The work of the Spirit is to give liberty.

In Corinthians 3:17 we find Paul saying to the church, ‘By “the Lord” what I mean is the Spirit, and in any heart where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is liberty.’

The story is told of an aspiring artist who was commissioned to create a large sculpture for a famous museum. At last he had the opportunity to create the masterpiece he had long dreamed of. After labouring over the work for many years, he saw it grow not only in shape but in beauty. But when it was finished he discovered to his horror that it was much too large to be taken out a window or door and that the cost for tearing down part of the building in order to remove it was prohibitive. His masterpiece was forever a captive to the room in which it was created.

Someone once said that he had on his table a violin string. It is free to move in any direction he liked. If he twisted one end, it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So he takes it and fixes it into his violin. He binds it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.

The Scottish theologian William Barclay qualifies the biblical freedom as, “Christian freedom does not mean being free to do as we like: it means being free to do as we ought.” At some point, every Christian needs to realise that they are free in Christ but what does that mean. Freedom in Christ is being free to be the person God wants us to be and that means becoming more like Jesus. This means that we can live as people Christ has freed and continues to free through the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, I long to walk in the full freedom that You give.  Break the chains of the law, sin and addiction. Free me to live with joy and worship without restrain. I’ll love You and live for You because You’ve freed me to do so.  I choose You.  You’re my love.  I receive Your freedom by faith in Jesus name, amen.

The work of the Spirit is to impart life

In a classic “Peanuts” comic strip, Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for psychiatric help. He says, “What can you do when you don’t fit in? What can you do when life seems to be passing you by?” 

Lucy leads Charlie away from her booth and says, “Follow me. I want to show you something. 

See the horizon over there? 

See how big this world is? 

See how much room there is for everybody? 

Have you ever seen any other worlds?” 

Charlie replies meekly, “No.” She continues, “As far as you know, this is the only world there is…Right?” Even more meekly, Charlie says, “Right.” Lucy presses on, “There are no other worlds for you to live in…Right?” Charlie admits, “Right.” “You were born to live in this world…Right?” “Right,” says Charlie. Lucy then explodes, “Well, live in it then! Five pence, please.” 

While we may disagree with Lucy’s counselling technique, we recognise she is on to something. We need to make the most of our lives and really live. The renowned New Testament Scholar N T Wright  suggests that this is the work of the HolySpirit. “Those in whom the Spirit comes to live are God's new Temple. They are, individually and corporately, places where heaven and earth meet.”

In Romans 8 we read, “Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms.”

Life-giving God,

we stand in Your presence

to offer You thanksgiving and praise

for all that You have done for us.

Through the life, death and resurrection of Your Son,

Jesus Christ,

we have been set free—

free from the power of sin that leads to death,

free to follow the leading of Your Holy Spirit,

free to love You with all our heart and soul and strength,

free to worship!

May Your Holy Spirit inspire our praise and our prayers.

Open our hearts and minds

to Your presence among us and within us,

and to the Word You have for us today.

To You alone, life-giving God,

belongs all praise and honour and glory and blessing,

now and to the end of time.

Amen.

The Ascension

 “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. Luke 24:51-53

Even as he leaves the disciples and sends them as witnesses Jesus reminds them that he had to suffer, die and rise. As we face the world into which Jesus sends us may we acknowledge that the marks of his suffering will identify us as his disciples.

As we stay before Jesus who lifts his hands in blessing over us I wonder if we can accept his trust in us as he sends us in his name.

Jesus promises that his disciples will be clothed with power from on high. We may also think think of those gifts of the Spirit that are necessary for us in  life. May we pray that we shall be prepared to receive them. 

But through all this we may well ask, why the Ascension?…. because….

Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God,

a new world has broken into ours—

a world in which justice does come for the poor,

freedom comes for the prisoners,

and healing for the sick.

Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God,

a new community has been formed—

a community that loves and cares for all members,

a family that welcomes all who are abandoned and rejected,

a place where all find a place of belonging.

Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God,

a new creation has begun— 

all that was distorted is being restored,

all that is corrupted is being renewed,

all that was broken is being made whole.

Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God,

God’s new world has begun. 

Almighty God,

we praise and thank you for making us children of God,

not through our own power and piety

but through our baptism into crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.

We turn daily to you,

and in that turning we find peace, courage and purpose.

Make your whole church a witness.

to the great good news of Christ's resurrection.

God of the risen Jesus, hear our prayer. Amen

Towards the Ascension

Luke 24:50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 

Here is a description of the Ascension by one of the many the witnesses in the form of a monologue.

Oh! I didn’t see you there. Well, he’s gone—just left, in fact. I can’t quite believe it—it’s not like we have a plan in place, or any of us really know what to do next. What now? Obviously I can’t keep standing here, but . . .what else am I gonna do?

And I think this time it may be permanent, not like before when he’d come and go, and we’d run into him days later somewhere else in Galilee. 

What? Oohhh. . . .sorry, I guess I thought you knew who I was talking about. 

Remember a month or so back, around the Passover, when the Romans executed that traveling teacher? Yeah, that one: the healer and storyteller and critic of the religious establishment. 

Uh-huh. 

And then. . .well, you may not have heard this part, but (whispering) after about three days later he appeared to us. (full voice) 

Yeah. Not dead. Couldn’t quite account for it. . . . God just. . . .raised him. There’s no other explanation. ‘Cause none of us are crazy. I mean, we know the difference between real and pretend. And he was really dead. I saw it myself. And then he wasn’t. Saw that too.

So you’ve heard those rumours too, about us followers overpowering the guards at the tomb and stealing the body? (rolling eyes). 

Seriously. Look at us. Do we seem like the kind of people who could pull that off? If he hadn’t appeared to us and told us to let go of our fear, we’d still be hiding behind locked doors. Nope. We’re about the best advertisement there is that he’s really risen. Nothing else could have snapped us out of it.

So. . . like I was saying, I’m not sure what’s next. 

He did mention a while back that we were going to receive some kind of power. So I guess the best plan is to sit tight and pray for the whatever-it-is. . .yeah, the Holy Spirit, that’s it, to give us power to. . . . Well, I’m not sure exactly. Be witnesses. You’d think he could have spelled it out a little more than that. But that was always how he was, saying stuff like, “If anyone has ears to hear, let them listen.” What does that mean, anyway? We all got ears!

He also used to tell all these stories about people who weren’t ready and who missed it, like the foolish bridesmaids who were off shopping for supplies and missed the wedding banquet. I don’t plan on being like one of them—I don’t want to miss anything. So I’m gonna follow those vague directions we did get—go back into town and wait with the rest of them (the rest of the followers, I mean) and pray and stay put until something happens. I’m sure it will. There was that moment after he died when I had my doubts, but the truth is, God hasn’t let us down yet, and I don’t see any reason that would change anytime soon.

Lord of life, 

We do not know the face of the future,

any more than your disciples did. 

Like them, we have many questions:

how to live 

how to bear witness. 

Like them, we thirst for the spring waters of the Spirit 

to inspire us in our living 

to give us a heart language in our testimony.

You have been raised in glory

that we might rise with dignity 

You live in power that we might live in peace 

You are present everywhere

that we might be fully present in our own lives 

This we believe 

This we step out on

Towards the Ascension

John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We continue with the words of Jesus to is disciples and I think it was the peace that Christ promised that enabled them to worship, rejoice and return to Jerusalem following Jesus’ Ascension.

His farewell also  includes a gift of peace. ‘Peace!’ (Shalom) is the normal Jewish greeting and farewell and Jesus uses it when he appears to his disciples after the Resurrection. Originally it meant soundness of body but it came to signify perfect happiness and the liberation which the Messiah was expected to bring. This is the very wholeness which is the aim of Jesus’ mission.

But it is not the peace as the ‘world’ understands it. Peace for Jesus is not simply the absence of violence. It is something much more positive, much deeper. Paradoxically, it can exist side by side with times of great turmoil. It is something internal, not external. It comes from an inner sense of security, of a conviction that God is with us and in us and that we are in the right place. It is something which not even the threat of death can take away.

Although Charles Wesley had been engaged in preaching the gospel with much diligence and earnestness, he did not know what it was to enjoy peace with God until he was in his thirtieth year. Being laid low by an alarming illness, and seeming as if he were going to die, a young Moravian named Peter Bohler, who was undergoing a course of preparation by him to go out as a missionary, asked him, "Do you hope to be saved?" Charles answered, “Yes."

"For what reason do you hope it?" "Because I have used my best endeavours to serve God," was his reply. The Moravian shook his head and said no more.

That sad, silent, significant shake of the head shattered all Charles Wesley's false foundation of salvation by endeavours. He was afterwards taught by Peter Bohler the way of the Lord more perfectly, and brought to see that by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ men are justified. And now in his sick-room, he was able to write for the first time in his life, "I now find myself at peace with God"; and it was on this occasion he composed that beautiful hymn, "O for a thousand tongues to sing my great… with the verse that says…

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

that bids our sorrows cease,

'tis music in the sinner's ears,

'tis life and health and peace.

Pour out Your Spirit on us! Fix our hearts and minds on what is true and honourable and right. Give us the joy and peace that comes from knowing and doing Your will. Keep us faithful to the call we have received in Christ Jesus, our Lord, extending Your loving invitation to the world around us. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Towards the Ascension

John16: 31-33 “So you believe in me now?” replied Jesus. “The time is coming, indeed, it has already come, when you will be scattered, every one of you going home and leaving me alone. Yet I am not really alone for the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may find your peace in me. You will find trouble in the world—but, never lose heart, I have conquered the world!” (J B Phillips)

There is an ancient legend that tells of Jesus’ ascension into heaven.  Jesus is met by the angel Gabriel who asks, “Now that your work is finished what plans have you made to insure that the truth you brought to earth will spread throughout the world?”

Jesus answer “I called some fishermen, a tax-collector and a few women to walk along with me as I did my Father’s will."

“Yes I know about them” said Gabriel, “but what other plans have you made?”

Jesus replied, “I taught Peter James and John about the kingdom of God. I taught Thomas and Philip about faith.   And all of them were with me as I healed and taught.”

Gabriel began to lose patience.  “Now all this is well and good but surely you must have other plans, like a plan B or something to make sure your work was not in vain”.  Jesus with a steady gaze on Gabriel said, “I have no other plans.  I am depending on them.”

These words of Jesus in John 16 are the foundation and basis for Christian hope. Our hope in life is based on the victory of Jesus over death, and on his ongoing presence in our lives. His is a saving and energising presence, and it gives the courage and conviction we develop in prayer. He has conquered anything that can make for discouragement and despair and continue the work he has started.

Creator God,

may your peace 

go with us wherever we will be this day

May you guide us through the challenges,

protect us when in need

and inspire us with your love.

May we acknowledge your presence

in all the human goodness we will see.

May you bring us home rejoicing

to our place of rest this night.

Creator God,

we now go into this day 

in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Easter 6

 Glory to you, O Christ:

by your death you have destroyed death

and by your resurrection you have brought life and immortality to light

Jesus appears to the Seven by the Lake 

The ones who had caught nothing 

Risen Lord, though we long to be labourers in your harvest and partners in your mission - reveal to us the strategies of your kingdom and the accents of your love.

Alleluia. Christ is risen 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia

 

1 We fished all night, and nothing caught;

Relentless toil, with nothing brought

Into our boat upon the sea

Not one mere morsel, payment, fee.

2 Then on the distant shore we saw

A mystery, a shape, a lure

Of one who called for us to cast

Our nets and pull to shore and moor.

3 Our rope did strain, our nets did bulge

With gunnels topped we gapped amazed.

Then Peter, with a shout did yell,

It is the Lord, praise him he’s raised.

4 So shoreward bound we made our way

And found a charcoal fire ablaze.

There with the master we  partook

And ate a heart felt meal with praise.

5 Lord, at each meal each table spread

May I your living presence know; 

And in the joy of being fed

See love and mercy over flow.

Artwork and Verse by Rev'd Paul Collings