But perhaps suffering in the past two weeks has really risen to our consciousness in what’s being called the racial pandemic, 

or the greatest global racial unrest in history.

At its core is the suffering of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour who suffer at the hands of systemic injustice and racism in structures of our society.

So this passage (Numbers 11) is perhaps a good pandemic reference for us.

The Holy Spirit is poured out on those even if they’re not present,

And if we hold this as true, we can say that communion 

(mediated by the Holy Spirit) is also valid if we’re scattered all about.

So the Feast of the Ascension should be important to us as worshipping Christians, but it isn’t.

 

Why not?

I think part of it, is that it’s an awkward story for us 

modern enlightened people.

God is a source of comfort, not just in theory, but in real situations, 

like what we are in today.

Paradoxically, it is the Doubting disciple who gets the most attention. 

It is the hurting, isolated disciple with whom Jesus spends the most time.

Perhaps important to acknowledge
is that we are in a time very similar to the very first Easter!

Easter 2020 is like Easter 33,

Where the disciples were huddled together in fear.

Things were deadly quiet. Things were weird and strange.

Jesus lived his life, died and rose so that we all would receive God’s love,

and that Jesus would be in us, in our hearts.

Jesus did what he did, so that we would know him and thereby know God.

Because when we see Jesus, we see God!

But we need to move from a pessimistic nostalgia 

To a hopeful optimism, together, for the future,

Based on the resources of the past and present.

90 years later, we no longer have a St. Matthews Brotherhood, 

or a Witness committee, 

or any group committed to evangelism, 

and this is perhaps indicative of some of our problems.

Martin Luther, from where we get the word “Lutheran” 

was a Catholic, 

both small c and capital C.