Ascension to Pentecost

 

This week, as far as the Church calendar is concerned, we’re in an in-between time.  Ascension was last Thursday and we’re heading towards the festival of Pentecost this coming Sunday.

Whilst leading the opening devotions at our recent meeting, one of our Elders reflected on that farewell moment of Jesus at Ascension.  She said how much she appreciated that the greeting goodbye comes from the Old English meaning God be with you. She pondered that such a thought might make parting a little easier.

Well, we’re told it was as he was blessing them that Jesus departed from his disciples.  And they consequently seemed up for their new future, returning, we are told, to Jerusalem joyfully.

Pentecost, ten days later, celebrates that God is with us, by his Spirit.  Its message, in the early days of summer, reflects that of Christmas held in mid-winter, of Immanuel, God alongside us.

An old illustration, often used at children’s services at Pentecost is of a glove, lifeless without a hand, yet utterly transformed when filled by our fingers.

We humans find our lives filled with energy and purpose in so many ways, and we gain life giving inspiration from so many sources. I like to attribute all that good energy to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit filling and en-livening us.

Another, much loved image of The Spirit is the dove – we particularly think of the gospel picture of one descending , as it were, on Jesus at his baptism – a sign and seal of God’s presence and filling.

In a few weeks time, in Paris at the Olympics, the world will gather together for a festival of sport.  In our fractured times the Olympics, we hope, might bring us together, and what better a symbol of our shared humanity being blessed by the presence of our Alongside God than the release of hundreds of doves into the air above Paris.

May God’s Spirit of peace and strength, enliven us this and every day.

Ascension - the Joyful Festival?

 Today is Ascension Day and many church choirs will have climbed the stairs to their parish church tower to greet the dawn and ‘sing in’ this rather obscure Christian festival.

Endings create beginnings.  That’s what’s happened in Scotland this week with the change of First Minister.  It goes on all the time and we are grateful for it.

Yet I’m struck by just how joyful the Ascension seems to have been for those involved.  Maybe that’s because in Acts it happens forty days after Easter and Jesus has had time to fully say goodbye to his disciples.  However, that isn’t strictly true in Luke, when this seminal moment appears to happen on the evening of Easter Day.

Whatever it’s timings, this myth narrative has much to teach us.

I’m particularly drawn by  two things.  Firstly, it was as he was blessing them that he was taken up to heaven.  Secondly, once they had seen him depart, they returned to Jerusalem full of joy.

So, it seems that this part of the ‘birthing’ of the Church was an occasion full of hope and optimism, lived in the glow of Christ’s departing blessing.  And I find that encouraging.  Whatever challenging tasks were before them, it seems the Ascension gave these disciples a great sense of hope and a deep sense of joy.  Pentecost would, in a way, complete the picture with its gift of energy and strength.

My prayer, on this Ascension Day, is that we too can live with that same sense of joy.  Joy in the continuing task of living out the life of Jesus Christ for the here and now.  The baton has been passed on from generation to another, it started on that first Ascension Day as Jesus blessed his disciples even as he was taken from them.  We are now the ones running with this baton of hope, joy and peace – God grant us the strength not to drop it!

 May the blessing of Jesus still be ours this Ascension Thursday 2024.

Holding the Pole

 

Yesterday we entered a new month as May dawned.  Traditionally one of those days we think of as marking a transition as we slowly make our way into the seasons of late spring and early summer.  Even on the dullest and wettest of days our gardens are certainly telling us that change is on the way!

My Junior School marked May Day with the customary dancing around the pole in the playground.  However, I don’t remember hanging onto the coloured ribbons and skipping around because I, alongside the other tallest boy in the class, had the ‘honour’ of being chosen to hold the pole.  Not the most glamorous of jobs, and after half an hour quite tiring.  So, I have a somewhat chequered view of May Day!

The Roman Catholic Church marks May 1st as the saint’s day for Joseph the Worker.  (He has a double entry in the calendar being also mentioned on March 19th).  Choosing May 1st was one pontiff’s answer to the Socialist Movement’s adoption of this date to commemorate all workers.

Jospeh, as carpenter, husband, and father, is a somewhat shadowy figure after the birth narratives and the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was a small boy. We think of him simply being there, a supportive presence in the wings, rarely talked about yet constant – until he wasn’t, probably through an early death.

There is, surely, a place for the bit part players in both the biblical story and the experience of any local church today.  People who, out of the limelight, contribute so much behind the scenes. 

I’m always impressed by the women, briefly mentioned in the gospels, who supported the mission of Jesus financially.  They played their part and enabled others to play theirs.

And that, in a sense is what I did all those years at Junior School.  So, around this time of May Day and the feast of Joseph the Worker, let’s give thanks for all who hold the pole, so that others may make their dance.