On the Sunday after the Ascension.
Easter 7: 12th May, 2002
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
From the collect for this day:
"...leave us not desolate, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us,...."
Listening yesterday morning early to my favourite News Radio, one of the announcers commented on what a terrible week it had been – what with several air crashes, more suicide bomb blasts in Israel perhaps a ferry sinking, and more unrest all over the place. At least we heard of the end to the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem: at least there was not a blood bath there. There have been worse weeks. But it is not hard to get just a little depressed. It is in that context that the annual urgency of the collect for this day – leave us not comfortless – takes on a sharpness and a poignancy. For no matter how hard we try, or how brilliant we may perceive our resources to be, this world does not seem to be the way it should. Despite all that we have, more is needed. Despite all that we have and enjoy here, we are conscious and deeply aware that this is not shared by so many others. And today, in the annual cycle of the Church year, we are called together by a prayer, (the Lord's high priestly prayer in John 17), and we are called to prayer.
Both epistle and gospel today show us the gathered community at prayer. Acts 1 gave us a description of the scene immediately after the Ascension. The eleven disciples, the women, Mary the Mother of the Lord and others: "All there with one accord devoted themselves to prayer..." (Acts 1:11). The gospel is a prayer. This is the prayer and the meditation placed by John as said with and for the gathered disciples at that Last Supper. The Lord talked and prayed long into the night before going out into the garden of Gesthemane. His concern is particularly for the communities to be left behind after he is no longer with them.
These are communities that have been brought into being by the teachings and the example of Jesus. These are the people who left their nets and followed him. These are the tax collectors , the sinners, the respectable and the not so respectable, the men and women who have turned away from their previous patterns of living completely to live in the way that he had encouraged them to do. More immediately, the tumbled events of Holy Week and Easter, and now the Ascension, provide the context. Their leader had been brutally executed. He had been wonderfully raised from the dead. He had promised continuing gifts, continuing discernment, new inspiration. And the process is not to stop there. In the same manner as the Lord had had impact on each of them as individuals, so now these communities are themselves to have an impact on the wider world by what they teach, how they live, what they suffer, how they bring new life. At least that is the prayer; that is the hope.
But first there is this prayerful pause, this significant pause. Strength and guidance and power well beyond normal and reasonable expectations are going to be required. The celebration next weekend of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost presents the proclaimed answer to those prayers and hopes. It is the annual proclamation of hope and promise, waiting to be lived and claimed.
At decisive moments the Scriptures present individuals or communities at prayer – in explicit contact with God. Prayer is communication, offering, silent reflection; it is relationship, peace-giving praise, cry for help or discernment – so many varied possibilities. It is all these things and more.
Prayer for those gathered first Christians as recorded today in Acts would certainly have included the prayers for strength, reassurance and comfort, but also for clear guidance. What was now to be the purpose and the direction of this little group? There was a real question here: how are the obvious needs of that particular group itself to be balanced with the need to look beyond itself in a creative and generous way that will in turn spread the good news and make a positive difference in the lives of others? There was a focus of prayer for that group sure enough. But it is also the prayer of every Christian community.
Again, the Scriptures offer us some hope here. In both Old and New Testaments the overall narrative points to the power of God to draw together communities where formerly there were none, and to draw out of individuals and groups qualities and gifts that were not before apparent. In other words, gift and grace is at work. The Exodus saw a people emerging from a disparate and discontented assortment of opportunistic exiles. The widely varied range of those who responded to the Lord's call in the gospels is again a matter for hope and encouragement. Such a range of experiences, such a range of social backgrounds – some so very unrespectable, some community leaders. The Lord's prayer for them all was that they be made one. The prayer was for the unifying power of God to constitute community and common purpose where there was none.
So this then is the time when the Church too now is called to prayer, to reflection and to reconsideration. It should therefore come as no surprise therefore that it is this time in the Church year in Australia that has been set aside for the prayers across the Christian traditions, for the Unity of all Christians. For many years, this week of prayer for Christian Unity has reminded us of how far we have already come, and still of how far we have yet to travel on that path. But we are glad to proclaim the witness we do share. Here in Melbourne, the remarkable City Churches Way of the Cross project is a shining example and encouragement, now close to completion. Consider the range of Christians so publicly together as evidenced by the placement of the various stations through the central city and the public devotions each Good Friday.
Our gathering too in worship or our gathering in acts of care or service, is done in the hope and the belief that the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ is actively present with and in us, bringing us together, bringing us closer in our knowledge and love of God. We believe and hope this because in part it is our experience, in part it is what we see, and in part it is what we have received in word and witness from others through the centuries. Today's gospel is explicit. The Lord is praying to God that eternal life will be given 'to all whom God has given him'. And what is this eternal life? It is first relationship. "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (Jn 17:3)
There is meant to be huge encouragement here. The Lord's priestly prayer that is today's gospel is a prayer for us and for every Christian community everywhere. He is praying for us. "I am asking on their behalf...on behalf of those you gave me, because they are yours." (Jn 17:9) We are God's people, we are God's care and concern. We are called to live and be this reality. And not in our own powers and gifts alone. This is indeed encouraging.
So this Sunday before Pentecost, the seventh and last of the Easter season, we are called to prayer. Next week there is the celebration once again of the transforming gifts of the Spirit which constituted the infant Church. We will rejoice that Archbishop Rowan Williams will be with us to lead us in this celebration... In both our prayers and in our celebrations we will be led to reconsider our part individually, and as a church, in that never ending process of renewal, of new life and hope, that is ours to share.
From the collect for this day:
"...leave us not desolate, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us,...."
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