Context

This week’s title references a book that looks at the Jewish creators of comic book heroes. This PostScript is published on Ascension Day when the Church remembers the mystery of Christ’s exaltation from the temporal world to eternity. Ascension is an event that perhaps works better in the literary description than it does in pictorial depiction. There is something Superman-esque about paintings that show the soles of Jesus’ feet disappearing through the clouds.

There are a number of stories in the news that are connected to truth and power.

In the USA, President Trump frequently denounces the mainstream media as peddling ‘fake news’, while arguments about the truth of an alleged adulterous affair play out daily in the news.

North Korea is changing its time to come in line with South Korea giving hope for better relations in the future. However, North Korea’s neighbours in Beijing are still fearful of opening themselves to the West, having banned Peppa Pig and Winnie the Pooh – the latter because of the bear’s similarity to President Xi Jinping.

Ascension Day is the beginning of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, the global prayer wave initiative of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Justin Welby will be busy on Saturday 19 May as he will be officiating at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before a fast car takes him for a TKC celebration in St Albans. Miss Markle has recently laid down her acting career, her last act in her last role being getting married…to Mike Ross. However, not everyone within the Anglican Communion is happy with TKC.

Paul Ryan, the Speaker in the US’s House of Representatives suggested that the House’s chaplain resign. The suspicion was that Fr Patrick Conroy SJ had prayed a prayer that was embarrassing to the majority Republican Party. Having agreed to resign, Fr Conroy took back his resignation and has been reinstated.

Last Sunday there was a march through London defending free speech. It followed the former leader of the English Defence League Tommy Robinson having been banned from Twitter.

9 May was the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands following the formal end of World War II the day before. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles that were invaded by the German military and there are many stories of heroism on the islands. It was a very British liberation and one story is that of Mr P. Warder, the only Post Office employee left on Jersey when the German invasion was imminent. On 8 May, four days before British troops landed on Jersey, Mr Warder went to the Post Office telecommunications centre and announced to the German officers that he was taking over the building on behalf of the British Post Office.  He later sent back a letter to London asking for some annual leave as he hadn’t taken any for five years.

 

Reflection

In his prayer, Jesus prays that his disciples might be protected as they stand up for truth. Truth is an increasingly slippery concept and we see this in the political realm on both sides of the Atlantic. It is probably true that politicians have always presented the version of the truth that they wanted the voters to hear. However, we seem to have reached a new level in which there are no sanctions for telling lies. Into this situation we have those who are fighting for the freedom to speak freely. In certain countries – in the east and in the west – this freedom is threatened by those in authority who fear what might happen if their people are free to express opinions.

The period between Ascension and Pentecost has the feel of hanging in limbo. This was certainly the case for the disciples who were waiting for the promised coming of the Holy Spirit, but unsure what that would look like. Having sequestered themselves ‘for fear of the Jews’ in the days after Jesus’ death, they remained ‘upstairs in the room where they were staying’ (Acts 1.13). Luke does not explicitly say that they were hiding, but we might infer that they were keep out of the way while they waited for something to happen. Luke also tells us that they prayed. The ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative is about praying ‘with’ the disciples during this period, but not in hiding. Angela TIlby has a more negative view of it, suggesting that TKC is part of an evangelical takeover of Anglicanism, and that TKC has ’colonised the days between Ascension and Pentecost to please the liturgically minded’.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is going to be living out the uncertainty of waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Saturday 19 May. Royal protocol means that he cannot leave Harry and Meghan’s wedding reception until the Queen leaves, which puts a question mark over his precise arrival time for the evening TKC engagement in St Albans. It would take a brave minister to say, ‘Sorry, Ma’am, but I have a prior engagement, so I must be going’. In the past, such an act has tended to end badly for the minister – Thomas Becket, and Thomas Helwys come to mind. However, echoing the bravery of Mr Warder, claiming Jersey for the British Post Office, the Archbishop could point out that he serves a higher power.

 

Prayer

Our God, we thank you that having ascended to your right hand,
your Son has moved from being ‘here’ in order to be ‘everywhere’.
As we remember his leaving us to take his rightful place,
we remember also those of our friends and family
who have left us to be with you.

As we think of the resurrected and ascended Christ,
we pray that your kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.
We pray that the various local and national initiatives
that are taking place during this week
will revitalise both individuals and congregations where people are weary.

Help us to live with the uncertainty that the disciples faced
and be open to the movement of your Spirit in our churches and in our lives.

We pray for the Royal Wedding.
We pray for all taking part,
but especially for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle,
that this day will bring them joy and be the start of a happy life together.
We pray for the many people who will be celebrating this event
with street and garden parties, that neighbours will become friends.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.

 

Questions

• Should freedom of speech have its limits?
• Does bravery require ignorance of the outcome – e.g. does how much Jesus knew about the future affect how we view the way in which he faced Calvary?
• In his Gospel account, John doesn’t mention the Ascension of Jesus. Do we need to know how Jesus left this earth? How helpful are classical artistic representations of the Ascension?

 

All-age activity

Knowing what we know about the disciples’ experience of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Jerusalem, it is hard for us to imagine what it must have been like for them as they waited for something to happen at some time. Using a concordance (or a search in an electronic Bible) to look for Biblical references to God’s Spirit. Research what the ‘coming of the Spirit’ might have meant to the disciples as they waited after Ascension Day.

 

Young people

Think of a time when you were brave. How did you feel? Do you think that this is how the disciples felt knowing that Jesus was going to leave them?

  

Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film and sport.

 

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