Go in peace to love and serve the Lord

William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury wrote that when Jesus was involved in his earthly ministry only people who were in his actual presence could hear him speak or see what he was doing – if you were in Galilee you couldn’t see Jesus in Jerusalem and vice versa !

But he went on to write that by his Ascension he was now available wherever we are – God is everywhere, and we can never be separated from him and his love for us.

Ascension Day, which we celebrated on Thursday, marks another turning point in our Church calendar – and it is a hugely important day for the Church today just as it was when Jesus left his followers 2000 years ago. It marked a huge turning point because no longer would the followers of Jesus focus inwardly – meeting together, praying, sharing times of fellowship and learning directly from Jesus himself -  now they were to have an outward focus – they were to look outwards to the needs of the world.

In today’s gospel (John 17:1-11), Jesus was talking to his disciples prior to the crucifixion, but he was preparing them for the time when he wouldn’t physically be with them on a day to day basis…

He was preparing them, though perhaps they didn’t even know it, to go out into the world and proclaim his salvation…

He prayed that his followers will be one – and that they would carry on revealing God’s name to the world and giving to the world the same sort of service as Jesus did.

Though the disciples may not have realized it the work of the Church had begun – Jesus was commissioning his followers to go out into the world and share his gospel…

At the physical ascension of Jesus we heard the words of the two white-robed men who said, ‘Men of Galilee, why are you standing staring at the sky ?’ – in other words the instruction was being given not to concentrate just on things above, staring up at the sky, but to get on with the urgent work that was needed…

But Jesus, whilst he had left them physically, had made it clear he would never leave them – and that is the point William Temple was making in that quote I began with – Jesus had not gone away but had ascended into a place where nothing could separate us from him – on earth separation would come simply from being apart from him, by being in a different place, even a different room – now he is with us and will never leave us…

And that is the turning point – for his followers the words of Jesus’ prayer that we heard in the gospel, were now real. They were to go out and be Christ to others – to live and to love as he lived and he loved…

And that was a turning point for the whole Church – from an inward looking fellowship committed to caring for one another, they were now to go about caring for all – they and we were now entrusted to do the work of God - There is a mystery play from the Middle Ages about the Ascension. It is said that after Jesus was lifted up from the earth and was ascending to heaven, the two men dressed in white follow after, straining to catch up with Him. These angels cry out: “Jesus! Jesus! Wait for us!”

Jesus turns to greet them, and as they continue to ascend together, one of the angels replies: “Lord, you have done all that has been asked of you! But what will happen next? Isn’t there more to be done?”

Jesus answers: “Well, of course! There is always more to be done! But weren’t you paying attention ? Didn’t you hear me give them what they will come to call ‘the Great Commission’? Now they will go forth and baptize all people into my continuing life and work, reconciling the whole world to myself!”

The two angels look at one another, and then look back at Jesus. One of them cautiously says: “Well, certainly we heard all that. But haven’t you been paying attention to them? Do you really think you can count on them?”

“He’s right, you know,” the other angel says. “Honestly, what’s your back-up plan? What will you do if those you have left behind don’t continue your work?”

Jesus pauses for a moment and then says, simply, “There is no back-up plan.”

There is no back-up plan because the grace set free by the Resurrection, the Ascension, and ultimately the gift of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to affect God’s plan of salvation, however much we might sometimes try to interfere with it.

The abiding question is whether and how we will choose to join in that work. Will we participate fully in the mending of creation, or will we choose to stand back and watch from a comfortable distance? And what a tragedy that would be - a choice to refuse the invitation to be fully alive.

It is a gift of love - this calling we have received to be as Jesus was and do as Jesus did… In baptism, we are embraced and challenged to receive the love God offers us in Jesus, and then to move out to share that love unconditionally.

We can choose not to move with God as the life of God radiates out to fill all of creation. He will work without us if he has to. We can choose to turn inward and cling to what we have previously recognised as signs of God’s presence among us, and we can keep a comfortable church where we know everyone and are happy with what goes on... Or we can turn in our circles of faith and face outward, rejoicing to recognise and celebrate and join in where God is present and active.

I read a meditation which says : “We heard of Jesus being tempted to claim earthly power and glory, but he quoted words of scripture to say that you can worship only one God.

We heard of Jesus meeting with people others wouldn’t go near. We heard of Jesus approaching a sycamore tree and then approaching Zaccheus a hated tax collector, and inviting himself along for tea.

We heard of Jesus walking and riding into Jerusalem, into hostility. We heard of Jesus stumbling towards crucifixion, loving us whatever the cost.”

Time and time again we hear of Jesus taking that extra step, being with people others found it difficult to love or even like, taking the difficult road when an easy road was possible, loving others however much it hurt him.

And we are called to be his disciples today – the reading we heard from the Acts of the Apostles (1:6-14) gave us those incredible words of Jesus which we sometimes lose sight of, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth’.

And with those words Jesus ascended from the disciples – but he had not left them. In his ascension Jesus was offering them and us the greatest display of trust ever shown – Jesus was entrusting his work to us, not to do alone, but with the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Wherever we are in our journey of faith, we must never be like those men of Galilee that we heard who were standing looking up at the sky. Our sky might be our buildings, or finance, or tradition, or anything else that prevents us from focusing on the work we have to do most of all – the work that Jesus gave us in his great commission, ‘To go out and preach the gospel to all nations’.

We are all to be witnesses of how Jesus has changed us and can change others… For the disciples the period between Jesus ascending into heaven up to Pentecost was one of waiting and prayer… But at Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given and fired up the church into existence.

Today on this Sunday we think about the wait, but we do it from a different angle, and for us from time to time there will be times of prayer and waiting, but the primary message of the Ascension is that Jesus entrusted us and has equipped us to do his work.

We may hear bad stories from churches and from church people even – people who whisper behind the scenes about how bad the situation is, people who don’t want to look at the present and future but are happy in the past.

But there should be no bad stories from the church – because if we allow it to be, it is God’s Church, and he has promised never to leave us – he may surprise us, he may turn us in different directions, he may even turn us upside down occasionally, but he is here, and with him at our side, we need never worry about a failing church, or a lack of clergy or money – The God who created the universe is the God who conquers death, the God who can do all things…

And we have the incredible privilege of being in his service – he calls us and he trusts us to be his disciples today…

As this service ends there is the final response, ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord’– It’s not just a nice conclusion for the service; it’s not just a prayer to go and have a nice carefree time out in the world, but a definite and challenging call to take the strength we have received from our relationship with God and with fellow Christians, and to go out and proclaim his name, and his love, always… AMEN