Ascension Walsingham via Bosco Peters at http://liturgy.co.nz/ascensionday
We are living between the days of Jesus’s ascension and Pentecost when the gift of the Holy Spirit was received. It must have been a challenging time, hoping yet I am sure also doubting. Could the disciples really believe the amazing things that had happened in the previous 40 days. Was it all an illusion? Had Jesus really been resurrected? And what happens now? Was he still with them?
I am sure that his followers, all 120 of them gathered for support and comfort. I can imagine them sharing their doubts and their fears, praying for strength and courage to go out and do the things Jesus asked of them. I can imagine them wondering if it was all a dream, and praying for faith, for equipping and for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
Not much difference from where we are at today. God’s people are always gathering, waiting for the spirit to fall in fresh ways, waiting and hoping for manifestations of God’s spirit that will equip and strengthen us to go out into the world and be spread as light and love. And like the disciples we wait hopefully but unsure. We wait expectantly, but fearfully. Can we really accomplish what Jesus asks of us?
We live at a time when numbers in churches are declining. We are concerned, fearful, wondering if God’s presence in the world is declining. Yet there are still 1 billion people who call themselves Christians. Imagine if the spirit fell on all of us igniting us with the same fire that filled those early disciples. This world would indeed be transformed and God’s new world of wholeness and abundance would indeed come in its fulness.
Lord Jesus Christ
You have ascended into heaven.
Do not leave us alone.
Do not leave us comfortless,
In this season between the times
Of promise and fulfillment.
Come to us Lord Jesus
Send your spirit.
Let it fill us.
Let it strengthen and equip us.
Come to us Lord Jesus,
Send your spirit.
Let it prepare us,
Let it proclaim who you are.
Come to us Lord Jesus
Set your spirit.
Let it ignite and spread,
Let it multiply your presence,
Let it shape your world,
with love and peace and generosity.
Amen.