Ascentiontide...God's kingdom: Our character

I am known for my peculiar affection for seasons; the weather seasons in the UK (or at least the seasons we should have), but also the liturgical seasons. Some seasons are widely observed: Lent, Advent and Easter (in that order I should add). But there are other, less formal, seasons that excite me.

So...allow me to speak up for the 'season' of Ascensiontide.

Ascension Day baffles many, mostly because there is that tension of seeking to commemorate an actual event (Jesus going to heaven, quite whatever that means), while also celebrating the paradox of Jesus at the right hand of the Father, while also being present everywhere as King of the universe with his people in every place and every age. There's also the fact it's always on a Thursday and never quite gets the press it deserves.

So, naturally, Ascensiontide, the period between Ascension Day and Pentecost, might be expected to focus on these themes. Ascension Day is 40 days after Easter, and Pentecost (note the Pent- part of the word, as in five) is 50 days. There are, therefore, nine days between the two Holy Days.

However, I think the fact there are nine days is "almost too good to be true."

There are nine fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

How perfect is that?

As we consider Christ in glory, as King of the universe, we also look for signs of His kingdom here on earth. We pray (daily some of us) 'your kingdom come', which is as much about the present day, as that long awaited triumphant return. But as I look for signs of Christ's rule I am simultaneously looking for Christ's character, for he will rule as He is. And the Spirit comes in order to transform us more into Christ's likeness. Do you see the beauty?

As we meditate on His Ascension we are forced to petition the Spirit for a fresh anointing, a renewal, a transformation of our character to more accurately resemble our Risen Lord. Pentecost is a perfect conclusion to a micro-season of celebrating Christ's attributes as seen in the fruit, while reflecting on ways in which we need more of the fruit.

I accept that there is no way we can seriously reduce Jesus' character to nine attributes; it is admittedly artificial. Yet, the nine fruits of the spirit are an excellent framework, not only of Christ's character, nor only of a Christian's character, but in fact these values will be the foundational principles of God's kingdom when he comes. When we seek to be more loving, joyful, good, faithful...etc...we aren't seeking self-improvement, or more Christ-likeness (though these things occur) we are becoming the very answers to our prayer: 'May Your kingdom come...'

Ta da!!!!

Sounds cool, eh?

I invite you to spend a portion of each day leading up to Pentecost to reflect on each of the fruits, praying that you might better understand a) where the fruit speaks of Christ's life and passion, b) where in our own life we need more of that fruit, and c) how God's kingdom will be seen around us as we all seek more of these values.

Practically...and I hope this isn't too obvious here's the list (with the dates for 2014 in brackets):

Day 1 LOVE (Friday 30 May)
Day 2 JOY (Saturday 31 May)
Day 3 PEACE (Sunday 1 June)
Day 4 PATIENCE (Monday 2 June)
Day 5 KINDNESS (Tuesday 3 June)
Day 6 GOODNESS (Wednesday 4 June)
Day 7 FAITHFULNESS (Thursday 5 June)
Day 8 GENTLENESS (Friday 6 June)
Day 9 SELF-CONTROL (Saturday 7 June)

I hope you enjoy this if you do it. I'll be blogging each day. When I've written the blog I'll also create a hyperlink from this list too - so you need only come back here to find a link to every day's reflections.


Finally, I need to formally acknowledge John Methuen who wrote, in 2001, a paper for the Ripon Cathedral Liturgy and Music group from which I discovered this approach to Ascensiontide.

PENTECOST PRAISE

Sunday 19th May is PENTECOST SUNDAY.

And Bradford city centre will play host to an exciting festival of the Holy Spirit, seeking to bring together Christians from across the district and denominational spectrum...this will be an excellent opportunity to pray for the city, in the city, in the beautiful City Park, beside the Mirror Pool.

There will be a family fun day feel from 3pm, with activities and stalls

At 4.30pm a family picnic

Culminating in a worship service at 5pm.

I am excited to be leading the worship band at the service. We've brought together an exciting and talented bunch from across Bradford...it will be brilliant!

Back to Basics (Hebrews - Day 13)

Elijah (my son) is 20 months old today! Happy whateveritis!!

He is currently learning new words - and each newly mastered word makes Jen and me squeal with delight as we praise his development.

We won't be so excited if he's still saying "STAR!" on repeat in two year's time. By then I would expect him to have an actual conversation with me...indeed, by the time he's four I would like to think he'll even know the letters that make up the words that he says...his ABC.

In today's passage, Hebrews 5:11-14 we are told that the recipients of the letter, the Hebrews, need to go back to "basic principles"...their ABC.

Imagine that...you've been a Christian for a number of years and someone who you respect turns round and says, "...it's like you've not even learnt how to talk...and you should be teaching others by now". Brutal. Harsh. Honest.

Today's passage is very blunt: there are basics we come to learn about the faith (tomorrow's passage will reveal what these are), and then we move on. Furthermore, once you've mastered the basics teach someone else. This is a simple principle most teachers learn - if you want to learn something: teach someone about it.

I find this incredibly helpful in my witness. When I got asked about Ascension Day, of which I knew relatively little, I committed to going away, reading up, and then trying to 'teach' someone else what I'd learnt. You should try it!

When I talk to people about the cell group I facilitate, it's helpful to divide the group into two...into those who are still infants in the faith (not infantile...I stress!!), as opposed to those who are mature in the faith. Typically, you would expect a mature Christian to be one who has walked with Jesus for a long time - typically, in our cell, from birth. But that's not always the case - some new Christians quickly move to maturity. And this passage explains how.

A mature Christian is one who:
- Has understanding of the basics (again see tomorrow for a definition)
- Teaches others the ABC
- Has skill when dealing with the 'Word of Righteousness' (The Bible), and
- Is able to distinguish between good and evil

This is such a challenge!

Surely the writer is expecting too much?!?

But as ever I don't think this is beyond us. In a sense this simply points to the two elements of our daily walk: the Spirit and the Word.

We HAVE to learn to know, read and study God's word, to listen to sermons, to let the "oracles of God" seep into our thinking. God's word doesn't answer every situation, but it certainly directs my path, and sets before me examples of Holy living that inspire and encourage. (I want to, once again, remind people of the helpful pneumonic I use when studying the Bible: ASPECT. I'll blog about it here. In that approach we are encouraged under letter E, to think about the example in each passage...what can we learn from others). Most chiefly the Bible points us to Jesus!

- Have you stopped and read God's word today - for yourself - even for a few minutes?

- Do you need help learning how to read the Bible? ASK SOMEONE...please!

And then there's the Spirit, which is given to every believer. The Spirit comes into our heart and transforms us. In relation to mature Christians the Spirit gives us the strength to resist temptation, and the awareness to notice when sin is creeping up on us. The Spirit also inspires us when we talk to others. When we 'teach' others we shouldn't think of a teacher in front of a class of unruly teenagers, no! When you think of teaching someone think of how you might show someone how to bake, or sew, or play piano, or better yet...think of the baby you are encouraging to speak!

How many times do we go, "Say...Daddy.....go on.....say 'Daddy'..." etc

We devote time and effort into one person, simply helping them master a task.

- Are you aware that the Spirit is in you - guiding, leading and inspiring you today?

- Who might God be setting before you to whom you can teach the ABCs of the faith?


I encourage you today to commit your life with God to one where you won't ever have someone say to you..."you need to go back to Basics!"

Countdown to Pentecost - Day 1 of 9 - LOVE

Ascensiontide is a great time to reflect on both the exaltation of Jesus into heaven and the role of the Spirit in our lives.

We all too often fall into patterns of living that are marked by a complete disregard for the Lordship of Christ - he does not sit on our throne: we do. But then when we do feel drawn to live lives of holiness we all too frequently struggle in our own strength to be righteous, and utterly failing! We do not avail ourselves of the Spirit's empowering.

This is such a shame, for it is the Spirit's desire to transform us, and in so doing gives us present assurance of our salvation. This is so significant in a world that tells us uncertainty is king. We can look back over our life and see whether there has been evidence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and whether there is a long-term pattern of growth in my Christian life.

So, in an attempt to think through where the Spirit is at work in my life I will use each of the nine days between Ascension Day and before Pentecost to examine each of the fruits.

"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them"

(1 John 4:16)

So first up is love....oh boy!

As a husband (and now father) I am keenly aware of how often I fail to act in a loving way to my wife. I can be surly, grumpy, moody and generally a bit of an insensitive moron. Simply put: I am selfish.

And perhaps this is the heart of God's view on love - it is about self-sacrifice, selfishness is anathema to love. If the greatest love is seen in the way we lay down our lives for others, where do I behave in this way? Or am I not all too often self-seeking (1 Cor 13:5)?

As I've prayed this morning I am struck by the way Paul lists a number of the other fruit as signs of love: patience, kind, joyful, gentle... So in a sense love is the doorway. If we fail to love our self-control, our goodness is all meaningless, which is precisely the point Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 13; religious activity is pointless if we do not love.

We love, however, because we are loved first (1 John 4:10).

Our love is a response. And so it should be in our attitude to others, especially our 'loved ones'...notice that...my wife is my 'loved one'. She is loved by me, so she is my beloved. It would never work if I approach love as something I give after she gives it to me...like some bank witholding a loan before a person opens a current account. No...I'm to give my love away.

This is how God operates!

God reveals his love in Jesus (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9)

I was reminded yesterday that Romans 12:1, the great injunction to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, refers to 'God's mercies' as the motivating factor. What is God's mercy? That Jesus came to die for me, to rise for me, and to go before me into heaven to prepare an eternal home.

I am fascinated by the 5 languages of love stuff. Remarkably, I think Jesus shows each of us each of the signs: words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, receving gifts, and physical touch. He speaks to us from the pages of the Gospels, telling us how much God loves us (just think of the parables). He laid down his very life, devoting his 33 odd years to his great work of love - that's quality love. Act of service? I should think so.

And to follow these up, Jesus offers us the ongoing gift of the Spirit, who for many people offers a regular sense of God's touch in their lives.

Maybe I'm stretching these - but the point is clear - God loves us.

So what should I do today to seek more of God's love:
- Have I read the Gospels recently to hear Jesus' words for me?
- Do I seek my own way at home? Do I withhold my affection from my wife waiting to be loved first?
- Have I asked the Spirit to show me where I am unloving?

To end, it is worth quoting at length from 1 John...it's a remarkable overview of love:

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his
one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love:
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God
lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we
live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. "

1 John 4:7-13

The importance of Ascension Day

Booyah! We’ve done it…40 days for Lent, followed by 40 days for Eastertide…and so we arrive at the much neglected feast of the Ascension.

It’s fair to say that Christians who aren’t affiliated to liturgical/lectionary-following churches may not even consider this a ‘valid’ Christian celebration (they may not even know it exists!). Many Christians are more than happy to have a non-seasonal approach and content themselves with Easter and Christmas, others will be mindful of Palm Sunday, a smaller number will commemorate Good Friday, although, a number of churches do mark Pentecost.

But Ascension Day?....eh? What’s that? And more importantly, why is Ascension Day important to Christians?

Ascension Day remembers Jesus’ departure from earth, his ascension into heaven, recorded at length at the beginning of Acts (Acts 1:1-11). Jesus spends 40 days after his resurrection with the disciples, but finally he must leave, which he does in front of the disciples themselves. He is “taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from sight”. After this two angels appear to inform the eleven that Jesus would “come back in the same way you have seen him go”. While teaching prior to his ascension, Jesus has reminded the disciples of three things: firstly, the disciples were to wait for the anointing of the Holy Spirit; secondly, his return was not a matter to speculate on (see my blog on Jesus return); and thirdly, they were to witness, which the anointing was to equip them for.

So on one level, Ascension Day is about remembering these instructions.

However, there is a deeper, more complex theological significance to the feast.

Fulfilment of prophecy. Psalm 110 is quoted liberally throughout the New Testament. In it, King David prophetically sees “The LORD says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand.’” Jesus himself spoke about what would happen to him. John 14:12 he refers to his “going to the Father” (cf. John 14:2-3, 28; 16:5), even after his resurrection he is mindful that his ‘journey’ is not yet complete (John 20:17). This is a point much overlooked by protestant churches; there is a completeness in the cross and resurrection, but part of its application is the saving of humanity and its flesh.

Taking up of authority. God has given Jesus authority to reign now, as He is now in heaven. Remarkably, during his Pentecost sermon, Peter speaks of the Ascension as an ‘exaltation’ of Jesus (Acts 2:33). Peter has no sense that Jesus is merely out of sight, but very much exalted and reigning as he spoke – and this just ten days after seeing him ‘disappear’! Peter returns to this theme in his first letter stating that Jesus is “at God’s right hand” (1 Peter 3:22). Psalm 110 is referred to by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 where he refers to Jesus presently reigning, he does not consider Jesus reign as lying sometime in the future, he is seated “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion… not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20f. emphasis mine – showing that Paul sees both a present and future rule; see also Romans 10:6)

Honouring of humanity. Jesus’ exaltation fulfils prophecy, endows Him with authority, but by virtue of the fact Jesus ascends in a temporal body, it redeems our very flesh. Jesus does not ascend only as the Son of God, but also as the Son of Man:

"Jesus glorified our fallen and sinful humanity when He returned to the Father"

Jesus is welcomed into heaven, and in so doing God says ‘mankind can once more be in my presence’. During the season of Easter we read the story of Stephen’s martyrdom. As he prepares to die he says: “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”. Several points here: 1. Jesus is in heaven already; 2. He is seen as the Son of Man (the only time anyone other than Jesus uses the term); and 3. He is standing, which is seen as representing great authority (standing in His Father’s presence!). Stephen’s vision is one we are party to, and as a result we can confidently state the same of Jesus today. He is in heaven, right now as our ambassador. Jesus goes to prepare our way. This is a wondrous idea – that Jesus in his human body is now in heaven. This further paves the way for the glorification of our own bodies; Peter refers to the fact that we even now can participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). We do not have space here to consider the offices in which Jesus, as our representative, is now our mediator and priest in heaven.

Preparation for Pentecost. After the ascension we have a further ten days before we reach Pentecost. Therefore, in a liturgical sense, there is an element of preparation as we consider the part the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. Ascension Day can start this preparation.

[An important caveat: the lectionary returns to what is known as ‘Ordinary Time’ the very first day after Pentecost. This is because we don’t have a Pentecost-tide, or “season” to focus on the Spirit, for we are always, all-year-round blessed with the Spirit. We are never apart from His presence and activity. Indeed, it is possibly unhelpful to have a Christian calendar precisely for this reason. Just as at Christmas where we must always be careful not to pretend we are waiting for Jesus’ first coming, so with Pentecost we must not think we are to imitate the disciples in the Upper room waiting for his outpouring – the Spirit is with us right now! This should also restrain the temptation to marginalise Ascension themes in Ascensiontide in favour of Pentecost prep…]

There is, nevertheless, the need to consider afresh the degree to which we permit the Spirit to have influence and authority in our life. Do we, for instance, resist the gifts of the Spirit? Are we prone to sins that flatly contradict the fruit of the Spirit? Do I ignore the work of the Spirit as He pricks my conscience about sins in my life? Not only personally, but corporately, are our churches marked by a keen sense that the Spirit guides, leads and directs? Are our services marked by human effort or the Spirit’s enabling? Do we preach about the Spirit, indeed? Fundamentally, do we recognise that on Ascension Day we can celebrate that as a result of Jesus going to heaven he was able to send the Spirit—no Ascension, no Pentecost.

All this is well and good, but what practical response might Ascensiontide prompt? A few questions and ides:

1. Do I submit to Jesus authority in my life? Or am constantly battling to be the ‘boss of me’? Do I see Jesus as merely my Lord, or Lord of all?



2. When did I last speak to someone about what Jesus has done in my life? Do I chat with my wife and family about my relationship with God?



3. Do we have a present trust that Jesus will return? Does this provoke a holiness of life, or am I ‘asleep on the job’?



4. What experiences of the Spirit have I had recently? Am I exercising my gifts? In what ways am I being more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled?
   Perhaps we should use the nine days after Ascension, and before Pentecost, to meditate each day on each of the fruits?
   Friday 3rd June Love 1 John 4:16
   Saturday 4th June Joy Philippians 4:4
   Sunday 5th June Peace Philippians 4:7
   Monday 6th June Patience Romans 5:4
   Tuesday 7th June Kindness Ephesians 4:32
   Wednesday 8th June Goodness Ephesians 5:9
   Thursday 9th June Faithfulness Revelation 2:10
   Friday 10th June Gentleness Philippians 4:5
   Saturday 11th June Self-control Titus 1:8
   [I am particularly grateful to John Methuen for this idea]



5. Knowing that Jesus’ ascension fulfils prophecy does this give me more confidence when asked about Jesus?



6. Do I have a negative view of humanity? Do I treat my body with disrespect?
   

Ascension Day is a great time in the year to celebrate Jesus Lordship, he was prophesied to come, to die, to raise to life, and then to ascend on high. In heaven he now mediates on our behalf, seeks to be our Lord and sends the Spirit to aid us. Meanwhile, we cling with hope and fervent trust that just as Jesus left we can know he will, one day, return!

REFERENCES
Orthodox Family Life (1999)'The Meaning and Importance of Ascension' [Online]
Available: http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/feasts/ascen.htm [2 June 2011]

The presence of the Holy Spirit

This morning's readings continue in Luke (which we'll now continue with until 31 July when we reach the end of chapter 24), but repeats the passage we covered at the annunication.

Yesterday I met with two brothers to pray and used five formation questions taken from Richard Foster's book 'Prayer', which in turn he has taken from Wesley as a means of promoting vital growth. The purpose of the meeting was just this - to promote vital growth.

One of the questions is - What movements of the Holy Spirit have I experienced?

I must confess to finding this a difficult question to answer. Not least because on a day-to-day basis I do not find myself either trusting God for present empowering, but also I do not exercise the spiritual gifts God has given me.

It is interesting that Gabriel informs Mary that "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35). It is the Spirit who will cause Mary to conceive - it is not just that the Spirit will rest on Jesus (thus making Him holy), but that Mary herself will require the empowering presence of God to help knit together this child. The word 'overshadow' has negative connotations. I think of how one might refer to a good performance being overshadowed by either a better performance, or a bad situation.

However, here the idea that Mary's efforts will be overshadowed by God's efforts are cause for celebration.

And yet in my life, day-by-day I cannot say that I am overshadowed by God's presence?

When I think about all that I'm called to do each day, the people I need to serve, the prayers that need praying, the temptations to face, and the raw physical energy demanded - how do I ever think I can continue in my own strength? Why do I not actively seek movements of the Spirit?