Ascension and the Days Following

by Pat Lee

(Based on John 17:1-11; Acts 1:6-14; 1Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11)

Today is the ‘Sunday after Ascension’, when Jesus was taken back up to heaven. Suddenly the disciples find themselves on their own. But, are they?

In the reading from Acts it seems that the disciples still have missed the point of why Jesus came. They are asking him if he is going to restore the kingdom to Israel; but Jesus tells them that that is not for them to know, because it is the Father who gives that authority, not him, and, besides, he knows that he is about to leave them.
He has just been telling them in the previous few verses that they are to stay in Jerusalem where they will receive ‘the gift of the Holy Spirit’, which he had previously promised them – an indication that he will not be staying. So, it seems to me that they are still not aware that Jesus is about to leave them.

He tells them again that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them, so that they will be able to be witnesses there in Jerusalem, but also throughout all Judea, Samaria and right “to the ends of the earth”. (Which now includes us.) He’s not saying it directly, but he is telling them that they will be carrying on the work that he himself started here on earth, because he is leaving.

While they are standing there contemplating what he has said, Jesus disappears from their sight. I wonder how long it took them for the ‘penny to drop’? Well, it took two men dressed in white to come and stand before them and explain that Jesus had gone back to heaven. So, I wonder what was going through their minds then?

 I can imagine myself in a similar situation where my mind would have been working overtime with questions like, “What do we do now? How are we going to manage without him? Who is going to teach us?” So, the eleven disciples return to Jerusalem, to the upstairs room, and join with Jesus’s mother and various others, where they pray – the most sensible and logical thing to do.

When I read today’s readings, my first thought was, “Where to start … How do I find something new and challenging to say?” So, what was the most sensible and logical thing for me to do? Pray.

Writing, and especially reflection, does not come easily to me, to which my English teacher at school would very happily testify if he were here. I struggled at school with English, especially writing essays. So, how do I cope now? Through prayer. Because over the years of my Christian walk I have learnt that I can’t trust myself; but I can trust my God. It’s about knowing how to trust and depend on his help when you need it. It’s about what the disciples had to learn and to do, now that Jesus had left them.

In 1 Peter 4, Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” This is a lesson Peter and the rest of the disciples had to learn, just as we do. Peter was an uneducated fisherman before he met Jesus. He had a lot to learn. He was hot-headed and often spoke before he thought. Jesus had to rebuke him several times, but in the Scripture I just quoted we can see how far he had come in those three years of guidance he received from Jesus. He learnt how to trust him and follow his example. He learnt that he had an ability he didn’t even know he had.
Peter became a great orator (which we will probably hear in the Acts reading next week). That would have been unthinkable three years before. He became “the Rock” that Jesus said he would be.

We need to remember these verses when the going gets tough in our lives, and when we don’t know where to turn or what to do. We need to pray just like the disciples did in that upper room when Jesus had left them. That was their best and only choice.

The Gospel reading has Jesus praying to his father. Interestingly, this is not at his Ascension, but is, in fact, at the Passover meal he shared with the disciples prior to his arrest and crucifixion. Jesus is praying out loud in front of them. He is praying for himself and for them. The things he puts forward in this prayer are those things he came to earth to do, and did.

Firstly, he prays for himself. This is not a selfish prayer but one that pointed people past himself to the Father.  Jesus’s work was the work of the Father, and was aimed at giving people eternal life. The Father and the Son enjoyed joyful fellowship before Jesus even came to earth, and that is what he was going back to. That is what he wants the disciples to experience as well, joyful fellowship with him and the Father. It’s in Jesus’s relationship with his Father that he is glorified, as we have seen in his ministry, because he did everything the Father asked him to do. The Holy Spirit was being sent to the disciples so that they also would be able to do the things that Jesus did, through the power of the Spirit.

Secondly, he prays for the disciples. Jesus’s prayer was that his disciples be instruments and reflectors of what came from the Father through him, and that they might enjoy the unity that he, the Son, had with the Father. Jesus did not count himself as being equal with the Father, but ’emptied himself’, taking on the form of a servant, having been born as a human being.

The relation of Father and Son as distinct persons was and is the model for unity. William Temple said, “This unity is something much more than a means to an end – even though that end be the evangelisation of the world; it is itself the one worthy end of all human aspiration.”

What does all this mean for us today? For those of us who have a personal relationship with Jesus, it means that we too can carry on with doing God’s work through the power of the Spirit. When opportunities arise, have the courage to speak about our faith and what it means for us. It means that when tough times come, we do not need to be anxious, worried or overly concerned about how to deal with them. We need to turn them over to God in prayer and ask for his help; because that is what he wants us to do.
It means that the prayer Jesus prayed for the disciples on that night of the Passover also applies to us. Jesus was asking the Father to protect us by the power of his Name because we belong to him too.

Bishop Bruce Gilberd put it this way in his book One Thought for Today: “We need to harvest meanings from our experiences. After Jesus’s resurrection, the first disciples did just this, they harvested fresh and profound  meaning from the three years they spent with their Master.”

Amen

The Spirit-filled life

by Barry Pollard

(Based on John 14:15-21; Acts 17:22-31; 1 Pet 3:13-22)

At the Men’s Breakfast last Saturday we had a session on ‘ecumenism’, looking at the division of Christ’s church into denominations, and what prevents it from being truly one church. In the session, a notion raised in Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis was used to encourage those of us who are still sorting out the direction our faith journeys need to take. Lewis uses a ‘hallway analogy’, which describes a hallway as being the common, shared Christian foundations of belief. In western housing design the hallway often leads to bedrooms, separating the living area from the resting area of the house. In Lewis’s analogy, branching off the hallway are rooms that open into specific denominational traditions. He views the hallway as a place for finding truth and waiting, but emphasises it is not a place to dwell permanently.  For fellowship and deeper commitment, believers need to step out of the hallway into a room (a denomination). 

The rooms, he says, are where the “fires and chairs and meals” are located, representing active, communal faith and specific traditions like Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, and so on. His advice for choosing a room is that it should be based on conviction of truth (“Is it true?”), rather than personal taste (“Do I like it?”).

In our humanness, we tend to think that our choices are always the best, don’t we. Well, Lewis offers a little more advice based on Christ’s call for unity within the church. Despite advocating for finding a “room”, he says believers need to be kind to those still in the hallway or sitting in different rooms, as we are all part of the same house!

In the Acts reading, we heard Paul telling the “men of Athens” about the “Unknown God”, the one he has seen a shrine built to, but was unnamed. A god who was worshipped without being known! This verse has often caused me to stop and think. Have I been worshipping our God without really knowing Him? I think at various times I have!

What Paul was doing was offering the Greeks a way in. He had acknowledged their religiosity and then, in Lewis’s terms, opened the hallway for them. Paul meets them where they are, worshipping at the unknown god altar, then sets about proclaiming who the one true God really is: Creator, Lord, Giver of Life! And as Paul does, he calls for a response; their repentance and coming to faith, grounded in the risen Christ.

I’ve often thought Paul’s way was like a sledge hammer. When we first encounter him as Saul of Tarsus, in the Bible, he was a fervent Pharisee, dedicated to rubbing out the emerging Christian church. But by the time we get to know him in Acts, he is a gentler version of his former self. I reckon he was so effective in his Christian ministry because of his earlier life experiences. He knew scripture intimately, had encountered Christ personally, and had no fear of authority (other than God’s).
But, as we seek to speak out our faith in an inattentive world, are we suited to Paul’s new style?

The Unknown God altar reveals a human state, doesn’t it? The Greeks, as they catered to their spiritual natures, were dedicating shrines to a variety of imagined gods, even to the point of acknowledging an unknown one. Religious to the extreme, we could say.
These days, many people freely admit to having a spiritual dimension but are reluctant to be seen as ‘religious’. Many people say they’re spiritual but not religious. Then they talk about the Universe, Nature, ‘something bigger’, and often themselves. Everything except God! Have you heard, “I’m not into church, but I reckon there’s something out there”?

Well, our task is to not dismiss that sort of statement, but instead use it as an opener to start building a bridge: “Let me tell you what that ‘something’ is like…” Just like Paul.  It is a challenge, of course, to move anyone from vague spirituality to the knowledge of a personal God revealed in Jesus Christ!
I think we all tend to be wary of people who are pushy about their beliefs. Wary, may be, but we generally respect integrity when we encounter it.
In my working life I have worked with many genuine hard-working folk, and as many a shirker. One man stands out in my memory from when I worked as a packer at Forest Products during a university holiday. Albert, a big Samoan man, was quietly spoken, respectful in manner and speech despite often being denigrated by other workmates, and always strived for perfection in his work tasks. He stood out among all of our shift crew in that regard. I found that to work with him was a delight but, at the time, also a challenge!
Albert was a Christian who wanted to share his faith, with any, and all, he worked with. He was ever ready to give us reasons for the hope he had in Jesus and the life he was living. But he did it all with gentleness and respect. I can tell you it wasn’t loud preaching that engaged us, it was the way he was actively living out his faith in front of us that caught our attention. His approach to work, for me at that time, had more of an effect than his words.

Some on our shift mocked Albert for going to church, and talking about Jesus and the Bible. They shunned him in the cafeteria. They traded tasks with others to not have to work with him. But not once did I see Albert compromise himself in light of that treatment. He carried on, without defensiveness, without backing down, with calm and thoughtful questions and answers. A courage I would now say was shaped by Christ, certainly not by popular culture. Albert had integrity.

The factory was a great melting pot! I worked with old and young men. I had to do boring, repetitive tasks for a couple of weeks that others were doing for the rest of their lives. I worked with bikies, drug addicts, family men, even a bigamist (if he was to be believed), and a huge variety of cultures. To get along with everyone you had to be on your toes. Sometimes I found it could be a lonely place. You know when you don’t quite fit into the team. Your experience doesn’t match theirs. You think about different things. You have different interests.
However, working with Albert taught me a few things. (Some of them I didn’t actually realise until I started thinking about this reflection.)
Thinking about John’s Gospel and the promise of the Holy Spirit, I liken my experience working with Albert to two blokes working in the same place, doing the same tasks, enduring the same conditions but each having a totally different experience. At the time, me walking alone and Albert walking with a trusted companion, the Holy Spirit.

Today’s second reading, from Peter’s first epistle, talks to believers who, living in communities that did not believe as they did, have been suffering abuse and persecution for their faith. Peter’s approach was to remind them of their precious hope in Jesus. A hope that outweighs any sufferings they may endure for their faith. They are urged to do good, even when suffering. They are reminded to honour Christ as Lord in their hearts and lives. They are reminded to be ready to give a reason for their hope when asked, but cautioned that this should be done with gentleness and respect.

Resonates with Albert’s approach, doesn’t it.

Peter is talking about believers giving credible witness to Christ’s call on their lives through their character and endurance, not just their words. A suggestion, these days, we would translate as ‘walking the talk’.

The Gospel of John brings a lot more weight to the cause. Jesus is talking about our being empowered by the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to walk alone. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will be with, and in, believers. We won’t be left alone. We will live in relationship with God. Jesus was explaining the inner source of Christian life and witness: God’s own presence, the Holy Spirit, in us.

An internet summary of the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives will help us understand His presence better.
The Spirit is all these things:
Indwelling and Sealing: The Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence in the hearts of believers, acting as a guarantee of their eternal life and a seal indicating they belong to God.
Convicting and Regenerating: The Spirit convicts individuals of sin and convinces them of their need for Christ, leading to a spiritual ‘new birth’ or regeneration.
Revealing Truth and Guiding: He acts as the ‘Spirit of Truth’, helping believers understand the Bible and leading them into truth, while also reminding them of Jesus’s teachings.
Transforming: The Holy Spirit works in believers to make them more like Jesus, producing ‘fruit’, such as love, joy and peace, and helping them overcome sinful behaviours.
Empowering for Service: The Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers to serve the ‘body of Christ’, the church, advance the gospel, and empower them to worship and live for God.
Interceding and Comforting: He acts as a ‘paraclete‘ (an advocate or counsellor) who helps in weaknesses and intercedes for believers in prayer, providing comfort and peace. 

I follow the daily devotional readings provided by the late Selwyn Hughes. Our focus this month is “God’s New Society”, which deals with the Holy Spirit in our lives. How appropriate, you might say! How Holy Spirit, I would say!
The other day Selwyn raised the point that if the Bible ended at the Gospels, Christianity would be without life and power! The significance of the events recorded in the four Gospels had to be understood by Jesus’s followers and conveyed to others in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel, Jesus was explaining that the Christian life isn’t only about trying harder. It is about knowing and walking with the Holy Spirit. Notice, I said ‘knowing’, not ‘knowing about’, the Holy Spirit. I read somewhere how we could understand the difference easily. The writer said there is a big difference between reading about Milford Sound and actually standing there in the mist and silence. In the same way, Christianity isn’t just ideas about God, it’s relationship with God through the Spirit. Jesus has promised that through the Spirit we will always know his presence.

So, what can we take away from our readings today?

I’d like to relate this back to C.S. Lewis’s hallway:
In Acts, we are encouraged to speak into a world that is searching, but looking in the wrong places. Our task is to invite the searchers at least into the hallway.
In 1 Peter, we are encouraged to live lives that make God’s message credible. We have to walk the talk. Our task is to provide examples of faithful Christian living and encourage the searchers to sample the rooms.
And in John’s Gospel, we are given the assurance that we do not have to do these things alone. The Holy Spirit is with us, providing spiritual gifts so we can serve the body of Christ, advance the Gospel, and empowering us to worship and live for God.  As believers, already in a room, we need to be kind to those still in the hallway (searching) or sitting in different rooms, as we are all part of the same house.

Remember, our faith rings true, not when it’s loudest but, when it’s clearest, kindest, and most real. We know God truly, we live that truth visibly, because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so.

The Sheep Gate

by Pat Lee

(Based on John 10:1-10)

Today’s gospel passage precedes the “I am the good shepherd” statement in verse 11. But there is an “I am” statement in today’s reading too, in verse 7. The two statements are both about Jesus talking about himself and are interconnected. They are both metaphors, of course. In fact, the whole of today’s passage is metaphorical.
A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things by stating that one is the other to create an image or highlight a shared quality. Examples of this might be, She has a heart of gold and, Life is a rollercoaster. [I think we can all identify with that.]

So, Jesus is comparing himself with a gate or a door depending on which version you read, but also a shepherd.  How can he be both? Well, he’s a gate because he is the way to salvation. He’s the good shepherd because he knows his sheep and he leads, protects and looks after them. It’s in his nature to be both.

In this country when we think of sheep, we think of a very large number of sheep grazing in a green field or on a hillside with not a single shepherd in sight, which is very different from how it was in Jesus’s time.

I found this delightful story.
While doing some research in the Middle East, a Bible commentator came across an Arab shepherd. This shepherd was not a Christian and did not know the Bible. But he was a keeper of sheep and so was showing off his flock as well as the penned-in area where his sheep slept every night. “And every night when they go in there,” he said proudly, “they are perfectly safe.” The commentator noticed something. “The sheep sleep in that pen and yet I just noticed that the pen does not have a gate on it.” “Yes, that’s right,” the shepherd replied, “I am the gate.” “What do you mean?” the man asked in startled wonder. “After my sheep are in the pen, I lay my body across the opening. No sheep will step over me and no wolf can get in without getting past me first. I am the gate.” This also pictures how it was in in Jesus’s time.

Graham Horn, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

We must all pass through the gate that is Jesus, to receive abundant life. When we pass through this gate we receive spiritual nourishment, protection, and guidance. Jesus is the one who stops us being robbed of what he promised and he will not lead us astray as the thieves and robbers will, because he is the good shepherd.
So, who is the thief, the bandit or robber, and who are the sheep?

In the time of the shepherd in the story I read before, the thief was the wolf who came looking for food and would try to steal the sheep from the fold by climbing in through another way. In the previous chapter the Pharisees were the thieves because they were trying to steal the truth from both the blind man and his parents.

But in the reading today, the metaphor of the thief is anyone who tries to steal us away from the truth of Jesus being our Redeemer, our Saviour, and the one who gives us abundant life. This ‘thief’ might be a family member, a friend who has not yet come to know Jesus, or Satan himself who can come in many different guises. He even tempted Jesus in the desert, quoting Scripture. But in 1 Peter 5:8 it says, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” He wants to steal the truth from you.

Who are the sheep?
We are.
We need to listen to the voice of the shepherd. He knows each of us by name and will not lead us astray. We need to be aware of those who are trying to lead us astray, like some of the religious teachers in the Old Testament. They were supposed to spiritually nourish and protect people. They were the ones who knew the scriptures and the prophecies about the Messiah, but when he came before them, they did not recognize him, and still don’t.

Don’t be fooled. There are people like that today and unfortunately, dare I say it, in some of our churches. Jesus said that salvation comes only through him, the gate. He also said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) And in Acts 4:12 it says, “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

We are just like the sheep that come into and go out of the fold into the pasture.  The pasture gives sheep their life sustaining fuel. Feeding on the grass of the pasture is how sheep survive. The pasture for the sheep is life. We do not feed on grass, but we do feed on the word of God, the Bible, our sustenance and our life.

“I am the gate,” Jesus asserted. “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Some versions use different words for ‘abundantly’, like, have life to the full, life in its fullness, or have a rich and satisfying life. It doesn’t matter. They all mean that we will have a rich and fulfilling life when we follow him .

Jesus will give you life, but false teachers will lead you to death. The message that Jesus teaches and preaches about himself is so different from what false teachers would have us believe about him.  They don’t want you to believe that faith in Christ is life-giving. Jesus leads his followers into a lush meadow that stretches as far as the eye can see. He provides life for us in the fullest possible sense. Faith in Christ grants eternal life, but it also gives meaning, purpose, and fulfillment here and now!

Ggia, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

To quote an unknown writer, “The Christian life isn’t a life of mediocrity. The Christian life is one of abundance. Being a Christian gives a deep seated, inexplicable joy that’s present even in the hardest of times! It’s not just an average thing to be a Christian. It’s a glorious thing. Being in Christ, turning from your sins and having them forgiven, having Christ’s righteousness given to you, ultimately restores your fellowship with God.”

Have you come through the gate that is Jesus? Do you feed on the pasture that is his word, the Bible? Is your life fulfilling and satisfying?

Heavenly Father, thank you that Jesus is all we need for life and godliness. Thank you that in him are the words of eternal life and that he is the Good Shepherd of the sheep and the singular door into the sheepfold. Thank you that in him we have been made your sons and daughters and that the many promises of God are ours through faith. May we live and work to your praise and glory. Amen.

Facets of Grief

by Liz Young

(Based on Luke 24:13-35; Acts 2:14a,36-41; 1 Pet 1:17-23)

Here are my thoughts on grief and visions.

We all grieve differently, and our grief comes and goes in waves, and at different times; and depending on how old we are, and whether we have experienced grief before.
Sometimes for those grieving deeply, especially if a death has been sudden and unexpected, the longing to see someone they love again means that they do see them, at least, a vision of them. But for those of us whose partner’s death has been expected for a while – maybe tchey’ve died slowly of cancer – much of our grieving is done before they die and, while we relive memories, we are less likely to see visions.

The disciples had not understood Jesus’s warnings, that he was going to be killed in Jerusalem, so his death on Calvary was a shock that took time to process. I’m not surprised that they saw him on several occasions. The two disciples on the Emmaus road, had not seen the risen Jesus with Mary, or with Peter and John, but had heard them relate their experiences of seeing the risen Jesus. They were walking and talking together, on a road they’d walked with Jesus, and this would have brought back memories of him, vivid memories – and as they heard Jesus teach, beginning with the story of Moses, he reminded them of those Old Testament teachings, particularly those in Isaiah, that foretold of his death. But it wasn’t until Jesus broke bread that they recognized him.

We all will feel grief at some stage of our lives. Jesus felt grief. He wept at Lazarus’s death. Bishop Bruce wrote, “We cannot deny or hurry the process of grief, the adjustment that leads to acceptance and moving on with our lives. What helps us do this? Facing and naming our loss, letting the pain be fully felt, letting it deepen us, and ignite our compassion for others in pain; above all, knowing we are not alone, that Jesus the Christ also suffered, sweated, wept and bled … and finally triumphed. He stands beside us, his arm around our shoulders as we grieve.”

In your time of pain, put your trust in God. I’d add, it helps to have experienced grief before, and know that peace and acceptance come in time.

We also experience grief differently depending on our age. I was 26 when my mother died. It was my first experience of grief and it was overwhelming. It was exacerbated by my realization that she had masked her pain and hidden it, so that I wouldn’t be distracted while I was taking my medicine finals. Three weeks after she died, I started working on a radiotherapy ward that specialized in breast and testicular cancers and lymphomas. It was not until nine years later as I watched the courage of children dying of leukaemia and cancer, and the care they took to protect their parents, that I healed.  I made sure that as many children as possible were able to die at home. That was something I could do.

Which brings me to ask you, what can we do, to use the insights we gain from experiencing grief, and use the strengths we have gained from our experience of sorrow, to help others?

I looked up how the other great religions honour death and grief. Buddhists have specific funeral rites. Most Buddhists, like Buddha himself, are cremated, though some are buried. Mourning services are held on the third, seventh, forty ninth and hundredth days after a funeral.
Moslems (and the Spanish, interestingly) try to bury their dead as soon as possible, preferably within twenty four hours. Traditionally only men were allowed to attend the funeral, but women have been allowed to attend more in recent years. After the funeral there are three days of mourning, when the family are not allowed to cook and the community feeds them.

Jewish funerals also take place within twenty four hours of the death. Sometimes mourners rip pieces of material off their own clothing and the torn garment is worn for a week after the death. There is a personal remembrance service held annually, and national days of mourning are held on Yom Kippur and at Passover.

There are other causes of grief, besides losing someone to death. There is the loss of having a ‘normal’ child to enjoy, when a ‘handicapped’ child is born to you. Mothers seem to cope with this better than fathers, maybe because they invest more in their care, but there is a lifetime of recurring grief ahead of them. I watched the film I Swear this week. It addresses Tourette’s Syndrome. The mother of the guy affected never moved from her grief of having an abnormal child: but he made a success of his life with the help of two staunch friends – a mental health nurse and his first employer, the manager of a community care centre.
Then there is the loss of a child to addiction.
And many of you will have had your own different griefs to bear. Lay them at the foot of the cross and move on, just as we laid our stones at the foot of the cross recently, on Good Friday.

Having practical supportive friends does help in times of grief. I have been grateful for the mutual support of the staff in the Op Shop.

What can you do?
Learn about grief and its different stages, as we move from being numb or in denial, to being angry, to trying to bargain and, finally, acceptance. Be aware of those who need to grieve in their own way, as they honour their own individual relationship to the person they are grieving for.
Get out for a walk in Nature frequently, and practise Gratitude as you wake in the morning, and last thing at night.

And, finally, let’s use the experience and the knowledge and strengths we have gained in our grief to follow the love of Christ in deed and action. As Peter said, “We are ransomed by Christ’s blood. Love one another, because you have been born anew.”

I have been blest this year by all the love and care you have given me.
What can we do this week that shows our love for each other?

Amen