DAY 71
Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic
A series of daily reflections for people of faith
by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor
Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland
WEEK ELEVEN SUNDAY 24 MAY 2020
ASCENSION SUNDAY
“Do not leave us comfortless, …”
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. - Prayer for Ascension Sunday, The Book of Common Prayer
It’s been 40 days since the resurrection, a day marked by the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, which always falls on a Thursday. The Sunday following is always celebrated as Ascension Sunday, today, and 50 days after the resurrection is marked by 50, ‘pente’ – Pentecost, next Sunday. So now here we are with the disciples in between these two events, and before his ascension Jesus can read the anxiety in their faces: he was alive and ministering in power, then he was crucified and died, then he came back from the dead, then he tells them he’s leaving again, and in fact, he does just that. Can you feel the tension, the anxiety?
So, before he leaves them and ascends into heaven, Jesus makes them some promises that were fulfilled ten days later on the Day of Pentecost. “And I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (parakleton), that he may abide with you forever; …I will not leave you comfortless (orphanous): I will come to you … But the Comforter (parakletos), which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:16, 18, 26 King James Version.
Comforter, in the antiquated language of the King James Version, refers to the Holy Spirit. The Greek is a compound noun with the prepositional prefix ‘para’, ‘alongside’ (think parallel parking), and the verb ‘kaleo,’ ‘to call.’ So the Holy Spirit is One ‘called alongside’ us on our journey, our faithful companion to see us home safely. Because we live on this side of Pentecost, we can celebrate Ascension Sunday knowing that for us ‘the Comforter has already come!’
Reflective question: How does the Ascension of Jesus connect the Holy Spirit to you today?
Reflective Scripture: John 14:17-18 – “… the Spirit … he lives with you and will be in you … I will not leave you orphans …”
Reflective hymn:
“The Comforter Has Come” – Frank Bottome (1823-1894)
O spread the tidings ‘round, wherever man is found,
Wherever human hearts and human woes abound.
Let every Christian tongue proclaim the joyful sound: the Comforter has come!
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