Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday May 21, 2023 – 7th Sunday After Easter
Scripture: Acts 1:6-14
Does anyone remember what the world was like, 3 years ago? There was a global pandemic going on, for one thing. We weren’t able to gather in-person to worship, so every Sunday Bertis, Ross, and I would meet up at Westfield to livestream a service. Bible Study and meetings were happening over Webex. At the beginning of each week, I flipped through the church phone lists and made myself a list of people I wanted to touch base with that week over the phone. And it was around this time – late May – that we started gathering outside for our parking lot coffee hours so that we could see each other and have a conversation, even though our chairs had to be spread out.
And then there were the Facebook Live daily check-ins. Every day after lunch, just before 1pm I would go down to my basement and get my tablet set up, and hit the “Go Live” button on Facebook. We would chat – me with my voice and everyone else using the comments section – as we waited for people to gather; then a few minutes after 1pm I would read a chapter of the bible, we would have a conversation about what we had read, and then we would pray together. It was a great way to stay connected with each other and with God in a time when virtual gatherings were the most common way to gather.
We started in March reading our way through the Gospel of Matthew, which brought us up to Easter. After Easter, we read the gospel of John, and then a poll on Facebook took us to Revelation for three weeks after that. And just before Pentecost that year, we began to make our way through the book of Acts.
The full name of this book in the bible is The Acts of the Apostles. It is a continuation of the story that began in the Gospel of Luke – if you were to read the very beginning of chapter 1, it references back to the first book which recorded Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. And so now volume 2 picks up the story after the resurrection with Jesus’s ascension, followed by Pentecost, and then the rest of the book is filled with Jesus’s apostles – those who knew him when he was alive, and those who only came to know Jesus after his resurrection – all of them together carrying the good news about Jesus all around the known world.
There are some great stories in this book, but as we read it together 3 years ago, I suggested that maybe a better title for the book, rather than the Acts of the Apostles, might be the Acts of the Holy Spirit working through the Apostles. The Holy Spirit’s fingerprints are evident all the way through the stories, as she equipped those first apostles for the work that they were given to do.
The story from Acts that we heard today comes from the very beginning – it is the story of the Ascension. 40 days after the resurrection, after spending 40 days with his disciples, Jesus ascends into heaven, telling his disciples to wait in Jerusalem, for very soon they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (And if you want to hear about that story, come back next week for the celebration of Pentecost!)
As a side note, if you want to see some entertaining art work, do a google search for images of the ascension – my favourites show Jesus’s feet dangling through the clouds. But it brings up a real point – how can we, with words or with images, convey the mystery of God and how God works?
But back to the story. Before leaving them to return to the one whom he calls Father, Jesus also tells his friends, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In other words, all of the work that they are going to do to be witnesses to Jesus – the preaching, the healing, the miracles, the teaching – they aren’t going to be doing it under their own steam, but rather it will be the Holy Spirit working within them.
I don’t know about you, but I find this to be a very reassuring thought. The idea of needing to depend on myself and my own abilities to witness to who Jesus is and what God is doing in the world terrifies me; but when I can trust that I’m not the one who has to do it, but rather God will be doing it through me by the Holy Spirit – this sounds more possible.
Going back to our daily check-ins 3 years ago, I suggested that a better name for this book in the bible might be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit Working Through the Apostles,” and I also wondered what book might be written titled, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit Working Through the People of Two Rivers Pastoral Charge.”
This year, 2023, marks the 25th Anniversary of Two Rivers Pastoral Charge, even though I know that each of our three congregations has a much longer history than just 25 years. If we were to look back on those 25 years with a lens of how has the Holy Spirit been working in us, what stories would we tell? Would we tell the story of the time the Holy Spirit empowered us to become an Affirming pastoral charge? Would we tell the story of how the Holy Spirit inspired refugee partnership and sponsorship? Would we tell the story of baptisms and communion services celebrated? Would we tell the stories of the Saints who have left us, but whose whole lives were witnesses to the love of God? Would we tell the stories of Official Board meetings and Church in the World committee meetings where the Holy Spirit nudged us to stand up for people who are vulnerable and oppressed and marginalized in our world?
Looking back over the past 25 years, what stories would we write in that book entitled, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit Working in the People of Two Rivers Pastoral Charge”?
But alongside looking backwards, it is also important to look forwards. Last week at the Official Board Meeting, I invited the members of the Board to imagine Two Rivers Pastoral Charge 10 years from now, in 2033. The world is likely going to be a very different place 10 years from now, just as the world is currently a different place than it was 10 years ago. But I have every confidence that Two Rivers Pastoral Charge will still be here. But how is the Holy Spirit going to lead us in the next 10 years? What adventures will we be on together? How is the Holy Spirit going to be inspiring the people of Two Rivers Pastoral Charge in 2033 to be witnesses to God’s love and to Jesus’s life and teachings?
It is interesting to look back on what has happened in the past, but I think that it is even more exciting to think about and imagine where we might go in the future. For even though we haven’t celebrated Pentecost yet this year, we are living in Pentecost times. The Holy Spirit is living and moving in the church, and equipping us for the work that we are called to do – equipping us for the work of being witnesses of Jesus Christ. And may our ears be ever attentive to her voice; and may our lives be ever willing to follow her where she leads. Amen.
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