Gathered into Beloved Community
A Reflection on the Ascension
RCL Easter 7C
2 June 2019
Holy Trinity Cathedral
New Westminster BC
John 17.20-26
17.20 [Jesus continued to pray,] “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
In the summer of 1976 I accompanied a group of high school students on their trip to what was then East and West Germany. Because the organizer of the trip, my former supervising teacher when I was a student teacher, had connections in southern Germany, much of our time was spent in Bavaria with two brief excursions, one to Berlin, the other to Austria.
One of our jaunts took us to a monastery on the Danube near the city of Regensburg. As we toured the grounds, we entered into the chapel which as an ornate example of Baroque church architecture. On the ceiling was a painting of the Ascension of Christ, although all that was visible of Christ were his feet disappearing into the cloud. Wide-eyed apostles looked up with mixed expressions of awe and not a little trepidation.
Around the base of the dome was a walkway with an ornate bannister. Obscured by the magnificent decoration all around him was a life-sized figure of the chapel’s architect dressed in late seventeenth-century clothes. He looked down on us as we looked up at him, our necks aching, his face wearing a cheeky grin. He seemed to know something that we did not know about what the Ascension meant for us lowly mortals, craning with our necks to catch a last glimpse of our Lord, our Saviour, the Son of God.
There are many dimensions to God’s mission as embodied in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that one of the more important dimensions was --- and is and will be --- is to gather people of every race and nation, people of all genders and ages, people of every social status and experience, into a beloved community, a community at one which each other just as Jesus is at one with the Holy One our God. This beloved community transcends time and place. This beloved community is gathered not into a closely-guarded, self-interested club but into a human society with open hearts, open hands and open minds. In this beloved community diversity is not something to be feared but to be embraced. In this beloved community questions are encouraged rather than discouraged. In this beloved community love means being always prepared to say, ‘I’m sorry’, and to work towards restored life-giving relationships.
This is what Jesus came to do. And once this community was gathered by his teaching, tested by his arrest, trial and death, then re-energized and empowered by his resurrection, Jesus’ earthly work was done. His time had come to hand over his work to us, his continuing presence in the world.
I remember a joke that was circulating among my classmates when I was in seminary. After his ascension Jesus arrives in heaven and is greeted by the archangels. They ask him for an ‘executive summary’ of what he had accomplished during his time on earth. So Jesus tells him about his teaching and miracles, his joys and sorrows, and something about the people whom he had gathered around him.
‘So,’ one of the archangels asks Jesus, ‘what’s the next step in your plan?’ ‘Well,’ Jesus says, ‘I’ve asked my apostles and disciples to share what I’ve taught them with everyone they meet.’ One of the other archangels says, ‘That’s the plan? What’s the back-up if they don’t follow your instructions?’ ‘There is no back-up plan,’ Jesus says.
Friends, there is no back-up plan to God’s mission in Jesus other than the work of the church, this beloved community of old and young, wise and foolish, eager and weary, rich and poor, who have been called by God from everyday life to share in God’s mission restore right relationships.
The heart of that mission is the gathering of all of humanity into beloved community, one small cell at a time. It’s hard work and we often feel inadequate to the task and discouraged by the results of our efforts. Sometimes we want to find a ‘saviour’, whether in the person of a charismatic leader or some inspiring program from our diocesan or national church.
But charismatic leaders come and go. Inspiring programs are useful but only for a time. But we, God’s beloved community, remain. Our stories shared with our friends, neighbours and family about the help, hope and home we have found here are more convincing that we imagine. Our care of the vulnerable and needy speaks eloquently about what we believe and value.
So, instead of looking up at Christ’s feet disappearing into the clouds above, let’s look down at our feet. Where we stand is sacred ground, whether in the church at worship or in the kitchen feeding the hungry. Let’s look at our hands. Whether they are stretched out in prayer and praise or they are holding someone in need or distress, our hands are Christ’s hands.
Jesus came to gather us here as a cell of the beloved community coming into being throughout time and space. But there’s more to God’s mission and next week we’ll learn just a bit more.
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