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Ascension
Acts 1: 1 – 11 Ascension Day celebrates Jesus returning to God in heaven. Before Jesus ascends he leaves his disciples with a task and a promise. The promise is that the Holy Spirit would come upon his followers and his church in a special way that would empower them. The task is to use the power of the Holy Spirit to tell his story so that his mission to reconcile all people to a loving relationship with God, might be extended to the whole world and to the generations that are still to come. The task then is “to tell his story.” I wonder, if you were to recommend a book or a film you have seen recently, which you would choose? What made the film or the book so special? How did the book or film change your life? So often what makes a film enjoyable comes down to the plot and the characters doesn’t it? The Christian faith is communicated through story, God’s story. We hear this story in two ways, by reading it in the Bible or by hearing others tell us about it. The story is about God’s loving relationship with humanity, and it is central to our faith. It is a wonderful story it is that unlike so many other stories you might hear, is powerful and life changing : The story starts with a telling of how God created the world and then went on to create people. He did with a loving purpose. He wanted others with whom to enjoy his creation. So, God set out in love to be in a loving partnership with the people he had create, a loving and close relationship. The bible records the story of that relationship. Sadly God’s relationship with humankind became impaired because of human fallibility. To rescue that relationship, God opted to reach out from the depths of his love into the heart of humanity and to send his son Jesus, the Christ, to repair that relationship. So Jesus came and lived amongst us, opening up the story for us, explaining it and living it. Actually, Jesus is the story, the word made flesh. Today the chapter of Jesus living with us, God’s word made flesh and living amongst us in human form comes to an end. We have got to the part of this amazing story where Jesus has fulfilled his mission. He has ministered in person to people. He has suffered and died for his love mission and he has been raised once again to life on the third day, just as the Biblical narrative had foretold. The story tells us that for 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus made appearances to his disciples. During that time he ate with them and drank with them, walked and talked with them, taught them and comforted them. Now it was time for him to leave them physically. So it is that they gather in Bethany which is a small town on the Mount of Olives. There he speaks his last words to them. He reminds them of God’s story written for them in the Scriptures today more widely known as the Bible. He summarizes the story of God’s love for humanity and his plans for the future. We learn that God’s concern is that humanity remains in loving relationship with him. After all it was for this that the Messiah came and died and rose again. We learn that those who were blessed enough have heard God’s love story first hand from the Messiah, now have a job to do a task to perform. They are to go out into the world and tell this wonderful big story of God’s love. It is a living story that has relevance for all generations and all peoples. It is not one of those stories that you hear and forget, nor is it one of those stories that fits one particular culture’s needs. This is God’s story which must be told carefully and faithfully and so it is that that Jesus commands them to wait before they head off. They are not to tell this story in their own strength, but rather they must wait for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit which will give them the power and the ability to tell this story the right way, the way it should be told, the way it will have the most power to change people’s lives and bring them back into relationship with God. The way it will enliven those who hear, it just as it has enlivened the disciples who heard the story from Jesus himself. You see when the disciples first gathered at Bethany at the time of the Ascension they were down hearted. Then Jesus explained the Scriptures to them. Then a big change took place in them. Nothing changed about their circumstances, Jesus was still leaving them, but the story had changed how they felt about his going…… they were filled with JOY and started praising God. They were reconciled to God and were in love with God once again. So Jesus had given them a lovely job. They were called to be God’s story tellers. They were to tell the precious and wonderful and true story of God’s love for humanity, of God’s call to repentance, for people to turn around and come back to him and of God’s forgiveness. Then we read that Jesus is lifted up bodily and for the last and final time is removed from their presence, hidden by a cloud. Now the same Jesus who gave them a job to do also gave them a promise. He promised them power, the power of the Holy Spirit which will enable them to do that job and to dwell within them. All they have to do is wait for the Spirit to come and they will be clothed with power from on high. How important it is for us to learn the value in waiting. In a culture where we are constantly rushing, Jesus encourages us to stop, to pause and to wait for him. To
wait for his Spirit to infill us and empower us, Are you wanting to get over a great sadness that has befallen you? Wait before you set about trying to overcome that sadness. Wait for the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you wanting to make a big decision? Wait before you make that decision. Wait for the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you needing to launch into something new and unfamiliar in your life? Wait before you launch. Wait for the Holy Spirit. Are you trying to endure something in your life. Wait before you endure. Wait for the Holy Spirit. Do you feel God is calling you to a particular ministry? Wait before embarking on that ministry. Wait for the Holy Spirit. The Biblical story reminds us that we are to rely on the power of God which comes to us through the Holy Spirit in all circumstances. Our impatience and our thoughtlessness tempts us to rush on ahead, but Jesus calls us to wait, to pause before we leap. And what does that waiting look like? From the story of the disciples, it looks like waiting prayerfully. It looks like gathering with the body of Christ in the church or the temple and intentionally listening out for God and waiting expectantly for the promised Holy Spirit to come. There is a 10 day period in the church calendar between Ascension Day and Pentecost, a mini advent from Jesus’ annunciation that the Holy Spirit is coming to the time when it is released on the believers 10 days later at Pentecost. In the week ahead let us wait intentionally for the Spirit to come upon us. Let us come to church next Sunday with hearts that are prepared by prayer and praise and as we gather in the Temple let us expect the promise that Jesus made to his disciples so long ago to come true for each of us here today also. And when the Spirit comes let us remember that we have a work to do. We too are promised the power of the Holy Spirit and we are called to use that power to tell the story of God’s love for humankind, to this generation so that they too might repent and return to their relationship with him and receive his forgiving embrace. The disciples of Christ were not permitted to hear and understand God’s story and then put the book down like a good novel or a movie and return to business as usual. God’s story is not like a movie that you watch and enjoy and then forget. We who have heard it and witnessed it in our lives are mandated to tell the love story that calls for repentance, and offers divine forgiveness. We are the disciples of this day and age that must tell God’s story to this generation and the generations to come and we must do this in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us rejoice with the disciples of old, that we have been chosen to be God’s story tellers. And let us remember that God has tenderly offered to equip us for this sacred task by sending us his “power from on high.” All we need to do is open our hearts to Jesus’ story in faith. |
