Making God’s Presence Known?
Ōtūmoetai - Ascension Sunday and Easter 7 Year A, 2026
What I want to say:
What I want to happen:
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
which means we find ourselves near the end of the season of Easter,
Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday which marks the 50th and final day of Easter.
- and nearly halfway through the liturgical year.
Because it was the Ascension on Thursday
- We heard that story from Acts 1
Just to note that the timing of our liturgical celebration is entirely based on Acts
- Matthew and Mark don’t mention it.
- John links the ascension with the resurrection (maybe),
- as does the writer of Luke - Acts in the Gospel of Luke.
- Only in Acts is it separated from the resurrection and happen 40 days later.
I wonder what the ascension offers you?
how does it help you live your faith?
2.
Incarnation
I’ve struggled with it for a long time
- ignored it really
- until had to preach on it as vicar
One way to think about the ascension is that it affirms the incarnation
In the incarnation the Eternal Word of God – the Son
- abides or dwells among us in the person of Jesus
o both fully human and fully divine
- who lives God’s deep and eternal commitment to this world,
- who embodies God’s love for the world
o God’s hope and dream for God’s creation, and all who live here
- reminding us that God is compassion, generosity, justice, mercy, aroha - love.
- and reminding us that we are created in the image of this divine love.
One way to understand the ascension is that in that moment all that Jesus lived and taught about God is affirmed by God.
To take that further
We can also think about the ascension as bringing the incarnation full circle
In the incarnation the divine dwells with the human
In the Ascension the crucified and resurrected Christ who is still both fully human and fully divine returns to the Godhead
- and the human is enfolded into the divine.
In the incarnation the divine dwells with the human
in the ascension the human is folded into the divine
We are folded into the divine.
Full circle
God is not out there – far away sitting in judgement,
- even when it feels like it
but is as close as our breath
- inviting us into God’s compassion, generosity, justice, mercy.
We are not separated from God
- in the ascension we are held in the being of God.
Which I find challenging and extremely comforting
what about you
- what difference might that make for you?
3.
Cosmic Christ?
Another thought
The ascension also is the means by which the crucified and resurrected Jesus
- who is of the particular time and place of first century Judea and Galilee
becomes the Ascended Christ of all time and all places.
So rather than becoming absent from this world,
- in the ascension the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ is more present,
o and more active
o inviting us to live God’s love,
- so that as the prayer Jesus teaches says,
o God’s will is done on earth as in heaven.
- what difference might that make for you?
4.
John
All of which echoes what we hear in John’s gospel in the passage from John 17 as Jesus prays
This theme of God’s presence in and abiding compassion and commitment to this world is what John’s gospel is all about.
In fact, John’s gospel from the prologue to the end is about Jesus being the means by which God breaks down the division between this world and the Divine.
We can see that very clearly in the passage we heard from John 17
- the beginning of what is called by some as Jesus’ great high priestly prayer.
- comes after four chapters of final instructions
- can be summarised in vs 4
o “This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.”
- this is John’s equivalent of the prayer in Gethsemane
o but prayed with the disciples’ present
- these instructions and this prayer was prayed for his followers and disciples who faced the dark night of Jesus arrest and execution.
- The future was bleak.
And in that moment of despair
- terror
- hopelessness
Jesus offers a deeply passionate and compassionate prayer for what they needed
- to survive in all that was unfolding around them.
They were invited into the love between God the Father and Jesus,
- They were invited into the love that eternally exists between the Father, Source of all Being and the Son - Eternal Word.
They were invited to abide or live in that love,
- hard crunchy foot washing love
to allow that love to shape them
- and to shape their relationships with each other.
They were invited to live that love in the same way Jesus lived that love;
- to be icons of that love.
5. Glory, glory!
Jesus begins this prayer with “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son can glorify you.”
what does it mean for Jesus to glorify the Father?
The essence of what glorify means in the gospel of John is to make visible presence of God
Jesus has made and will make that presence visible in all that he said and did
- especially his crucifixion
His prayer is for those remaining
- his followers/disciples
- all who will become followers because of their witness
- including us
it is for all he calls to join in this work of glorifying God,
- to be the ongoing embodiment of God’s love
- living God’s hope and dream.
As Jesus makes clear in his prayer
as the ascension affirms
as Pentecost will declare
- we don't do that on our own.
We do that because of the promise of the Spirit.
We do that because we are held in God’s love
We do that because the Spirit of the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ is always with us wherever we are.
6. Conclusion
For the last couple of weeks, I have used Angela Parkers quote that
“We must be people of the way, being the dream and hope of God, as we participate in abundant life while here on earth together” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-141-14-6)
Andy Root - church is to be faithful cf try to survive
- be Acts 1 Church and wait and pray
- less haste more urgency
I wonder then what does it mean for you to make the presence of God visible to your family, friends, and neighbours?
I wonder then what does it mean for us to make the presence of God visible in Tauranga?
And how does the Ascension help or hinder that?
talk to your neighbour
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