Sermon preached at St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens on 22nd May 2022: ACTS 16:9-15, JOHN 14:23-29

Deacon Chris Saccali

May I speak in the name of the Risen and Ascended Lord  Amen

I was not a brave or athletic child, or even popular, playground games and physical education lessons and sports days were the bane of my life. I remember the games we played during break though, and one day aged about five or six hovering at the bars with my leg hooked over wondering if I could spin round like the others which required letting go, when some child rushed by and knocked me over, accidentally probably. The result was I broke my arm as I put it out to save myself. I still am not good at letting go physically on bridges or stairs I cling to the rail or banister and figuratively I do try to let go of what is dragging me down or people who have passed away.

I think my granddaughter aged four is probably braver than I was. One of her favourite songs is from the soundtrack of the Disney film Frozen and is entitled Let it Go. The main character, Queen Elsa, has magical powers  to freeze all that is around her through her hands but because of the damage it can cause, her parents taught her to hide her magic, not to feel anything and to keep herself cut off from others. In a moment of  frustration and an ungloved hand, the whole land becomes frozen and she escapes to the mountains where she sings , Let it Go – it is all about letting the past be the past and being free and expressing oneself.  It involves a lot of twirling around  I am not going to demonstrate that here and now but I find I am getting bolder and letting my inhibitions go the older I get.

After Lent, when we tried letting go of unnecessary baggage leading up to the cross and then the miracle, of Easter, we sort of find ourselves in this situation of letting go in the liturgical year with the approach of  Ascension day on Thursday forty days after Easter. Jesus has been preparing his disciples to let him go right from the first resurrection appearance to Mary by the empty tomb:  he is not here and ‘do not cling!’ are the orders. Now we hear explicit instructions that they are not to fret because Jesus is going to ask His Father to send the Holy Spirit.

 

There is a tension here between presence and absence which could be perceived as destructive but we come to see actually as constructive so that when we reach the Ascension narrative we find the disciples are not devastated but full of joy returning to Jerusalem to await the arrival of the Paraclete. Strange but important, don’t you think?

How often do we despair when our loved ones leave this life and earth? And that is natural. This assurance of the Holy Spirit with us and Paul’s vision in Acts and journey which reassures us when things go wrong are vital to our understanding of the Christian faith. Life does not stop at Easter, grief is held in tension with joy like absence and presence. How often in funeral ministry do families ask to have a final look and farewell to a loved one, when they bewilderingly say afterwards they are not there. Remember we are travelling through the Easter season until Pentecost.

Jesus is talking about absence and presence in John 14 too, let us look at the context of the passage. The whole of the Lord’s Supper is overshadowed by the knowledge that this is the end. The disciples may not have quite taken in what is going to happen but they must have picked up on the new note in Jesus’ teaching as he attempts to prepare them for a time when he will not be physically there or in risen form.

Firstly, he will be there when they remember him and try to stay faithful to his teaching. By love, they can continue in the incarnational work of Jesus and God will be present as He was in His Son. Lastly, as Jesus is nothing if not realistic about His followers, he does not expect them to manage his legacy of love, good works and showing God’s presence on their own. The Holy Spirit is to come as a constant enabler of all these.

But not before Jesus is taken from them, a lot of faith is to do with absence more often than feeling God’s presence even though we hope He is there, everywhere. Martha laments Jesus’ absence when Lazarus fell ill and died. Jesus calls out to God in abandonment from the Cross. Even Easter morning is focused on the empty tomb, ‘He is not here.’ And in the coming Ascensiontide we leave the disciples gazing into the sky. It used to be the tradition that the Pascal candle was snuffed out at Ascension not Pentecost. What does that have to say about our tradition?

Maybe, we neglect to celebrate the feast of Ascension analipseos as we should. So it is heartening that a relatively new initiative Thy Kingdom Come has sprung up to cover the ten days between Ascension and Pentecost.There are many resources on the website Thy Kingdom Come and we will be setting up a prayer station here so have a look at both. Download the prayer journal and use it at home, Nelly has kindly printed one off as a sample and there are hearts so you can name the five people you bring before God. Thy Kingdom Come is all about getting people to draw nearer to God. I have a prayer box I use for this with the names in. I have also made prayer stones and written dear ones names on them. You will find what is helpful to you- these are just some suggestions.

As we contemplate Jesus’ ascension, we are compelled to draw closer to him. Our spiritual quest is to explore how St John’s gospel readies us for separation in life for what or who we hang on to. The end of physical appearances is a new beginning. In our waiting and art of letting go, we release our inhibitions and fears and the Holy Spirit and her joy begins to fill us. Quite how, we do not understand.

Our obligatory readings from Acts during this season have a lot to teach us about what the Early Church were learning after Jesus left them and the Holy spirit was with them. The disciples and apostles are growing in confidence and maturity. They receive visions and perform miracles but still they feel sometimes their way is blocked or they are not sure what the next step is.

So it is for Paul on this missionary journey to a part of the world not so far from here to the north of Greece. We see God at work in the story of Lydia another woman who comes to faith through Paul because we hear ‘the Lod opened her heart to listeneagerly to what was being said.’ Of course, a whole sermon could be preached just on this passage.

For here and now let us hold on to Christ’s promise, through God to be with us and live in the presence of the Holy Spirit listening out for her promptings as to what to let go of and what to hang on to in our lives. AMEN