Message From the Pulpit

July 2003

Dear Members and friends of All Saints Parish:

There has been so much going on at All Saints that is important! The visit of Bishop and Mrs. Pickering, the ordination to the priest hood of the The Rev. Lyman Shivers, the service of confirmation-with 3 new members added to All Saints Parish! It was appropriae that the ordination be on the eve of Pentecost, or Whitsunday, but it is also important to remember that while Whitsunday follows the Ascension of Christ, it does not take its place.

The Ascension of Christ into heaven is an essential part of the Christian faith. The Ascension is the hub on which the Christian faith turns. The first half of the Christian year, fom Advent on, has to do with the earthly ministry of Christ; the second half, after the Ascension, has to do with the heavenly ministry of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The earthly ministry of Christ, as presented in the New Testament, guides us. The heavenly ministry of Christ is what we are involved in.

The Ascension of Christ into heaven prepared the way for Pentecost. As our Lord said:

It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if

I depart, I will send Him unto you.” (St. John 16:7)

As Archbishop Temple points out, the Comforter does not come as a substitute for Christ, the Comforter comes to reveal Christ to us, wherever we may be. During His earthly ministry, Christ was limited as we are, by time and space. Now, in His heavenly ministry, he is available, through the power of the Holy Spirit, wherever in the world anyone calls upon Him.

The Holy Spirit reveals Christ as the Ascended Lord, seated in glory and authority on the right hand of the Father – King of kings and Lord of lords! And in His prayer for the Church, the night before His Crucifixion, our Lord prayed that:

… they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou

hast given me… (St John 17:29)

And it is for this vision of the glory of the Ascended Christ that we pray on the Sunday after Ascension:” …send to us Thine Holy Ghost to comfort us and exalt us to the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before…”

It is the vision of the glory of God that has guided the Church in its darkest moments in history. St Augustine of Hippo witnessed the Fall of the Roman Empire but through it al, the vision of the glory of the City of God guided the Church and led directly to the attempt, in England and Western Europe, to establish the Kingdom of God. And it was this “vision glorious” that lead themout of the Dark Ages. More on this later.

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yours in our Lord,

Hugh Hall