Sermon at the General Synod service, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, Ascension Day, Thursday May 9th
By The Rt Revd Ken Good, Bishop of Derry & Raphoe

‘While Jesus was blessing the disciples, he withdrew
from them, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy;
and they were continually praising God in the temple’
Luke 24:53

‘How could 12 ordinary and unlikely people be transformed into the leaders of a movement that has affected the course of world history for 2,000 years?’ That was the question that fascinated Professor Ken Blanchard, the one–time agnostic author of the 13–million copy best–seller The One Minute Manager.

I have heard Ken Blanchard speak on a couple of occasions and I have been highly impressed with what he has to say. Starting from a position of scepticism in matters of faith, Blanchard became, and remains, a convinced Christian believer. Recognised globally as an expert on leadership issues, he is in no doubt that Jesus of Nazareth was the most effective and inspirational leader in human history.

THE ASCENSION
Blanchard’s question is an entirely valid one for anyone to ask – whether believer or sceptic. How could 12 ordinary and unlikely people be transformed into the leaders of a movement that has affected the course of world history for 2,000 years? In his answer to the question, the Ascension proved to be a decisive moment in the transformation of that small band of unlikely disciples into the leaders they were about to become.

It is worthwhile for us to reflect a little tonight on how this transformation might have been made possible, as well as considering what its implications might be for us here and now – at a General Synod.

GROWING CONFIDENCE IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD
It is necessary to see the Ascension episode in the context of the disciples’ earlier development and struggles in faith and in ministry.

From very early on, Jesus trained his disciples by getting them first to watch how he did things – as he healed blind Bartimaeus, as he turned around the life of Zacchaeus, as he fed thousands of people, as he contended in debate with the Pharisees, as he raised Lazarus and others. The motley band of disciples learned cautiously – and at times slowly – as he trained and developed them. Then he sent them out, from time to time, to put into practice what they had learned. Feeling out of their depth, they were certainly aware of needing his help – sometimes urgently!

Yet, overall, they learned to have confidence in him and in what he had said as they exercised the itinerant ministry. As ‘reflective practitioners’ they grew in confidence in the goodness and power of God and deepened in the belief that he could use even them in his service, even when Jesus wasn’t physically at their side, for short periods.

But too often they failed to trust sufficiently, their confidence in him wavered and they crumbled at some crucial moments. They lapsed into doubt, they let him down. They were unsure about the trustworthiness of God when it came to him using them in the spiritual realm. Frankly, they didn’t look like they would ever be world–changers!

THE ASCENSION – A TURNING POINT
And then, by the time we get to Luke’s account of the Ascension, we discover that their faith, their confidence, their reliance on his wisdom had somehow developed exponentially. The three short sentences of my text contain a somewhat surprising sequence of events, and speak quite eloquently about the disciples’ increased trust in the goodness and dependability of God:

‘While he was blessing the disciples, he withdrew from them, and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy… continually praising God.’ Luke 24:53

That unexpected sequence of: 1.blessing – 2. withdrawing – 3. praising suggests that the lesson the disciples had learned over the previous three years – and which becomes particularly clear at the Ascension – was this:

In what appeared to be his absence, not only could Jesus be fully trusted, but his blessing could be fully experienced, as much as it had been in his physical presence. They now did not doubt his continued presence, despite the appearance of absence.

THE LESSON OF ASCENSION – ABSENCE AND PRESENCE
The creative mix of absence and presence; of withdrawing and yet of blessing in which Jesus had trained the disciples over the three years now culminated in a major turning point. The One who promised, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’ led them to a ministry that was to be more effective than anything they could ever have imagined or dreamed. At its root was a deepening of trust in the goodness and reliability of God. They could now become world–changers.

In our personal experience, at times when God may seem distant, for whatever reason, the tendency can be to doubt his goodness, to feel neglected or even abandoned by him, to assume his power is not available to us; to assume we have to struggle on in our own strength. Yet the reality is the very opposite. The same One who promised, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’ longs to see our trust deepen, like theirs, our confidence in him grow, like theirs, our reliance on him develop, like theirs, so that he can release us into a ministry that will change us and bring his transformation and blessing to the world around us, like theirs.

WHAT FLOWED FROM THE ASCENSION?
The application of this Ascension lesson for us is that we, just like those original disciples, are beneficiaries of the same possibilities that flowed from the Ascension. As a result of Christ ascending, they were then, and we are now, blessed in at least three significant ways: We can be

1. Empowered by the Holy Spirit
2. Equipped with spiritual gifts
3. Enlivened by a healthy relational culture

1. EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
A clear link is made between the ascending of Jesus and the ‘coming down’ in power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. For this Synod, and in our lives and ministries generally, we may need to be reminded of what the early disciples discovered: that the effectiveness of all that takes place does not rely entirely on human effort or just on meticulous organisation – important though both of those are.

I have been helped recently by the insight of Mark Buchanan, who in his book The Rest of God (about Sabbath rest) describes the pitfall of human striving when it gets to the dangerous point of overlooking or, in effect, denying the sovereignty of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Buchanan warns:

‘A serious hallucination is the conviction that I am God, that it all depends on me. How will the right things happen at the right time if I’m not pushing and pulling and watching and worrying?’

This can be a timely word for Synod–goers – whether we are hardened by many years of attending or relatively new to the whole experience. Rather than pushing and pulling, watching and worrying in such a way that we imply that it all depends on us, we can do our best and then determine to have confidence in the goodness and trustworthiness and power of God.

That small group of disciples on Ascension Day had no master plan, no organisational backup, no infrastructure, few resources, few if any friends in high places. They were entrusted with a challenge to go out into the world and make disciples. Very soon they began to see the transformation of their city, their nation, their continent, and eventually the world. How did this transformation unfold? I have no doubt that they would say that it was the power of the Holy Spirit, the presence (though absent) of the risen and ascended Lord, and the life–changing the power of the gospel which he had taught them to proclaim that brought about the change – more than any human effort they may have contributed.

In the prayer Jesus taught his disciples we will shortly be acknowledging:
Yours, Lord, is the Kingdom (therefore not ours)
Yours is the power,
Yours is the glory.

Our longing tonight is that, as we trust in the goodness of God and rely on the risen and ascended Christ to ‘work in us that which is well pleasing in his sight’, we too will see released among us the transforming and enabling power of the Holy Spirit. That, far more than pushing and pulling, watching and worrying is the way his Kingdom will come, his will will be done.

2. EQUIPPED WITH SPIRITUAL GIFTS

‘When he ascended … he gave gifts to his people … to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.’ Eph 4: 8, 12

Which gifts do we particularly need in the Church at this time? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers? We are generally quite strong on the pastoring gift, but maybe less so on apostleship and evangelism, or even prophecy. It can be profitable to keep an eye out for the gifts of the Spirit being revealed in and around us. To notice or pick up when someone’s contribution bears the hallmark of a spiritual gift, to expect to see the gifts at work.

As people get to the podium at Synod, it is good to have an ear to what the Spirit might be saying through some with an apostolic insight, others with prophetic discernment, or with an evangelistic heart, or with pastoral compassion or a teaching word. His gifts are at work among us, and we must allow the Spirit to work through them if we are to see the progress we long for and the building of his kingdom. Relying on our own strength and wisdom alone, is not the Ascension–tide approach.

The transformation in which the disciples participated after Ascension and Pentecost started with the Holy Spirit changing lives. One by one by one, people were expressing a fresh allegiance to Christ, in which their priorities and values, their goals and interests were transformed. The activity of the Holy Spirit somehow released in them gifts that transformed situations as well as a willingness in them to be used in changing the world.

3. ENLIVENED BY A HEALTHY RELATIONAL CULTURE
In today’s readings, we hear a description of the relational culture, the atmosphere in which Christian disciples are to serve the Lord together, in partnership as a team. This is important.

In the Epistle we were told that the calling to which we have been called – which includes how our Synod business is to be conducted – is to be exercised ‘with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love’ with all of us ‘making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ We were also told that the gifts which we have received are given so that ‘we all reach unity in the faith … and become mature…’ Eph 4:8–13.

These are serious and weighty words. With the pressures and strains which church life nationally and internationally is experiencing, we must remember that creating disunity can be, among other negative things, an undermining of the spiritual gifts with which God has provided us. The appropriate use of spiritual gifts produces unity and maturity, their inappropriate use can result in the very opposite.

The Archbishop of Armagh, in the sermon he preached from this pulpit at his Service of Enthronement in December, referred to the culture he longs to see during his Primacy as one of courtesy. That is a good word to summarise this healthy relational approach. In his words he described this culture as ‘treating one another as deserving of respect, worthy of love, never bullying into submission, but listening with love and discernment to what others are saying.’ This is the Ascension–tide culture that enabled the disciples to see the church impact the world of their day. Clearly they didn’t succeed in maintaining it as much as they should have done, but they knew clearly what they were to aspire to – as do we.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have gathered in this Cathedral tonight to acknowledge before God and one another our need of his help. We do not want to be guilty of the hallucination that we ourselves can do all that’s needed in our own strength. Whether we feel close to his presence or more aware of his absence, we have come to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, to be inspired by his word, to be nourished at his table, to be equipped by the gifts he chooses to give us, and to go out from here trusting more deeply in his goodness, determined to relate to one another in healthy ways that will encourage and bless.

May Christ our exalted King pour on us his abundant gifts, make us faithful and strong to do his will, that we may reign with him in glory.

+Ken

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