From the Pastor: Ascended into heaven

Dear Peace family,

I write this on Ascension Day, that too neglected holy day of our church year which falls forty days after Easter and recalls the event we affirm in the creed: "he ascended into heaven." I love the day. In a very real sense, the ascension of Christ into heaven is a vital and exciting part of our transforming faith.

The story speaks so eloquently to our human weakness. Throughout the gospel accounts, we watch with sad amusement as the disciples fail, time and again, to understand who Jesus is. In the ascension story according to Acts 1, they are at it again: "Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus, for what seems the 100th time, gently replies, "It is not for you to know."

So many times in our lives, that kind of question comes up. What is God doing? When will God make this happen? What’s God’s purpose, God’s timetable? But the answer comes back: "It is not for you to know." I’ve always loved a poem by Christopher Marley:

I went to the theater

With the author of a successful play.

He insisted on explaining everything.

He told me what to watch,

The details of direction,

The errors of the property man

And foibles of the star.

He anticipated all of my surprises

And spoiled the evening for me.

But, mark you,

The greatest author of them all

Made no such mistake.

The ascension story teaches us that God’s ways are not our ways, and that there are many things it is not for us to know.

But it also teaches us that Christ has gone before us, and has prepared a place for us. He’s gone ahead to make things ready. So wherever this journey is taking us, we know that the destination is assured, and it is ready for us.

And we know as well that Christ "sits at the right hand of the Father," and that means that Christ is in control of all the world–the same Christ who loves us and gave himself up for us. That’s why this story has been of great comfort to people of faith.

On the Ascension Day prior to his death, the anti-Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his parents from his prison cell: "Today is Ascension Day, and that means that it is a day of great joy for all who can believe that Christ rules the world and our lives."

Sitting in a German prison, he called it a day of great joy–and why? Because the ascension means that Christ is the Lord of all, that he does rule the world and our lives, even when the world or our lives seem to be falling apart. It meant that to Bonhoeffer, and it means that to us.

The appointed psalm for Ascension Day contains these words:

The Lord, the Most High, is awesome;

He is a great King over all the world . . .

Sing praises, sing praises to God;

Sing praises, sing praises to our King!

Yes, I love Ascension Day, a day of joy and a day of comfort; a day to remember just who is in charge of the world and of our lives. To him be the glory!

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

Classic Prayers

O Lord, when your Son ascended into heaven he sent down upon the Apostles the Holy Spirit, as he had promised, that they might comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom. Distribute among us also, we pray, the gifts of the selfsame Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

--Bergamo sacramentary, 9th century Italy

Liturgy Notes: The Holy Trinity

The Sunday after Pentecost (this year June 11) is observed across the Western church as the Festival of the Holy Trinity. For many reasons, this is an interesting day in the church year. It is the only festival, for example, that celebrates a doctrine rather than an event. Of course it is a pretty important doctrine for Christians! The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church refers to it as “the central dogma of Christian theology.”

The doctrine of the Trinity, of course, is the teaching that there is one God who exists as three Persons--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christian theology calls this a “mystery,” which is a fancy way of saying that we don’t really understand it. Volumes have been written about the Trinity and what it means, but most of the theological discussion is far beyond the ability of us ordinary people to understand. Frederick Buechner has put it this way:

“. . . Look in the mirror someday. There is (a) the interior life known only to yourself and those you choose to communicate it to (the Father). There is (b) the visible face which in some measure reflects that inner life (the Son). And there is (c) the invisible power you have in order to communicate that interior life in such a way that others do not merely know about it, but know it in the sense of its becoming part of who they are (the Holy Spirit). Yet what you are looking at in the mirror is clearly and indivisibly the one and only You.”

Historians tell us that in the early church, there were quite a few arguments over the meaning of the Trinity. The church developed this doctrine to protect some very important aspects of our faith. To believe in the Trinity is to claim that Jesus Christ is of the very being of God--that he was not just a human teacher, a prophet, but that he was God incarnate. It is also to believe that the Holy Spirit is God present with us in our lives today.

It was not until about the tenth century that Christians began to set aside a particular Sunday to celebrate and reflect on the Holy Trinity. The celebration took root first in Northern Europe, and it was set on different days in different places. In 1334, Pope John XXII made the festival part of the official calendar of the Western church, and set it on the Sunday after Pentecost.

But the celebration of the Trinity in our worship is far more frequent than one Sunday a year! In a sense, every Sunday is a “festival of the Holy Trinity.” We refer to the Trinity with great frequency. We begin our worship “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” We sing, in the “Gloria,” “You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.” The prayer of the day often concludes, “through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God.” In the creed we confess our belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Our benediction says, “Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you. . .” Our confession in the Holy Trinity pervades our worship throughout.

Lutheran theologian Robert Jenson is fond of saying that “Father, Son, Holy Spirit” is God’s name. It is how we know God, how he has reveled himself to us. Our worship reflects that belief. One of our favorite hymns puts it this way:

Holy Father, holy Son, Holy Spirit,

three we name you,

Though in essence only one,

Undivided God we claim you

And, adoring, bend the knee

while we own the mystery.

From the Associate Pastor

The Lord is at my side, therefore I will not fear: what can anyone do to me? Psalm 118:6

Oh, if we could only trust in this verse. But then life happens: bills, illness, work, family, friends, etc. and then the fear comes. However, it is true. God is at our side and in the end everything will work out.

Nothing in our lives should become too serious (and deadly). We all need to trust that God is with us; then we relax and then we laugh. If Jesus has been raised from the dead then God has won the victory and we too will win the victory over death, the devil and the world. If we trust in the triumph of the cross then we will be filled with laughter. Here is what D. Elton Trueblood said “Any alleged Christianity which fails to express itself in gaiety, at some point, is clearly spurious. The Christian is gay, not because he is blind to injustice and suffering, but because he is convinced that these, in the light of the divine sovereignty, are never ultimate… Though he can be sad, and often is perplexed, he is never really worried. The well-known humor of the Christian is not a way of denying the tears, but rather a way of affirming something which is deeper than tears.”

May God bless you with faith and laughter in this valley of tears.

Pastor Dean