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I’ve just been listening to a lecture given by N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham (Episcopus Dunelm), on Jesus’ knowlege of his own identity.  Vocation has been on my heart of late; not only in the missiological necessities but in its relationship to our true identity. 

Wright manages to do something that I have rarely seen among true scholars - and even among many who merely bear the name “teacher” - including myself: he is able, through his deep scholarship and understanding, to lead us, not into an academic exstasy, but into true worship and discipleship.  Even amidst the fluency of many languages - Greek and Hebrew being the most obvious here - Wright leads us to a deep understanding of Jesus which inspires true relationship with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rather than footnotes.

I have long held that Christian scholarship and education, rightly practiced, is a true vocation in and of itself.  As such, it can be, for the scholar/educator, an act of worship, a source of true joy, and a vector for others to be drawn up into worship.  Nevertheless, my experience has been that many scholars take so much pride in questions and deconstruction, in academic debates and frank scoffing that rarely has scholarship led me to worship.  The exceptions, of course, are many of my truly Christian professors from Seminary, and a few other scholars whom I have met in books.  In these cases even the footnotes were the adornment of the priestly uniform as we act as the kingdom of priests serving God for the world’s renewal.

As a teaching preacher, I must remember that this mature expression of scholarship need not work itself into a frenzy to bring out passion, but instead speaks so lovingly of the God whom it has come to know academically that, even where we differ or do not understand, we still resonate with to the glory of God. 

Ah, that one day I may become like that.

Holy Spirit, come down upon us!

Bless us with your presence.

Help us to proclaim your Word in the language people understand.

Give us the grace to use your gifts to your purpose.

Give us wisdom to live according to your ways.

Guide us through the life of discipleship.

Amen.

Today is Ascension Day, forty days past Easter.  My brother put up one of those icons of Jesus getting swooped up today, complete with footprints on the rock. 

The more I study the Ascension, the more I realize that, at least in the eyes of Paul and the Gospel writers, the Resurrection and Ascension were two parts of the same event.  (In John, Pentecost’s there, too.)  How many times does Paul say something to the effect of “Jesus was raised and seated in authority over everything else”?  It’s quite frequent.  See Ephesians 1:20-23, especially.  Jesus gained the authority, it seems, over everything in his death and resurrection, and then came into his throne at the Ascension.  Thus, in our discussions of the Resurrection, we naturally must flow into the Ascension for our theology of the Resurrection to be complete.  And of course, an Ascension without a Resurrection is just nonsense - at least as long as the crucifixion did its job. 

This means that Jesus the Messiah’s victory over death, sin and the devil was part and parcel of his rule over all powers and authorities - “not only in this age but in the age to come” (Eph. 1:21, NRSV).  This is the day we can declare his kingship over all the other authorities in our lives - governments, families, the weather, etc.  He’s not just ruler over the age to come, but he has been made ruler over this present age as well. 

For us, this means that the world is even more in out-and-out rebellion against him, and we are to be responsible participants in his new way of life. 

Praise God for the Ascension!

This last Sunday was Communion Sunday at FBC Warren.  Probably due to my study under Bob Webber, I tend to use a form of prayer during communion that resembles the liturgical Eucharistic Prayers.  It’s always ad-lib, but there are common elements. 

One of those elements is that of the Sanctus.  The Sanctus is the liturgical spot where, as the Book of Common Prayer so elegantly puts it, we say, “joining our voices with all the angels and archangels, and all the company of Heaven, who forever sing this hymn to the glory of Your name,”

Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty
Heaven and Earth are full of your Glory
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the highest.

I will often say (in less formal language) the gist of this during my prayer leading in to communion.  This, to me, is part of the common (communing) nature of the event: we are in communion (joined with) Christ, and we are also in unity with all those who call on the Name of the Lord - including all angels, etc., and all other followers of Jesus Christ throughout time and place, both in this age and the age to come. 

This Sunday, for the part of the Sanctus, I was led (on the spot, I may add) to sing the chorus from ”How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin, which has become a song we use to celebrate during worship.  And the congregation joined in. 

“How great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God, and all will see how great, how great is our God.”

It was quite moving.  Essentially, we all participated in the act of Sanctus, and therefore the act of Communion with Christ and the Body of Christ globally throughout time, through singing, rather than merely calling it to mind by reference. 

In this way, we have experienced Worship Convergence through communion: convergence of our experience in our local congregation with all the Saints who have gone before, those living now throughout the world, and those who will come after.  And with that, we live in the life of the Kingdom in greater measure. 

And that’s why we do it (worship, that is) in the first place: to live in a greater measure of the life of the Kingdom.

Amen.