"Ascension: Waiting with Purpose, Moving with Power”

On Thursday we celebrated Ascension Day, the day when Jesus physically left the earth. There are however quite a lot of Churches that celebrate Ascension Day today, the Sunday after the actual day. In a sense marking the occasion is useful on whatever day it is, but it seems to me that by moving Ascension Day to today we are missing out an important and very useful part of our Christian calendar, and that is the ability to stop, wait and reflect.

As Jesus left his followers on that first Ascension Day he told them to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. They were to wait until they were given the gift of the Holy Spirit. So today, between Ascension Day and Pentecost next Sunday, is perhaps a good day for us to reflect. And there are lots of things to do with our faith and our Church that we could choose to reflect on, but today I will try and limit things to a reasonable sermon length !!

And what better place could there be for us to start than with the Church and its mission… A Vicar was walking down the street one day when he noticed a very small boy trying to press a doorbell on a house on the other side of the road. However, the boy was very small and the doorbell was too high for him to reach.

 

After watching the boy’s efforts for some time, the Vicar moved closer to the boy. He placed his hand on the child's shoulder. He leaned over and gave the doorbell a solid ring.

 

Crouching down to the child's level, the Vicar smiled and asked, "And now what?" to which the boy replied, "Now we run!"

 

Sometimes all is not what it seems ! When we think of the Church we think of a family, a worldwide organisation of brothers and sisters united together under Jesus, and an organisation committed to outreach, and committed to offering a better world for everyone, both through our words and through everything that we do.

 

But is that the reality? I read once that a huge majority of what the church does centres on 2 things, and they have nothing at all to do with the picture of a family living out the life of Jesus.

 

Those 2 things are firstly, a desire and a need to pay the bills – expenses to pay for staff, often in the form of clergy, and simply to run buildings; and secondly, a desire to keep the current congregation happy. If this is true then these things are very definitely worthy of our reflection, because if it is, then we are missing out on the largest and the most important part of the Christian message, and that is to share a message of hope and peace to all people, a message of good news for all people!

The great commission of Jesus calls us to go into the world and preach the gospel to all nations, and it’s good to think of how we do that in so many different ways, whether knowingly or not. St Francis of Assisi allegedly said ‘we should preach the gospel everywhere using words when necessary’… Whether he did or didn’t say it, the sentiment is good! 

And sharing the gospel message, if we’re doing it effectively, is something that involves every part of our lives, and every thought, word and action.

On Ascension Day we were reminded of the awesome power and majesty of Jesus as he left us with the promise of the help of the Holy Spirit, and it is in and with his power that we must seek the confidence and inspiration to live out our lives for him.

If we, as Churches, are merely paying the bills and keeping the congregations happy, then we are simply preserving a kind of elite club which fails to look outside at the wider world – a world so often in need of hope, of peace, of good news. 

There’s a prayer by the French author, Michel Quoist, which I think sums up the way that we should be looking at the world,

‘If only we knew how to look at life as God sees it, we would realise that nothing is secular in this world, but that everything contributes to the building of the kingdom of God. To have faith is not only to raise one’s eyes to God to contemplate him; it is also to look at this world – but with Christ’s eyes.

If we had allowed Christ to penetrate our whole being, the world would no longer be an obstacle, but it would be a perpetual incentive to work for God in order that his kingdom might come on earth as in heaven.’

The teachings of Jesus were nothing to do with creating a Church with structures and big bills to pay, although that is not in any way trying to undermine the importance of the Church today, but instead he taught things such as :-

Don’t worry about money, food, clothing or tomorrow.

Don’t judge others.

God loves us all.

Each person has an immense value to God

Treat others as you want to be treated.

Don’t follow the ways of the world.

Beware of false prophets and ideologies.

Be obedient to God’s teachings.

God forgives if you only ask (and mean it).

Ask and seek and God will answer.

And of course, Love the Lord God with you heart and mind, and your neighbour as yourself.

When Jesus ascended, He didn't just tell the disciples to wait, He called them to do more, He called them to keep building the kingdom. The disciples needed to move on, they needed to wait but after they waited, they needed to go out, and at that time they must have been so confused and scared but there was something more as we will celebrate next week when we think of Pentecost.

 

God gave a challenge to them and to us, but He didn't leave us without the power to do this. When we heard our reading from the book of Acts (16:16-34) we heard of Paul courageously and passionately speaking the words of Jesus. That wasn’t his power, but God’s power working through him…  

The sort of power that we can receive for the reasons we heard in our gospel reading (John 17:20-26) where we heard of Jesus praying that we would have power. He prayed that we, the Church, may be one, united as God Himself is united.

 

And that is a gospel message, a good news message. Not only did Jesus come amongst us, die for us, rise again, ascend to heaven, but He left us more. Jesus prayed for us - for you and for me. 

 

On Ascension Day we were reminded of the awesome power and majesty of Jesus as he left us with that promise of the help of the Holy Spirit, and it is in the recognition of his love and his power that we can find the confidence and inspiration to live out our lives for him.

 

This means seeing the world as God sees it, this means understanding the pain and joy of others. 

 

God came amongst us, prayed for us, He is with us, and He calls us to wait for, and want more, of Him in our lives, in our Church, in the world around us. If we truly believe that God is everywhere then we can trust that God cares for everything and we can begin to do that too. 

 

We can take time to reflect on where God is calling us, and we are to wait on God, but we need to always remember that we are called to do more - the world around us is in pain and we have news that can change people. 

In this period between the ascension of Jesus and the giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the early followers of Jesus spent their time in fellowship, in prayer and contemplation – they were no doubt filled with joy and excitement and perhaps a little fear of what lay ahead, but they were ready and confident, trusting in God to satisfy every need.

Today let’s pray that, in whatever mood we find ourselves, in whatever situation, we will know God’s presence and as we know that, we can reflect the joy and excitement of those early followers in every part of our lives, and may we also have the confidence and faith to take time to reflect on what’s really important, both in our lives and in our Churches. 

 

God will provide everything to satisfy our needs, and with that faith and trust, may we commit our lives to him, to faithful service, joyful telling of the good news and a confidence in his presence with us in everything we face and do. AMEN