The hospitality of strangers

I know, I know, I have already said more than once that I have a real sense of privilege at being able to be here – both in Palestine and at this hospital. To be given the time for a period of Extended Study Leave (ESL – aka Sabbatical – but not anymore… I believe this is so that there is a sense of purpose about it...) to undertake activities, study, prayer and worship that are both of interest and that ‘call’ to me is a privilege not afforded to all that many people. It is for this reason that I had a sense of wanting to use the time ‘well’ – to ensure that there was no sense of wasting time. As I have journeyed through the first month (and I realised today that it is just past the first month), somewhere inside there has been a deeper call to understand the sense what it means to be ‘one’. Jesus said, “May they all be one…” and I have been trying to comprehend what it means for different groups of people – be they grouped by nationality, faith, denominational practice, culture, race, gender, sexuality… and then there is the cross-over and mix of any number of these all together at any one time. My head has been full of thought (nothing new there for those who know me well!)

 

As each Sunday of my ESL has approached, I have wanted to find out where I can attend Church locally (unlike when I am on holiday and I don’t feel the need to be ‘in Church’ so much). There has been a deep desire to be ‘tethered’. This sense of tethering has felt much more than simply to be somewhere to worship: it is something more to do with ‘being’ with the household of faith to which I belong. It hasn’t mattered at all whether they are Anglican or not – and, in fact, the strangeness of language has, at various points, been lovely to lose myself in, challenging as I don’t know what is being said/sung, beautiful and mysterious and something akin to listening to the speaking/singing in tongues.

 

Having not succeeded in finding a huge amount of information on the net, I decided today to walk into the local community of Beit Jala, see which Church I came across first, and then join them. If the service was to be in English, that would be a bonus!

 

As I came into the outskirts, I pulled out my map and stood trying to work out where I was. A car pulled up and the passenger (a delightful young lady of about 12) asked if I needed help. I said I was looking for a Church – possibly St Mary’s. Her father asked if I wanted a Catholic Church and I said I didn’t mind. They asked me to hop in the car and they would give me a lift. (I should say that I had noticed a cross hanging from the rear view mirror – and any visible cross means an awful lot here than it does in the UK. I didn’t even think at the time that there would be any danger… in retrospect, perhaps I should be a bit more careful!) Anyway, once in the car, I said I was Protestant. “So are we.” said the father. Then I will come with you, said I! Thus I found myself in the Lutheran Church of Beit Jala, on Virgin Mary Street (!)

 

Now, I am an introvert (so what am I doing writing a blog?!) and am more than happy sitting at the back of a Church (like all good … Anglican/Catholics/Baptists – fill in the space with a denomination of your Church!) Alas, the two daughters from the car led the way to the front. Ah well. A few minutes later, the Pastor (Rev Saliba Rishmawi) appeared and with him another Minister. The Pastor came to say hello and asked if I was a Pastor too. "Yes! Ah, you are most welcome. You must come to join us at the front. We should be together and the people will see that we are one. Where are you from? Write it down so that I can introduce you properly. Come. Join us. This man, he is from Sweden.” So, in my pink sandals and carrying my hand bag (I kid you not!) I went to the back with them and formed part of the Procession into the Church (the ‘Procession’ being just us three ministers!)

 

The Service was completely in Arabic – hymns (which we sat down for), readings, prayers – all of it. The Pastor gave the reference in English (for me!) and from the sermon I caught the words, ‘facebook’, ‘like’, ‘I am sick’, ‘ I am well’ and inferred (who knows how) that he was saying something about real relationship. When we talked about it later I mentioned this and he said I was right! Goodness me, the Holy Spirit does indeed move in mysterious ways!

 

Never mind having wished to take my usual place at the back of the Church, I found myself right at the front: “The people will see you and I will introduce you and they will know you are a Pastor. You will help with Communion. They will know you are a Pastor.” What an amazing welcome. As the Service began, I found myself almost moved to tears to be in that place at that time with that Pastor with those people – to be welcomed in Christ as one among many. As the opening hymn began, I leant over to the Swedish minister and said, “Well, this is unexpected.” to which he replied, “It was the same for me last week!” He read one of the readings in Arabic (impressive) and I sat humming along to hymns, the tunes of which I knew but not the words – alas. When it came to the Nicene Creed I was completely flummoxed. You try being a lone voice saying the Creed in English (from memory) whilst everyone around you is speaking in a completely unfamiliar language. It was really weird! In the end I simply kept repeating, I believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I figured that would have to be enough!

 

At the Eucharistic Prayer, I was invited to say the Words of Institution over the wine, having been preceded by the Swedish minister saying the Words of Institution over the bread. Saliba then repeated them in Arabic – just so everyone would know what had been said! When it came to the distribution, the Swedish Minister administered to one row of people, and then me the next. All of this was amazingly unexpected, and all was simple because the father and his daughters had stopped in their car to ask if I needed any help. As I ‘listened’ to the sermon, I pondered what it would be like if those travelling to Church on Sunday mornings in England – or anywhere else for that matter –were, if they saw people on foot, to pull over and ask people if they needed help or a lift, to discover that they might be interested in going along to Church too.

 

In addition to being welcomed to the Church by name, I was welcomed to participate in ways I would not/could not have expected in a denomination, Church community and country that were not my own. “We are one in Christ. You are my sister in Christ. While you are here, this must be your home,” said Saliba. And so, to my (spiritual) delight, I discover that they are holding a Service on Ash Wednesday which means that I will be able to walk there rather than take a taxi to Bethlehem. Rather like the desire to be tethered on a Sunday, so this desire has extended to Ash Wednesday and Lent.

 

Following the service, I was invited to go with Saliba to take Home Communion to a gentleman and his wife. The poor man is unwell and on oxygen... and in walk us three ministers with Saliba’s wife and daughter, and then three of the Church Elders arrived too. The chap who is unwell seemed to take it all in his stride! Out came cake, chocolates and Arabic coffee… there was much laughter and then, in the midst of it, a time of quiet calm for prayer and the sharing of the bread and wine.

 

My planned visit this afternoon to Bethlehem was put on hold as it was raining (and I was wearing sandals) and so I returned to the hospital was given an impromptu lesson in Arabic over lunch.

 

It was a morning of rich blessings and I have been challenged and consoled as to my welcome and hospitality of strangers. There has been much today to both learn from and receive – in so many good and wonderful ways.

A few days with my forebears in faith

Over the past few days I have been trying to become better acquainted with the different ‘quarters’ of the 'Old City' of Jerusalem. Yesterday and today it has been the turn of the Jewish Quarter. It is not a part of the Old City that I know very well, and thus it is a place that I have always felt that I needed to be more careful in – specifically with regard to my attire and behaviour. I have also been careful as to when I have visited – ensuring it is not the Sabbath, for example. I think, on reflection, it is about my seeking to be courteous and polite. It is true that there is a particular part of the Jewish Quarter that is home to more Orthodox and Conservative Jews, and the Guidebooks recommend that this is certainly not an area to drift into in a car when it is the Sabbath as you are likely to get stones thrown at your vehicle. As I have walked around over the past few days though, it is possible to see where to be or not to be – just as it was in the Muslim Quarter (ie anywhere near an entrance to the Temple Mount that was not the official entrance during the official hours available to non-Muslims for visits).

I have visited six particular sites over the past two days: the Jerusalem Archaeological Park & Davidson Centre, the Hurva Synagogue, the ‘Alone on the Wall’ Exhibition, the Burnt House, the Herodian Quarter/WohlArchaeological Museum and the Western Wall Tunnels. In visiting each of them, I have journeyed through the history of this city and the people who have lived here – with particular reference to the Jewish people.

The Jerusalem Archaeological Park & Davidson Centre abut the Temple Mount and Western Wall – quite literally. I can quite understand why the Muslim authorities are so sensitive to the excavation work that is going on as it right against the foundations of the Temple Mount. Regardless of who one thinks should have ownership of the Mount, the work that is going on will mean that one group will feel either that the other is seeking to interfere with what is rightfully theirs or impede access to what is rightfully theirs. The work that is going on at the base of the Mount (hidden underground and away from sight, it is true) presents in microcosm the very problems that are at the root of the underlying anxiety that rests in the air of the City of Jerusalem: ‘You have what is mine and I want it back’ vs ‘You want what is mine and I am not going to let you have it’. I believe these statements, although quite simplistic, are at the heart of the conflict between Jew and Muslim. It’s not just about the Temple Mount – it is about the whole of this land. Christians don’t even begin to have look in with regard to the dispute over ‘land rights’ – they are a faith group that is diminished by both authorities in the land (and in the city in particular) and many Christians have left Palestine and Israel because it is such a difficult place to be.

The Archaeological Park is a site in the open air, and one wanders around the stones realising that some of them are almost two thousand years old. Some parts have been uncovered for some time and, with their uncovering, new insights have been gleaned into the way in which the Temples of our Jewish ancestors (First and Second Temple periods) were built, decorated, used and revered.

Some of the stones are massive – seriously massive. Imagining how they were quarried, and then brought to the top of this mountain – and how long this took, with building and decorating added on is seriously mind-boggling. Just walking around this place, knowing that my forebears in faith walked in this place too, I find really moving(Jews as forebears of Christians). They came to worship in this place, just as I travel to worship in my church or in a church here in Jerusalem. Worshipping God is important to me, therefore I make an effort, I put time aside, I find others with whom to share the space and time so that we are a community and household of faith together.

In the Burnt House and Herodian Quarter, the visitor is transported back in time to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple – 70AD (or CE if one is using current time denotors). The charred remains of homes are visible, indicating the torching of the city, and in the Burnt House, the remains of a severed arm were discovered during the excavations of the area carried out in the years just after the Six Day War of 1967. Underneath the ground of the area surrounding the Hurva Synagogue (itself a building rebuilt twice), excavations during this period revealed many homes and gave up stories to connect us in our present day to the days of those in times past.

Stone vessels indicate that one of the homes belonged to a family who took ritual cleanliness seriously. Not for them clay or wooden vessels that could be tainted, rather, for their household the vessels must be of stone that could not be tainted in any way.

In another house, the remains of perfume bottles were found, with pessel and mortar for crushing the ingredients that would be used to release the scents. Glass objects, sealed underground for two thousand years, revealed following only after a period of intense bombing, a period that led the Jewish Community here to ask how its past could be honoured, whilst its future be developed (and ensured). These two places in particular give vivid insight into the past, and some small insight into why emotions related to this City of Jerusalem run so very high for all who live here. Honouring the past – and those who lived, fought for and died here – of all faiths – whilst developing the future is a complex business.

I have come away from each of these six experiences – individually and as a whole – inspired, moved, challenged, confused. However, this is what faith does, this is what thinking does, this is what being truly alive does – and I am glad for it. My, how I pray there were a way forward that enabled the people of this city to live in peace and free from harm.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,
they shall prosper that love thee.
Psalm 122: 6

Put a couple of liberals together and the world is put to rights

What an amazingly thought-provoking forty-eight hours it’s been, with the most intriguing encounter possible taking place on the Temple Mount this afternoon.

I discovered that the Temple Mount is open at present (although only for selected periods of the day) whereas whenever I have visited Jerusalem before, it has always been closed. I joined the queue and made my way up on to an amazing vista. Such space as that can’t be encountered anywhere else in the city. If you look at a map of the city from above, you can see how much ground the Temple Mount covers, but to be up there – in person, as it were, was quite something.

My encounters with some of the Muslims on the Mount varied, from the man who shouted at me, “Not you!” as I vaguely approached the entrance of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (having been able to freely visit Mosques in Istanbul, I knew here would be sensitive, but I wasn’t anticipating being yelled at!) to the women who were more than happy for me to photograph them in their wonderfully colourful clothing as they chatted and passed the time of day and onto the Managers of the Temple Mount who were happy for me to enquire about the provenance of the headscarf the older man was wearing.

At the time I visited, the Mount was open for just an hour, and so there was a sense that time was limited. With my trusty Guidebook, I walked around the Mount – away from the crowds to see what was going on elsewhere. There were boys playing football, people sitting chatting, children crying, young boy is chanting, “Allahu Akbar” – only to be outdone by a group of men who started to call out louder. In addition to one woman I saw praying near the Dome of the Prophet, there were men near the Golden Gate area who seemed to be studying and talking about the Qu’ran. This area is closed off to anyone –including Jesus! According to Jewish tradition, this is the gate through which the Messiah will make his entry into Jerusalem when he comes and so it was blocked up completely by the Muslims in the 16^th Century. (We won’t mention that Christians believe he’s already come once and won’t actually need a gateway when he comes again, shall we…)

Smoking is prohibited on the Temple Mount, as is kissing in addition to showing signs of affection. Visitors are to dress modestly and behave appropriately. I wonder then what would have been made by the encounter I had with a Liberal Jew and the conversation that ensued…

This chap, whose name I never did ask (very rude of me), had drifted into my sightline a few times: I’d noticed him because he was wearing a T-shirt with a small-ish Star of David motif on it. As I was taking a photograph of the Dome of the Ascension, he came over to me and asked if I knew what any of the things were that we were looking at. I explained what the particular feature in front of us was – and that I didn’t know who had ascended from there, but went on to say that Christians believed that Jesus had ascended from the top of the Mount of Olives – and that there is a footprint on the ground (I kid you not!) At this point, the chap asked if I was Christian, to which I said yes, I  asked if he was Jewish – which he was. We walked away from the Dome of the Ascension as there was a woman was obviously getting quite cross at our (non-believer) eyes inspecting this place and who began gesticulated quite clearly that we should get lost!

The conversation that followed ranged through various topics to do with faith, belief, practices, Inter-faith dialogue, clothing, expectation and disappointment of faith communities, how many places in which St Mary is meant to have died (or not, if you believe she was assumed into heaven). The chap was from Toronto, where his father is a Rabbi – also quite Liberal. Apparently the local Cardinal (I think it was a Cardinal!) is a friend and so was recently invited over for a Friday night Shabbat meal. How cool is that?!

At one point I remarked how amazing it was that a Jew and Christian should be standing on the Muslim site of the Temple Mount and having such a conversation. This chap (to whom I really ought to give a name – let’s call his David), so… David said that at his Synagogue, in May, there is to be an evening at which three Doctors of Theology – one Muslim, one Christian and one Jewish (and all women) – are to speak on ‘The things that bring us together and the things that divide’. I commented that I wished I could be there… Toronto in May – that could be possible, maybe?!

What a wonderful encounter… it really made my day! Oh, and the Dome of the Rock is a wonderful place too…

All this has led me further in thinking about whether there needs to be a physical place where God resides, and why it is that I love to visit this land. If Jesus promised to be with us always, and also gave us the Holy Spirit as our Comforter, then is there any need for a ‘place’ at all?

When I attended my Selection Conference for Ordained Ministry, I was asked how I knew there was a God. The chap who asked me seemed to an ‘okay’ person who was genuinely interested in me and my ‘story’ (rather than there being any sense of him being someone who was seeking to trick me) so it felt alright to look him in the eye and say, “I can’t tell you how I know there is a God, but what I can tell you is that I feel it, here in my heart.” It seemed to be enough… but, it is so hard to put into words, isn’t it?! There is a place within me where I know that God resides because I feel it. There is a place within each one of us where God resides. It’s not a place that is in any sense limited or limiting – to us or to God – but it is a place where God lives and God ‘is’.

So, no, I don’t think God does need a ‘place’ in which to reside, although we may need a place to be to become aware of God more fully and deeply and God may choose to reveal God’s self to us in particular ways, times and places. You may have a place already, you may wish to discover one. Look for it, seek it out – what you find may surprise you. Know this too though, the grace of God is within you – a grace that allows for continued exploration and expression, continued questioning and doubt, continued hope and faith, continued growth and transformation.

May your coming day, like mine was today, be filled with surprising encounters – encounters that make you think, that make you wonder, that make you hope, and also that make you glad to be alive.

Dancing with the Trinity

There are many preachers who try to avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday like the plague. Personally I love this day as it brings together all of the Feast Days of the past six months: all the way back to Advent and Christmas– through to Pentecost last week. God incarnate in Jesus Christ, God as Lord of creation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and God paradoxically at once immanent and transcendent in the Holy Spirit that both hovered over the face of the earth at the birth of creation and hovers in creation still as it inspires and guides each one of us. God, recognised in different times and places – altogether other, different and separate within itself yet altogether the same, similar and co-joined in intention and life, all that we understand of God, have experienced of God, hope and believe about God, is gathered into and expressed in this day as we prepare to journey through the next six months – towards celebrating the great Feast Days and Festivals again.

We speak about the Holy Trinity and use the term Persons to describe the three ‘parts’ that make up the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Over time, and through God’s revelation to us in different ways, we have come to understand God in these three different ways: God who creates – Mother/Father; God who redeems – the beloved Son; God who sanctifies – the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, in Hebrew – ruach, the breath and being of life. We name each of facet of the Trinity as ‘Person’ because each facet of the Trinity is unique and individual. In their uniqueness and individuality though there is no conflict, division or isolation. The Persons of the Trinity are intertwined, they dance around each other, supporting and complementing each other. Within the dance, difference is released also though, similarity of intent and state is gathered – and celebrated too.

The person of the Trinity who creates, named as Father and also Mother, the one who gave life to the whole of creation at its beginning – the Creator continues to pour out love in the on-going way of the world and the universe. We are so very small, yet the Creator knows our name – yours and mine – this person of the Trinity counts the hairs on our head as well as the number of the stars in the sky. This person of the Trinity suffuses the world with light and love – and continues to pour out love now. All time is as of a moment for God – there is no beginning and no end and nothing is beyond the reach of God’s creative love.

The person of Trinity who redeems – named as Jesus the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour of the World – the Saviour continues the task of redemption even now. As we have celebrated over these recent weeks and months, God broke through the heavens, took human form and walked and lived as we do, taught the disciples and peoples about the love that he carried within him, the love of the Creator, and how this love would take him to the cross in the ultimate self-sacrifice whereby we would know understand how much God loves us. No longer should our waywardness separate us from the one who created us. No longer should the disobedience of our forebears characterise the relationship that we have with God whereby we are cast out for their forgetting God’s love – rather a new way is opened to us. This new way is one that takes us into heaven – through the forgiveness won for us by Jesus on the cross, and even more so through the conquering of death – as we celebrated on Easter Day. The love of the Saviour that redeems and that also brought creation to birth – continues today – offering to each person who turns to Christ the promise of life eternal.

The person of the Trinity that sanctifies – named as the Holy Spirit, ruach, Wisdom – this person of the Trinity, present at the creation of the world and poured anew on the disciples at Pentecost, and present too at the baptism of Christ – this person of the Trinity continues to inspire, to equip and to guide even now. As we celebrated last week, and as we pray each Sunday and each day, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and fills us anew each moment with the grace of God, allowing us to live by God’s grace and in God’s love. The Holy Spirit equips us with the Gifts of the Spirit, and these in turn give life to us, to the church and to the world. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, self-control – these fruits of the spirit allow life and love to flow throughout our community of faith and into the world. It is the Holy Spirit that has inspired us to take ‘Serving the whole community’ as our strapline – for it is the whole of humanity that we are called to serve – our church community, our local community and the community that is humanity across the world. Nowhere is beyond the reach of God’s love, and nowhere is beyond our love either. The Holy Spirit, invisible and mysterious, leads us on a journey that is exciting and challenging and wonderful. Just as the ways and wonders of each of the persons of the Trinity are intertwined with one another, unique and yet indivisible, so they are intertwined with each one of us. We are made holy, as we hear in the words of Jesus today: When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

These things have been declared to us through the grace and gift of the Holy Spirit, and thus we share in the work of creating, redeeming and sanctifying the world around us. We do not do this by our own power, but by the power of God. We are made holy, set apart for God’s will, by God’s will. The Trinitarian God of Creation, of Redemption and of Sanctification speaks into the heart of each one of us and, if we listen, we will hear words that invite us to join in the work of the Trinity too. God created the world in love, redeemed each one of us in love and sanctified each one of us love. God as creator continues to create – and invites us to do so too. God as Saviour continues to redeem – and invites us to do so too – by sharing this truth as possibility. God as Spirit continues to sanctify – and invites us to do so too, by sharing this truth as possibility for ourselves and for those around us.

I said earlier, that the Persons of the Trinity are intertwined, they dance around each other, supporting and complementing each other and that within the dance difference is released and similarity of intent and state is gathered and celebrated. I also said that I love this today – this Feast Day of the Church. It is about all that God is and all that God does – for each one of us and for the world. We are invited to join the dance, to join the work and to live the wonderful truth that God reveals herself to us in these different ways and that God invites us to join him in his work and will for the world.

Come and join the dance. Amen.

Being in the right place at the right time

Some of you will know the saying, the devil is in the detail: possibly not the most appropriate saying with which to open a sermon in a church… but you know me!

The detail on which my eye has settled when reading the passages for this evening is on the question: “Why do you stand looking up towards heaven?” It takes me back to Easter Day, when we heard the men in dazzling white addressing the women who had come to anoint Jesus’ body, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Now those of you who know your bible inside out, or at least the relationship between writers and particular books, may already be ahead of me when recalling that scholars hold it to be that the same author wrote the Gospel of Luke from which the account of the resurrection I have quoted comes, as well as book of Acts. No wonder then there is similarity of sentence construction: Why do you… stand looking… Why do you… look for the living… continuing on to say what has either happened or what will happen.

If we conflate these two questions for the moment into Why are you looking… I find that the asking of this question is quite fascinating. Personally, I don’t find it unreasonable that the women would be at the graveside on the third morning, having come to anoint the body of Jesus. It would have been the first day after the Sabbath that they would have been able to come and so, in love, they came. Not only in love though, but also in service, dedication – and grief too. On finding that the body of Jesus was not there, we read that they were perplexed – and this is not unreasonable either. Neither do I find it unreasonable that that the disciples, on seeing Jesus ascend into heaven just moments before, would be looking upwards towards the sky! Recall another, more child-like saying, no-one likes a smarty-pants: in the detail of clever men in white robes appearing at gravesides and on mountain tops – there is more than just a slight feeling of a pair of smarty-pants being in the building! To this I shall return!

This ‘Why are you ‘looking is not the most important part of the questioning though – it is about where and when they are looking. Neither of these places is the place to look because Jesus is no longer there. The women by the grave and the disciples on the hill top are challenged to remember and to respond.

The women are reminded to think about Jesus’ prophecy, his promise that he would rise again after three days. They do indeed remember, and go to tell the disciples that what Jesus said would happen has indeed taken place. Alas, the men did not believe them – but that’s another story! The women see, the women look, the women remember, the women respond.

As we have heard in Gospel reading this evening, just moments before the men in white robes appear, the disciples have been told what is to happen and what they are to do. Rather than standing looking up to the heavens, they are urged to remember, and to respond with alacrity. They are challenged not to just stand there and wait, but to get on and go to the city and wait there for the Spirit to come. The disciples see, the disciples look, the disciples remember, the disciples respond – just as the women at the grave did.

The women and the disciples are being told, this is not the most important part of the proceedings because Jesus told you what would happen. Believe it to be so, and move to where he will be because you know what he says is true. ‘Why do you stand looking here when…’ really means, ‘You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time’.

As we will know, this theme runs persistently through the Gospels, of the disciples seeking to understand, seeking to do the right thing, seeking to be in the right place – but often getting it ever so slightly wrong. It’s not for want of trying though – and they do learn and they do succeed – they must have done or we wouldn’t be here today. The women at the graveside, the disciples at the top of the mountain needed someone to assist them as Jesus is no longer here to do it. The smarty-pants in white robes are, in fact, angels – doing what angels do – giving a message, reminding, prompting – sharing the words, works and purposes of God. Jesus is no longer there to remind these people, the angels cannot stay to do this either – and so they remind these people of what Jesus foretold and encourage them to move to be in the right place at the right time. The women are to be the apostles to the apostles and the disciples are to be in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit.

People who can ask us – kindly – why are you looking here when you have already heard, or you already know, are useful people to find. Sometimes we may be stuck; we may be pausing and waiting in familiar territory, fearful of what is to come, or forgetting what we already know. In these situations, God will often send someone with the right word, a reminder that will set us on the right track that will give us courage to walk towards what is to come to us. The promises of God are many and generous and are there for us to step into.

So what of the next events – for what are we waiting? What might be for us in this period in which we, like the disciples, wait for Jesus to descend in the way he ascended? What might we be hoping for as we prepare to celebrate again the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost?

Well, to begin with, what have we been promised? What has Jesus revealed to us that will change our world – even now, these two thousand or so years on? For you as an individual, what already that ‘fits’ with what you know to be God’s purposes for you, and for those around you? What has been offered to the people of God that you know could be in accord with your ‘skill set’ and therefore could be the task that is assigned for you to do? Who are the people around you in metaphorical white robes who are reminding you of what you already know and what Jesus has promised and therefore where you should be going to next.

This time from Ascension Day to Pentecost is set aside by the church as a time for praying in the Holy Spirit into our loves again. Perhaps these questions that we might ask are ones you might spend these next days praying with and pondering – thus moving yourself spiritually to the right place so that you are prepared for what is to come for you and those around you. Not using them just as questions, but rather as an invitation to God to make you ready to respond to what God wants you to do with him to change your life and the life of the world.

A prayer for these days towards Pentecost:

Lord God,

show me where you want me to be
and give me courage to go there;

show me what you want me to do
and give me strength to fulfil the task you have assigned;

show me who will help me
and give me grace to receive your guidance through them;

show me your will
and give me humility to accept the gifts you give to me.

Amen.