Input: What did Mary tell the disciples?

Context:
A Homily from Easter Sunday, 2017.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look[a] into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,[b] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary wept in the throws of grief. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary dragged herself out of bed after a sleepless night and walked to the tomb in a kind of trance. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary cried—scared, confused, alone. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary thought that the powers of death had the last Word. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary heard a voice in the darkness calling her name—Mary.
Throughout this Lenten season, we’ve examined the ways that the powers and principalities hold us captive—how they push us towards securing our own survival, dominating others, using God for our own agenda. We’ve seen how in Jesus’ ministry, he’s constantly in resistance mode—exposing the powers for what they really are and envisioning an alternative way of living in the world. He describes this way as “the kingdom of God,” the living water we drink so we never thirst again, the light of the world. Jesus invites those who follow him into similar acts of resistance—to free us from the power money has on us by giving it away, to choose to see ourselves as Jesus sees us, resisting the shame that says I’m not enough, to practice Sabbath that contradicts productivity, to untie the grave clothes of someone who’s hands and feet are still tied in the trappings of death.
But all Jesus’ acts of resistance had a cost. All of the times he just wouldn’t shut up, all of the crowds he attracted because he actually noticed those who were normally ignored, the powers finally said enough is enough and put an end to his resistance the only way they could guarantee silence and division—by nailing him to a tree.
Just then, she turned and saw a man the shadow of a man behind her; a man she assumed was the gardener, his face unfamiliar in the darkness. He repeated the question—“Woman, why are you crying?” Thinking that perhaps he knew what happened or worse, that he was a culprit, she begged, “Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.” But Jesus interrupted her pleading, interrupted her desperation, and called her by name from the darkness, Mary.
Mary. He calls her name. Her name. The name that captures the particularity of her life. To the gardener, she would just be the crying woman. At other points in her life, she was the possessed woman, the woman who wasn’t enough, the woman on the outside of the group. Never nameless—but still unnamed. Never not Mary, but still, not known.
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, God defeated the powers and principalities in the ultimate act of resistance—resurrection. The grave could not contain the Lord. Even death wasn’t enough.
In the resurrection, God defeats the powers of death and shows that it’s God who has the final Word. Nothing, not even death, can keep us from being fully known by God. The powers try to have the final say on our names, our identities, the markers by which we measure ourselves, the systems that hold people captive or keep people in oppression. But Jesus calls us out of the darkness by name.
On this Easter Sunday, we hear our Risen Lord calling our names from the darkness—Jesus, the resurrected one, the name above all names, the great I am, the Prince of Peace, the alpha and omega, the light of the world. The risen Lord has spoken.
This is the name unto which you were baptized. As you come forward and mark the sign of the cross on your forehead today, hear Jesus speaking your name from the darkness and drawing you into the light.
From our worship service on the fifth Sunday of Lent, April 2, 2017.
“Is the Lord really with us or not?” “Is the Lord really with us or not?” Why did you bring us all the way from Egypt to let us die of thirst in this desert? At least in Egypt, we had water. At least in Egypt, we weren’t so thirsty. At least in Egypt, we knew what tomorrow would hold. At least in Egypt, we weren’t so thirsty.
But no, that’s not the story they give us. They are hard on their ancestors. They tell how it is. The elders who sat and wrote down these stories understood something about our bodies, who we are and how we work. After all the generations these stories passed through, they tell the truth about how quickly we forget, about how quickly we complain, about how quickly we grow thirsty, about how much we need water.
It doesn’t take long, does it. By the end of this sermon, I will no doubt feel thirsty, not from walking on hard dusty ground in the heat of the day, but just from speaking with you. Most of us wake up in the morning needing a drink. Our bodies depend on water. We cannot live without it. Thirst, then, doesn’t happen only one time. When the Israelites panicked that they had no water, they weren’t only thinking of the present moment. They knew what was coming! We need water to live! Without water, we will die! Even if we have water for today, we will need water again tomorrow! We can drink until we are satisfied, only to know that we will eventually be thirsty for more.
The gospel of John tells a story about a woman who gave up on this question all together. She moved beyond wondering if the Lord was really with her, so confident God had forgotten her that she gave up wondering at all. Born a Samaritan into a world that valued other bodies as better than her body: male bodies, Jewish bodies, even married bodies. Even after encountering Jesus, she still leaves their conversation without a name, numbered as one of many, simply called, “Samaritan woman.” She too, was thirsty. Most believe that her shame led her to drink water in the heat of the day, when no one else would be at the rocky well, when she could get a drink alone, without experiencing the stigma and stares of others. When she came to get a drink, Jesus was also at the well, thirsty himself and in need of rest and water from the long journey through Samaria.
The Israelites complaint for water sends Moses to the only one who can satisfy, the only one who can meet this need. Moses turns to God, “What should I do with these people? How can I satisfy their thirst? I’ve looked around, I’ve checked far and wide, turned the house upsidedown, looked under the seats of the car, at the bottle of every bottle, I’ve even looked for dew on the ground and under the lids of jars and there is no water to be found. Where do we go for water? Is the Lord really with us or not?
The Israelites who wrote down this story and allowed the ancestors to look like desperate complainers who doubted God and tested God, they were onto something. They knew that we are thirsty people. Jesus knew also. All who are thirsty, come! All who believe in me, drink this living water! We are desperate to feel God’s presence, to be bathed in the water of the Spirit, to know that this is not all there is, to feel a sense of belonging to the One who is greater than I. We can only make it so long in the desert, so long wandering from one trial to the next, without a drink.
And yet, Jesus also says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Notice with me: not blessed are those who are righteous, but those who thirst for righteousness. Not blessed are those who are righteous, but those who thirst for righteousness. Blessed are those who thirst for relationship with God, to know God, to see God.
I wonder, “Does Jesus want us to keep wanting?” Does Jesus want us to keep thirsting? Many faithful followers of Jesus throughout history have never claimed their thirst was quenched, never fully satisfied. You know that moment when you quench your thirst, when you sigh with relief when your throat is at ease once again, that’s the opposite of how many of God’s children have described the life of faith. They describe wanting more, being satisfied at times, while knowing they will be thirsty again.
What will be waiting for you at the rock? Will the water gush out, bursting forth, covering you from head to toe with God’s presence, drenching you in hope, cleansing you from the dust that’s caked to your feet and renewing you for a new day, a new hour, a new moment basking in the presence of God?
What will be waiting for you at the rock? Will the water drip slowly, quenching your thirst for but a moment, giving you just a glimpse of God’s spirit? Will it be so hard to get the water from the rock, that you’ll have to bend down, get underneath that dripping water to try and catch a drop? Will it be just enough for you to know, if only for a moment, that God is really with you? Will it be just enough to satisfy you for this hour, but keep you coming back for more?
What will be waiting for you at the rock? What if it seems like the water has run out, like there isn’t a drop left, the way that Mother Teresa described? What then? We follow her example. She still goes to the rock, over and over again, not to get water quench her own thirst, but to relieve the thirst of God’s other children.
This post was adapted from our sermon series on Interpreting Exodus. Pastor Megan preached this sermon at Butner Federal Prison complex on August 30, 2015.
On Father’s Day 2015, we gathered for worship at the labyrinth in front of UNC hospital, having devoted the month of June to exploring the question, “What happens after we die?” Many have watched their father’s die in this place or other similar spaces. We shared in a time of both remembrance and prayer/meditation, participating in the ancient spiritual practice of walking the labyrinth. A labyrinth is a kind of maze, laid out in a circle.
Tony graciously shared the following reflections from his experience at the labyrinth on the hot June day.
It’s smaller than I expected, stark and hard‐surfaced, with no landscaping for ornamentation or shade. I don’t know what to expect from it… or from myself. But that’s part of the appeal. I stand at the entrance, hesitating, trying to clear my mind. This doesn’t work very well, so I just start walking.
Almost immediately, the path presents itself as a linear and chronological symbol of my life’s journey. Like my physical lifetime, it has a beginning and an end, with an as‐yet undetermined amount between. This could be interesting. I like it so far… although I’m insecure about my style… and unsure about proper protocol. Is someone staring at me? Do I have to meditate? How slowly should I walk? Is it better to focus my thoughts… or to simply let them come? Will I control this thing, or allow it to control me?
I begin to see each step as an increment of elapsed time, an irretrievable expenditure of life energy. I equate my initial discomfort to the natural immaturity of my childhood years. I gradually move beyond it, into metaphorical adulthood. This is much better.
Most of the path is a series of gentle arcs. These are fairly easy to maneuver, like my comfortable life. But these segments are connected by intermittent sharp turns, mostly 180‐degree switchbacks. I see these as representing significant life changes or challenges, requiring more concentration and skill to negotiate. I notice that I am executing some of these turns mechanically, and some more gracefully. I begin to anticipate upcoming turns, and try to maintain good form around each one.
I can’t see much of the path ahead, nor the end. I spend a significant amount of mental energy dealing with this uncertainty, constantly wanting to know my real‐time ratio of “distance walked” to “distance remaining”. This is a recurring distraction.
Today is Father’s Day, and my Dad is on my mind. He recently completed his well‐walked journey, and is now watching me… even if as mere metaphor… or only as an element of my own (self‐) consciousness. I feel his presence embedded in his absence. I’m aware that it’s not only my turn to walk… it’s my only turn to walk.
I think about my children, grandson, soon‐to‐arrive granddaughter, and their descendants. The familiar succession of life, death and new life seems magical, divinely‐derived, and strangely better than living forever. My role is limited, but critical. I love the part, and embrace it.
I am acutely aware that others are journeying all around me. These are friends of mine. We meet, almost brushing, as we walk. The path seems purposefully narrow, perhaps perfectly so. I suddenly understand that it is impossible to walk this close to others without being affected by them. I affect them too… seen as small adjustments in their position or posture. As we meet, I try not to encroach too much, but making sure not to pull away. I put creative energy into maintaining the perfect degree of separation between our bodies. This feels like more art than science… each friend deserving a customized approach. This closeness seems good to me.
There is a much younger walker behind me, getting ever closer. I’m clearly holding her back. Maybe this means that the younger generation wants me to hurry up and get out of their way. I remind myself not to stretch the symbolism too far… as I pick up my pace.
I now see the end of the path ahead. I have been expecting this part to be emotionally complicated, but it is not. The final section is round… large and unrestrictive… a qualitative change from the narrow linear pathway. The circle opens up to welcome me. It is easy to step into, a perfectly natural thing to do at the end of my walk. Inside the circle, I am centered… comfortable… peaceful… thankful.
16 As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” 18 Right away, they left their nets and followed him. 19 After going a little farther, he saw James and John, Zebedee’s sons, in their boat repairing the fishing nets. 20 At that very moment he called them. They followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers.
This is a story about 4 fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James and John. It’s a normal morning at the docks. Each one of them is going about business as usual. They arrived at dawn, bundled up in the cool morning air and started work without much conversation. Simon and Andrew are working on one fishing boat and see the Teacher approaching. “Hey. There he is,” says Andrew. Jesus from Nazareth. You can’t go anywhere without hearing about him lately. What’s he doing down here?” They paddle back to shore, not wanting to miss any trouble this Jesus fellow might stir up. Simon and Andrew get the beach and Jesus comes over to talk to them. It’s like he had come there that morning just to find these two guys. Jesus didn’t say much, “Come and follow me.” Jesus invited these 2 fishermen to be his disciples, to follow after him, to walk behind him, tracing his every step.
Further down the beach, the same scene repeats. This time, Jesus walks directly up to James and John who are focused on repairing their fishing net. Jesus says the same thing to them and now all four fishermen walk behind their rabbi with no idea of what’s ahead of them.
It’s a big deal! The four normal guys, working a normal job, on a normal morning, decide to follow Jesus. Maybe you’ve wondered like I have, how is it that Simon, Andrew, James and John do it? How do they drop everything to follow Jesus? What were they thinking? How did they feel?
It’s interesting. The story doesn’t tell us. There’s nothing about how they felt. It doesn’t say they were excited, or moved, or scared, or joyful or resistant. This story about four fisherman gives us only verbs. Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea. He saw two brothers. He said, Come, follow. Then, Simon and Andrew left and followed. Jesus saw James and John. Jesus called them. They followed him.
This is a story about four fisherman who decided to follow Jesus.
This is also a story about fishing. I’ve been fishing been fishing three or four times. Once I realized that fishing was primarily a crack of dawn activity, I knew it wasn’t really for me. Jesus uses a kind of puzzling image about fishing. He says, “Come, follow me, and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” I don’t know about you, but this I find this to be very strange. I realized this week why his image is so confusing to me. What do you imagine when someone talks about fishing? What I imagine when I hear the word “fish” or “fishing” is a fishing pole, the rod, reel, bait, tackle box, worms, that kind of fishing. So I’ve always interpreted what Jesus said this way.
I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men, if you follow me.
The road Jesus invites these four fishermen to follow him on will mean casting a net of love and welcome to people that they do not anticipate. Jesus will cast his net into the sea of a broken world, filled with sinners, people who have messed up, people who are outsiders, who don’t belong. Jesus will stay in the homes of poor, be guilty of associating prostitutes and touching the hands of people with communicable diseases. Jesus will throw his net into the sea and invite everyone in. Jesus will eventually be arrested and executed because those in power decided his fishing net included a few too many of the wrong people. This is a story about fishing.
This isn’t only a story about four fisherman, or only a story about fishing. It’s also, and perhaps, most importantly, a story about God.
If this is only a story about four fisherman who decide to follow Jesus, the pressures on you and me! After all, aren’t we too called to follow Jesus? Called to be his disciples? Wasn’t that the invitation you first heard when you first heard about Jesus? God has called us and we must decide. Jesus wants us all to follow him, to be like him, to walk in his footsteps, to do what he does. Of course this story is about that! And they do it, don’t they? Simon, Andrew, James, John, they do it! They decide and they do follow Jesus, imperfectly at that. Still, it’s a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility. If life becomes all about what we do for Jesus, something is missing.
If this is only a story about fishing, have some of us failed? Is it too late for us? Some of us might not be the best at fishing, not all the great about casting Jesus’ loving net to our brothers and sisters. His net is sometimes, or maybe more than sometimes, a bit more expansive than we might be comfortable with. He calls us to be like him and fish for people, and yet, sometimes we can barely get the net into the water. Perhaps for others, we aren’t even convinced that Jesus would include us in the net at all, no matter how deep into the water he goes. He can really mean me? Would his net really reach me? There’s still more to the story.
This is a story about God, who God is, how God acts, what God does. Before Andrew, Simon, James and John follow Jesus, Jesus finds them. Before they follow Jesus, Jesus comes to them! They don’t have to go searching, they have been found. Jesus saw. Jesus spoke. Jesus called. Jesus said, “Come.“ We don’t follow Jesus in order to find him, to prove our worthiness with what we do, or even by showing Jesus how big our nets are. We follow Jesus because he first came to us. He came down to the beach to meet these four fishermen. He came specifically for Simon and for Andrew, for James and for John, for you and me.
This blog post was adapted from Pastor Megan’s sermon at Butner Federal Prison on January 25, 2015.
The life of faith consists of seasons. One scholar suggests that we can categorize these seasons of life as seasons of being securely oriented, painfully disoriented, and surprisingly reoriented. These generalizations could apply to our self-acceptance, our relations to significant others, and our participation in public or private life. We might think about these seasons as passages of life, stages of growth, or even identity crises. Acknowledging where we find ourselves in a particular season can allow us to be honest about where we are at in our lives and where we are in relation to God.
The Psalms, a collection of prayers, songs, and poems addressed to God, correspond to these seasons of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. As we read through the book, we find Psalms where the writer is full of thanksgiving to God, securely oriented in life. We also find Psalms that demonstrate disorientation, perhaps categorized by loss, transition, grief, suffering, or even anger. Finally, some Psalms are written from a perspective of reorientation, wherein the Psalmist transitions from a period of being disoriented to being reoriented in relation to God and others.
The Psalms can become our partner in prayer. Giving us words when we have none, we pray the Psalms joining with all those who have prayed them before us and all who will pray them after we are gone. As we pray the Psalms, we find permission to be utterly honest with God about our feelings and situation, free to speak openly and deeply to God about what we are experiencing. Praying the Psalms also helps us to envision God’s future when we can’t see it ourselves. Lastly, the Psalms guard us against religion or merely thinking about God. Using their words in prayer brings us into direct conversation with the living God, in language we may never have imagined would come from our lips.
-Pray the assigned Psalm from the daily lectionary, with set Scriptures to read each day. Click here to see today’s readings, subscribe to the daily readings by email, or download the app.
-Pray the Psalms using the practice of praying in color. Click here for an excerpt from Sybil MacBeth’s book that gives instructions for praying in color. I have the book available if anyone would like to borrow it. You can read more about praying in color on her website.
-Pray a Psalm, followed by journal writing. Consider these prompts: Where do I find myself in this Psalm? Where do I find my community? How am I being oriented to God in this prayer? What images or metaphors do I find striking? Explore the image more deeply.
-Pray through a list of Psalms, one per day or the same one each day for a week.
-Pray them as a family or with housemates at mealtime or bedtime.
-Pray abbreviated Psalms as breath prayers. A breath Ppayer rhythm is simple: Breathe in slow and deep as you whisper or think on a phrase… Hold your breath… Then exhale.
I will sing to my God as long as I am.
Psalm 8: Lord, our master, how great is your name in all the earth.
Psalm 104: Seek the Lord and his power; seek his face forever. Remember the wonders he has done.
-Pray the Psalms using lectio divina. For instructions on praying lectio divina individually or in groups, click here. There are also instructions for doing lectio divina in color from Sybil MacBeth’s book.
-Pray a Psalm from the category of life within which you find yourself—orientation, disorientation, or reorientation.
Psalms of Orientation: These Psalms reflect a confident belief that the world is well ordered, reliable, and life-giving to the person of faith.
Psalms of Disorientation: These Psalms reflect the brokenness of life, when it is no longer orderly but savage. Spoken out of the depths, they are still bold acts of faith.
Psalms of New Orientation: The pit is not the end of life; there is more. New orientation Psalms reflect the surprise of new possibilities that are experienced as pure gift from God. They are full of thanks.
Citations: The Message of the Psalms and Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann and Getting Involved with God, by Ellen Davis.
Joseph’s story opens in Genesis 37 and it’s a long one. Joseph was one of 11 kids, the youngest son. In Genesis 37, the story says, “Now Jacob (Joseph’s dad) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old. Jacob had made for him a long robe. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him and couldn’t even talk nicely to him.” Sibling rivalry, jealousy, family drama—maybe a little too familiar for some of us.
Just when you want to feel bad for Joseph, show him sympathy, “Poor kid—he can’t help that he’s the favorite,” Joseph makes himself quickly unlikeable. When Joseph’s head hits the pillow at night, he has vivid dreams about the future, dreams where he rules over his brothers. In one of these dreams, he’s in the field working with his brothers. They each tie a bundle of grain together…I imagine it like a hay bail. His bail rises up, towering and floating in the air above the others, while each of his ten older brother’s bails of hay, bows down to his bail, as if he’s ruling over them like a king. What’s worse—he didn’t keep his mouth shut about his dreams. Nope. He went ahead and announced them at the dinner table. When I imagine this scene, I’m reminded of the importance of friends. He seriously needed a friend to say, “Dude, listen, you have some dreams where you’re awesome and your brothers treat you like a king. They hate you, man. Keep your dreams to yourself.” Joseph lacked such a friend, so he bragged about his dreams—that combined with his fancy North Face jacket that Daddy bought for him only and the favoritism their dad showed him, brought his brothers to plot about how they might rid themselves of this pesky brat forever.
Joseph’s brothers considered killing Joseph, but they settled on kidnapping him and selling him into slavery instead. That way, they wouldn’t have his death on their foreheads, without having to put up with him anymore. They took Joseph’s fancy coat and destroyed it, making it look like a wild animal killed Joseph. This they showed to their father, so that he would assume that Joseph was dead; their dad would never suspect they had any part in his disappearance.
Meanwhile, Joseph was taken off to Egypt where he worked as a slave. Though he did well there and followed all the rules, he became a victim for a second time, when his master’s wife accused him of a crime he didn’t commit. Over a period of 13 years, Joseph worked as a slave and spent years locked up in prison. After a series of unlikely events, some terrible and some remarkable, Joseph rose to power and became the king’s right hand man, his adviser.
With the king’s blessing and support, Joseph led his country in preparing for a famine, putting food away on reserve during seven years of plenty. When a famine struck the land, Egypt was in a good position, able to lean on the reserved food that Joseph had put away. The surrounding lands, including Joseph’s homeland, had to lean on Egypt for food or else they would starve.
Joseph shows his brother’s enormous generosity. He has them go home, pack up and move their entire family, including their elderly father Jacob to Egypt to be near Joseph. Not long after making the trip to Egypt and being reunited with his father, their father, an elderly man at this point, Jacob dies.
And the final chapter of the story opens. Jacob is dead. Their father is gone. Now what?
Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” 16 So they approached[b] Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 17 ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers also wept,[c] fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20 Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. 21 So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.
Fear is a powerful force. Fear motivates and fear paralyzes.
It’s a little funny how they phrase the words of their father. The brothers put a great deal of distance between themselves and Joseph. Instead of saying, “Our father told us to tell you…” they say, “Your father to us to tell you…” They distance themselves from Joseph and from the message that their dad supposedly gave them to pass along.
And then, they do it again. “Please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father,” his brothers say. They refer to themselves in third person—“the servants of the God of your father.” It’s not “our crime” that “we committed,” but the crime of these others.
Fear not only keeps them from confession, fear also keeps them from receiving forgiveness. They are scared for their lives the moment their father breathes his last, but haven’t they already been through this conversation with Joseph? At the dinner table, when Joseph revealed his identity to them, he tells them not to worry. “It’s ok. Yeah, it was awful, but look where I am! Look at how God has used me to help save those who would be starving now. I’m even saving you!” Joseph has already offered them forgiveness, but they haven’t fully received it. They haven’t believed what he’s said. Perhaps their views of themselves were so low that they didn’t see themselves worthy of forgiveness. Maybe they’ve carried the guilt for so long about what they’ve done, they fear what life will be like without it. It’s become so much an engrained part of their identity, they don’t know who they are apart from the guilt of what they’ve done. They fear receiving Joseph’s forgiveness. They fear forgiving themselves.
To the plea of the 10 brothers, to this made-up, manipulative, last cry for safety, Joseph has two responses. First, he weeps. His weeping—his display of vulnerability and emotion—causes his brothers to begin to weep also. There they are, 11 grown brothers, weeping on the floor of the house. Why did Joseph begin to weep? The story doesn’t say. Let’s notice, brothers and sisters—the road to releasing fear and offering and receiving forgiveness may not come without weeping.
Fear is a powerful force. Fear is an excellent motivator—moving us to do particular things and act in particular ways. But fear not only motivates, it can also paralyze, cause us to freeze right where we’re at, accept things for how they are. This final chapter begins with the brothers saying to one another, “What if…?” What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us…? Fear finishes the sentence, beginning in the words, “What if…?” Fear finishes the sentence. What if…he still bears a grudge against us? What if…we confess our evil to Joseph and he says that’s the end of us? What if…we ask for forgiveness and he denies it—if I say, will you forgive me, and he says, “no”?
“What if’s” sneak into our minds and hearts.
What if…I never get out of here?
What if I fail as a parent?
What if I don’t belong?
What if no one notices I’m gone?
What if I stand up for what I believe is right and it costs me my reputation?
What if I make a mistake at work and lose my job?
What if I risk opening myself up to someone and get hurt or betrayed again?
What if my body fails me?
What if I can never accept that the past can’t change?
What if I’m not worthy of God’s forgiveness or the forgiveness of those I’ve wronged?
What if I can never forgive myself?
We do not have to live in fear. We do not have to be motivated or paralyzed by it. Look at the God that we serve! Joseph explains how God has been with him. He says to his brothers, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” Does this mean that God wanted or desired Joseph’s brothers to kidnap him, throw him into slavery and ruin his life to avenge their jealousy? No. God doesn’t desire that jealousy and revenge rule our lives. God doesn’t will for us to do evil or to harm other people. Rather, God is able to overcome evil and transform it. God can overcome evil! When Jesus was captured, tried as a criminal and sentenced to death, God overcame death, raising Jesus from the death.
This post was adapted from my sermon preached at Butner Federal Prison on September 14, 2014.
We were gathered at the plaza, right between the giant bull statue and the unattractive fences of a construction site. Luminary bags weighted with rice and lit candles marked the sacred space surrounding 30 of us, one to represent each person who died as a result of domestic violence the previous year in our state. The vigil began as planned, simple, but meaningful, to remember victims of this tragedy and raise awareness about the suffering that takes place behind closed doors. About halfway through the simple service, a woman stumbled into the vigil, interrupting the solemn mood without realizing that a group was gathered and someone was speaking. She stood silent for a few moments, listening to the speaker. When she realized that the speaker was talking about domestic violence, she began to interrupt, asking questions to the speaker, sharing details from her own experience with abuse. “What would you do…what would you do if…?” she cried. Then, as unexpectedly as she joined us and as abruptly as her interruption, she began to weep, uncontrollably crying for the rest of the vigil. A couple of women gathered around her and held her as she wept. Before long, it was my turn to pray. I barely got the words out…I could hardly project my shaking voice over her loud sobs.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” Jesus proclaims in the second line of the beatitudes. Blessed are those who mourn. How is this weeping woman, this victim of abuse, blessed? She mourns the injustices she’s experienced, her suffering, the ways her life has been shaped by pain and her inability to free herself from her oppression. Jesus says that this woman and all her sisters and brothers that mourn with her are blessed.
The Jewish culture that Jesus was born into has a rich history of mourning or practicing lament, stretching back hundreds of years before he was born. The prophets and the Psalms include poems, songs, and speeches, recounting the words of people gathered together for public mourning. This mourning wasn’t a kind of crying about having a bad day or because of a frustration at home or work. The mourning Jesus is referencing is the kind of mourning that is a response to injustice and oppression, those who mourn the impact of the powers, both material and spiritual, on the lives of the most vulnerable.
Blessed are those who mourn. Another beatitude and another paradox. Once again, Jesus’ words are outlandish and nonsensical. How is it that those who mourn are blessed? Aren’t those who are happy and fulfilled, aren’t they the ones that are blessed? Yet, in this beatitude, in this paradox, Jesus once again exposes the powers and envisions an alternative. Jesus exposes the powers that cause people to mourn in the first place, those who experience unjust suffering and loss, the same injustices that cause people to be poor in spirit. It’s these people, the mourners, that are blessed, Jesus says. These are the people that Jesus came for. In God’s empire, mourners are not written off or ignored as uncivilized, uneducated, or badly behaved. Instead, in God’s empire, they are the ones who receive God’s comfort and consolation; God’s hears their cries.
Our culture tends to restrict mourning or public displays of emotion to something appropriate for home life or private time. Further, spending time in mourning may be quickly relegated to a waste of time or an inactive posture. The expression, “Don’t just cry about it, do something,” illustrates this clearly. But mourning is not a useless waste of time or an inactive practice. Mourn is a verb. In fact, mourning elicits action and engagement. Mourning exposes the powers, shows their true colors. Seeing people in mourning is disorienting. It interrupts the lives we lead that are detached from suffering and injustice, forcing us to take another look, to pause, to listen, and to join.
The woman who interrupted our solemn vigil for victims of domestic violence exposed the powers with her loud wailing. She made me feel uncomfortable, like I wanted to look away and get away from her as quickly as possible. And yet, her cries made it impossible for me to forget her. The sound of her weeping echoed in my ears for weeks following and if I try, I can still hear them now, over nine months later. Her mourning moves me to engage in seeking justice for others who have suffered like she has.
1. James Howell, The Beatitudes for Today. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005., 45.
2. James Howell, The Beatitudes for Today, 46.

Answer: "I have seen the Lord.".


Input: What is the SI unit of power?

Context:
For other uses, see Electricity (disambiguation).
"Electric" redirects here. For other uses, see Electric (disambiguation).
Lightning is one of the most dramatic effects of electricity.
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. In early days, electricity was considered as being not related to magnetism. Later on, many experimental results and the development of Maxwell's equations indicated that both electricity and magnetism are from a single phenomenon: electromagnetism. Various common phenomena are related to electricity, including lightning, static electricity, electric heating, electric discharges and many others.
The presence of an electric charge, which can be either positive or negative, produces an electric field. The movement of electric charges is an electric current and produces a magnetic field.
When a charge is placed in a location with a non-zero electric field, a force will act on it. The magnitude of this force is given by Coulomb's law. Thus, if that charge were to move, the electric field would be doing work on the electric charge. Thus we can speak of electric potential at a certain point in space, which is equal to the work done by an external agent in carrying a unit of positive charge from an arbitrarily chosen reference point to that point without any acceleration and is typically measured in volts.
electronics which deals with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies.
Electrical phenomena have been studied since antiquity, though progress in theoretical understanding remained slow until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even then, practical applications for electricity were few, and it would not be until the late nineteenth century that electrical engineers were able to put it to industrial and residential use. The rapid expansion in electrical technology at this time transformed industry and society, becoming a driving force for the Second Industrial Revolution. Electricity's extraordinary versatility means it can be put to an almost limitless set of applications which include transport, heating, lighting, communications, and computation. Electrical power is now the backbone of modern industrial society.
Long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the "Thunderer of the Nile", and described them as the "protectors" of all other fish. Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians. Several ancient writers, such as Pliny the Elder and Scribonius Largus, attested to the numbing effect of electric shocks delivered by catfish and electric rays, and knew that such shocks could travel along conducting objects. Patients suffering from ailments such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them. Possibly the earliest and nearest approach to the discovery of the identity of lightning, and electricity from any other source, is to be attributed to the Arabs, who before the 15th century had the Arabic word for lightning ra‘ad (رعد) applied to the electric ray.
Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, could be rubbed with cat's fur to attract light objects like feathers. Thales of Miletus made a series of observations on static electricity around 600 BCE, from which he believed that friction rendered amber magnetic, in contrast to minerals such as magnetite, which needed no rubbing. Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic effect, but later science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. According to a controversial theory, the Parthians may have had knowledge of electroplating, based on the 1936 discovery of the Baghdad Battery, which resembles a galvanic cell, though it is uncertain whether the artifact was electrical in nature.
Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research on electricity in the 18th century, as documented by Joseph Priestley (1767) History and Present Status of Electricity, with whom Franklin carried on extended correspondence.
Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual curiosity for millennia until 1600, when the English scientist William Gilbert wrote De Magnete, in which he made a careful study of electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the lodestone effect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber. He coined the New Latin word electricus ("of amber" or "like amber", from ἤλεκτρον, elektron, the Greek word for "amber") to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed. This association gave rise to the English words "electric" and "electricity", which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646.
Further work was conducted in the 17th and early 18th centuries by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray and C. F. du Fay. Later in the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a metal key to the bottom of a dampened kite string and flown the kite in a storm-threatened sky. A succession of sparks jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature. He also explained the apparently paradoxical behavior of the Leyden jar as a device for storing large amounts of electrical charge in terms of electricity consisting of both positive and negative charges.
In 1791, Luigi Galvani published his discovery of bioelectromagnetics, demonstrating that electricity was the medium by which neurons passed signals to the muscles. Alessandro Volta's battery, or voltaic pile, of 1800, made from alternating layers of zinc and copper, provided scientists with a more reliable source of electrical energy than the electrostatic machines previously used. The recognition of electromagnetism, the unity of electric and magnetic phenomena, is due to Hans Christian Ørsted and André-Marie Ampère in 1819–1820. Michael Faraday invented the electric motor in 1821, and Georg Ohm mathematically analysed the electrical circuit in 1827. Electricity and magnetism (and light) were definitively linked by James Clerk Maxwell, in particular in his "On Physical Lines of Force" in 1861 and 1862.
While the early 19th century had seen rapid progress in electrical science, the late 19th century would see the greatest progress in electrical engineering. Through such people as Alexander Graham Bell, Ottó Bláthy, Thomas Edison, Galileo Ferraris, Oliver Heaviside, Ányos Jedlik, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Charles Algernon Parsons, Werner von Siemens, Joseph Swan, Reginald Fessenden, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, electricity turned from a scientific curiosity into an essential tool for modern life.
In 1887, Heinrich Hertz:843–44 discovered that electrodes illuminated with ultraviolet light create electric sparks more easily. In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper that explained experimental data from the photoelectric effect as being the result of light energy being carried in discrete quantized packets, energising electrons. This discovery led to the quantum revolution. Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for "his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The photoelectric effect is also employed in photocells such as can be found in solar panels and this is frequently used to make electricity commercially.
The first solid-state device was the "cat's-whisker detector" first used in the 1900s in radio receivers. A whisker-like wire is placed lightly in contact with a solid crystal (such as a germanium crystal) to detect a radio signal by the contact junction effect. In a solid-state component, the current is confined to solid elements and compounds engineered specifically to switch and amplify it. Current flow can be understood in two forms: as negatively charged electrons, and as positively charged electron deficiencies called holes. These charges and holes are understood in terms of quantum physics. The building material is most often a crystalline semiconductor.
The solid-state device came into its own with the invention of the transistor in 1947. Common solid-state devices include transistors, microprocessor chips, and RAM. A specialized type of RAM called flash RAM is used in USB flash drives and more recently, solid-state drives to replace mechanically rotating magnetic disc hard disk drives. Solid state devices became prevalent in the 1950s and the 1960s, during the transition from vacuum tubes to semiconductor diodes, transistors, integrated circuit (IC) and the light-emitting diode (LED).
The presence of charge gives rise to an electrostatic force: charges exert a force on each other, an effect that was known, though not understood, in antiquity.:457 A lightweight ball suspended from a string can be charged by touching it with a glass rod that has itself been charged by rubbing with a cloth. If a similar ball is charged by the same glass rod, it is found to repel the first: the charge acts to force the two balls apart. Two balls that are charged with a rubbed amber rod also repel each other. However, if one ball is charged by the glass rod, and the other by an amber rod, the two balls are found to attract each other. These phenomena were investigated in the late eighteenth century by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, who deduced that charge manifests itself in two opposing forms. This discovery led to the well-known axiom: like-charged objects repel and opposite-charged objects attract.
The force acts on the charged particles themselves, hence charge has a tendency to spread itself as evenly as possible over a conducting surface. The magnitude of the electromagnetic force, whether attractive or repulsive, is given by Coulomb's law, which relates the force to the product of the charges and has an inverse-square relation to the distance between them.:35 The electromagnetic force is very strong, second only in strength to the strong interaction, but unlike that force it operates over all distances. In comparison with the much weaker gravitational force, the electromagnetic force pushing two electrons apart is 1042 times that of the gravitational attraction pulling them together.
Study has shown that the origin of charge is from certain types of subatomic particles which have the property of electric charge. Electric charge gives rise to and interacts with the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. The most familiar carriers of electrical charge are the electron and proton. Experiment has shown charge to be a conserved quantity, that is, the net charge within an electrically isolated system will always remain constant regardless of any changes taking place within that system. Within the system, charge may be transferred between bodies, either by direct contact, or by passing along a conducting material, such as a wire.:2–5 The informal term static electricity refers to the net presence (or 'imbalance') of charge on a body, usually caused when dissimilar materials are rubbed together, transferring charge from one to the other.
The charge on electrons and protons is opposite in sign, hence an amount of charge may be expressed as being either negative or positive. By convention, the charge carried by electrons is deemed negative, and that by protons positive, a custom that originated with the work of Benjamin Franklin. The amount of charge is usually given the symbol Q and expressed in coulombs; each electron carries the same charge of approximately −1.6022×10−19 coulomb. The proton has a charge that is equal and opposite, and thus +1.6022×10−19 coulomb. Charge is possessed not just by matter, but also by antimatter, each antiparticle bearing an equal and opposite charge to its corresponding particle.
The movement of electric charge is known as an electric current, the intensity of which is usually measured in amperes. Current can consist of any moving charged particles; most commonly these are electrons, but any charge in motion constitutes a current. Electric current can flow through some things, electrical conductors, but will not flow through an electrical insulator.
By historical convention, a positive current is defined as having the same direction of flow as any positive charge it contains, or to flow from the most positive part of a circuit to the most negative part. Current defined in this manner is called conventional current. The motion of negatively charged electrons around an electric circuit, one of the most familiar forms of current, is thus deemed positive in the opposite direction to that of the electrons. However, depending on the conditions, an electric current can consist of a flow of charged particles in either direction, or even in both directions at once. The positive-to-negative convention is widely used to simplify this situation.
The process by which electric current passes through a material is termed electrical conduction, and its nature varies with that of the charged particles and the material through which they are travelling. Examples of electric currents include metallic conduction, where electrons flow through a conductor such as metal, and electrolysis, where ions (charged atoms) flow through liquids, or through plasmas such as electrical sparks. While the particles themselves can move quite slowly, sometimes with an average drift velocity only fractions of a millimetre per second,:17 the electric field that drives them itself propagates at close to the speed of light, enabling electrical signals to pass rapidly along wires.
Current causes several observable effects, which historically were the means of recognising its presence. That water could be decomposed by the current from a voltaic pile was discovered by Nicholson and Carlisle in 1800, a process now known as electrolysis. Their work was greatly expanded upon by Michael Faraday in 1833. Current through a resistance causes localised heating, an effect James Prescott Joule studied mathematically in 1840.:23–24 One of the most important discoveries relating to current was made accidentally by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1820, when, while preparing a lecture, he witnessed the current in a wire disturbing the needle of a magnetic compass. He had discovered electromagnetism, a fundamental interaction between electricity and magnetics. The level of electromagnetic emissions generated by electric arcing is high enough to produce electromagnetic interference, which can be detrimental to the workings of adjacent equipment.
In engineering or household applications, current is often described as being either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). These terms refer to how the current varies in time. Direct current, as produced by example from a battery and required by most electronic devices, is a unidirectional flow from the positive part of a circuit to the negative.:11 If, as is most common, this flow is carried by electrons, they will be travelling in the opposite direction. Alternating current is any current that reverses direction repeatedly; almost always this takes the form of a sine wave.:206–07 Alternating current thus pulses back and forth within a conductor without the charge moving any net distance over time. The time-averaged value of an alternating current is zero, but it delivers energy in first one direction, and then the reverse. Alternating current is affected by electrical properties that are not observed under steady state direct current, such as inductance and capacitance.:223–25 These properties however can become important when circuitry is subjected to transients, such as when first energised.
The concept of the electric field was introduced by Michael Faraday. An electric field is created by a charged body in the space that surrounds it, and results in a force exerted on any other charges placed within the field. The electric field acts between two charges in a similar manner to the way that the gravitational field acts between two masses, and like it, extends towards infinity and shows an inverse square relationship with distance. However, there is an important difference. Gravity always acts in attraction, drawing two masses together, while the electric field can result in either attraction or repulsion. Since large bodies such as planets generally carry no net charge, the electric field at a distance is usually zero. Thus gravity is the dominant force at distance in the universe, despite being much weaker.
A hollow conducting body carries all its charge on its outer surface. The field is therefore zero at all places inside the body.:88 This is the operating principal of the Faraday cage, a conducting metal shell which isolates its interior from outside electrical effects.
The principles of electrostatics are important when designing items of high-voltage equipment. There is a finite limit to the electric field strength that may be withstood by any medium. Beyond this point, electrical breakdown occurs and an electric arc causes flashover between the charged parts. Air, for example, tends to arc across small gaps at electric field strengths which exceed 30 kV per centimetre. Over larger gaps, its breakdown strength is weaker, perhaps 1 kV per centimetre. The most visible natural occurrence of this is lightning, caused when charge becomes separated in the clouds by rising columns of air, and raises the electric field in the air to greater than it can withstand. The voltage of a large lightning cloud may be as high as 100 MV and have discharge energies as great as 250 kWh.
A pair of AA cells. The + sign indicates the polarity of the potential difference between the battery terminals.
The concept of electric potential is closely linked to that of the electric field. A small charge placed within an electric field experiences a force, and to have brought that charge to that point against the force requires work. The electric potential at any point is defined as the energy required to bring a unit test charge from an infinite distance slowly to that point. It is usually measured in volts, and one volt is the potential for which one joule of work must be expended to bring a charge of one coulomb from infinity.:494–98 This definition of potential, while formal, has little practical application, and a more useful concept is that of electric potential difference, and is the energy required to move a unit charge between two specified points. An electric field has the special property that it is conservative, which means that the path taken by the test charge is irrelevant: all paths between two specified points expend the same energy, and thus a unique value for potential difference may be stated.:494–98 The volt is so strongly identified as the unit of choice for measurement and description of electric potential difference that the term voltage sees greater everyday usage.
For practical purposes, it is useful to define a common reference point to which potentials may be expressed and compared. While this could be at infinity, a much more useful reference is the Earth itself, which is assumed to be at the same potential everywhere. This reference point naturally takes the name earth or ground. Earth is assumed to be an infinite source of equal amounts of positive and negative charge, and is therefore electrically uncharged—and unchargeable.
Electric potential is a scalar quantity, that is, it has only magnitude and not direction. It may be viewed as analogous to height: just as a released object will fall through a difference in heights caused by a gravitational field, so a charge will 'fall' across the voltage caused by an electric field. As relief maps show contour lines marking points of equal height, a set of lines marking points of equal potential (known as equipotentials) may be drawn around an electrostatically charged object. The equipotentials cross all lines of force at right angles. They must also lie parallel to a conductor's surface, otherwise this would produce a force that will move the charge carriers to even the potential of the surface.
Ørsted's discovery in 1821 that a magnetic field existed around all sides of a wire carrying an electric current indicated that there was a direct relationship between electricity and magnetism. Moreover, the interaction seemed different from gravitational and electrostatic forces, the two forces of nature then known. The force on the compass needle did not direct it to or away from the current-carrying wire, but acted at right angles to it. Ørsted's slightly obscure words were that "the electric conflict acts in a revolving manner." The force also depended on the direction of the current, for if the flow was reversed, then the force did too.
Ørsted did not fully understand his discovery, but he observed the effect was reciprocal: a current exerts a force on a magnet, and a magnetic field exerts a force on a current. The phenomenon was further investigated by Ampère, who discovered that two parallel current-carrying wires exerted a force upon each other: two wires conducting currents in the same direction are attracted to each other, while wires containing currents in opposite directions are forced apart. The interaction is mediated by the magnetic field each current produces and forms the basis for the international definition of the ampere.
This relationship between magnetic fields and currents is extremely important, for it led to Michael Faraday's invention of the electric motor in 1821. Faraday's homopolar motor consisted of a permanent magnet sitting in a pool of mercury. A current was allowed through a wire suspended from a pivot above the magnet and dipped into the mercury. The magnet exerted a tangential force on the wire, making it circle around the magnet for as long as the current was maintained.
Experimentation by Faraday in 1831 revealed that a wire moving perpendicular to a magnetic field developed a potential difference between its ends. Further analysis of this process, known as electromagnetic induction, enabled him to state the principle, now known as Faraday's law of induction, that the potential difference induced in a closed circuit is proportional to the rate of change of magnetic flux through the loop. Exploitation of this discovery enabled him to invent the first electrical generator in 1831, in which he converted the mechanical energy of a rotating copper disc to electrical energy. Faraday's disc was inefficient and of no use as a practical generator, but it showed the possibility of generating electric power using magnetism, a possibility that would be taken up by those that followed on from his work.
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta showing his "battery" to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century.
The ability of chemical reactions to produce electricity, and conversely the ability of electricity to drive chemical reactions has a wide array of uses.
Electrochemistry has always been an important part of electricity. From the initial invention of the Voltaic pile, electrochemical cells have evolved into the many different types of batteries, electroplating and electrolysis cells. Aluminium is produced in vast quantities this way, and many portable devices are electrically powered using rechargeable cells.
A basic electric circuit. The voltage source V on the left drives a current I around the circuit, delivering electrical energy into the resistor R. From the resistor, the current returns to the source, completing the circuit.
An electric circuit is an interconnection of electric components such that electric charge is made to flow along a closed path (a circuit), usually to perform some useful task.
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt, one joule per second.
Electricity generation is often done with electric generators, but can also be supplied by chemical sources such as electric batteries or by other means from a wide variety of sources of energy. Electric power is generally supplied to businesses and homes by the electric power industry. Electricity is usually sold by the kilowatt hour (3.6 MJ) which is the product of power in kilowatts multiplied by running time in hours. Electric utilities measure power using electricity meters, which keep a running total of the electric energy delivered to a customer. Unlike fossil fuels, electricity is a low entropy form of energy and can be converted into motion or many other forms of energy with high efficiency.
Electronics deals with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes, optoelectronics, sensors and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies. The nonlinear behaviour of active components and their ability to control electron flows makes amplification of weak signals possible and electronics is widely used in information processing, telecommunications, and signal processing. The ability of electronic devices to act as switches makes digital information processing possible. Interconnection technologies such as circuit boards, electronics packaging technology, and other varied forms of communication infrastructure complete circuit functionality and transform the mixed components into a regular working system.
Today, most electronic devices use semiconductor components to perform electron control. The study of semiconductor devices and related technology is considered a branch of solid state physics, whereas the design and construction of electronic circuits to solve practical problems come under electronics engineering.
Thus, the work of many researchers enabled the use of electronics to convert signals into high frequency oscillating currents, and via suitably shaped conductors, electricity permits the transmission and reception of these signals via radio waves over very long distances.
Early 20th-century alternator made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station (photograph by Prokudin-Gorsky, 1905–1915).
In the 6th century BC, the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus experimented with amber rods and these experiments were the first studies into the production of electrical energy. While this method, now known as the triboelectric effect, can lift light objects and generate sparks, it is extremely inefficient. It was not until the invention of the voltaic pile in the eighteenth century that a viable source of electricity became available. The voltaic pile, and its modern descendant, the electrical battery, store energy chemically and make it available on demand in the form of electrical energy. The battery is a versatile and very common power source which is ideally suited to many applications, but its energy storage is finite, and once discharged it must be disposed of or recharged. For large electrical demands electrical energy must be generated and transmitted continuously over conductive transmission lines.
Electrical power is usually generated by electro-mechanical generators driven by steam produced from fossil fuel combustion, or the heat released from nuclear reactions; or from other sources such as kinetic energy extracted from wind or flowing water. The modern steam turbine invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884 today generates about 80 percent of the electric power in the world using a variety of heat sources. Such generators bear no resemblance to Faraday's homopolar disc generator of 1831, but they still rely on his electromagnetic principle that a conductor linking a changing magnetic field induces a potential difference across its ends. The invention in the late nineteenth century of the transformer meant that electrical power could be transmitted more efficiently at a higher voltage but lower current. Efficient electrical transmission meant in turn that electricity could be generated at centralised power stations, where it benefited from economies of scale, and then be despatched relatively long distances to where it was needed.
Since electrical energy cannot easily be stored in quantities large enough to meet demands on a national scale, at all times exactly as much must be produced as is required. This requires electricity utilities to make careful predictions of their electrical loads, and maintain constant co-ordination with their power stations. A certain amount of generation must always be held in reserve to cushion an electrical grid against inevitable disturbances and losses.
Electricity is a very convenient way to transfer energy, and it has been adapted to a huge, and growing, number of uses. The invention of a practical incandescent light bulb in the 1870s led to lighting becoming one of the first publicly available applications of electrical power. Although electrification brought with it its own dangers, replacing the naked flames of gas lighting greatly reduced fire hazards within homes and factories. Public utilities were set up in many cities targeting the burgeoning market for electrical lighting. In the late 20th century and in modern times, the trend has started to flow in the direction of deregulation in the electrical power sector.
The resistive Joule heating effect employed in filament light bulbs also sees more direct use in electric heating. While this is versatile and controllable, it can be seen as wasteful, since most electrical generation has already required the production of heat at a power station. A number of countries, such as Denmark, have issued legislation restricting or banning the use of resistive electric heating in new buildings. Electricity is however still a highly practical energy source for heating and refrigeration, with air conditioning/heat pumps representing a growing sector for electricity demand for heating and cooling, the effects of which electricity utilities are increasingly obliged to accommodate.
Electricity is used within telecommunications, and indeed the electrical telegraph, demonstrated commercially in 1837 by Cooke and Wheatstone, was one of its earliest applications. With the construction of first intercontinental, and then transatlantic, telegraph systems in the 1860s, electricity had enabled communications in minutes across the globe. Optical fibre and satellite communication have taken a share of the market for communications systems, but electricity can be expected to remain an essential part of the process.
The effects of electromagnetism are most visibly employed in the electric motor, which provides a clean and efficient means of motive power. A stationary motor such as a winch is easily provided with a supply of power, but a motor that moves with its application, such as an electric vehicle, is obliged to either carry along a power source such as a battery, or to collect current from a sliding contact such as a pantograph. Electrically powered vehicles are used in public transportation, such as electric buses and trains, and an increasing number of battery-powered electric cars in private ownership.
Electronic devices make use of the transistor, perhaps one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century, and a fundamental building block of all modern circuitry. A modern integrated circuit may contain several billion miniaturised transistors in a region only a few centimetres square.
A voltage applied to a human body causes an electric current through the tissues, and although the relationship is non-linear, the greater the voltage, the greater the current. The threshold for perception varies with the supply frequency and with the path of the current, but is about 0.1 mA to 1 mA for mains-frequency electricity, though a current as low as a microamp can be detected as an electrovibration effect under certain conditions. If the current is sufficiently high, it will cause muscle contraction, fibrillation of the heart, and tissue burns. The lack of any visible sign that a conductor is electrified makes electricity a particular hazard. The pain caused by an electric shock can be intense, leading electricity at times to be employed as a method of torture. Death caused by an electric shock is referred to as electrocution. Electrocution is still the means of judicial execution in some jurisdictions, though its use has become rarer in recent times.
Electricity is not a human invention, and may be observed in several forms in nature, a prominent manifestation of which is lightning. Many interactions familiar at the macroscopic level, such as touch, friction or chemical bonding, are due to interactions between electric fields on the atomic scale. The Earth's magnetic field is thought to arise from a natural dynamo of circulating currents in the planet's core. Certain crystals, such as quartz, or even sugar, generate a potential difference across their faces when subjected to external pressure. This phenomenon is known as piezoelectricity, from the Greek piezein (πιέζειν), meaning to press, and was discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Jacques Curie. The effect is reciprocal, and when a piezoelectric material is subjected to an electric field, a small change in physical dimensions takes place.
§Bioelectrogenesis in microbial life is a prominent phenomenon in soils and sediment ecology resulting from anaerobic respiration. The microbial fuel cell mimics this ubiquitous natural phenomenon.
Some organisms, such as sharks, are able to detect and respond to changes in electric fields, an ability known as electroreception, while others, termed electrogenic, are able to generate voltages themselves to serve as a predatory or defensive weapon. The order Gymnotiformes, of which the best known example is the electric eel, detect or stun their prey via high voltages generated from modified muscle cells called electrocytes. All animals transmit information along their cell membranes with voltage pulses called action potentials, whose functions include communication by the nervous system between neurons and muscles. An electric shock stimulates this system, and causes muscles to contract. Action potentials are also responsible for coordinating activities in certain plants.
In the 19th and early 20th century, electricity was not part of the everyday life of many people, even in the industrialised Western world. The popular culture of the time accordingly often depicted it as a mysterious, quasi-magical force that can slay the living, revive the dead or otherwise bend the laws of nature. This attitude began with the 1771 experiments of Luigi Galvani in which the legs of dead frogs were shown to twitch on application of animal electricity. "Revitalization" or resuscitation of apparently dead or drowned persons was reported in the medical literature shortly after Galvani's work. These results were known to Mary Shelley when she authored Frankenstein (1819), although she does not name the method of revitalization of the monster. The revitalization of monsters with electricity later became a stock theme in horror films.
As the public familiarity with electricity as the lifeblood of the Second Industrial Revolution grew, its wielders were more often cast in a positive light, such as the workers who "finger death at their gloves' end as they piece and repiece the living wires" in Rudyard Kipling's 1907 poem Sons of Martha. Electrically powered vehicles of every sort featured large in adventure stories such as those of Jules Verne and the Tom Swift books. The masters of electricity, whether fictional or real—including scientists such as Thomas Edison, Charles Steinmetz or Nikola Tesla—were popularly conceived of as having wizard-like powers.
With electricity ceasing to be a novelty and becoming a necessity of everyday life in the later half of the 20th century, it required particular attention by popular culture only when it stops flowing, an event that usually signals disaster. The people who keep it flowing, such as the nameless hero of Jimmy Webb’s song "Wichita Lineman" (1968), are still often cast as heroic, wizard-like figures.
Ampère's circuital law, connects the direction of an electric current and its associated magnetic currents.
^ Diogenes Laertius. R.D. Hicks (ed.). "Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 1 Chapter 1 ". Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University. Retrieved 5 February 2017. Aristotle and Hippias affirm that, arguing from the magnet and from amber, he attributed a soul or life even to inanimate objects.
^ Aristotle. Daniel C. Stevenson (ed.). "De Animus (On the Soul) Book 1 Part 2 (B4 verso)". The Internet Classics Archive. Translated by J.A. Smith. Retrieved 5 February 2017. Thales, too, to judge from what is recorded about him, seems to have held soul to be a motive force, since he said that the magnet has a soul in it because it moves the iron.
^ a b c Guarnieri, M. (2014). "Electricity in the age of Enlightenment". IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. 8 (3): 60–63. doi:10.1109/MIE.2014.2335431.
^ Srodes, James (2002), Franklin: The Essential Founding Father, Regnery Publishing, pp. 92–94, ISBN 0-89526-163-4 It is uncertain if Franklin personally carried out this experiment, but it is popularly attributed to him.
^ a b Guarnieri, M. (2014). "The Big Jump from the Legs of a Frog". IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. 8 (4): 59–61, 69. doi:10.1109/MIE.2014.2361237.
^ Hertz, Heinrich (1887). "Ueber den Einfluss des ultravioletten Lichtes auf die electrische Entladung". Annalen der Physik. 267 (8): S. 983–1000. Bibcode:1887AnP...267..983H. doi:10.1002/andp.18872670827.
^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1921". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
^ John Sydney Blakemore, Solid state physics, pp. 1–3, Cambridge University Press, 1985 ISBN 0-521-31391-0.
^ Richard C. Jaeger, Travis N. Blalock, Microelectronic circuit design, pp. 46–47, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003 ISBN 0-07-250503-6.
^ "The repulsive force between two small spheres charged with the same type of electricity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the centres of the two spheres." Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, Histoire de l'Academie Royal des Sciences, Paris 1785.
^ Sewell, Tyson (1902), The Elements of Electrical Engineering, Lockwood, p. 18 . The Q originally stood for 'quantity of electricity', the term 'electricity' now more commonly expressed as 'charge'.
^ a b Berkson, William (1974), Fields of Force: The Development of a World View from Faraday to Einstein, Routledge, p. 370, ISBN 0-7100-7626-6 Accounts differ as to whether this was before, during, or after a lecture.
^ "Lab Note #105 EMI Reduction – Unsuppressed vs. Suppressed". Arc Suppression Technologies. April 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
^ Almost all electric fields vary in space. An exception is the electric field surrounding a planar conductor of infinite extent, the field of which is uniform.
^ Paul J. Nahin (9 October 2002). Oliver Heaviside: The Life, Work, and Times of an Electrical Genius of the Victorian Age. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-6909-9.
^ "The Bumpy Road to Energy Deregulation". EnPowered. 2016-03-28.
^ a b c d e f g h Van Riper, op.cit., p. 71.
Look up electricity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Basic Concepts of Electricity chapter from Lessons In Electric Circuits Vol 1 DC book and series.

Answer: Watt, one joule per second.