Waiting. It is a hard thing to do. Perhaps it has something to do with anticipation. Something is about to happen and it may even feel exciting. Yet, there is nothing you can do until it actually happens, other than to prepare.
This past Thursday was the actual Feast of the Ascension and we are celebrating it today. Ascension marks 40 days into Easter and 10 days ahead of the Feast of Pentecost.
According to research, there are only two post-resurrection appearances of Jesus in Luke, both of which are unique to this Gospel. Jesus first appears to the two men on the road to Emmaus (24:13-35), and then to the disciples at the beginning of this passage (24:36-52). Both have overtones of liturgical shaping that suggest use in the early church in worship, perhaps in an Easter liturgy. The Emmaus story clearly has a Eucharistic setting (v. 35), while the final story concludes with a double emphasis on the community in worship (v. 52). This suggests that these stories are not simply the reporting of event, but are highly reflective theological recounting, bringing Gospel traditions to bear on the needs, concerns, mission, and identity of the emerging Christian community. (http://www.crivoice.org/lectionary/YearC/Ceaster7nt.html)
The Ascension is an important story for us as it links directly to the resurrection. Prior to His death, Jesus opened the hearts of His followers to understand the scriptures concerning Him. While Jesus was with the disciples prior to death, He made a clear promise not to leave the disciples orphaned to struggle. Instead, He said He would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be with them. In the resurrection appearances, Jesus reassured His followers that His words of prophecy were coming true. They had witnessed His death. Yet, here He was in their midst, eating and drinking with them. He reminded the disciples that they now knew the truth and that Jesus would fulfill His promise to be with them forever.
“And see, I am sending you what my Father promised.” Jesus knew the disciples and all of broken humanity would need help. God’s plan of salvation was for everyone. In John 3:16 we are told that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the end that all who believe in Him may not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus died upon the cross for your sins and mine. His death won for us the victory over both sin and death and opened the way to eternal life.
This is clearly a message of faith and one that is hard to fully comprehend. Yet, in the Ascension Gospel, we have clear instructions. Stay here. Wait. It’s a message for the church and its mission. Clearly, we have to wait upon the presence and power of God in order to achieve God’s purposes of reaching the world. But that is not even the heart of the message here. The message here is, first, to wait. There is a clear realization from the very beginning of Luke’s Gospel, that we simply cannot do what God has called us to do on any level without God’s help.
If we act without relying upon God’s power, we end up simply acting on our own human effort. That effort, without God’s power, God’s blessing, can have negative consequences. I was the rector of Christ Church before it closed. I believe we tried all we could do of our own human effort to bring about renewal. It wasn’t enough. While no one can say with certainty, if we had turned to God and sought Him in prayer and waited, perhaps our outcome would have been different.
At St. James, we wait. We wait, while we discern the movement of the Holy Spirit to bring about transformation. We are not the only ones. Other parishes in the deanery wait as well. Yesterday, there was a significant meeting for the people of the Parish of St. Chad’s. That community waits now to discern the next steps ahead.
As I said to start this message, while we wait, we do not remain idle. Part of discernment of where God is working and what He has planned is to prepare. We must prepare for new life, for transformation. This means we need people to actively turn their thoughts, their prayers to God to thank Him for what He has done for us and for the plan of new life He is bringing. We thank God for placing us in ministries of servant hood, and meanwhile, we carry out our ministries to the best of our abilities. It gives me great joy, for example, to see our family turn out each year to the Mary Lilac Tea and many thanks to those who participated. For us, it is one more opportunity to reach the neighbourhood and make connections.
In order to prepare as we wait, we must reflect on who we are as an Easter people and whose we are. We rise above the challenges of faith and see each other as loved brothers and sisters, a family that genuinely cares for itself and its neighbourhood. I have a story I want to share that will highlight this point.
It’s called “The Rabbi’s Gift” by Dr. M. Scott Peck.
Rabbi’s Gift
(shortened by 25%)
The Different Drum Version by Dr. M. Scott Peck *
The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but because of persecution, all its branch houses were lost and there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.
In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi occasionally used for a hermitage. The old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods" they would whisper. It occurred to the abbot that a visit the rabbi might result in some advice to save his monastery.
The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut. But when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could only say, "I know how it is. The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and spoke of deep things. When the abbot had to leave, they embraced each other. "It has been wonderful that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?"
"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you."
When the abbot returned to the monastery, his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well, what did the rabbi say?"
“The rabbi said something very mysterious, it was something cryptic. He said that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant."
In the time that followed, the old monks wondered of the significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks? If so, which one?
Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly, Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly, he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for always being there when you need him. He just magically appears. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.
Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?
As they contemplated, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
People still occasionally came to visit the monastery in its beautiful forest to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even to meditate in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely compelling about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends.
Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.
Think of the possibilities where each member of the congregation is seen as honored and special, like the special guest who visits the congregation. Each of us is special, loved by God and deserving of our love and respect. When we love each other, it is obvious especially to newcomers and visitors. Who would not want to be a part of that?
And so, we wait. We wait for God’s power of renewal and blessings to come upon us. While we wait, we remain faithful and take steps to prepare for transformation. We remember the Lord’s commands, to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name to all nations.
When Jesus was taken up to heaven, there were witnesses. He went in bodily form to sit at the right hand of God. In rising and ascending, Jesus in all of His humanity, intercedes for us as our Great High priest as we hear of in the letter to the Hebrews. He knows our wants, our desires, our strengths and our weaknesses and He is faithful to us as we intercede and act in faith.
The community of faith that has love for one another and has faithfully waited upon God will indeed be empowered not only to reach the neighborhood but beyond into our world. May the Lord bless our waiting and come to us in the power of the Holy Spirit!
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