Scripture Readings: Isaiah 6:1–8 | Psalm 29 | Romans 8:12–17 | John 3:1–17

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17).
 
Why spend time reflecting on the identity of the Living God as Trinity: the Three in One, and One in Three?
 
Short answer is: Because this is the way God has revealed Himself to the world! It’s God’s self-disclosed identity.
 
If we want to get to know someone, we do well to pay close attention to how they show themselves to us: how they introduce themselves… the stories they share, their mannerisms… what makes them unique.
 
If we want to truly know someone, and share real fellowship with them… if we want to love them, then we can’t just settle for surface level assumptions… or worse yet, decide for ourselves who we might want them to be… projecting our own ideas and ideals on them, instead of just letting them be themselves.
And so, we Christians take time to reflect on the nature of the Living God as Triune because we believe, as mysterious as it may seem, that God truly is Three in One, and One in Three: The Father is God. Jesus Christ the Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. These Three are all equally God. And yet, at the same time God is One.
 
All our words hit a wall here because we are dealing with Someone who transcends all of our categories…. Someone wholly unlike anything else in Creation. Someone completely beyond compare. But even so, this Someone has drawn near to us… in order to draw us near to them. This Someone has opened His heart to us, and invites us in… despite all our doubts and our failures.
 
And though our words hit a wall, God’s Word has broken down everything that stands between us and our Triune Creator… taking on our human life, and lifted up for us at the cross, so that all those who believe in Him may have eternal life. And now because of Jesus Christ, God’s Word made flesh, God’s Spirit has been breathed into us to bring about something new in us, and through us: God’s new creation… His divine and holy life leading us out of the ways of darkness and into God’s kingdom of light.  
 
And just like that, as we start trying to tell the story of the Good News, the story of our faith, we find ourselves talking about not just any conception of God… but the Trinity… the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit… because the Good News is this God’s story… it is Their divine invitation to come to know who They are and what They are up to… and to take part in it too.
 
We celebrate the truth of the Trinity, and take time to contemplate what it means for us, and for our world because it is truly inseparable from the Good News we have been given to share in, and to share with everyone.
 
Our Scripture readings today shed important light on this Triune Good News… not to explain the mystery away, but to draw us into it… to help us begin to get to know the God is, and who has always been Father, Son, and Spirit, so that we may draw near to Him in faith, and receive the holy love He longs to share with His world.
 
Starting with Isaiah, and his vision of God’s throne room… the Holy sanctuary of Heaven that the Temple in Jerusalem pointed to. In this moment the prophet is painfully aware of his own sinfulness… and of God’s glory and holiness… and how dangerous it is for him to be so close to the LORD.
 
Sometimes it’s hard for us to wrap our heads around what the authors of the Bible meant by words like holy, but I think this is a pretty helpful image: holiness is like the sun. The sun is bright, it illumines the darkness… it’s the source of life on earth… it is ultimately Good. But the sun is not safe! If someone draws near to the sun they end up burned up. Serious protection is needed just to get a bit closer… not because the sun is bad, or means any harm, but because of the frailty and limits of our human bodies.
 
Something similar is going on in Isaiah’s vision: he’s drawn into God’s presence, close to the Holy One, the Living God revealed in all His splendor… and so Isaiah rightly thinks his days are numbered… because he is painfully aware of his sin… his failures to be like the Living God… holy as God is holy.
But rather than being struck down, an angel is sent with a burning coal from God’s heavenly altar to transform Isaiah… to do something to him to purify him… to cleanse him… to graciously make him holy, and able to stand before the Triune LORD, and not be consumed… but rather, so that he could be commissioned… sent on his own mission to share God’s words of warning with His unfaithful covenant people.  
 
Isaiah’s story is a long one that we don’t have time to explore this morning… but notice that in this vision, he, and we along with him, are given a glimpse of God’s unique glory and holiness. The Living God is not just some impersonal force, or divine wish-granter, just waiting around to make our lives a bit nicer down here… He is the Almighty… the Glorious and Holy One, the Sovereign LORD over all creation. And in His Holy presence, we humans are in trouble. Something in us is out of sync with His life and light, and if it were just up to us we’d have no hope.
 
But as Isaiah discovered, it’s not just up to us… and we are not without hope. For the Almighty, the Holy One does not desire our destruction… but our transformation… our purification… our cleansing from sin and all that keeps us far off from sharing in His glorious presence. And so, as Isaiah is graciously made able to stand in God’s presence, and share in the LORD’s divine holiness, we can see something true of God’s will for all of us.
 
In short, the Living God Himself can overcome all that stands between Him and His human creatures… He can cleanse us, and transform us, and make us able to share in His holy life.
 
And as we heard in our Gospel reading today, it’s not just that God can do these things… God wants to do these things! And we know this because, out of love for our broken, messed up world, God the Father freely gave His own Son Jesus Christ to save all who trust in Him.
 
John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
 
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
 
The life, and death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s own gift of love to us and our world… because Jesus Christ is truly God Himself, taking on our humanity in order to save it. Jesus is not just some designated servant… some middle-man doing the hard work while the Father sits by watching… Jesus is the Living God incarnate… the Living God-in-the-flesh… God laying down His life in love to save sinners like us… to cleanse us by His blood… to make possible our forgiveness and freedom… and draw us together to the Father… so that through the Holy Spirit we can be transformed to truly share in His blessed life.
 
And here we turn to our reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, and to the Apostle’s understanding of what the Christian life looks like: our transformation… being led by God’s own Spirit away from the darkness of our old lives, and into the light of God’s family.
Romans 8:12-14, “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh [that is, according to our old sinful and selfish desires]— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
 
God’s Spirit has been given to us to truly transform the way we live each day. But this isn’t about some unwelcome interference from on high, bent on sapping our freedom and joy… or an attempt at intimidating us to get us to change our ways out of fear of punishment. Far from it! For the Spirit of God is moved by the very same love as the Father and the Son… transforming us the way a child is transformed by being welcomed into a loving family.  
 
St. Paul goes on in Romans 8:15-17, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
The Spirit of God draws us into the holy love of the Trinity… bringing us into the same bond that has existed for all eternity between the Father and the Spirit and the Son. The Spirit nurtures in us the very same love that Jesus expressed on earth when He would pray to His Abba, His Father… a connection of true trust, and intimacy… and which empowered Him to face all sorts of trials and suffering… even to the point of laying down His life, because He was convinced of the untold depths of His Father’s life-giving, resurrecting love.
 
The Spirit of God brings this same love that fills the life of the Trinity into our lives by drawing us in faith to Jesus, God’s Son, and through Him into the arms of our loving Almighty Abba-Father.
 
And the Spirit is also at work sharing this same love through His people with those who do not yet know Him… who have all sorts of strange ideas about what God is like, and what God wants, if God even exists at all. People who have no clue that God truly cares for them, and has done everything Himself to deal with their brokenness and sin… giving His life out of love to bring them forgiveness, and freedom, and lead them out of the darkness, and into the glorious light and blessed life that has no end.
 
The Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, have shared their holy love with us, and have shown us God’s heart for everyone: sending Jesus not to condemn the world, but so that it might be saved through Him. We are the ones who have already heard this Good News, and have begin to be transformed by it already. We are the ones who have been entrusted with this story of salvation, and who are called to share it… to share in the sufferings of Christ Jesus… the long-suffering love of God for His lost children.
 
How can we help those in our lives come to know this God??? The Triune God who loves them so? The God who we might not be able to wrap our heads around, but who has still wrapped His arms of love around us, and who longs to do the same for absolutely everyone?
 
How can we help them come to know this God if we don’t draw near to Him ourselves? If we are content to remain at a distance… how can we share His love with one another and with our world?     
                                    
May the Holy Trinity Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, continue His cleansing, empowering, and transforming work in us all so that, convinced of God’s great love for us all, we might draw near to Him always, and share the Good News of His story in everything that we do. Amen.  

And for those who want to explore in a more in-depth way who the Living God is revealed to be in the Bible, here is their 22 Episode(!) podcast series tackling the theme of God's identity in the Scriptures. Enjoy!

​​Our service of Morning Prayer, Bulletin, and Sermon this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 37:1–14 | Psalm 104:24-35 | Acts 2:1–21 | John 15:26-16:15

Happy Pentecost.
 
Today we celebrate one of the most significant moments in the story of the Church… when the disciples of the Risen Lord Jesus, gathered together in uncertainty and expectation, suddenly received the gift of the Holy Spirit of God… filling them up with His life-giving presence and power.
 
In many ways, Pentecost celebrates a brand new beginning. The beginning of the Church… the creation of this one, world-wide community of those bound to Christ Jesus, and bound to one another in Him.
 
But Pentecost also marks another beginning: the beginning of the end… of the completion of God’s New Creation, begun in the Risen Christ Himself, and spreading all throughout the world through the lives of His faithful people… from Jerusalem, to Gondola Point, and beyond.
 
And while this new beginning started two thousand years ago… we don’t simply celebrate Pentecost as an irrelevant event from the distant, dusty past… but as an invitation to take part in the Living God’s ongoing work here and now, and everywhere… making all things new, and bringing His beloved world to it’s proper destination… to the blessed end that His power alone can bring about.
 
Above all, we celebrate Pentecost today because it brings to light the world-changing implications of the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord… the results of who He is and what He has done for us, and for our world. Pentecost points out the true purpose of the Church, and the power that is at work in and through God’s people… two thousand years ago, and even today.
 
The story of Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit is about God’s rescuing love, putting our broken world back together… beginning with those who have come to believe the Good News of Jesus… but this story does not begin in that famous upper room encounter we heard about in our reading from Acts. It is a story that has been unfolding all throughout the Holy Scriptures… a story of hope passed down through generations… hopes based on the promises of the Living God to His covenant people, through the words of His holy prophets… hopes that, despite how truly hopeless things may seem, they can trust the Living God to stay true to His word, and to ultimately bring them to life.
 
We heard part of the story of Pentecost in our first reading from the Old Testament today, when we heard the words of the prophet Ezekiel, and the vision that he was given of the valley of dry bones… a vision offered to Israel at a time when the fate of God’s chosen people seemed hopelessly lost.
 
As we might recall, Ezekiel had this vision after being carried off into exile in Babylon… after Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom of Judah had been conquered by their enemies… which in this case was a tragic consequence of turning away from the Living God, and seeking a path for themselves that seemed best, but ultimately led to death.
 
And so, at this point in the story, Ezekiel and his fellow Judaeans had lost everything… their land, their freedom, their future… their sense of connection to the Living God, and to one another.

Sadly, we don’t have to think too hard to recall people in our own day and age who are facing very similar situations: whole communities completely destroyed… families ripped apart by war… hopes and dreams for the future that once seemed so promising going up in smoke.
 
And even in our own corner of the world, there are, of course, those who are experiencing this same sense of hopelessness in their own personal ways: maybe through a sudden loss of health… or loved ones… or through the ending of a familiar and comforting way of life.
 
And we can think of Church communities facing hard decisions these days about how to move forward… how to carry on Christ’s mission in their changing neighbourhoods… and perhaps considering having to close their doors.
 
When we face these kinds of painful, and heartbreaking situations, it can certainly feel like the end. And yet, throughout the centuries, the Living God has continued to breathe new life into even the bleakest circumstances, bringing healing and help and hope even to the hopeless.

And this is exactly what He did for those in Exile along with Ezekiel: God Himself promised to bring life to His people again, beyond all their expectations. Even though on their own, they may have had no more hope of turning around their situation than dry bones do of getting up and walking about, the same God who brought all creation into being, and who would one day raise Jesus Christ from the dead, can indeed bring life and hope to His people again. Ezekiel 34:11-14,
 
“Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,’ says the Lord.”
 
And as the Lord promised, He stayed true to His word: despite all expectations, the exiled people of Judah were eventually able to return to Jerusalem, and begin rebuilding their lives. The loving-kindness of the Living God had rescued them from their hopelessness, and given them a new beginning.  
 
But a new beginning to what end? What was supposed to come next? What was the purpose of God raising His devastated people to new life? Was it just so that they could keep going about their own business? To fall back into the same old self-destructive ways? Or did God have something more in store? Something more for them, and for those around them too?
 
Remember how in His message to Ezekiel, God promised to put His own Spirit within His people… to share His own holy life with them. To not simply have them go back to how things were before, but to draw them together to Him, and to each other in holy love… which of course, is no simple thing.
 
And right after he receives his vision of the valley of dry bones, God gives to Ezekiel another message of hope… about how God will heal the broken divisions within God’s family, which at that time seemed completely  insurmountable.
 
Long before they were carried away into Exile, Israel had torn itself apart in civil war. During the reign of King David’s grandson, the Northern tribes of Israel revolted against Judah, and split away… setting up their own rival kingdom, and for centuries the two kingdoms lived side by side in deep tension… and sometimes even warring against each other. God’s people had gone from being one family set apart to love God and each other, to becoming enemies.
 
That is, until the Assyrian Empire showed up on the scene and conquered the Northern tribes, leading its people away into the far regions of the East, never to return. They were completely lost to one another… swept away beyond the hope of reconciliation.
 
Again, it’s kind of easy to see parallels of this story at work in our world today: communities that were once united now seeming to be fracturing beyond all hope of restoration… so many of our neighbours eagerly aligning themselves with divisive and even hate-fueled cultural and political agendas. It seems harder and harder to imagine how our communities and society could ever be brought back together again. But this is precisely the hope that the whole story of Pentecost holds out for us: the hope of a brand new beginning heading towards the blessed end of God’s reconciling love.
 
Right after his vision of the valley of dry bones, Ezekiel is given another message from the Lord: the prophet is to take two separate sticks, and join them into one… symbolically showing the exiles in Babylon what the Lord has in store for His divided people. Ezekiel 37:15-23,
 
“The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it’;  and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’ say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it; and I will put the stick of Judah upon it, and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
 
What a picture of hope! Not only would the Living God restore the exiles of Judah from their hopeless situation, but God would also bring back all of their estranged and exiled fellow Israelites to be by their side again.
​
God promised here to reconcile His shattered people… gathering all who had been scattered, and reuniting them in His hand… repairing all those long centuries of divisions, and bitter enmity, and making them one… together again under the reign of one King.
 
And this is the hope-filled story of Pentecost that we find at work in our reading today from Acts Chapter 2: here we see the Living God starting to fulfill His promises to bring His people back together again, filled with His life-giving Spirit, and living God’s way under the reign of Jesus, the Risen King.
 
Here in Acts, we are told that devout Jews from every nation had gathered in Jerusalem… for one of their ancient annual festivals, celebrating the first fruits of the harvest by offering them back to the LORD. God’s covenant people, scattered throughout the Mediterranean world, had all made a pilgrimage to worship the LORD, and had no idea of what God had in store for them.
 
At just the right moment, God’s Holy Spirit is given to Jesus’ followers… to the disciples who had already been given the Good News, and the mission to share it with the whole world… but who had also been told to wait in Jerusalem until they had received this power from on high.
 
And then it happened: with a rush of wind, and the appearance of fire descending on each of them, these ordinary people were given something they could never create on their own: God’s own life-giving presence within them… filling them with His holy love… the very same love which filled and flowed through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
And what does this Spirit do? He empowers the disciples to speak in languages they never knew before… He helps them to overcome all the barriers of culture, and communication, so they could connect with their fellow Jews from all over, who had been cut off from them before.
 
Think about that for a moment. The first thing that the Holy Spirit does in the lives of Jesus’ disciples is to begin reconciling God’s scattered people… bring together again this fractured community by the Good News of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord… the Promised Saviour King that Israel’s prophets had spoken of centuries before, who reigns now at God the Father’s right hand.
 
But as great as this new beginning is for the Jews gathered in Jerusalem that day, God’s Holy Spirit doesn’t stop there… as we know, that was just the beginning! The story of Acts is all about how this Good News of God’s Saviour King Jesus is going out to all the world… beginning from Jerusalem, and spreading into Judea, Samaria, and beyond. In the last few weeks, we heard the story of how the Good News of Jesus was shared with the Ethiopian eunuch, and with the Roman Officer, Cornelius, and his family… and as this same story goes on, we know that this Good News has travelled to the very ends of the earth, inviting absolutely everyone to place their trust in Jesus, and share in the new life of His Kingdom… a new life made possible by the gift of God’s Holy Spirit  within us.
 
This is Good News for our world today: that despite all the divisions and devastation we see around us… despite all the losses and lingering doubts… we know this is precisely the soil in which the Spirit of God brings about New Creation… breathing new life into even our dry bones, and filling us with God’s holy, reconciling love.
 
And this same Holy Spirit is still active in our world, working through the lives of those who trust and follow Jesus, the Risen King, serving as His hands and feet together, not to destroy, but to make all things new… leading His people towards the blessed end of God’s eternal Kingdom… and giving us all our own part to play in sharing this Good News with everyone.
 
As the prophet Joel proclaimed:
 
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
 
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:17-21).
 
What are the ways that we need the Holy Spirit to be at work in our lives today? What new beginnings do you and I need Him to bring about in and through us?
 
Maybe we need a renewal of hope for God’s world? Reassurance that the Living God will not abandon His creation, but will bring it new life, just as Christ rose from the grave.
 
Maybe we need the Holy Spirit’s gift of conviction? Inviting us to turn around… to repent of our sinful, and selfish ways, and to find God’s forgiveness and freedom offered to us in Jesus, our Saviour King?
 
Maybe we need reconciliation? Finding ourselves torn apart inside… or cut off from those around us.
 
Whatever we are facing today, Pentecost reminds us that even when things seem to be at their darkest, the Living God Himself is still with His people, and His power at work in us can do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. Pentecost calls us to hold onto and share the Good News that God’s rescuing, and life-giving love in Jesus Christ is making all things new, and bringing about God’s New beginning for His broken but beloved creation.  
 
And so, may the Holy Spirit of God fill us today with the faith, and love, and hope we need to take part in this new beginning He has in store for our world, through Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. Amen.

​And for an even deeper conversation, here is their four-part Podcast series discussing the Holy Spirit:

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: ​Acts 1:1–11 | Psalm 93 | Ephesians 1:15–23 | Luke 24:44–53 

“While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:51).

Today is Ascension Sunday: the final Sunday of the season of Easter, and a time to commemorate the moment when Jesus Christ the Risen Lord was taken up from the sight of His disciples, and into the highest heaven… to take His seat at the right hand of God the Father, and from there to take up His royal reign forever.
 
The feast of the Ascension calls us to look toward heaven, and recall the real reason for our hope for our world… not the hope of a retreat somewhere else, but the hope of the recuing reign of the Risen King. And these days, we don’t need all that much reminding that our world stands in real need of some real hope to hold onto… reasons to not give up, and get to work bringing about things like beauty, peace, and light. But sadly, and for some time now, it seems that many of us Christians have forgotten the true hope we’re called to share with the world around us, and have instead placed our hopes in getting to escape from it. Seeking simply to be swept away from all of this darkness and mess we humans have made.
 
But as common as this message of escape might be, even in Christian circles, it isn’t the real hope that the Bible or the Christian faith is about at all. In the Holy Scriptures, and in the Creeds we find, not the hope of being rescued from the earth… but the hope of being rescue along with the earth… set free to live under the reign of our Saviour King forever.
 
And so, as we turn now to our Scripture readings for this morning, and take a closer look at what the Ascension of Jesus Christ really means, pay close attention to why we can have real hope for the future of our world.
 
Turning first to our second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find the Apostle commending the faith and the love of this early Christian community.
 
Ephesians 1:15-16, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.”

And yet, it seems that St. Paul recognizes that there is something this Church community was needing… namely, he prays for them to have hope… to understand the story that they were a part of already in the Risen Christ, and to know where this story is headed, despite the darkness and difficulties they were facing in their day.
 
Ephesians 1:17-19, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”
 
St. Paul can be a bit wordy at times, but his meaning here is important for us to here today: we too need to come to understand the hope that we are called to as Christians… both the glory that awaits us, and how God’s power is at work bringing it about.
 
We can’t just lean on wishful thinking, or cling to vague ideas about a happy afterlife, somewhere out there, over the rainbow… we have been offered real, concrete reasons to have hope for our future: and that is God’s life-giving power which we have seen at work raising Jesus Christ from the dead… and in His ascension to the right side of God the Father.
 
St. Paul goes on in Ephesians 1:20-21, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.”
 
While many of us today find it easy to imagine that the point of Jesus leaving His disciples was to go off somewhere else, for the first Christians like St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles, it clearly meant something very different, and much more hopeful: the ascension of Jesus  was not His escape from the world… but His elevation to it’s highest throne. He’s not abandoning creation, He’s taking charge of it! Taking His place in the divine command centre, so to speak… to guide and direct God’s people, and to empower us to carry on the work of His Good Kingdom here and now.
 
And so, the Church… the worldwide community of those who have turned our lives over to Jesus Christ in faith, and who have already received the gift of His saving love… we are the ones who are now called to share this hope… the hope of the Risen Saviour King.
 
Ephesians 1:22-23, “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
 
The Church community, the shared life of us believers… not simply on Sundays… our lives together are to be the main location on earth where the Kingship of the Risen Christ is acknowledged, and made known. Our lives are to be the sign that, above every other claim to power, authority, and might… Jesus Christ is Lord of all… and that one day, every other power, as St. Paul puts it, will find its proper place under His feet.
 
That’s a startling image for us, for sure. How is it Good News to be placed under the feet of a king? This is an image of being conquered! In ancient times, vanquished foes would have their victorious opponents symbolically stand upon their necks. Wasn’t the ascension of Jesus supposed to be about offering hope to our world? What kind of hope are we talking about here?
 
Of course, some Christians have picked up this kind of imagery in the Bible, and run with it… imagining that Jesus wants to violently overthrow all who dare oppose Him, or those who get in His people’s way.
 
We know there are those who have thought this way for centuries… from the early Christian Emperors in the late Roman times… or the medieval rulers of Europe… or advocates of Christian nationalism here in North America today… those who would use Christianity to justify their own aggressive grasping after worldly power… and who seek to rule by actively destroying the hopes of those who aren’t on their side.
 
This is how tyrants have always ruled… following a principle we could call “Limited Concern”: insisting that our tribe, our culture, our way of life must be on top, and in control… that our will must be done… and who cares what happens to everyone else.

But it’s not just tyrants and moral monsters that have a habit of seeing the world this way. Lots of us may simply limit our concern to our little corner of the world, in much more subtle ways. In our reading from Acts Chapter 1, and its account of the Ascension, we see can that even the disciples had a hard time shaking this mindset of ‘limited concern’… but Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, calls for a very different approach for His people, back then and today.
 
Forty days after Easter, the disciples excitedly ask the Risen Lord: Are you about to bring God’s good kingdom to Israel at last?
 
They knew all of the prophetic promises that had helped Israel hold onto hope for centuries… promises from God that despite the devastation and darkness of Exile, the Living God would again rescue and restore His people, that the Messiah-King would one day come… and that from Jerusalem the blessed reign of God would be victorious.
 
And Jesus knew the limited scope of their hopes… focussed on Israel’s restoration alone. Israel’s peace. Israel’s future as God’s beloved children.

And all this mattered to Jesus too. But He had, and has, a much bigger mission in mind… offering a hope that far exceeds their expectations… one which would fulfill all of the promises of Israel’s prophets… by extending God’s good reign to the ends of the earth.
 
Acts 1:6-8, “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
The Good News of God’s reign is not just for one people, one culture, one nation… it is for all the earth to enjoy! All are invited to believe, to be loved, and to be inspired by this whole new vision of where our human story is headed.
 
The disciples were more concerned with their own corner of the world. And we are concerned about our own corner too, here in Gondola Point. And so is God. The Good News of the Ascension of Jesus Christ reminds us that Gondola Point is to be a real part of God’s good Kingdom. And we are His witnesses here… our lives display His Lordship today.
 
But to be clear, the hope of the Ascension is not about some of us being elevated over our neighbours… sitting by watching while others are crushed underneath Christ’s feet. Listen to what St. Paul says here!
 
Ephesians 1:21-23, the Father elevates Jesus “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
 
Jesus is lifted up, elevated above every name… all things are under His feet… including you and I. This is not about how we Christians can make our kingdom come, and our will be done… but God’s alone. Absolutely everyone and everything is now underneath Christ’s feet.
 
Again, this image may strike us today as disturbing, rather than as Good News, and a reason to have real hope. But that is because we keep forgetting what God’s Kingdom and God’s will actually looks like. Along with our non-Christian neighbours, we tend to keep imagining that God’s rule is basically oppressive, damaging… about keeping us from truly experiencing the “good life” we deeply desire.
 
But again, the Ascension reminds us that the One who has been both raised from the dead, and raised to the highest throne of heaven is none other than the One who gave up His life to save His beloved world! The One who has been given the ultimate authority in the universe… the One who will one day call us all to account, and sort out all of the mess we humans have made in every corner of creation… this is the same One who stretched out his hands in suffering, to be nailed to the cross in our place… dying to save, not just Israel… or any one people, or nation, but the world through the Father’s self-giving love, which the Scriptures have pointed us to all the way through.
 
Luke 24:44-48, “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”
 
The same Jesus who died to save us while we were still sinners… to bring us true forgiveness, and the freedom of God’s New Life… the same Jesus who still bears the scars of the cross even now, is the same One who reigns on high, and because He does, we can have real hope for our world  today.
 
Christ’s resurrection, His victory over the grave is the first sign of God’s intentions for the world we see around us. As dark and as devastating, and even as dead as things may seem at times, the very same power that was at work raising Jesus Christ to eternal life will also rescue and reconcile all things, sorting out His beloved creation in justice and love, putting everything back together again in its proper place… underneath the nail-pierced, peace-bringing feet of our Saviour King.
 
And as Christ’s people, here and now, our place is to be His witnesses… to live as those who are already existing are under His good reign: learning more about, and living out our faith… growing deeper and wider in God’s great love for all… and sharing the hope of His good Kingdom, both here in our little corner of the world, and beyond.
 
This is a tall task, but not one that we are expected to do all by ourselves. We’ll have more to say about this next week, as we celebrate Pentecost, but it’s a key part of the whole story of Scripture, and especially the Ascension: the same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, and that will one day restore our broken world, has already been poured out on those of us who place our faith in Jesus… the power of God’s own Holy Spirit.
 
As Jesus the Risen Lord is lifted up to the Father’s right hand to reign, He sends the Holy Spirit to empower His people to live God’s way in the world.
​
We hear this in Luke 24:49, where Jesus says, “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 in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
 
And right before our reading today from Ephesians, St. Paul says this in Ephesians 1:13-14, “In [Christ] you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.”
 
As I said, we’ll talk about the Holy Spirit more next week, but these passages remind us that the Ascension is certainly not the end of the story, but simply the beginning of a whole new movement… the power of God’s Holy Spirit at work in His people, as we share the hope of His Good Kingdom with our world.
 
So, may the Good News of the Ascension of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord to reign at the Father’s right hand, fill us with the hope that our Saviour King has no intention of abandoning this world He died to save… the hope that His justice, and mercy, and faithful love reach out to every corner of creation… and that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, and which has been poured out into the lives of His people today, will bring God’s broken world back together again in Christ, once and for all. Amen. 
​

​And our Songs for this week can be found here:

Scripture Readings: Acts 10:44–48 | Psalm 98 | 1 John 5:1–6 | John 15:9–17

“Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:5.
 
What are we fighting for? What are we striving for? What purpose are we pursuing?  
 
A lot of folks today see themselves as being at war… and not just those who are in literal battlegrounds like Ukraine Sudan, or Gaza. Alongside, and fueling these armed conflicts are all sorts of other kinds of clashes… wars of words, and ideas, and policies… mixtures of political, cultural, ideological, social, economic, and yes, religious elements, all vying against one another… striving to win the hearts, and minds, and lives of the world… or at least, enough of their corner of the world to make sure that they can get their own way, whatever that may be.
 
And sadly, we know there have been all sorts of ways that Christians have also embraced this combative impulse over the years… turning our faith into just one more weapon to achieve our own goals… and as a powerful tool to demonize those who are different from us.

But we find a completely different vision and approach at work in our Scripture Readings this morning: Not an attempt to force the world to bend to our will… but a willingness to trust Jesus, and to humbly seek to do God’s will in a world that often does not… and in so doing, we are invited to see God’s power at work in ways we might find really hard to imagine.
 
In our first reading today from the book of Acts, we find the tail end of the story of St. Peter and Cornelius… and two very different worlds colliding.
 
St. Peter we know was a descendant of Abraham… an Israelite… from a community set apart centuries earlier by the Living God Himself to share in God’s holy life up close, so that the world might come to know, and trust, and obey God’s ways, and experience the blessings of His steadfast love.
 
But St. Peter was also an Apostle, one of the students of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord, who had been charged with a particular mission: to tell the world the Good News of Jesus, and to teach them to live God’s way… trusting, obeying, and following Jesus.
 
St. Peter had shared in Christ’s earthly ministry from the beginning… and had been entrusted with carrying it on… shepherding the early Christian community, and leading the way for the Church as it began to grow.
 
If anyone could be said to be a figure of authority when it comes to the Christian Faith… a champion of the cause and bold advocate for the cause of Christ, surly it would be St. Peter. In him we can see God’s faithful people, those striving to do God’s will.
 
And on the other hand, we have Cornelius: a Roman military officer, stationed in occupied territory… part of the system set up to hold the conquered people of Israel in line at the edge of the sword.
 
Understandably, for most Jews, Roman soldiers were the very embodiment of their oppression. The ones who could not only take away their freedom at a whim, and frequently used violence and fear to get their way… these soldiers were also a grim reminder that Israel’s unique role in God’s story was in real peril.
 
Against all their expectations, Gentile, non-Israelite nations had conquered their people hundreds of years earlier. And although at times they had regained some sense of self-governance, under the Romans this partial and fragile autonomy was hanging by a thread. Many felt vulnerable… resentful… angry… hungry for real freedom, for a renewed sense of communal identity… for restored hopes for their future… for wrongs to be righted, and new life to begin at last.
 
I know there are lots of people in our world today who could identify with the plight of the Israelites who were living under Roman oppression all those years ago… people whose lives have been overthrown, and who live in constant fear, anguish, and bitterness.
 
And there are also lots of people who want to see this kind of oppression come to an end… who are seeking to take action against injustice, and come to the aid of those in need. Fighting and striving to try and make the world a better place.  
 
But as noble as this impulse can be, it can also lead us down the same path towards supporting oppression, and injustice ourselves… seeking to conquer “the evil other side”, and merely taking their place as oppressors instead.
 
And so along with the question “What are we fighting for? What is the goal that we are striving for?”, we also need to be asking “HOW are we striving to achieve the victory we seek??
 
And as I said earlier, our Scripture readings help us envision and imagine another way to “conquer” the world. St. Peter and Cornelius come from two opposite sides of a historic and at times bloody conflict. But as we will see, the Living God is at work in both of their stories… striving to bring about a very different kind of victory… one which we are all invited to fight for in our own lives today.
 
This part of the story begins in Acts Chapter 10, where we are introduced to Cornelius, and quickly discover that any prejudices we might have about Roman soldiers… and anyone for that matter, don’t tell us the whole story. As it turns out, Cornelius was not really a typical Roman soldier. Acts 10:2 describes him as “a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.”
 
This does not mean that Cornelius had officially converted to the Jewish religion… but even though he remained a Gentile outsider, he treated the Israelites around him well, and even gave donations to support those in need. In both his private and public life… his words and deeds, it seems that Cornelius the Roman officer, was striving to serve the will of Yahweh, the Living God.
 
And God takes notice. God sends and angel to Cornelius with a message… to send for a man named Simon Peter, in a nearby town, and listen to what Peter has to say. So Cornelius obeys, and sends his own messengers to go find Peter, and invite him to come and speak with him.
 
Or course Peter would not likely have been all that eager to go visit a Gentile Roman officer… even a “good one”. Not only was there the whole Israelite-Gentile divide we already talked about, but remember… not that long ago, Peter had seen his Master Jesus arrested, and put to death by Roman soldiers. Peter had lots of reasons to see Cornelius as the enemy of his people, and of God’s work in the world.
 
But of course, God knows all this too. And so God sends Peter a message… a vision that convinces him to set aside his prejudices, and to go with the Gentile messengers. St. Peter obeys God, and goes to visit Cornelius.
 
And when he arrives, he learns something vital not just for Peter, but for all of us Christians today. Acts 10:34-35, /
“Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
 
Think about that for a second. No partiality. No distinction. It dawns on Peter that God is fighting not just to rescue Israel… but to reach out to rescue people from every nation that fear Him and do what is right. That is, who have their hearts and lives in line with Him. What does that look like? Let’s keep reading.
 
Acts 36:43, “You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
 
St. Peter tells Cornelius the Gospel, the Good News of who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done… and for the first time, it occurs to Peter, that this Good News is meant for people like Cornelius… Gentile Roman soldiers… just as much as it is meant for his own people.
 
And this is the explosive truth that has been driving the Church’s mission forward for over two thousand years: the Good News of Jesus is not about one side coming out on top, and crushing the other side… it’s not about retribution, or revenge… but about reconciliation… about the forgiveness of sins on all sides… the repairing of the wounds tearing humanity apart in so many ways… it’s about the love of the Living God made know to us in the crucified and Risen Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is the one who will judge righteously, and sort out all of the messes we have made of God’s good world.
 
And this is where we come to our reading today. Cornelius believes the Good News of Jesus, and suddenly the Holy Spirit of God shows up, filling up all these Gentiles, just as He had filled up the Apostles at Pentecost. No partiality, no distinction made between people like Peter and Cornelius. God Himself is fighting to bring everyone… everyone… back into His loving arms.
 
And this is what we Christians are supposed to be fighting for… and striving for… the Good News that in Jesus Christ the crucified and Risen Lord, the Living God is truly saving our world.
 
How do we strive or fight for this Good News? Not with the sword and violent force. Not by grasping after political influence and authority. Not by vilifying those who are different, and fueling prejudice, hatred, and the evils we see around us, like many do in the name of Christianity… but by faith. Trust in Jesus… living our lives in the light of who He is, and in what He has done for us all, is how we fight for the Good News… and strive to serve God’s Kingdom.
 
N.T. Wright puts it well, reminding us that the decisive battle has already been won for us: “The victory that conquers the world is the saving death of Jesus. And those who by faith cling on to the God who is made known personally in and as the Jesus who died on the cross—they share that victory, that conquest of ‘the world’.”[1]

​We fight for the Good News by trusting Jesus, and doing what He taught us to do through His words and through His life… resisting the impulses to demonize those who are different… or simply seeking after our own desires… we fight for the Good News by loving one another, by loving our neighbours… and even our enemies… the way that Christ Jesus first loved us.
 
Turning again to our Gospel reading this morning, let us hear again the words of our Risen Lord:
 
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (John 15:9-17).
 
Christ has no secret agenda, or hidden battle plan. We know what our Master is doing: saving God’s world through love… /and He calls you and I to trust Him, and to join Him in this good fight through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us who believe and obey Him.
 
Love one another. This is the fight we are in. And in Jesus Christ, this is the fight we will win. Love one another. Not just when it’s easy. Or when we feel like it. Love one another as Jesus loves us… laying down His life even for His enemies to transform us all into His family.
 
Again, N.T. Wright says it well: “No other god, no other power, no other being in all the world loves like this, gives like this, dies like this. All others win victories by fighting; this one, by suffering. All other gods exercise power by killing; this one, by dying.”[2]
 
This is how we Christians are able to “conquer” the world: through faith in Jesus Christ… trusting and following Him as He defeats darkness with light, evil with goodness, lies with the truth, fear and prejudice and hatred with self-giving love.
 
St. Peter and Cornelius, as different as they may have been, were brought together by the love of God… tearing down the many barriers that stood between them. Cornelius and his family received the same Holy Spirit, and so they are baptized… leaving their old lives behind to share in Jesus’ life and story… and welcomed into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. 
 
How might the love of God be at work breaking down the barriers in our lives today? Who might the Lord be asking us to share His love with in our words and actions? What ways of fighting and striving might the Holy Spirit be calling us to let go of today? How can we support one another, as we place our trust in the Good News of Jesus together? Amen.


[1] Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 164.

[2] Tom Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone: James, Peter, John and Judah, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 165.

​