Those of you who’ve been in higher education will know that for each course, or unit of a course that you do, you’re given a bibliography, a list of books that you’re either expected to read or that it’s at least suggested you read to help you with studying that particular course or unit. That was certainly something that happened when I was an ordinand at Mirfield.

Typically, a course or unit bibliography at Mirfield would be about 2, A4 pages long. But one of our lecturer’s, Fr Thomas, a member of the religious community at Mirfield, was a little more demanding. He’d give his students a bibliography up to 2 pages long for every lecture. Not only that, but he’d also turn up for every lecture with a stack of books under his arm that he either especially recommended or that he either hadn’t had time or space on the paper, to add to the bibliography. And if that wasn’t asking enough of his students, quite a few of the books he recommended weren’t even written in English.  So, as Fr Thomas went through the books, as he did at the end of every lecture, there would always come a point where we’d hear something like this, which is actually taken from one of the bibliographies he gave us:

‘For those who have German, I recommend Medard Kehl’s Die Kirche, if any of you have French, I recommend De Lubac’s Corps Mystique.’

But it could be that, for those who ‘had’ the languages, Fr Thomas might recommend books in any one of the seven languages he was fluent in.

But it got even better, or perhaps worse than that. If he was quoting from one of these foreign language books and he thought that something might be lost in translation, Fr Thomas would just quote in the original language. I’m sure you can imagine the bemusement, and amusement too it must be said, that caused among the students. And we were bemused at times because, if you didn’t ‘have’ the language, it wasn’t a case of something being lost in translation, but of everything being lost in the lack of translation, because you didn’t understand a word he was saying.

That story is really just an example of something that I’m sure we all know, and that’s just how difficult it is for people to understand one another if they don’t speak the same language. And if we think about how difficult it is for people to communicate when they don’t speak the same language, we can perhaps get a clearer sense of the difficulty and enormity of the commission Jesus gave to his disciples before his Ascension.

As we know, Jesus told his disciples to go out into the world, to teach the people of the world all the things he’d taught them, and to make disciples of the people of all nations. But I wonder if we can imagine just how bemused the disciples must have been at Jesus words. Not because they didn’t understand his words, but because they understood the words exactly, they understood just what his words meant and wondered just how they were going to carry them out.  We have to remember that Jesus’ disciples were Galileans, and for the most part, Galilean fishermen. Perhaps some, like Matthew who’d been a tax collector, might have spoken some Greek, the international language of the day, but for the most part they would have spoken Aramaic and Hebrew. How were they going to tell and teach people of other nations and languages about Jesus?

When we think about the commission Jesus gave his disciples in those terms, it really should come as no surprise that the first gift the Holy Spirit gave the disciples on the day of Pentecost, was the gift of speaking “other tongues”. We read about speaking in tongues in various places in Scripture and what often seems to be meant by tongues, is a strange, perhaps heavenly language that no one on earth usually speaks, the meaning of which needs to be interpreted by someone who has the gift of interpreting tongues. But the particular gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the gift of speaking other languages, and it was given to the disciples so that they could fulfil the great commission Jesus had given them. It was given so that the disciples would have the ability to pass on their knowledge and understanding of Jesus to people of different nations, races and languages, and make disciples of them.

That tells us something very important about the gifts of the Spirit. When we think about the difficulty and enormity of the task Jesus had given the disciples, and who and what those disciples were, the most astounding thing about it is, that they actually did carry out the task Jesus had given them.

In the face of state sponsored opposition and persecution, within less than 300 years, a Church which The Acts the Apostles tells us numbered a total 120 believers at the time of Pentecost, grew into the official state religion of the Roman Empire. An empire of about 55 million people that covered most of Western Europe, the Near and Middle East and North Africa.

Now, of course, we can manipulate numbers in all sorts of ways, and not all of those 55 million people would have become Christians simply because the emperor said they should. After all, one of the reasons the Church was persecuted was because it wouldn’t obey the religious dictates of the Roman emperors. But, in terms of growth, a rough comparison with our own situation would be the people of this united benefice, which has a combined electoral roll of 82 members, converting the population of Oldham and Rochdale to Christianity in 5 or 6 years. If we were told to do that, I think we’d be quite bemused and wonder how we were going to do it. But that’s the scale of growth the early Church achieved. If we were asked to do that, we might think it was impossible, at the very least we’d be daunted by the enormity of the task. But what the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost tells us, is that God doesn’t look at our abilities and give us tasks that suit our abilities. God looks at the tasks that need to be done and sends his Holy Spirit to give us the gifts and abilities to do them. How else can we explain the growth of the early Church?

Today, the Church faces many problems, not the least of which is the decline in the number of people who come to church and who consider themselves to be Christians, even in a nominal sense. Stopping that decline and reversing it so that the Church begins to grow is probably the biggest task that we face in the Church at this time in our nation and society. And I think, in many ways, one of the biggest problems we have in teaching people about Jesus and making disciples in our nation today, is a problem of language. It’s not that people don’t understand English, it’s that they don’t understand the language of faith and religion. To many people in our country today, the language of faith and religion is completely alien to them and so, if we try to speak to them about those things, we might as well be speaking a foreign language.

I’ll give you an example of what I mean. A few years ago, before I was ordained, I was driving to a site near Scunthorpe to work. I had a young lad, in his late teens in the car with me, and he noticed the palm cross I had behind the rear-view mirror of my car. He asked me what it was but as I explained, I could tell that he really didn’t understand a word I was saying. We established that he had heard of Jesus Christ and that he thought Jesus had ‘something to do with Christmas’, but that was about as far as his knowledge and understanding went. He never once said he didn’t believe anything I said to him, and we spoke for quite a long time, for most of the journey as I recall, but it was obvious that he had no understanding of who Jesus was or is. No understanding of worship or prayer or of why people go to church. No understanding of sin and forgiveness. No understanding of the Cross or of sacrifice. No understanding of religious symbolism; he seemed to think the palm cross in my car was ‘a good-luck charm’. Now I’m sure that young lad understood my words, we couldn’t have had a conversation at all if he hadn’t understood my words, but he didn’t understand the meaning of what I was saying because all the things I was talking about, the things that are central to our faith and religion, were completely alien to him. And in that sense, I was speaking to him in a foreign language, one that he didn’t understand.

So how do we speak to people who don’t understand the language of faith and religion in ways that they will understand. Well, if people don’t understand our words, we obviously need to speak to them in non-verbal ways, and that means we have to speak to them through our actions.

It’s believed that one of the things that helped the early Church’s phenomenal growth was that, in a world that was very inequitable, a world where slavery was the norm, the Church’s Gospel of salvation for all, it’s proclamation that all people, from the lowest slave to the highest ruler, were of equal importance and worth, it’s practice of holding all things in common and of caring for the sick, the poor and needy, spoke to people in a very, very powerful way. We know that our world is still inequitable today. There’s still great injustice in the world, there’s still exploitation of the weak by the strong in the world and there’s still sickness, need and poverty in the world. People may not understand our words, but if our deeds show that we care about these things, and care about them enough to do what we can to alleviate them, people will understand that. Perhaps then, they might be a little more inclined to take the time to learn the language of faith and religion that we speak, so that when we do speak to them about Jesus and his teachings, they will understand what we’re saying, and we can make disciples of them.

Amen.

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The Propers for Pentecost can be viewed here.

We’ve now come, once again, to that time of year in the lives of our parishes that we could call ‘APCM Season’. Over the last couple of weeks the various notices and nomination forms for the APCMs have been displayed in our churches and today, St Mark’s holds its APCM with St Gabriel’s due to hold theirs in 2 weeks’ time. So, whilst I’m sure they haven’t been chosen for that reason, today’s readings are very fitting.

In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we read the story of Matthias being chosen to replace Judas as an Apostle. Now, before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I’m in no way implying that those who have held posts in the Church and have retired, resigned or for any other reason need to be replaced as officer holders in our parishes should in any way be equated with Judas and regarded as traitors and betrayers of the Lord. Rather, this reading makes it quite clear that the Church coming together to choose and appoint people from amongst its membership to hold office in the Church and on behalf of the Church, is a custom and practice that is as old as the Church itself. Older perhaps, because Matthias was chosen before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and we usually regard that as the birth of the Church.

And if our first reading is fitting because it assures us that we’re on very firm ground for what we do at our APCMs, our Gospel reading is equally fitting because that tells us what those who are chosen, elected or appointed to hold office in the Church, need to be about.

We know that, in the world, those who hold office don’t always act in a manner appropriate to their office and position. For example, we call our politicians ‘public servants’ but we know that very often, our politicians use their position to be self-serving. That’s the root of the political scandals we hear about so often in the media. But that’s the world’s way, and in this morning’s Gospel, Jesus makes it quite clear that whilst we, his disciples, are in the world, we called to be not of the world. In other words, we are called to do things differently than they’re usually done in the world. And Jesus calls on the Father to sanctify, or consecrate his disciples in the truth, the truth that is God’s word. So what does that mean?

Well, to sanctify or consecrate means to make holy and, as I’ve said on a number of occasions in the past, to be holy means to be called and set apart from worldly affairs, to serve God. And if we’re called to be sanctified or consecrated in the truth that is God’s word, we’re called to become holy by our observance of God’s word and our obedience to his word. In other words, we’re called to become holy by doing things God’s way rather than the world’s way. But there’s more to it than just that.

In the prologue to his Gospel, St John calls Jesus the Word made flesh. And Jesus himself said that he was the way, the truth and the life. So, if Jesus is God’s word and truth, to be made holy in the truth of God’s word, is to become holy by our observance of and obedience to Jesus’ words and example. And, of course, that is the calling of all Christians, it’s why we’re called Christians, because we’re followers and imitators of Christ.

That is the calling of all Christians, but it’s especially important that those who are chosen and appointed to office in the Church are true to that calling because they are called to represent and serve the Church and its people. They’re called, if you like, to be the public servants of the Church. And there is very often a wider public aspect to holding office in the Church too. Those who hold office in the Church are usually known as Christians in the wider community and because of that, it’s especially important that they’re not like so many of their public service counterparts in other areas of life. Political scandal can be very damaging to those involved, but a scandal in the Church impacts the whole Church, each and every one of us who profess to be Christians. Most people in our society may not come to Church and they may not have much time for the Church, but they know that Christians are supposed to do things differently than other people. A scandal in the Church says that we don’t. It says that we’re no different to anyone else. If people think that, why should they take any Christian, or the Church, and what we say seriously? And if our actions bring the Church into disrepute, what are we saying about the truth of God’s word? At the very least we’re saying that we don’t take the truth of God’s word seriously, and how then can we ever hope or claim to be made holy in the truth of God’s word?

I don’t want to put anyone off offering themselves for office in the Church or to decline the offer it they’re asked, but to stress that with office in the Church comes responsibility. Responsibility to our fellow Christians, both in our own parish and in the wider Church. It also comes with responsibility to Jesus and to God. That might sound frightening, but it doesn’t need to be. We can use those responsibilities as an incentive and encouragement to be true to our Christian calling to be consecrated in the truth of God’s word and his word made flesh, Jesus.

We know that we often fail to live up to our calling as well as we should but, as long as we don’t deliberately neglect or reject our calling, as Judas Iscariot did, we always have the reassurance that Jesus himself, our heavenly advocate and High Priest, will plead to the Father for our forgiveness. And as Jesus, God’s word and truth said, he will watch over us to make sure that none of those who are called are lost, unless we ourselves choose to be lost.

Amen.

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The Propers for the Seventh Sunday of Easter can be viewed here.

Today, Ascension Day, is regarded by the Church as one of the greatest festivals of the Church’s year. It’s one of the festivals of the Church that can be regarded as having true ecumenical status because it’s held in equally high regard by both the Western and Eastern Church. In the West, by both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, Ascension Day is a Day of Eucharistic Obligation, a day when all communicant Christians should receive Holy Communion. So there can’t be any doubt that, in the eyes of the Church, Ascension Day is a very important day.

And yet for all that, I think Ascension Day is often treated as something of a poor relation when it comes to festivals of the Church. That might be something to do with the way Ascension Day is portrayed in imagery. In the Anglican Shrine Church at Walsingham, for example, the Ascension is shown as a pair of nail-marked feet surrounded by clouds on the ceiling of the one of the church’s side chapels, and I’ve known many pilgrims to Walsingham burst into fits of giggles when they’ve seen that image for the first time. That obviously means it’s very difficult for them to take the Ascension seriously. But I think the main reason for the relative lack of importance that many people seem to place on Ascension Day is that it’s sandwiched between the greatest day of the Church’s year, Easter Day, and that other great festival of the Church, Pentecost, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church.

Ascension Day I think seems to get lost in the middle somehow. It’s perhaps seen as the filling in the gap between Easter and Pentecost, perhaps as a link between these two great days that simply has the purpose of fulfilling the words Jesus spoke to his disciples shortly before his death; 

“… now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” 

But Ascension Day is much more than that, it’s much more important than that.

And really, we shouldn’t be in any doubt about the importance of Ascension Day because we’re reminded of it at every Mass and Eucharist. Every time we say or hear the Eucharistic Prayer we promise to remember and rejoice at Jesus’ Ascension. And what’s more, we say that Jesus’ Ascension is ‘glorious’. So what is so important and glorious about Ascension Day?

Well, first of all, if we say that Jesus’ Ascension is glorious, we must mean that it gives glory to Jesus and to God. One of the things I’ve spoken about in sermons before, is that to give glory, or to glorify God means to say something about God. And Ascension Day goes say a great deal about God and about Jesus.

In St Luke’s account of the Ascension, he says that a cloud took Jesus from sight. In the Scriptures, clouds are often a sign of God’s presence or God’s glory. We read that repeatedly in the Books of Exodus and Numbers. We see it again at Jesus’ Transfiguration when a cloud covered the disciples who were there and a voice from the cloud proclaimed Jesus as God’s Son and Chosen One. So the image of Jesus being taken away in a cloud is a clear sign that Jesus was taken into God’s presence. And that’s exactly what out Gospel reading tonight says:

‘So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.’

So the first thing the Ascension tells us is that God raised Jesus to heaven, and in turn, that tells us that what Jesus said about his relationship with the Father is true. So it also tells us that we can trust Jesus and his promises.

And our trust in Jesus and the Father is reinforced when we look at the Ascension in the light of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus promised to send the Helper, the Comforter, the Advocate, the Spirit’s given many names according to translation. In fact, as we heard tonight, the promise of the Holy Spirit was amongst the very last words Jesus spoke to his disciples before he ascended:

‘And while eating with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Pentecost tells us that promise was kept.

Jesus’ Ascension also tells us something about Jesus as our heavenly Advocate and High Priest. The men in white, whom we believe to have been angels, told the disciples that Jesus would return from heaven in the same way that they’d seen him taken into heaven. We usually think of that as meaning that Jesus, having ascended into heaven in a cloud, will return in a cloud. It may very well mean that, but it means something else too.

Jesus ascended as both Son of God and man. He’d been resurrected from the dead, but he was still human, that is the whole point of the Resurrection after all. And if he returns in the same way, he will return as both Son of God and man. So having been born both fully human and fully God at his Incarnation, Jesus is both fully man and fully God forever, and he is now seated at God’s right hand as both our heavenly Advocate and High Priest.

As it says in the Letter to the Hebrews,

‘…  he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews then goes on to say,

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

As High Priest, seated at God’s right hand in heaven, the sacrifice Jesus offers to make propitiation, to placate God’s displeasure at our sins, is his own sacrifice made once, for all, on the Cross.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that Jesus will one day return from heaven. That’s something Jesus also promised, and his Ascension tells us that we can trust Jesus to keep his promises. But, as we also heard tonight, when that will be only the Father knows, so there’s no point in us speculating about when that might happen. But Jesus’ Ascension does tell us something that is of more immediate concern to us.

In his Resurrection, Jesus was raised from the dead as a man. That tells us that we can also be raised from the dead. At his Ascension, Jesus was raised to heaven as a man. That tells us that we can be raised to heaven too. Perhaps not in a cloud as Jesus was, but nevertheless, where Jesus has gone in his humanity, we can go in ours, from life to death, and from death to new and eternal life in heaven. That is also a promise we have from Jesus, whose promises we know are trustworthy.

The importance of Jesus’ Ascension, and of Ascension Day itself, may be lost to some extent in some strange and peculiar imagery. It may be undervalued because, coming as it does between the great festivals of Easter and Pentecost, Ascension Day is overshadowed to some extent by those great festivals of the Church and of our faith. But it shouldn’t be. Ascension Day is regarded by the Church throughout the world as one of the great festivals of the Christian year and great events in the story of our salvation. And, when we think about what Jesus’ Ascension tells us about God the Father, about Jesus His Son and our brother, and about the Holy Spirit too, it is every bit as glorious as we proclaim it to be at every Mass and Eucharist we celebrate.

Amen.

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The Propers for Ascension Day can be viewed here.