Fair Trade Panel Discussion

Doing Justice in the Global Economy: Fair Trade, a Panel Discussion

Thursday, June 5th, 7-9pm
Immanuel Lutheran Church

Panel and discussion with

David Schweickart, author of After Capitalism,
Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University

Kelemwork Bayu, a former fair trade worker
in Kenya, Ethiopian refugee to the US

and other guests

faith-based, academic, and experiential
perspectives on Fair Trade and the globalized economy
Learn what you can do about it!

For more info contact Jeremy John
Jeremy@jubileeUSA.org
773-262-2975

The Social Justice League of Edgewater
Is a ministry of Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler

Hope to see you there!

Sermon: Trinity Sunday

“Trinity Sunday: A Turning Point”
Jorge Sanchez
Trinity Sunday,Year A
18 May 2008
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler

We stand (or sit) at a turning point —a hinge— in the Church year. Now, I love the Church and Church traditions. I especially love the calendar: saints’ days, ember days, rogation days, feasts, fasts, and observances of all kinds. By no means do I keep all of them, but I love that they are there.

To me, these various days and customs that have come together over centuries to make up the Church year are invitations to commemoration, conversation, and contemplation. Remembering Dietrich Bonhoeffer happens on the day of his martyrdom: April 9. Talking about the Visitation might happen on May 31. After all, I’m not sure what it means that Mary, around 14 years old and 2½ months pregnant, goes to visit and help her elderly cousin Elizabeth in the last weeks of her pregnancy. And some days invite me to contemplation, like Trinity Sunday and the Transfiguration.

Now, the Transfiguration is traditionally remembered on August 6th, but it is also observed on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. You see, the Transfiguration is also one of those hinges or pivots. We turn from Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and toward Lent-Easter-Pentecost. At that point the Transfiguration reminds us that the ultimate destination is glory, that no matter what seems to happen during Holy Week, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Laws and the Prophets, that while Lent is a penitential season and a period of examination, the point is not punishment but transformation —Transfiguration— into our true selves. The Tranfiguration serves as a milestone or a roadsign orienting us for what is to come.

What, then, does Trinity Sunday do? If it is just that kind of pivot or roadsign, what does it signal? I would suggest that it is an invitation to both action and contemplation, to conversation and silence, and even obedience and humility.

Action because the first we learn of the Trinity, in the Christian tradition, God is doing things, making things, and even paying visits. The “us” of “Let us make humankind” in the first reading is a holdover from polytheistic traditions Biblical scholars tell us and the Jewish Midrash, an extrabiblical, interpretive tradition, says that the “us” is God talking to the angels. Christians, however, have interpreted to mean the Trinity —Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer or Giver of New Life— acting in love to make the world.

We, too, like the Trinity must participate in the making and the re-making of the world by bringing about the Kingdom of God.
Action, too, in acts of radical hospitality. This icon of the Trinity references Abraham’s hospitality towards the three who appeared to him in Mamre, Here we see a right relationship with the Trinity—a faithful expression of Trinitarian faith: stewardship of the world and the practice of radical hospitality.

Trinity Sunday is also an invitation to contemplation. The Trinity is indeed a mystery, and as such it should be contemplated. The Trinity is not a sound, but a great silence, a great stillness, the essence of Being. As this icon shows, the Trinity is Three, but it is Three-and-One, One-and-Three. We can not understand this truth of the faith intellectually although we might seek out figures and metaphors. Yet that would be fruitless as the Trinity is a metaphor. The truth of the trinity can only be comprehended in love and in silence both, in action and contemplation both.

I do not know all that the Trinity means or what its implications are, but it is one of the more elusive Christian ideas, and I think it deserves more of our attention.

Trinity Sunday is also an invitation to humility and obedience.

By humility, I mean an honest recognition of the true nature of things. So often, when confronted with our own success, our own efficacy, we are impressed. We accomplish this or that, and we think, “I did it.” This is true and not true. Just as the Trinity is Three-and-One, our actions are both our doing and not our doing, since the actions of God and others enable us to do what we do.

On the other hand, humility is not humiliation or throwing ourselves down so others may praise us.

Humility is not beating ourselves up because of a mistake or holding on to guilt or shame once we’ve done what we can to make things right.

This is not the common understanding of humility. Usually we think of abasement or extreme modesty. True humility is not a state but a dynamic, and so it is with the Trinity. The Three-and-One is a perfect harmony, a perfect recognition of how things are in all its baffling clarity.

And by obedience, I mean something similar. Most often we think of obedience as submission, and perfect obedience as total, blind submission, but it is not so. It cannot be quite so simple, as the Trinity suggests. Obedience requires of us a triple commitment to the reality of a situation, to what we want and need, and to what others’ want and need. That is obedience. In the same way that the three Persons of the Trinity anthropomorphize three aspects of God’s being or represent three distinct ways in which God relates to Godself, true obedience begins with the absolutely honest recognitions of humility, a contemplative thing, and translates these recognitions into actions, allowing us to act in a new way.

And so we return to where we began, Trinity Sunday as a call to action and contemplation, conversation and silence, to humility and obedience. And this is the nature of the Trinity: communion, harmony, continuity, truth, and love.

We stand (or sit) today at a hinge, a pivot, a turning point in the Church year. We began at the end of last Fall waiting for God the Father’s act of love, willing the Incarnation of Jesus through the Holy Spirit and Mary, proceeding through to the Epiphany, and then after Epiphanytide, that time of God’s manifestation, we enter Lent, that time of introspection and repentance, culminating in the events of Holy Week and the magnificent 50-day Feast of Easter, which itself culminated with the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, just last week. This succession of seasons is a profound cycle of memory recalling the work of the Trinity as revealed in the Person of Christ.

We stand today at the beginning of that long green season, Ordinary Time, also known as the Time of the Church, which will stretch on until November when we celebrate All Saints’ and the Feast of Christ the King.

As we begin the Time of the Church, let us imitate the dynamic harmony and balance of the Trinity, and all we do, think, and say, in our moments of activity and in our moments of silence.

While Christ and the Incarnation are certainly central to our Christian lives, let us not neglect the contemplation and fruitful silence of the life of the Trinity.

In a few minutes, we will celebrate the Divine Mysteries, the Eucharist, a celebration of communion not only between us but also with the Trinity by the power of the Holy Spirit. May the Eucharist send us forth to live the life of the Trinity.

Reconciler Update

This Sunday we celebrate God's self-revelation as Trinity. Trinity Sunday Marks our moving into the Season after Pentecost or Ordinary Time. We have walked through once again the seasons and feasts that mark God's saving acts in Jesus Christ, that make possible our return to the relationship and relationships God created us to have and which apart from God and Christ we cannot achieve. This relationship is to enter the communion and relation of the Holy Trinity. Having Celebrated the feasts of the Gospel, and spent time in fasting and reflection and repentance we now move into a time of living out the Gospel. As we journey through the long season of Ordinary time we are called to live out life in communion with God who is a community of three persons and to allow ourselves to be brought into that community ever more in our daily lives, and our innermost attitudes. The Scriptures we will hear over this long season will address this aspect of the life of faith, and what it means to be a follower and disciple of Christ and member of the church, Christ's body. The season is green, symbol of growth and abundant eternal life which we have and are offered in Jesus Christ. May we find ways to grow and deepen our knowledge of the Love of God who is a community of three persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Announcements:
This Sunday Jorge Sanchez will be preaching again.

The council met this week and decided to have a week of response to the recent tragdies in Burma and China. There are two ways the council is encouraging us as a congregation to respond as a people of faith. First we will have a week for prayer and fasting. We encourage each of us to choose one day to spend in fasting and prayer for the softening of the hearts of the Military leaders of Burma who are preventing aid to come into the country and allocated to the people in need and to simply lift up in prayer all those who are suffering from such great loss in both countries. Second we are collecting means for contributing financially through Episcopal, Covenant and Baptist channels. You will be receiving information about how to make contributions through each denominations aid agencies.

The Search committee will be meeting this week Wednesday the 21st at the 'Nidge, 7:30 PM.

The search committee recommended and the Council agreed to consider a candidate for an interim Baptist Pastor. The search committee is focusing interviewing and presenting this candidate who will be considered in the coming month. More information will follow soon.

Thursday June 5th our Social Action Committee is sponsoring a panel discussion on Fair trade from 7-9PM in Immanuel Lutheran Church's Sanctuary.

We are preparing to take part in two neighborhood summer Festivals. The first is the Clark Street Festival Sunday July 13th, the second is August 23rd and 24th at the Glenwood Arts Festival. Soon you will be receiving communication about helping staff the Clark Street Festival and for setting up and taking down. If you'd like have your art in the booth for the Glenwood Arts Festive please talk with Larry.

In Christ,
Larry

Pentecost Sermon- Gathered Together in One Place

Sermon Texts:
Numbers 11:24-30
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Acts 2:1-21
John 20:19-23
(Possibly begin with a reflection on Krzysztof Kieslowski, the Decalogue) Lately, I have been beginning my sermons with a confession. I do so again tonight. I confess that Pentecost is a difficult feast for me. I am not sure what to make of the descent of the Holy Spirit, even though I come from a tradition seeks to live life of the Spirit. I understand what happened could even say that it is the birthday of the Church. Yet, I found that I struggled with what it all could mean. As a result I found myself taking refuge in theological abstraction, far from the ecstatic reality presented in Acts. The ecstatic reality is too tied to modern and contemporary interpretations of the Holy Spirit, Baptism of the Spirit and speaking in Tongues. Even though Kate speaks in tongues. I want us to know this reality of the descent of the Spirit upon the church and the Spirit’s continuing presence, but where do I begin? I confess this because I have a feeling that many of us perhaps most of us have a similar ambivalence. Many groups of Christians we are all aware of will appeal to this passage in acts for their ecstatic worship. Others appeal to this passage to speak for embracing of human diversity and multiculturalism. With all of this we may have a deer in headlights experience when it comes to Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. Many denominations and Christian groups don’t even celebrate it. In Covenant Church it varies but often even in churches where Pentecost is celebrated, on a day like today Mother’s day would trump the feast of Pentecost. Before I forget let me wish to all mothers here Happy Mother’s day. This is not a mother’s day sermon, except in the most furthest reach possible, for I do want to talk to us about the Church (not our congregation, not some denomination, but the body of Christ that began two Thousand years ago on that one day on the feast of Pentecost. For the Church that universal entity that sum that is greater than its parts, is called the Mother of all the faithful. The Lutheran Theologian Carl Braaten’s main work on the church is called Mother Church.

But I have wandered. So, we know what happened and we know the various uses to which Pentecost is put but what to make of it all? The Spirit comes and fills people, tongues of fire rest on peoples heads and those people start speaking in various languages, Luke tells us that every language known to the first century Mediterranean culture and the Roman Empire was spoken on that day. For Luke the entire world in the representatives of the Jewish Diaspora around the world of the first century represented the universality of the proclamation of the new covenant. This bit of this story probably makes us all quite comfortable as those well trained and schooled in multiculturalism and valuing of diversity(at least that is so with me). The Holy Spirit as the spirit of diversity is something we can all get on board with. Yet, there is this thing of the ecstasy of the moment, the rushing wind, the confusion at least to those nearby the upper room where all were gathered together in one place. We must face the speaking of languages that these Galileans did not know. What is this to be filled with the Spirit that one then is able to do what one could not do by one’s own power or under one’s own control? I will admit part of what I have found discomforting and objectionable to Pentecostal and Charismatic church services is being caught up in a group ecstasy, of the chaos that seems to be allowed even encouraged in those services. And of the more orderly charismatic services of some more mainstream churches that use the praise and worship style I am put off by what I experience as the manipulation of my emotions to produce an ecstasy. And yet here it is in the Scripture text. The Spirit is powerful and descends with the sound of a violent wind and without warning people begin to speak in different languages, and people sit up and take notice.

Rarely do the above two ways of appropriating and relating the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost get joined together. And equally as prevalent is the tendency to simply say yep the Spirit came down and we are to be filled with the Spirit and we just continue on as before. In the story of the descent of the Spirit there is the universal reach of the Gospel message beyond human boundaries and is shown through power and the ecstatic reality of being filled with the Holy Spirit. This begins to come to view when we understand that Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit is seen as the birth of the universal Church, the Body of Christ. By seeing Pentecost and the Descent of the Holy Spirit as the birth of the Church brings together the ecstasy and power of the Spirit and the diversity of the embrace of the Spirit. What is the meaning then of the confluence of these three ecstasy, diversity and founding of the church?

Why would this event be the birth of the church? Had not Jesus already gathered the 12 and the other followers that were then numbering 120 or so? Had not Jesus appeared to them and even commissioned them at the Ascension? The answer is yes and yet it is reported that Jesus instructs his followers to wait. Something is still lacking the Holy Spirit will come. Then another question should be why Pentecost, this feast of the Jewish year? Pentecost was the feast of first fruits, it is a harvest festival, but it also came to be associated with the giving of the Torah and thus the formation of the people of God Israel with the Covenant at Mount Sinai. The Numbers 11 is one of the founding stories of the People of Israel, takes in the midst of their time in the desert as they begin to live out their Covenant life under the Torah. God leads his people through those upon whom the Spirit rests. In this particular story there is a lifting of Moses’ burden but also it is yet another demonstration that the life of the people of Israel does not depend on human ingenuity and powers. In the surrounding story of this passage we see repeated both in Moses and the people the falling back on human power and vision, and God showing time and time again that unlike other communities and nations Israel is sustained by God and Spirit not by human power or leadership. It is after all the whole point of Egypt and Sinai the giving of the Torah: God takes slaves to be a Nation that is to represent God to all other nations.

How does this fit with Pentecost? Pentecost the feast of first fruits, a festival that shows that the People of Israel recognize that their life and sustenance does not come from their effort but from God’s life giving presence in the world, and so from the very first harvest in the climate of Palestine, they offer that which they have first harvested. Since the life of Israel also depends on the Torah the day also becomes associated with the giving of the Law (which came to be seen has happening 50 days after leaving Egypt). Pentecost then is about what is given and what we receive. Pentecost is about the life giving power of God and that we only live by that power.

The Spirit descends on a feast celebrating that all is from God, and which remembers the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Pentecost then reminds us that we are not to depend on our own efforts. As such then we do not on this day celebrate human community and the diversity of humanity. The Holy Spirit is not the human spirit but the Spirit of Christ, the Third person of the Holy Trinity. What is affirmed and shown in the descent of the Holy Spirit is the community of God, and we those gathered together by Christ in one place are upon whom the Spirit descends with power, not for the purpose of ecstasy, or for having a particular supernatural ability, but to show forth the purposes of God, that all may be joined in this community, in order that all may come to know God; Father Son and Holy Spirit.

I do not deny that this message of God’s universal love and invitation has been at times attached to particularities that have nothing to do with the Gospel or the divine community of the Trinity. However, we cannot allow that failure of some Christians to obscure the reality that by the descent of the Holy Spirit formed a new community whose boundaries are not human boundaries but is still a distinct group gathered together by Christ and upon whom the Spirit descended. What we then see in the rest of Acts and in history is that this community is expanded, as God joins to the 12 apostles and the 120 more and more people. This new expanding community consists of those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, and who affirm Jesus as Lord. Peter is clear that the fulfillment of the end times prophesy of Joel (In the last days) of God’s spirit being poured out on all flesh is fulfilled on that day 2000 years ago when the Spirit descended on the 12 and the 120 all gathered together in one place. The fulfillment of Joel is particular in extent but shows itself to be universal in scope. The invitation is not limited to a language or ethnicity or gender, or any other division or difference we can discover or invent. The particularity is in God. We are called to come into a particular community, to return to that relationship humanity had before the fall. But we are unable to form such a community. Only by being joined to God; being filled with the Spirit can we be part of this community. This community then becomes the witness of what God has done and God’s character, not upon our own power but as the Spirit gives us ability. Whatever we do, if it is working for justice, or to reveal and bring beauty to the world, or to speak truth into this world, or to live faithfully in the midst of a confusing and often sinful world, we do so to witness to God’s Kingdom, and we can give this witness only by the power of the Spirit. We are not the builders the Kingdom but are to be witnesses of its presence. We will not bring justice to the world; we cannot on our own bring beauty out of ugliness. By our own will we cannot make suffering and oppression and evil make sense or bring good from it. Only by the power of the Spirit can we do so. Ultimately, the center of this work of God by the power of the Spirit is the Church. When I say this I am not referring to this or that congregation you have been apart of in the past, not even this congregation of Reconciler. By “church” I mean the gathered people of God, the universal Church the body of Christ formed on that day some 2000 years ago when the Spirit descended upon the 12 Apostles and the 120, and upon whom the Spirit has remained till now. This is why in the Apostles Creed immediately after we confess belief in the Holy Spirit and then confess faith in the Holy Catholic Church. For the Holy Spirit that brings froth the church creates the church out of those Gathered together in one place. In the church we find the forgiveness of sins and are made one with the power of life and the Resurrection and so confess resurrection and the unending life that comes through being rejoined in communion with God. None of this happens in isolation, or simply between me and you as autonomous individuals and God, for god isn’t even an autonomous individual but a being that is a communion and community of three persons into which we are drawn as those Gathered together in one place. Only by living into this reality of life lived by the power of the Spirit, which is the reality of the Church, can we have the ability to witness to the Kingdom of God in the World.

Reconciler Update

REFLECTION

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the birth of the Christian church. It is also, coincidentally, Mother's Day. I find myself wondering...what might Pentecost and Mother's Day have in common?

Thursday was the feast day of Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century English nun and mystic. Julian lived in tumultuous times, experiencing the death of a king and archbishop, the Black Plague raging through Europe, the 100 years war between England and France. She had a near-death experience at the age of 30.

Julian experienced several revelations from Christ, which you can read about in her book Showings. She speaks of Jesus, among other things, as "Mother." For Julian, Jesus is the good mother who cares for us with infinite tenderness.

Understanding Christ as a good mother goes back to Augustine and other church fathers. It is not radical -- unless you understand "radical" in its literal sense of "getting back to the roots." Jesus himself says in Scripture "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings!" (Luke 13:34)

Despite the presence of female leaders, the early Church -- born on Pentecost -- later lost much of its egalitarian flavor, probably because it needed to survive in the very stratified Roman world. Historically the church has been a largely male defined and dominated institution Some find it helpful, as a counterbalance, to recall the qualities that transcend gender -- in Christ, God, and Holy Spirit. One Episcopal church that Numa and I used to attend spoke of the Holy Spirit as "She." The Hebrew word for spirit or breath, ruah, is feminine. Its Greek counterpart, pneuma, is neuter.

Last Sunday I was asked to speak to Immanuel's adult ed forum about "The Changing Role of Women in the Church,'" specifically about the journey of women toward ordination in the Episcopal church. One of the first women to be ordained an Episcopal priest, back in 1974, was Dr. Alla Bozarth-Campbell, a graduate of Seabury and Northwestern. She writes of her struggle for ordination in a book called Womanpriest. Bozarth-Campbell objected to the argument that women should be ordained because they bring "women's" qualities -- gentleness, nurturing, caring. In fact, these are human qualities. Male ministers also exhibit these qualities. The point is that women bring "human" qualities to ministry: leadership and rationality as well as warmth and cooperation. Bozarth-Campbell rejects a shallow breakdown of human qualities into "male" and "female." The idea behind women's ordination is to allow all persons to bring their human qualities to ministry, thus enhancing ministry, and allowing the minister to be a whole person.

We see in Scripture a God capable of wholistic behavior, who exhibits both "male" and "female" qualities -- love and wrath, strength and tenderness. We see those qualities also in Christ, the compassionate healer and the angry table-turner. We see a Holy Spirit that is both urgent as a flame and gentle as a dove.

Jesus refers to God in Scripture as "Abba" or "Daddy." Many people find this a compelling reason to continue to call God "Father." But other people, ordained and lay, find it helpful to understand God as beyond gender. They may feel comfortable calling God "Mother" as well as "Father," or understanding the Holy Spirit as feminine. They may find refreshment in Julian of Norwich's idea of Christ as the Good Mother.

The point is not simple political correctness, nor to try to re-make God in female image. The point is that Genesis tells us God created both man and woman in God's image. Thus there must be something of the female, as well as the male, in God.

Bozarth-Campbell and many others are concerned that women are left out of the Church through exclusive language -- only male pronouns for the Trinity, mostly male characters in Scripture -- and how that can contribute to women feeling invisible or powerless in church settings and beyond.

I hope this Pentecost/Mother's Day you will feel included as a full member of the Body of Christ -- no matter your gender identity -- and know that Christ lived and died for love of you and all humanity, as he told Julian of Norwich. May you feel that the Holy Spirit lives and breathes in you.

Peace,
Laura+

The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
for the Pastoral Team

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Today, after our Pentecost liturgy, we will have cake and champagne to celebrate the birth of the church as recorded in Acts 2:1.

Our next Council meeting is May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the 'Nidge. All are welcome.

The Social Justice committee will host a panel of speakers on Fair Trade on Thursday, June 5th, in the sanctuary of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Mark your calendars.

Reconciler will again be participating in the Glenwood Arts Festival (and possibly the Clark Street Festival). Speak to Larry if you are interested in displaying your art. Speak to Kate or Daniel if you are interested in helping set up, staff, or break down our booth.

Jorge Sanchez will be our guest preacher on May 18, Trinity Sunday.

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Sermon for the Ascension: "Are Your Sleeves Rolled Up?"

Feast of the Ascension
May 4, 2005
Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 47, Ephesians 1:15-23; Gospel: Luke 24: 49-53
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell, preacher
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I’ve been blessed in my life with several good mentors. And it’s often some years AFTER they’ve been physically present in my life, that I’m able to fully internalize what they have taught me. I find myself saying things they’ve said to me. Or as I face a new challenge, I think, “I wonder what X would have done.”

As important as good guidance is, the point of our relationships with mentors is NOT to develop a dependency. Not to become a clone of them but to become more fully ourselves. This is ultimately an empowering, freeing thing.

Ever take a day off from work, or your family, only to find that they had managed quite well without you, thank you? Sometimes we bless others by withdrawing – if only temporarily – and giving them more responsibility.

Today’s gospel from Luke says that “While Jesus was blessing them he withdrew from them.”

How does Jesus bless his disciples while withdrawing from them?

Well, let’s look at how they responded to his ascension. They spent a lot of time in the temple, joyfully praising God. They also spent a lot of time praying in the upper room, along with Jesus’ mother and brothers, and some other women. Then they went out and did a lot of hard work in Jesus’s name. They became the teachers, and went on to bless a lot of other people’s lives. They grew. They struggled. And through them, Jesus continued to be present.

How does Jesus bless us, having withdrawn from us on earth?

He’s with us in spirit. But now we are blessed with a job to do; we’re not just passive students. Like the disciples, we are to carry on Jesus’s work. We are to become spiritually mature, even imitators of Christ. The author of Ephesians writes that we are to grow into the full stature of Christ. I love that phrase. It makes me feel like I ought to stand up straighter.

God expects us to grow up. Our faith is not meant to be a dependency. It’s something that strengthens us, yes, it’s something we can lean on, but it’s not a crutch. God needs our help to transform this world. You don’t have to look really close to see that there’s tremendous work to be done, to make this fragile island earth into a decent home for all. Talk about your fixer-upper.

So how do we do our part to bring God’s kingdom into existence on earth? And where’s our mentor Jesus, while we are to do all this work in His name?

Jesus is here when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the sick, or visit those in prison. He’s there when we stand up for the rights of all people. Jesus said that when we reach out to people whom he called “the least of these” we do it for him. We are to see the face of Christ in everyone, especially people who live without hope.

Where else is Jesus present? He’s with us at Communion. This is what we mean by Real Presence. In some mysterious way – that in my tradition, as good Anglicans we don’t try to pin down -- the bread and wine also become the body and blood of Christ. He’s really there.

Jesus is present in our communities of faith. Whenever two or three are gathered in his name….he is there. Today’s reading from Ephesians describes the early Christian community at Ephesus. It presents the Ascension as the source of that community’s empowerment. It describes a community alive with faith and love and optimism, and the author’s hope that this church will only continue to grow in wisdom and revelation through Christ.

Jesus is present in our Scripture and tradition. And when we reflect on and question Scripture and tradition. As humans we’ve been blessed with reason, memory, and skill. I think God expects us to use them in all aspects of our lives, including our faith journeys.

Growing into the full stature of Christ means we don’t have to passively relate to Scripture and tradition. As spiritual grown-ups, we can use our own hearts and minds to learn from and nterpret them. We are the church and the church is something that evolves over time, growing we hope into the full stature of the body of Christ.

So, friends, what does the Ascension mean for us? How do we understand this highly mystical event? Whether we understand it literally or not, it has meaning for us.

On a symbolic level the Ascension means that everything on earth has been taken up with Jesus and blessed. What’s earthly is sacred. What we do here matters to God. All people and nations matter. Creation matters.

The Ascension also means that we’re no longer passive students. We’re coworkers with God. We need to take ownership to make God’s kingdom a reality on earth. Surely there is a corner that you or I can clean up, someone we can help tomorrow and the next. day

And where is Jesus, our saviour and mentor, after the ascension? Tradition tells us that he has ascended to the right hand of the Father. There is this aspect of the Ascension, that focus on the eternal, on the Jesus who is “up there” or “out there, ” ‘seated at the right hand of the Father”…somewhere on the time-space continuum.

But today… I’m asking us to focus on his presence here with us. To think about how Jesus lives in and among us. How although withdrawn from us he continues to bless us. How he lives in the poor and downtrodden, and our willingness to bless their lives. How he is present in our life and faith, and our questions about life and faith. He’s in our doubts, and our ability to grow spiritually and take responsibility. He’s in our faith communities. He in you and me. And, my friends, we’ve got work to do.

I close with these words from the Christian mystic Theresa of Avila, which capture the here-and-now essence of the Ascension.

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out to the world.
Yours are the feet with which Christ is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which Christ is to bless all people now.”

Brothers and sisters….are your sleeves rolled up?

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