We do not presume

 ‘… I did not presume to come to you. .…’ (Luke 7:7)

Luke 7:1-10 (Year C: Trinity+1)

Listening

We are back to the gospel of Luke this summer and will remain there for the remainder of this liturgical year C.  Luke is strong on mercy, healing and inclusion. This Sunday’s gospel passage (unless you are marking Corpus Christi this Sunday but read on …) recounts an incident in which a foreigner, and a leading figure in the colonial Roman army at that, pleaded for healing for a servant he specially loved. By all accounts the Roman centurion was a good person who cared about those under his charge. But this is not the main point of the story. The story is revealing in so far as it locates the merciful work of God not only in the synagogue but in strange and surprising places and among strangers who do not belong to this tribe and cult.

Surprising allies

The attitude of the centurion is telling. According to Luke, he did not approach Jesus directly but through Jesus’ elders – those socially respectable figures of authority. Fair play to the Jewish elders because not only did they relay the message to Jesus as requested by the foreigner but they pleaded with Jesus to heal the sick slave. This demonstrates that they believed in the power of Jesus to heal and, furthermore, their loyalty to the tribe and the cult did not deter them from facilitating an outreach to foreigners – even members of an oppressive army. True, there may very well have been a large measure of calculated self-interest in helping out someone who had loved the Jewish people and help build the synagogue. This might be akin to being nice to the local landlord in 19^th century Ireland because he didn’t evict any peasants and gave generously to a fund to build a local Roman Catholic chapel!

There is something extraordinary in the response of the Centurion and remarked on by Jesus who ‘went with them [the Jewish leaders]’ to meet this benign and locally powerful foreigner. The centurion did not presume to demand anything of Jesus let alone see him. Moreover, he had a deep trust that Jesus could heal but he presumed and assumed nothing. He declared: ‘….for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof…’. Isn’t it ironic that these words of the centurion form part of the liturgy of holy communion for Christians today and, yet, having rolled off these words on our lips we proceed to exclude others not of our tribe or cult or standing in the community because in some way (we think) that would offend God or scandalise the community or compromise our system of ideas and notions of right and wrong.

Love beckons

There was a time when Christians of all hues and types approached the sacrament of holy communion only very occasionally and after careful preparation and times of penance. Thankfully we understand holy communion, these days, less as a ‘prize’ and much more as a means of healing and sustenance for lovable but strictly (all of us) ‘unworthy’ communicants.  Lets not try to rank each other on some scale of worthiness from 0-10! That said, of course, access to holy communion is within the disciplines of each community – local and universal. Just as we ought not presume to exclude others we ought not presume to include ourselves either. After all, love beckons and love does not insist on its way or its place at Table.

Oscar Wilde wrote beautifully in ‘De Profundis’ a century and half ago:

Love is a sacrament that should be taken kneeling, and Domine, non sum dignus (Lord I am not worthy) should be on the lips and in the hearts of those who receive it.

Indeed.

We do not presume

A saying attributed to St Augustine of Hippo is appropriate here:

Do not despair, one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume, one of the thieves was damned.

‘We do not presume to come to this your table…’ is the opening words of a prayer very familiar to Anglicans the world over. It reads:

We do not presume to come to this your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness but in your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But thou art the same Lord, whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. – (Book of Common Prayer, Church of Ireland, 2004)

It is sometimes called the ‘Prayer of Humble Access’. The anglican and Irish priest, Rev Patrick Comerford in his blog writes that (Returning to the Prayer of Humble Access):

The prayer appeared in the earliest prayer book, the First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549). It is derived from a similar Latin prayer in the Sarum liturgy – and, like much of the Sarum use, was translated and adapted by Thomas Cranmer.

In the same article Rev Comerford went on to say:

At this stage of my life, conscious of hurt, betrayal, denial, and alienation, I am feeling particularly humble in the presence of God throughout each and every day and night. And this evening I was particularly captured by the beauty of the prayer. I can never receive Holy Communion because I am worthy – at all times I am unworthy, and I must come to worship God without any presumptions, never knowing what God has in store for me. The table I come to and invite others to is not my own, but the Lord’s, and this is the ever-merciful Lord God, without whose mercy there is nothing I could do…..

To which I can only add ‘Amen’ and me too.

Take your time

 ‘… I still have many things to say to you. .…’ (John 16:12)

John 16:12-15 (Year C: Trinity)

Listening

‘I still have many things to say to you’ says Jesus to his disciples even though the evangelist John is up to the fifth chapter of that long and final discourse reported, uniquely, in the gospel of John.  God has, indeed, a lot more to say to us. The Holy Spirit provides when our words and thoughts fail as they must at some stage.  Jesus, the Word, came to speak love and life to everyone. Some listen; others don’t and quite a few listen, only, to what they want to hear. 

Lifelong learning

Our lives are learning lives. We start learning in the womb and we never stop learning until our last breath. Educationalists call it ‘lifelong learning’.  Learning is very simple and very complex. It is simple because babies manage the miracle of learning to make complex sounds based on reasoning and observation and experience. Language and all of its complex nuances is learned over many years but the first few years of life are critical. We learn more from speaking with others than others speaking to us (as Saint Augustine said). But, learning is doing as much as talking and thinking. Learning is thinking, talking and doing all in one seamless process and it never stops. At the age of 80 if we are not still astonished by new things and insights every day then we are not fully alive and we need to do a crash course in living before it is too late!

to learn is to suffer and to enJoy

Learning and suffering – as in undergoing something challenging – go together. But so does joy.  Philosopher and theologian, Jürgen Moltman, drew attention to two things:

1. persons who are alike know those who are alike;
2. persons who are different and know difference.

Learning is tied up with correspondence and unity among person that are alike as well as among those who are different (implying pain, conflict or ‘agon’ in classical Greek).  Hence, Motlman * (1991: 171) is not surprised that the Greek words ‘mathein’ (to learn) and ‘pathein’ (to suffer) are frequently brought together in many sayings.  To know someone is to enter, to some extent, into their world of suffering, joy and constructed meaning. This has profound significance not only for the way we understand the Blessed Trinity but how we live out that understanding in relationship to each other. Learning happens through an encounter with difference and it is in embracing that difference that human growth happens.

• Long live difference!
• Long live unity!

*Moltman, Jürgen (1991) ‘On Community’ in Leroy Rouner (ed) On Community. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. 

I believe in the holy spirit

 ‘…  he breathed on them. .…’ (John 20:22)

John 20:20-23 (Year C: Pentecost)

Line by line

‘When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews’ (verse 19a)

The disciples were afraid. The doors were closed. We can be afraid at times – locked in for fear of others outside and what they might think or say or do.  Recognising this reality is the first step in moving forward!

‘Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’’ (verse 19b)

Standing in our midst among us and within each of us is the One who brings us peace.  His presence is peace. His peace is a sign of his presence. Recognising this reality even though our minds rebel and our feelings are not attuned to peace is the second step in moving forward.

‘After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.’ (verse 20)

When we allow his presence to shape our will and we say yes to him we find a joy that nothing else can give. This joy may last minutes or days or even years. It is a point of return and reference as we go through other moments of sadness and anxiety along the way as we will.

‘Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. (verse 22)

Jesus ‘breathed’ on them his spirit – the Holy Spirit.  The breath is a powerful sign of life and life in all its fullness. Do we sense that breath today? Here? Now? Take time to be open to this.

‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ (verse 23)

This may be taken as the inauguration of a sacramental ministry.  That is possible. However, we, each, need healing and we can also be channels of healing for others. Grace works in all sorts of surprising ways. An infant can dispense forgiveness and healing to an adult and this is a powerful testimony to the work of the Holy Spirit. That Spirit is everywhere in all sorts of situations, persons, events and processes. Believe!

From ashes to fire

From fire to ashes and back again to fire. 90 days ago we marked the beginning of Lent in the Western churches with ‘Ash Wednesday’. From ashes you came to ashes you return echoed in our hearing. After 40+50=90 (96 to be exact!) we have traversed 40 days of prayer and giving to reach Resurrection Day. Then we worked through 50 days of Eastertide with stories of courage, appearances, miracles, church-planting and promises of the Holy Spirit. On this day – Pentecost Sunday – we focus in a special way on the much spoken of, but relatively neglected, third person of the Blessed Trinity.

There is no octave or no ‘SpiritTide’ following Holy Spirit (Pentecost) Sunday. It is straight into ‘Ordinary time’ or the time after Pentecost or a succession of Sundays including and following Trinity Sunday.

I sense that the Holy Spirit is a neglected person of the holy trinity in so far as we focus so much on God the Father and God the Son that the Holy Spirit – often explained as the mutual love between Father and Son gets a look in only occasionally. The sacramental practice of confirmation is a significant threshold moment in the lives of many young adults in most Christian traditions. Some observers remark, cynically, that it is a passing out ritual. There is some truth in that. However, the mark of the Holy Spirit never leaves us. This is especially true if at some point in our lives we have tasted and experienced a moment of intense light and joy that seems to come from deep within and touches us profoundly and stays with us in our conscious memory for the rest of our lives. If someone has not experienced this, yet, then that person has more living to do!

I believe in the Holy Spirit?..

Some years ago a famous theologian, Yves Congar, wrote a three part volume entitled ‘I Believe in the Holy Spirit’. He discussed not only the role of the Holy Spirit in transforming individuals but whole communities and, through them, the world.  Each time we recite the Nicean Creed on a Sunday we might take particular note of the words ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life….’

The Holy Spirit is the ‘other side’ of God. It is that person (face) that breathes on us and re-creates us. Since God is, strictly speaking, neither male or female (appellations of Father reflect our understanding and tradition) would it not be appropriate to emphasise the very feminine dimension of the Holy Spirit? She breathes on us from all eternity as over the waters and breathes gently through our lives today until we join our last breath with hers. It is said that we do not know where she blows and where she comes from (John 3:8). Much of life is like that. We can never see what is around the corner of our roadway that leads to unfamiliar places: sometimes scary places and sometimes very restful places. We are witnesses to the first breath after birth and we are witnesses to the last breath when our loved ones slip into the next room (and what a breath that is).

The breath or spirit of God is all over the sacred scriptures composed by human minds, hearts and hands. The very first two verses of the Bible read as follows:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.(Gen 1:1-2)

There are dozens of references to the breath or spirit of God coming upon us from the Psalms to the prophets to the Gospel of St John and the some of the apostolic letters. The breathing on the disciples is linked to the sending of the Holy Spirit:

And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (John 20:22)

Proof of pudding is in eating

But how do we know if we have received the Holy Spirit? As we journey through life we hope to grow in the Holy Spirit and in the fruits of the spirit: joy, peace, wisdom, discipline, courage and insight (Galatians 5:22). But, the proof of the pudding is in the eating – as the saying goes.  If we are not developing in a climate of peace, contentedness and real freedom – notwithstanding set-backs, betrayals, sicknesses and worries – then we need to check in with our hearts and minds (and perhaps with the occasional help of a trusted person who is wise and skilled in discernment). Am I on the right path?  Is there something missing? What is the Holy Spirit saying to me through others, myself ? We need to go to the sources.

A tragedy in the lives of many is life not fully lived, potential not fully realised and fruit never borne. We do not live fully when we are stunted by fears, prejudices and false ideas about ourselves and others. We live more fully when we put our trust in God-who-is-love and see ourselves and the world as God-who-is-live sees us.

Many people (generally a minority nowadays) live in a prison of false religion with very incomplete notions of God, morality and tradition. They seek shelter in certainties, formulae and a particular literal and selective interpretation of some passages of the scriptures or tradition.  They seem to fail to see the bigger picture (but who can see the big picture? – we each catch only a glimpse).

Take five..

The culmination of Jesus’s teachings as reported in the Gospel of John is conveyed to us in five key pledges that we can trust and hang across our minds and hearts at the dawn of every day:

1. We are not alone (the Holy Spirit has been sent and continues to breathe on us) – John 14:18
2. We called to live in a new commandment of mutual love (that the world may see and believe) – John 13:34
3. The continuing help and presence of the Holy Spirit is guaranteed – John 16:13
4. Joy and peace and with that freedom are the fruit of that Holy Spirit (marking such gifts out from all else) – John 15:11
5. We will know the truth and the truth will set us free – John 8:32

The ‘New Commandment’ grounded in faith is key.  The origins of Pentecost (literally fifty days after the Passover) stem from the Jewish festival of Weeks – commemorating the giving of the law on Mount Sinai after the people wandered through the desert.  Today, the Holy Spirit gives the ‘Law’ and it is that we should love one another as God-who-is-love has loved us and dwells now in us. For God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him (1 John 4:16).  This indwelling of God-who-is-love means that his Law of love is written on our hearts and minds.  But, we must be open to the Holy Spirit in costly discipleship (D Bonhoeffer). Martin Luther once wrote:

‘The Holy Spirit is given only to the anxious and distressed heart. Only therein can the Gospel profit us and produce fruit. The gift is too sublime and noble for God to cast it before dogs and swine, who, when by chance they hear the preached message, devour it without knowing to what they do violence. The heart must recognize and feel its wretchedness and its inability to extricate itself. Before the Holy Spirit can come to the rescue, there must be a struggle in the heart. Let no one imagine he will receive the Spirit in any other way.’ (Sermon for Pentecost Sunday volume VII:329-336 of The Sermons of Martin Luther)

Counselling and legal representation for free!

Being open to the Holy Spirit means divesting ourselves of useless and destructive patterns of thinking and acting. It means – in a certain sense – being ‘empty’ ready to be filled. We need to let go; we need to let God act in us through his Holy Spirit. If we trust in God’s Holy Spirit to guide us then we will find freedom to live more and more in the present moment firm in the conviction that God will guide us, step by step, to that place or that decision or that response which will be right at the right time. It is not a question of receiving the whole picture or truth in one go. The Holy Spirit leads us gradually towards the complete picture (John 16:13). Not for nothing has the Holy Spirit been referred to as the ‘Paraclete’ or advocate (παράκλητος in Greek). When words and claims are fired at us we have the best of lawyers to defend us, argue for us, advise us, console us, urge us forward. Better still the service is for free! Add to that counselling.

And so often we fret and worry about how we will perform or what we will say whether in a situation of a written examination, or a very difficult conversation with someone (e.g. breaking the news of a serious illness) or an interview for a job. The list is endless. Each time, we can slow down, rest in the present moment, breath easily and let the breath of God emerge in our thoughts and actions.  As Jesus is reported as saying by Matthew:

But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say. (Matthew 10:19)

In that moment of trial we will be given the words and means to bear witness as we should. Trust! But we must conclude with a warning: be alert and ready because we don’t know where the Holy Spirit leads us. We only have the light of today and of this moment. Walk in that light.

Unity – the goal and the way

 ‘…  that they may all be one. .… (John 17:21)

John 17:20-26 (Year C: Easter+7)

                                                       pic: Holy Cross Benedictine Abbey in Co Down, N Ireland.                                   

All on board for unity?

For this the Christ came into the world – that all may be one in God as God is one.  The idea of unity is easily misunderstood and misappropriated, though. Yes, unity is a good word most of the time for most people. People speak of unity, union and united as something positive, progressive and affirmative. A disunited family or country or organisation is seen as negative. Then at other times, the idea of unity is mixed up with conformity to some set of rules or ideas imposed by one person or community on another So, we need to distinguish between unity that is not based on a freely chosen unity of equals and unity that springs from a bond of affection, trust and mutual belonging even if one partner to that unity has a role of authority or leadership. 

To repeat, at the core of unity is mutual love or a bond of affection. This is why imposed unions either do not last or bear little fruit.

Things get rather complicated when within a ‘union’ applied to a country or jurisdiction some folks want to stay in the union and others do not or want to establish a different union. Ireland provides a historical and contemporary example of this phenomenon. Simple majority voting doesn’t resolve the issue because the three I’s of identity, interest and ideology ensure disharmony between different groups no matter where lines on a map are drawn. Something more creative and pragmatic is required at least in the here and now.

Theologically, the way we think about God and God’s relationship to the world shapes our notions of unity and diversity among people.  The opposite also holds true in so far as unity and diversity as applied and understood in this world and at this time can shape and influence our theology and the ‘doing of theology’.

The context for John’s long discourse in chapters 13-17 – sometimes referred to as Jesus Last Testament or Jesus’ own Priestly prayer – culminating in the very strong prayer for unity modelled on the unity of Father and Son (and the Holy Spirit) is a community threatened from within and from without. The early Johannine Christian community for which and from which John’s gospel was written was mistrusted, excluded and persecuted by religious and secular authorities (not that such a distinction meant much in those times). At the same time, the early communities were driven by controversies and conflicts over all sorts of issues including Jewish dietary laws, circumcision and the Sabbath. If all of this sounds irrelevant and bizarre for 21^st century Christians and others just think of what issues create the most controversy at the latest synod, conference, parish committee and theological commission!  Diversity of opinion, emphasis and, ultimately, values spills over into stand-up rows and shouting if not worse among disciples prayed for, died for and saved for by the One who gave his life that all may be one.

Line by line

What is this matter of ‘being one’? Let’s look at this passage from chapter 17 of John a little more closely:

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. (verses 20-21)

Those who have encountered the person of Jesus were commissioned and empowered to witness to the love of God in Jesus. ‘Through’ their word – their way of living, speaking and serving – they won many others to God’s love.  A forceful and convincing way in which this happened is that they were ‘one’ according to Jesus’ final testament and prayer as recorded in John 17.  Theirs was not a perfect human or divine community but a messy, evolving and at times fractured one. However, they held together as ‘one’ united in conviction, mutual support and the principle of ‘each for all and all for each’

The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one (verse 22)

The glory of God is in human beings fully alive as Irenaeus said. That glory is evident in the kindness, forgiveness and active service of millions in the world today. This is the basis of worthwhile unity and one that comes closest to that unity willed from all time for us and forever. We are blessed. Seize the day!

I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  (verse 23)

To know that we are loved is the reason and the spark for love among us and by us. The great tragedy of religion – including Christianity – is that its practitioners and promoters have not realised even a fraction of what God is really like – not some dreaded judge and bean counter but an infinite, inclusive and loving God. This knowledge and life involves mutual indwelling with God in us, us in God and each one joined together in God. Then we realise the true meaning of ‘religion’ as religare – a binding together. The closer we move to the Light the closer we draw to each other. This is the meaning of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and this is why to exclude others without just cause from this channel of grace is a grave scandal.

Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (verse 24)

It is a great source of strength and hope in our often troubled lives that we are:

• Known
• Desired
• Loved

By the One who was loved ‘before the foundation of the world.

Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me (verse 25)

Many in this world do not know love and do not know the Author of love. Though made in love, by love and for love they remain fixed in doubt, scepticism, sarcasm, defeatism, fatalism and distrust. They may, if they regard themselves as ‘religious’ in some way, remain cut off from love and continue to live on the surface impressions of true religion which by the very root meaning of the word means bound to others in love.

I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ (verse 26)

 What does it mean to be one?

Does it mean having the same ethnicity, politics and social status? Most certainly not!

Does it mean blind obedience within a hierarchical structure? Definitely not. God invites us to love him with ‘all our minds’ while not breaking unity where that is essential.

Unity is about a balance of respect, inclusion and sharing of common purpose and values. In matters of doctrinal belief it requires discipline on what is essential and freedom in everything else but everything charity. In matters of ‘church discipline’ it requires respect, tact and loyalty where essential combined with courage, flexibility and initiative where questioning and change is required. If people stood still in the 1^st century or in the 19^th century in matters of how to articulate their beliefs and work within the complex cultural and social environments of their time then the reality of gospel would be greatly diminished and denied to countless numbers of people. ‘For God so loved the world ….’ (John 3:16). 

We only have to think of the question of the role of women in the Christian churches to realise (i) how much distance has been travelled in recent decades and (ii) how much distance remains to be travelled.  The paradox facing many is that in order to maintain unity of the Christian family it is necessary to suffer disunity for a time and with some others in order to move forward. However, it is not the case that anyone can presume or take it upon themselves to innovate without a lengthy period of reflection, study, debate, consultation and deliberation. At the same time, there is an urgency of proclaiming the good news and witnessing to a world that views the messengers of this good news with some criticism and distrust.

The role of trust and courage

Trust needs to be rebuilt, gradually, on the basis of a genuine and sustained concern for the what is true and what is in the common good. We should be wary of those who claim certainty. In claiming certainty about the meaning of scripture or tradition we may risk ending up hijacking the message and basing our lives on a false premises of self-confidence. In practice, people who appear to be most certain are – if the truth be told – deeply insecure because they desperately do not want their comfort zones disrupted and opened up to critical scrutiny. Deep down they are unsure and they crave certainty in signs, miracles, proofs, cut-and-dry answers to set questions and creedal type formulae that admit of only one set of language and philosophical framework.  And lest we think that we are immune from all of this we should reflect on how our values are constantly challenged and how, perhaps, in the course of a lifetime we have had to review, modify or enlarge our understandings and views on various matters of personal, spiritual, theological,  social and political concern.

But unity comes with a price

Unity comes at a price – we have to be ready to listen to others including the wisdom of those who came before us and we have to be ready to use our own God-given reason and life-experience to ‘work things out’ in harmony with the scriptures and the broad thrust of tradition. But tradition – or if you like the lived experience of the Christian community – is not static. It evolves and is re-expressed in every era.

It may help and it should help to share this process of critical engagement with other whom we can trust in the various walks of life.

Jesus prayer for us that we might be one in the love of God-who-is-love. His Name or Word is revealed for what it is; ‘He-who-saves’ because God-who-is-love is alive and working and united with ‘He-who-saves). By choosing to live openly and courageously in this love there is every possibility that others will join us in a larger community of witnesses and believers. This is the point of chapter 17 of St John’s Gospel. Amen!

Ready for the next step

 ‘… so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.. .… (Luke 24:49)

Luke 24:46-53 (Year C: Ascension Thursday)

In defence of Thursday

Today’s feast of the Ascension is a day of ‘great joy’ to use Luke phrase from the gospel passage for Ascension Thursday. That Jesus ascended into heaven is a core belief in our weekly recitation of the creed. Exactly how and when and what of ascension is beyond our reach. We just believe that Jesus is risen and was brought up into glory not in some mere metaphorical or poetic turn of phrase but in a reality that goes beyond our sense of time and space.  The marking of the ascension on a Thursday leaving just nine days to the Feast of Pentecost and within the 40 days following Easter had and has deep liturgical significance which would not have been lost on the early Jewish-Christian communities with the proximity of the Festival of Weeks (or Shavuot) and the Passover which is seven weeks prior to the Festival of Weeks.

Unfortunately, Ascension Thursday has been ‘de-elevated’ in some places (if a pun may be pardoned) by amalgamation into the following Sunday. Even in secular France the feast of the Ascension Thursday remains a public holiday! There is no way that French trade unions would have anything less than a day of rest on a Sunday as well as a Thursday!

In some parts of the Anglican communion Anglicans are encouraged to receive holy communion this Ascension Thursday.

Time for a novena

In recent centuries, the idea of a ‘novena’ of prayer lasting nine days and nights fits with the period from the ascension to the coming of the holy spirit at Pentecost. Every now and again we need to step up the prayer side of our busy lives and join our prayers with others in the ‘upper room’ (Acts 1:13) so to speak. The days are longer now here in the Northern Hemisphere and there is nothing to beat a quiet moment as the sun is rising over the Irish sea on a mild and damp Irish May morning.

Ascension may seem like a going away of Jesus and the leaving behind of a band of disciples – like a family bereavement.  But, it is a bereavement with a difference because those left behind are not alone as they anxiously and joyously await the coming of the holy spirit. They may be still terrified and they may not know how long or in what way this ruah or holy spirit that was promised will come. But come she will (the Hebrew word for spirit or breath is ruah which is feminine – in Irish Gaelic it is anáil or breath which is also feminine). What seemed like a terrible loss and tragedy is about to be turned into opportunity and sending out again but this time in the power of the holy spirit who prepares the disciples for a life of challenge and difficulty – joy notwithstanding.

Ascension in the scriptures

It is clear that what happened in the Ascension was in the context of Easter and the following event of Pentecost. The details given in Matthew, Mark and Luke are patchy. There is a distinct abruptness to each of the three gospels as if the writer(s) was/were cut short and inserted a few sentences about Jesus speaking with his disciples and giving them a commission to go forth and spread the good news and then – suddenly – he was gone. He was lifted up and taken away in a ‘cloud’ (Acts 1:9) reminding us of the very divine presence in a cloud by day (and a fire by night) in Exodus 13:21.

Speaking of ascending and descending is very much rooted in scripture.  There are plenty of stories about people ascending up to heaven (e.g. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending in Genesis 28:12, Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael in John 1:51, Elijah being taken up in a ‘whirlwind’ to heaven in 2 Kings 2:11).  In many different cultures of the ancient world people had a three-tier idea of the universe: the heavens up there, hell down there (an excessively hot place!) and the earth right here where we stand and prepare to move upwards. Over time, other categories were stitched on such as limbo and purgatory to meet various theological conundrums (necessity being the mother of invention!).

The evangelist John speaks of Christ lifting all peoples up when he is lifted up from the earth (which means on the cross but it could also refer to his glorification through his death, resurrection and ascension).  In a mysterious way, the act of departure and being lifted up from the earth in the ascension is necessary to complete the work of the Holy Spirit and her outpouring on the disciples.

‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’(John 12:32)

Being lifted up from the pits..

In common parlance we uses expressions such as ‘that experience was an uplifting one’ or ‘he is feeling a bit down at the moment’ etc. However, there is another side to being lifted up or being on high. You have guessed. It is being brought down and finding yourself in the pits. A verse in the ‘Apostle’s Creed’ which is said to echo Ephesians 4:8-10 (but only very indirectly) speaks of Jesus descending into hell after his death after which ‘on the third day’ he rose again. This is also linked to another passage found in Psalm 67:19:

‘You have gone up on high; you have taken captives, receiving men and women in tribute, O God, even those who rebel, into your dwelling, O Lord.’

The idea of God descending into hell is challenging! But that is what the tradition says (and most Christians subscribe to all three catholic creeds – Nicean, Athanasian and the (simple) Apostle’s Creed even if the precise scriptural basis for descending into hell is less than clear.  Let’s face it – a lot of people live through hell – whether in some part of the Middle East or next door to us or even this side of the door.  Hell can take many forms and we should never underestimate the depths of bodily, mental, spiritual and psychological hell that people are living through, near and far, as we share these thoughts.  We can be sure – through faith – that God-who-is-love has descended to these places of hell. Like the testimony of Elie Wiesel about the child crucified by the Nazis in a concentration camp:

Behind me, I heard the same man asking:"For God's sake, where is God?"And from within me, I heard a voice answer:"Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."

We may find ourselves somewhere in the depths but this too will pass. We can stay firm in prayerful partnership with others as we await the coming of the holy breath of God covering us in power as Luke puts it. In that way we are ready for the next step or steps.