Ascension

This week we celebrate a major event in the life of the church. On Thursday May 9th, we are reminded of Jesus’ Ascension. We shall have a worship service at 6:30 pm today. The readings for this major feast day are Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23, and Luke 24:49-53. The Ascension is such an important event that we also have special readings for the Sunday following the Ascension, this coming Sunday. 

You remember the Ascension when Jesus ascends back to the Godhead and the disciples will have to learn to walk by faith alone. There will be no more surprise visits by the risen Jesus in the upper room, on the road to Emmaus, or for breakfast on the beach. Jesus ascends and will send the Holy Spirit to serve as that constant reminder of God’s presence. Nothing will ever be the same again, and the disciples are just beginning to discover that reality as they search for Jesus and wait for the power from on high that Jesus has promised them.

We, as individuals--and as a community of faith--have been experiencing stress and upheaval in our lives over the past few years. First, the pandemic, which impacted the entire world; then, economic changes; then, parish transition, and now wars. It seems that all we hear about is crisis and uncertainty. Thus, now is the time for us to stop to reflect how God is at work; and how we are to find the way to be that sure and certain presence of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We may not feel like God’s sure and certain presence in the world, but we are. For better or worse, we are those whom God has chosen to be his presence in this time and place.

Think about that for a moment. Jesus' Ascension, in whatever manner it happened, is not so much about the actual facts of the event as it is about what that event means to us.  Jesus is not really absent, but he is now present in a different way from what he was before. In fact, the command Jesus gave the disciples is to wait, to stay in Jerusalem, and to await God's power to "clothe" them.

Jesus’ desire for the disciples to wait had to do with their listening to one another and to God for clarity of purpose. The ten days between Ascension and Pentecost are days to wait, days to listen, days to anticipate God's Spirit anew in our lives. The first disciples did not know what to expect. However, they trusted Jesus even after he disappeared from them in mid-blessing. They returned to the city and waited.

The disciples waited, unsure of what to expect, but it was a waiting filled with purpose, and the purpose was to hear and see what God would call them to do next. We too are called to spend this time of interim ministry waiting and working for God’s kingdom. Purposefully we are waiting to be filled anew and refreshed by the power from on high. We are waiting to hear God's plan for us, waiting to see what new ministries emerge out of this time of listening, waiting for the selection of a new rector. We are waiting in order to find Jesus in our midst in new and different ways. So the Ascension is not about Jesus' leaving; rather, it is about his very real presence with us.

We all know that the Spirit that Jesus had promised did come to the disciples. Now, instead of being confined to one physical place and time, Jesus can be everywhere in all time through the power of the Spirit. That holiness that was once concentrated just in him, at that first Pentecost when it filled the early disciples, now fills all of us who call Jesus our Lord. Each of us has the powerful Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives.

St. James is not a building or simply a place of worship. St. James is all of you. Each person filled with God’s Holy Presence becomes an apostle, a representative of Christ. We have begun to renew ministries, to engage in actions of growth, and to learn new ways of being the body of Christ. Now is the time to purposely wait, listen, pray, and discern how God is inviting you to a new opportunity. Keep searching for what God wants you to see and to do. Be open to God’s surprises in the people you meet and in the work God calls you to undertake. God’s Holy Spirit will guide the nominating committee, the vestry, and those God will lead to this place. Searching is a part of how God reveals God’s self to us. God continues to seek us out, and we continue to seek God. May your waiting be filled with Godly surprises. 

Mother Pat+