Bible Text: Acts 1:1-11 and John 15:9-17
Not that long ago I heard a very interesting story on CBC radio’s show “Under The Influence”, a show that looks at the world of advertising and branding. This story had little to do with advertising per se but it did have a lot to do with branding or perhaps rebranding. It is a story about comedian Steve Martin. When Steve Martin started to do TV performances his popularity exploded. He went from playing small comedy clubs of 300 people to huge arenas of 40,000 people. But early on in this explosion he realized he had a problem. Those small comedy clubs were intimate settings. It didn’t really matter where you sat, you knew you could see him and Martin was known for his body language and expressions. But in large arenas all but the first couple of rows were left looking at a tiny spec on the stage. People left those early stadium shows disappointed, even Forbes magazine said he looked like an ant on stage. Martin decided that he would wear white suits, because against the dark curtains of the arena, with the massive spotlight on him, in a white suit, he would shine like a beacon of light radiating from the stage. Soon enough wearing white suits became part of his brand. In many ways, a shift within Martin’s career, something that was likely beyond his control, caused him to make a small change, which then stuck with him and continues to be a part of his brand. As we begin the second phase of the New Beginnings process, it is important to understand that sometimes external forces are beyond our control, but that slight shifts in focus will help us stand out like a beacon of light amongst a lot of darkness.
In the Leader’s Guide for the facilitators of New Beginnings the introduction states, “We are living in a very different world than we did 20 years ago. The rules of the economy have changed. The rules for politics have changed. There is a high mistrust of institutions AND the position of the church in culture has shifted. We can no longer ask, ‘How do we get more people to come to church?’ The conversations have to be much deeper. When the rules change, the conversation has to become more focused if you are to sustain your church’s witness in your community.” At the Friday night lecture the Rev. Ian Fraser named a number of factors for why people are no longer attending church, from changes in how we receive information to lower birthrates. Ian then quoted Albert Einstein who said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Something new is required and we need to shift our thinking about long held assumptions. Imagine the possibilities. Who knows, perhaps as we participate in New Beginnings we will discover that a slight shift will give us a whole new identity that then defines us within this community. I know it sounds terrifying but this shift is not meant to change us at our very core- we are still who we are- with our focus placed squarely on Christ and being Christ in the community, but it is a shift in how we do that.
For Luke the ascension shifts ministry from Jesus to us. The disciples are about to go through a change that will rebrand them. They will even be renamed; they will no longer be disciples but rather apostles. Post- ascension, leading up to Pentecost, the disciples will be rebranded with new responsibilities, yet at the core they will remain the same.
The disciples are told to stay in Jerusalem and wait for what has been promised to them, that they will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. It should be noted that the Spirit is a dominant theme in Acts. Pentecost, which we will celebrate in a couple of weeks, marks the coming of the Spirit and the birth of the church. It is the Spirit that will command Peter to go and meet with Cornelius’ emissaries, which will change the mission of the church. It is the Spirit that leads Paul on his various missions, opening up communities to the gospel. The Spirit guides many a process and for many of us who have been part of this leadership heading into New Beginnings there is a strong feeling that the Spirit is guiding this process.
The disciples ask about a timeline, asking whether or not this is when the kingdom of Israel will be restored, something that the early prophets said the Messiah would do. But the truth is, even Jesus doesn’t have a timeline. This points to the fact that humans do not have control over when and how the Spirit enters or interacts. In Luke the Spirit is portrayed as a Dove. In Acts the Spirit is like a tongue of fire. What is clear is that a direct effect of the Spirit’s presence is the transformation among the disciples to apostles. They will preach and proclaim and through their proclamations others will be transformed.
Jesus then declares that the disciples will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth and at this Jesus ascends. I suppose one could argue that the disciples have not quite made the transition to apostles just yet because they are still acting like disciples. They stand there stunned and staring up. Two men, robed in white, stand with the disciples and ask “why do you stand looking up?” Their presence is a little obscure but it serves as a reminder to the disciples that they need to fix their eyes not upward at the empty sky, but to Jerusalem, to the people, because it is those people to whom they will witness.
I know that the world of the early church and our world are rather different and as we have learned through this new beginnings process the world has changed rapidly in its indifference to the church in the last few decades. Familiar practices in church growth and development no longer work. Early Christianity scholar Mitzi Smith gives me comfort as she makes two important points about spirit led witness and shifting our gaze. She writes, “Spirit-induced [witness] is necessarily contextualized, because the Spirit speaks through us in our contexts so that it can bring to us significant testimony and so that we can carry a relevant testimony to others within their contexts. Indeed, the crowds at Pentecost heard the apostles speaking to them in their own language,” and second, “We are given a vocation here on earth and that calling is not to be always gazing into heaven, indifferent to the injustices and needs of our neighbours, but to be busy sharing and being good news to humanity.”
We are to be Christ’s witnesses under the guidance of the Spirit. What do we witness to? We witness to the resurrection, to this profound act of love. We witness to the command that Jesus gives his disciples in his Farewell discourse, “to love one another as Christ loved us.” We are witnesses to this, and that is who we are at our very core. Nothing, no program or period of discernment will change that. But also know that the Spirit leads us into unknowns. Just as Peter had to change what he thought of God’s way concerning clean and unclean meat, just as Paul had a profound shift in his thinking, being witnesses means being open to where God’s Spirit is working. I hope we all feel the Spirit leading us as we participate in this next step, I hope that as many as are able will participate in these discussions and small groups, and I know we will grow in our enthusiasm to be Christ’s witnesses, to be beacons of light on an otherwise dark stage. Amen