All three readings today mention power: the power Jesus has and the power believers receive through the Holy Spirit. We may try to domesticate power to mean control, authority or influence but real power is raw energy. Many electricians and people who work for power companies are electrocuted each year because they get careless with electricity and forget what it can do.

Prayer is our conduit to God. Prayer opens our hearts and lives to the fire of the Holy Spirit so we can be reservoirs of God's grace that spills out of our hearts and lives to others. Prayer is always effective. We do well to have a healthy respect for the power we tap into via our prayers. The first and foremost thing prayer always changes is us because through prayer God molds and reshapes us more closely into the image of Jesus.

In today's scripture Jesus passes the baton to the disciples. While they don't drop it, they don't immediately run with it either. The angels ask them why they are standing around looking up into the sky when they have work to do down off the mountain and among their people. They prudently wait in prayer for the coming of the Spirit so they might be united in heart and mind to Jesus and able to teach others to observe all he taught and commanded.