Power Not Panic
Discussion Questions
- Read Ephesians 6:10-18. Then read the devotional, “Power Not Panic.”
- What are your best strategies when panic is setting in?
- What are three signs of God’s power you see at work right now—in your personal life, in your local community, and in the wider world?
- Do you know someone affected by the deportation raids? What are you going to do about it?
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of [God’s] power … for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present [shadow], against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesian 6:10, 12 (NRSV)
I saw my pastor friend across the room at a denominational gathering and made a beeline for him. “You have so many immigrants in your church and run so many programs to serve them. Is everyone over there freaking out at the ICE raids and the deportations?”
My friend broke into a smile. “Power not panic is what we believe in.” He smiled, though his wife is an immigrant. His daughters born here but look just like her. His many staff—young DACA folks who don’t remember any other home but this one—could be taken off the street or from their workplace in church because of current policy and flown to a foreign gulag.
Power not panic. Even though the forces we resist feel overwhelming and obtusely evil, committed to ten kinds of destruction, we have our own power derived from beyond us and beside us, from God and each other. The kind of power that takes each other by the shoulders, says, “It’s not over yet,” and “We know how to protect each other,” and “Prayer matters; so does showing up in force, in peace, at the right time and place.”
Next time you are panicking, put one hand on your heart and reach the other one out. Say to yourself, “Power not panic.” And wait for that hand to be filled.
Prayer
We are living through evil times, and it’s hard not to panic sometimes, God. Fill me with a sense of Your power, greater than every individual terror that assaults us.

Rev. Molly Baskette is the lead pastor of First Church Berkeley UCC and the author of books about church renewal, parenting, spiritual growth and more. Sign up for her author newsletter or get information about her newest book at mollybaskette.com.