of course that is all about nation states, armed forces, and so much more – but what does projection of power have to do with us as ordinary people here in Northern Virginia as we try to live out the Gospel in which we are told that loving God and neighbor form the two greatest commands. Perhaps it has to do with this: we have the ability to project power. We can project the power of sin or project the power of love.

Is the power of sin a real thing? Absolutely. Even in the first book of scripture, God warns Cain about the anger growing in him against his brother Abel: “sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.” (Gen 4:7)  In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul speaks of the personification of sin. He uses words such as it “reigns” (5:20; cf. 6:13, 14), can be “obeyed” (6:16–17), pays wages (6:23), seizes opportunity (7:8, 11), “deceives,” and “kills” (7:11, 13). In a word, St. Paul pictures sin as a power that holds sway in the world outside Christ, bringing disaster and death on all humanity.  And St. Peter warns us that sin is prowling in the dark seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8).

Maybe sin hasn’t devoured you, but I think we can all speak from experience. It has taken a bite out of us. In the first reading, God is explaining the Ten Commandments, and warning to avoid projecting the power of sin into the world. For a moment consider that when we hear the word, “power” it evokes ideas of  domination, fear, or exertion of force. Now consider the projection of power God warns us against: oppressing the alien, wronging the widow, extorting your neighbor, and more. These things and their like are our projection of the power of sin into the world. It isn’t a pretty picture, we think of ourselves as good people, yet we sin, we serve as a conduit, a gateway for evil to enter the world. Each time we project the power of sin into the world, sin devours us just a little more. It all leads to death and disaster.

In the second reading, St Paul asks the Christians of Thessalonica to think about how they saw Paul and his companions when he was with them. It is his way of asking them how they think the people of Thessalonica see them as a community of Christians. St. Paul wants them to know they are doing well as they are a projection of God’s love: “For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth” It is the projection of the saving message of God’s love for the world into the world. It is a projection of the power of love.

The words “power” and “love” don’t comfortably seem to go together. As already mentioned, so often when we hear the word, “power” it evokes ideas of  domination, fear, or exertion of force. The word “love” evokes a much different set of ideas and images: a gentle embrace, a homecoming, quiet moments together, a tender longing.  Love tends to evoke trust.

The expression, power of love, pulls us in two directions at once. On one hand, we may be inclined to fear, be cautious, or at least circumspect around a powerful individual. On the other hand we are likely to give our trust to a gentle, loving person, such as a friend or a spouse. In fact, we may even experience that ambivalent pull with regard to God. We rightfully address God as Almighty, all powerful – and maybe with a bit of caution leaning into fear. But we also speak of God as loving and merciful and long for his embrace and to be welcomed into that eternal home.

In our life experience, perhaps it is rare enough to find a person who is both powerful and loving. But in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we have just that person – the One who is the divine projection of God’s power, God’s revelation of God’s self into the world. The One who loves the Father. The One who gives himself completely to the world to overcome the power of sin that ever seeks to reign over us, dominate us, seize and devour us. The One who gives himself to us in this Holy Eucharist.

The One who leaves to us this basic choice: what power will we project into the world? As St. Paul says in Romans 5:5, the love of God has been poured into our hearts. The power of love is there received in Sacrament and prayer. It is your choice to project that love into the world in a million moments small and large. Consider this small moment.

You are upset with a friend, angered over how they’ve treated you. You are passing them in a hallway. The power of sin whispers “give them the cold shoulder, ignore them”; the power of love whispers to share a greeting and perhaps stop for a chat.  On one hand sin prowls that hallway seeking to devour you. On the other hand, grace abounds calling you to be a projection of God’s love into the world, into that moment.

It is a simple choice, in a simple moment, in a million moments, that becomes a tidal wave of God’s love washing clean the world. You have the power to love God and, compelled by that love, to love your neighbor. In when you choose God and neighbor, then, as St. Paul says,  “… from you the [love of God] has sounded forth.”

Amen

Image credit: USS Nimitz, PD, Wikipedia source