The Spirit is coming

Luke 24:44-end

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

By Hannes Grobe/AWI - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8723415

Our traditional images of the Ascension are of Jesus, usually on a mountain, levitating in front of his disciples and then disappearing the into clouds. We often understand this event as a moment of parting and separation, a moment which creates distance between our physical bodies and the body of Jesus. Along with that can come a yearning that our minds and hearts may somehow continue to dwell with Jesus in a way that our bodies cannot, as we pray in the Church of England collect for today:

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, 

that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; 

so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, 

who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

The sudden and comprehensive changes in our lives over the last eight weeks or so have given us a very different perspective on physical distance. Some things, of course, haven't changed - in general, we still prefer to be physically close to people we care about, and less so with people we don't know well. The concept of 'personal space' was and continues to be important. But new ideas around physical distance have also emerged as we reflect, perhaps more than ever before, on what the space between our bodies means for our life together.

While we practice physical distancing, being too close to someone outside of our immediate households has become associated with an increased risk of catching a contagious disease. As a result our wider social interaction, whether that's in the supermarket or out for a walk, is currently tinged with fear and anxiety for many people. Many of us have become much more vigilant about keeping other people at a suitable distance, moving out of the way if someone else walks too close or even avoiding going outside at busy times of day.

Physical distancing has revealed how vital the closeness of our bodies is to our social lives. Indeed, the more widely used term is 'social distancing', and our physical separation translates all to easily into social separation. We have had to be creative with our use of technology in order to 'meet' in non-physical ways, and are still wrestling with the challenges of being truly present to one another when our bodies are so distanced.

Our new patterns of interaction have also revealed the harmful distances between our bodies which were already present in society along lines of privilege and power. As K. Augustine Tanner-Ihm writes, "social distancing is a race issue" and "a permanent reality for people of colour". He highlights the story of 26-year old Ahmaud Arbery, an African-American man shot dead by two white people while out jogging, as just one horrific example of the hostility that people of colour face in white-majority cultures. This hostility is expressed not just through actions of physical violence, but in more subtle ways through the use of physical distance. Augustine Tanner-Ihm gives us some moving examples: "an old lady clutching her handbag a little tighter; a couple leaving their car and hurrying to lock it; or a group of people staring as they enter a shop". I'm sure that careful reflection on our own social interactions would give rise to many, many more.

Even those of us who would never dream of attacking a person for the colour of their skin carry implicit biases, which perpetuate the unjust structures of our society that we are called to challenge as Christians. Resisting and disrupting these systems of oppression, which are so deeply embedded in our common life, is not simply a task - it's a way of living, a way of being. And we know in our hearts that change in our lives and our world cannot be brought about through our own efforts - we stand in need of transformation by the life-giving power of the Spirit. But there is some good news: the Spirit is coming! So says Jesus in our Gospel reading for today: "I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high".

The Spirit is coming. On this day the church enters a period of waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. During this time, the disciples have been asked by Jesus to stay in the city - to stay where they are - until the Spirit arrives. At present, many of us find ourselves doing just that - physically separated from each other, we are also living in a much smaller space. We are staying put, waiting for an end to this time of separation that right now seems nowhere in sight, waiting to emerge into a new, radically altered world.

Perhaps, instead of waiting for the end of lockdown, we might wait instead for the arrival of the Spirit. Instead of seeing this time as one of temporary, enforced captivity, perhaps we could see our physical staying as part of a much deeper 'staying' as we wait in joyful anticipation for the Spirit's arrival. Unlike the lockdown, this deeper 'staying' is something that remains with us not just over these days but our whole life long. This deeper 'staying' will, I think, challenge us in ways we did not expect, as it exposes the underlying radical uncertainty of our lives and transforms us along the way, drawing us into the mystery of God. But unlike the unknown quantity of our post-lockdown world, perhaps the very end of our deeper 'staying' is not quite so mysterious: for the Lord has already led captivity captive, and has given gifts to his people.

Stay here. Look and listen out for God, wherever you are. The Spirit is coming.