Matthew 28:16-20
Acts 1:1-14
I wonder if you are someone who likes beginning or endings? Do you like the beginning a good book, the dramatic opening of a film you’ve been waiting to see, or the beginning of the New Year or a new job; or do you prefer the end of a film, turning the last page of a great novel, or the end of term as the holidays approach?
In March I set out on a pilgrimage from St Paul’s Cathedral in London to Canterbury Cathedral, in preparation for my installation as the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was a time to put down one ministry and pick up another. The pilgrimage was both an ending and a beginning (although after 147km I was glad when it stopped!).
Both of our readings today are about endings and beginnings. Both speak about the ending of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the beginning of the disciples’ ministry here on earth – the birth of the church.
Jesus’ death might have felt like an ending – but his resurrection and ascension mean that Jesus’ message of healing, liberation and forgiveness, continues through the power of the Spirit - as God does ‘a new thing’. The good news of the gospel is now for everyone.
This good news becomes a light-bulb moment that will super-charge the mission of the church.
And that light, that hope, that new beginning in Jesus - through the power of the Holy Spirit - is promised here today.
As we celebrate the baptism and confirmation of these candidates, we celebrate their new beginnings and witness God’s desire to continue to be involved in all our lives.
Baptism and confirmation are outward signs of the deep love of God. During the confirmation, words are used from Psalm 43: ‘God has called you by name and has made you his own.’
The Psalmist tells us that our names are written on God’s hand. Not just the name we are known by in the world the name that those who love us call us - the name we use in secret. And when God speaks our name, it is not just the letters which make up our name, it is everything about us. God has called you by name and made you His own.
And we can have this relationship with God, not because of anything we have done, but because of the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes our journey of faith reaches new heights – like the joyful celebration that marks these new beginnings today; and sometimes we can feel as if our faith is at rock-bottom, when we’re struggling with life’s challenges, or finding it hard to sense God’s presence. Jesus is alongside us in all of these moments.
At the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus recognises that his disciples feel scared about what’s going to happen, and he speaks gently to them. Some of us might know these feelings of fear and loss from our own life experience. Jesus reassures his disciples, and us, that we will never be abandoned by God.
When Jesus was present, he was the one who showed them the way and taught them the joyful commandments. But now that Jesus draws near to his time of departure, now that the disciples will be on their own without him, that task is to be handed over to the Holy Spirit, to empower and embolden them follow Jesus.
Jesus tells us that his Father will send the Holy Spirit to be our helper as we seek to follow Jesus. The word translated as helper is full and rich - it doesn’t just mean someone who comes to give assistance in various tasks. The Holy Spirit is the strength and energy which we need to love God and to witness to his love in the world. To go and make disciples of all nations, to baptise and teach.
And, if we are to hear and receive from the Holy Spirit, we need to be people who spend time with God – in prayer, in reading the Bible, in service to God and our neighbour. Praying, praising and sharing together just like the early Christian community in Acts. And, if like me, you are not always sure what it means to keep following Jesus, you can simply pray, ‘Come, Holy Spirit, come’; and be open to letting God transform your life in unexpected, unsettling and blessed ways.
Last Thursday was Ascension Day and the start of this year’s Thy Kingdom Come prayer initiative. Thy Kingdom Come is a global ecumenical prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus. This year’s theme is all about the presence of God through the Holy Spirit.
There are many resources available, including a Prayer Journal, and Novena Prayers for each day between Ascension and Pentecost – there is also a free app. I encourage you to use these days to call on the Holy Spirit, to reflect on the world around you and your own lives. To pray for five people to come to know the love of Christ in God.
For those who are being baptised and confirmed, today marks a new beginning. As followers of Christ, this might be your first call – to share the love of God that you have found with those around you. Maybe there are five people that you would especially like to pray for during this coming week.
At the end of the service, we will give a candle to those who have been baptised and confirmed, a reminder that Christ is the light of the world and that the light will never be overcome by darkness. And together, we will exhort them to, ‘Shine as a light in the world, to the glory of God the Father.’
As you begin this new journey of faith, may you be empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus’ commandment: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations’ … ‘and remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’.
Amen.
