Why stand ye gazing up?

by Sharon Marr and Chris Ison

(Based on Acts 1:1-18)

The book of Acts begins with a greeting from Luke to his friend Theophilus, as he shares his thoughts and observations of the most astounding news.  Today this reflection is brought to you via me, from our dear friend, mentor and teacher Chris Ison.  I hope you will find the same awe, wonder, challenge and excitement Chris’s words echo as I have, as he unravels Ascension for us today.

Farewells are some of the most difficult things we have to handle as human beings.  They evoke some of our strongest emotions, whether it is at the level of seeing a child off to school on their own for the first time, or that final farewell when someone close to us dies.  Farewells remind us that life is full of changes and they remind us also that life is finite; things will not go on for ever as they are.

We all experience many farewells. The reality is of course that without farewells there is no growth or development.  Children grow up, go to high school, leave home, go abroad (ours going as far away as they could, Otago, then Wales) and, at a more subjective level, I would argue that the only way we grow emotionally, intellectually and spiritually is to say farewell to those things that lock us into our comfort zones.  As St Paul says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult I put an end [said farewell] to childish ways.”

It is with some of these thoughts in mind that we can best understand what is going on in today’s readings.  One of things you may have already realised is that Luke’s Gospel closes and Acts opens with the same story, which gives you some idea of the importance with which the event of Jesus’s ascension was regarded in the early church.

As we speak of farewells we recall that Jesus’s disciples had, only a few weeks previously, suffered what they thought at the time was a catastrophic farewell, as the person they had set all their hopes on was brutally executed.

Then, in the most extraordinary event in human history, that man – the man they had set their hopes on as the Messiah, only to have them so conclusively dashed – returned to them as the resurrected Christ.  He talked to them, ate with them and showed them his wounds.  Then, as recorded in Luke, “he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”

We see, with the benefit of hindsight, the Easter event as the turning point in human history, in God’s plan of salvation for humankind; but at this point in history it is not yet fully consummated. Jesus has returned to his disciples, but even yet they have not fully grasped the significance.  As Luke records in Acts they have not yet got the full picture. The wrong question is still being asked, or rather the full magnitude of the solution is not yet being comprehended: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”  The significance is far beyond their current understanding – it is much bigger than them, and Israel.

The disciples have to grow up spiritually and intellectually to understand what this is all about.  And, of course, even the resurrected Jesus can only manifest himself in particular times and particular places.  The knowledge of God’s saving providence of all things cannot be trapped in particularity.

It is time for another farewell, but this time with a ‘date in the diary’.  “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
“Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.  While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”

Christ’s work on earth is now complete.  He returns to the Father, risen, ascended and glorified.  The baton has passed, as it were, to his followers, who are as yet not fully equipped.  That is still to come at Pentecost.  For then, as he has promised, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The significance of Ascension Day cannot be underestimated.  It sets the scene for Pentecost and is a major point of transition – a farewell.  But a farewell, as I said before, with a date in the diary.  This though is not just a date. It will be a point where the disciples’ faith is transformed, matured, from a limited view of God’s purposes … to an understanding of their promise for everyone.  This is not, as they thought, about restoring the kingdom to Israel, but so they may be, “my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

This is now our charge, our responsibility, as the Church.  We are called upon to be witnesses, if not to the ends of the earth then to this entire community.

And what does it mean to be witnesses?

To be a witness is to testify to something we have seen and experienced – the gospel of Jesus Christ – and the gospel is not something of which we can say, ‘fine, got that’ and rush of busily with our own plans for social or religious transformation or just the busyness of our daily lives.  The gospel is something that confronts us – something we can’t possess but that we are always re-learning.

And how do we re-learn it?

Notice what happened with the disciples: Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” and then they were ordered to wait for the Spirit, and what they did was, “they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.”

So, being confronted by and re-learning the gospel is something that has to take place in our church community as we gather together for the proclamation of the Scriptures, for prayer, fellowship and to share the sacraments.

This is the start point and the basis for our witness; that which nourishes our faith and empowers our witness.

Witness is not an invitation to frenetic activity but it does confront us with uncomfortable realities.  Witnessing involves being sent.  As Martin Luther King said, church is not a place you come to – it’s a place you go from. But it will involve us in going possibly where we don’t want to go and doing things we didn’t think we could do; but always rooted in fellowship, prayer, proclamation and the sacraments.  Only in this way can we bring the gospel of Christ – risen, ascended and glorified – to those in our community who so desperately need good news; the news of God’s saving love and grace for all.

So my dear friends, with these wonderful, challenging, reassuring words ringing in our ears from Chris, let us not be caught as the disciples were at first – standing, looking up towards heaven. But instead be found out in our communities sharing the Good News of the liberating love of God by being his hands and feet – but most of all his heart – here in this place.  

I leave Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes to conclude for us today.

The Ascension is not about Jesus’s body rising above the earth, but about Jesus expanding beyond his body.
        He didn’t go up, he went out. Into all of us.
        The disciple stand there, almost ready to believe (they won’t until Pentecost) that the body is not there but here: we are the body, the body of the risen Christ.
        Christ is not just an individual but a community. You are not an individual but a member of that community.
        When Jesus prays “May they all be one,” it isn’t about opinions. It’s that we’re all cells of one body.

See that way. Act that way. Love that way …

Global and Personal

by Bruce Gilberd

(Based on John 14:23-29; Psalm 67; Acts 16:9-15)

What a rich vein of truths are offered us this morning in today’s three readings.  It is as if the white light of God’s truth has passed through a prism and split into its many coloured components – a profusion of variety and connectedness – like a rainbow too.

In these three texts there are global and personal dimensions …

  • How the nations need to know and follow God – the big picture
  • How each person needs to know and follow God – the intimate picture

The Global Mission of God

The psalmist asks God to be gracious, to shine on the Hebrew people, so Israel can point the way, so God is known on all the earth and among all nations.  This is what God’s call is to Israel, to be a glad vehicle of God’s presence.
Israel was called, or “chosen”, not to be privileged but to be the mission agent of God … and to bring the whole world, all nations, the light of the one true God.  Israel is to serve the nations!  [How has she done on that count?]

The Christian worldwide church now inherits this calling, to bring the nations to a point where, as the psalmist writes, “… they joyfully revere God”.  We certainly aren’t there yet, are we.  Yet, by prayer and prophetic action and loving service, we participate and work with God to make it so.  We face the fact that at this present time less than 40% of the world’s over 200 nations are democracies – and many of these are deeply flawed.

Yet we will, we must, continue to pray, speak and act for equity, justice and reverence – that the nations and their leadership may know God.

The Personal Mission of God

Then, alongside the global mission, there is a great need for individuals to know God, receive his call to live for him, and be generous in love and hospitality.  In Acts 16, author Luke describes an example of this: Lydia.  She had her “heart opened by the Lord”, as she listened to Paul.  She received what God was offering by “listening eagerly”, and offered generous hospitality.

John’s Gospel, in today’s Chapter 14 reading, then builds on heart-felt initial discipleship …

  • We are to keep living in this way – the way of costly love – grow!
  • We become hosts to the Lord.  God makes his home in us.  Amazing.  He abides in us.
  • The Holy Spirit, re-gifted to the church and each member every day, will keep teaching, guiding, strengthening us, and reminding us of Jesus’s words and deeds so they continue to inspire us as we face the multiple complexities of global and local hurt and dislocation:
    • the warming of the planet
    • the pandemics and diseases of the people on the planet
    • the wars and violence and conflicts on the planet

Anchored in the limitless love of God in Christ, we sustain hope and play our part to ensure the reign of God’s love grows: globally and personally … as God works his purpose out through tragedy and triumph.

And, brothers and sisters, we are his co-workers.

The View From the Top

Reunions can be awkward things.  Meeting people you went to school with forty years after you went to school with them can be disconcerting, triggering feelings of painful nostalgia, envy and jealousy, or even smugness, that at least I didn’t turn out like them. 😊 Lacking the particular brand of adventurous, or masochistic, spirit required, I’ve avoided them.  Except once.
It was a forty-year reunion at a large boys’ school I’d attended.  Timidly I entered the assembly hall.  Memories flooded back.  The assembled group all seemed to eye me suspiciously, questions rising in their faces to match the ones on mine, sheepish smiles, more memories flooding.

It was a pleasant enough evening as we milled around clutching our stubbies (we didn’t use glasses in ’69 and we didn’t want anyone to think we did now) and the revelations revealed in every conversation were revealing, and stimulating.  It dawned on me that few of my peers seemed happy.  Some had separated; some were onto their third marriages; some had lost employment; some, not present, had even lost their lives.  Some had become extremely successful – and rich – but seemed discontented – even despondent.  John was a thoracic surgeon of repute, but rued his station and regretted that he’d never “gone out on his own”, into business; Dave had his own business, but regretted he’d never been properly ‘employed’, never had a dependable salary.
Many of them swore, told cringey jokes and seemed to value the same puerile things we’d valued as seventeen-year-olds.

What an enlightening evening it was.

How rich, how successful do we need to be?  Many young people I’ve asked, what are your goals after leaving school? have replied they want to be rich.  Some have said, with precision, I want to be a millionaire by the time I’m thirty.  I inwardly shake my head.  (Huh, picture that.)

Richness and wealth are sirens.  Seductive.  Potentially luring us onto rocks.  As a goal, riches is a deceiver.
I counsel pursuing work you can love.  If wealth follows, great, but it’s incidental and happily consequential (sometimes).  I’ve had jobs where, shaking my head (outwardly), I’ve thought, Wow, do I really get paid for this?  That’s the job you want!

Warren Buffet (oft quoted billionaire investor) says, “In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love.”  Also “It’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked.”  (Think about it!)

Of course, we all need money, and we all want to ‘get ahead’, but those needn’t be ends in themselves.  Better to strive to be the best we can be, and let success take care of itself.  And on the question of income, my prayer has always been, Lord, give me enough.  That’s all any of us need, eh?  Enough.  Enough to be truly content … and it doesn’t take a million dollars.

Once home from the reunion, a few days later, I was sharing my experience with a friend.  He listened patiently, as he does when I rave on, and when he got a chance he said, “It’s true.  I’ve noticed this.  People spend their whole lives climbing ladders, trying to get to the top, and when they get there, and look over the fence, they realise … there’s nothing there!”

Insightful, huh?

Ken F

Some Thoughts on Acts 11

by Liz Young

(Based on Acts 11:1-18)

My thoughts and those of the Online Bible organization on Acts chapter 11. May they enlighten and enthuse you.

Jesus’s teachings and his redemption are for us all: Jews and Gentiles alike.

I was reminded last week of all the Jewish friends I’ve had, as many Jews go into medicine; in particular, David Baum a neonatologist at Bristol who organized a multi religious service for paediatricians in the UK, at York Minster, and for whom as a student I enlisted the help of a Jewish flatmate, so I could offer him a kosher dinner.

In this chapter in Acts we hear of Peter’s dream of a feast, a feast of non-kosher food. This was God’s preparation of Peter’s mindset, to expand his expectation of sharing Christ’s teachings to the Jews, with going on to share it with all people regardless of the culture they had been born into. Peter took six Jews with him to witness how the Holy Spirit was working through him, to share the Gospel, the Good News, with Gentiles who had not had a life time of following Jewish rituals.
Israel had been God’s chosen people for centuries, keeping God’s teaching safe from infiltration by other local religions. But Jesus taught that everyone, anyone of any nation, who turns to him in repentance will benefit from his love: and Paul also wrote, “Gentiles who turn to Christ have become fellow heirs, fellow sharers in the promise of Christ through the Gospel.”

We have to understand that although it is God’s purpose to provide our salvation, he would like each of us, in person, to participate in passing on his message. He sent his message to Peter in a dream, the dream of a feast of forbidden bounty, but Peter had to interpret that message and preach it, to pass it on to the Gentiles. We can preach by thought and word and deed: altering our mindsets, preaching encouraging words, acting on our thoughts, and loving others every moment of the day: helping people witnessing our actions to understand Christ’s message: Salvation comes from God.
But we, weak and feeble humans, social animals, have to carefully choose our moments to offer help, consolation and encouragement when the time is right. Not to be too pushy, but to be emotionally intelligent in our encouraging, in our offers of help and actions.

The On-line preacher I looked up states that if you are not involved in getting the Gospel to different nations, you are not involved in God’s purpose. On reading this, I excused myself by thinking of the Christian charities I support: the Leprosy Mission, because although leprosy can be cured now, the cure may not get to isolated, rural, poor people; IHC because they and their families get isolated within their own group with little time to share with others; and the Auckland City Mission, because we live in a comfortable and caring community here in Tairua, and they are constantly working with needy people.
We also have to overcome our shyness at mentioning our belief, when chatting with friends and neighbours.

We also have to be open to sharing our belief with those at the end of their lives, or dying, at our local resthome, Matapaia. So often we are tempted to hold back at this time, but it’s an opportunity for very close conversations, and can bring relief for those who need to get something off their chests.

And the On-line preacher recommended that our local church should be as racially diverse as possible. For historical reasons we have few local Maori living here, but the restaurant and local stores have owners, their families and workers who are not NZ Europeans, and I’m always pleased to see us welcoming them here; and plan to share my custom more widely.

I’ve been reading two books this week, which relate to this reflection’s message of ‘loving one another’. One, The Twins of Auschwitz, who, on entering Auschwitz camp, were separated from their sister and parents, who were then killed immediately. The twins were taken to Dr Mengele who studied identical twins, and one wrote their story later, which included the daily little stories of prisoners caring for each other, that kept them alive.
The other book deals with the spontaneous caring for one another shared by communities in war zones.

Love others every moment of the day! A tall task. It’s easy to get irritated by some habits of others, especially when we’re tense or worried about something else; when we’re interrupted while doing something we want to concentrate on (for me it’s while I’m reading a book); or when we’re asked to volunteer and we feel overloaded. But I think that’s something we can prepare for while we’re in our quiet space of self-reflection, prayer/prayer time. Even as I write this I’m making a mental note to do that more often. We need to be alert to others at those times, and we need times when we enjoy ourselves. For me that’s while I’m gardening, or on a walk through a forest,  or on the beach: a time when we can restore our souls, even as Jesus did by the shores of Galilee.

So I share my thoughts and love with you, in the name of Jesus.