Dear St. Paul’s Family,
“Darling you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?”
Far be it for this preacher to make it a habit of quoting the rock band The Clash in his weekly e-mail messages, but these lyrics come to mind when considering the gospel text for this Sunday. “Should I stay or should I go?” is the dichotomy embedded in Jesus’ last words to his disciples prior to ascending to Heaven. First, here’s Matthew’s version, and pay attention to all the action verbs:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
“Get busy!” Jesus said to the disciples in Matthew. Get moving. You have a mission to fulfill, so get on with it. But flip over two books to Luke’s gospel, and you get a very different story. Without mention of the Great Commission or a prescribed list of actions, Luke’s version has only one imperative:
You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
And then, that was it. Jesus ascended into heaven, out of sight, leaving the disciples blinking and bleary-eyed, with only one commandment to fulfill. Stay right here and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit.
There you have it. Matthew or Luke? Should they stay or should they go now?
In the Christian liturgical year, this Sunday is Ascension Sunday, just one week before Pentecost. Before we get to the fiery power and wind-sweeping surge of the Holy Spirit, we pause on the mountaintop, listening to Jesus give us some final instructions. Most of the time, we automatically hear in our minds Matthew’s Great Commission. It’s our Ascension Sunday text-by-default, the one we think of first when we consider Jesus’ last words.
But I would suggest that it is just as important to consider Luke’s version. Whereas Advent prepares us for the glory of Christmas, and Lent prepares us for the Hallelujah of Easter, we have only one Sunday - Ascension Sunday – to get ready for the high moment of Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, it is important to “go,” to get busy and do the work of the Kingdom. But it is also important to “stay.” To watch for the movement of the Holy Spirit in and around us, through our daily disciplines of prayer, meditation, scripture reading, fasting, and worship. Viewing this story through the lenses of both Matthew and Luke allows us to see our walk with God in full dimension. We should not get ahead of where God is leading us, and we dare not lag behind. The dual call to stay and go enables us to remain in the cadence of the kingdom, in lock-step with God’s pace.
We go, and we stay, with disciplined rhythm, balancing prayer with action, and solace with service.
Years ago I knew a professional juggler, who threw everything from bowling pins to fireballs. After I admitted to him that I couldn’t ever do what he did, he offered some advice: juggling is more than keeping your objects in the air. It is also about controlling the space between those objects. Consider the space in between the things you are handling, and you will be able to keep juggling.
Indeed, keep busy. Do what you need to do. But don’t forget to honor the spaces in between the duties. Create silence between the noise, and respite amid the responsibilities.
Henri Nouwen wrote:
The English spiritual writer Anthony Bloom says it better than I when he writes: “We complain that God does not make himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for him, but what about the twenty-three and a half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer, “I am busy. I am sorry.” Or when we do not answer at all because we do not even hear the knock at the door of our heart, of our mind, of our conscience, of our life. So there is a situation in which we have no right to complain of the absence of God, because we are a great deal more absent than he ever is.” (“The Only Necessary Thing”)
As we prepare together for the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday May 31, take some time to observe the spaces. In and among your to-do lists, create pockets of worship between the check marks. Quiet your mind and open your heart to God. As Luke says, stay. So that, as Matthew calls us, we can go.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY
We conclude our sermon series on 1 John with a focus on 1 John 5. Come hear about the hope that is ours through the power of the resurrection, with a sermon titled, “A New Day Dawning.”
SUMMER WORSHIP SCHEDULE
We begin our summer worship schedule on Sunday, June 7. Worship will begin at 9:30am, and all Christian Education small groups will take a break for the summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment