In-Between Sunday

This Sunday we are in-between Ascension and Pentecost

Many churches at this time of year celebrate a Children and Youth Sunday. St. John’s has this practice as well. Often this means we give our children and youth roles in the service. Sometimes this even means we have a youth preacher. This year I have had more opportunity to work with our youth preacher, and I have been the better for it.

Evan, Tim Callahan (our youth minister), and I sat down to talk with Sanders White (our youth preacher) several weeks back. We began with prayer, and then read through the lessons for Children and Youth Sunday. This was to help prepare our youth preacher and to give him some insights to build upon. Fortunately for me, I am also preaching this Sunday at the early service. One kernel of wisdom revealed that day has been ringing in my mind at various points since then.

This Sunday is strange. It is a Sunday when we remember the time between Jesus’ Ascension into heaven (40 days after Easter) and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (50 days after Easter). This Sunday doesn’t have an official name—other than the Sixth Sunday of Easter. But, maybe it ought to be called “In-between Sunday.” And, actually in more ways than one that name fits.

Sure, this is the time between Jesus leaving his disciples and the gift of the Holy Spirit coming to inspire their ministry, but there’s more. As this is Children and Youth Sunday, it is a time when we call to mind transitions. Our children, teenagers, parents, and teachers are about to finish the academic year. They will soon be in that space between one school year and the next. This liminal time is important. But, how do we recognize it, utilize it, and celebrate it?

Often these sorts of transitions sneak up on us. They frustrate us. Moving from one thing to the next never is as easy as we want it to be. So, having a time when we think of the in-between might actually do us a lot of good. Especially, if we allow the lessons from Sunday to inspire us.

In the lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus has departed for heaven. His Ascension left the disciples wondering what to do next. They had not yet received the Holy Spirit, but that did not stop them from doing good work. One spot left open by Judas' betrayal remained open among the apostles. They needed to fill it. But, how?

First, they found those who had been faithful all along. Next, they drew straws to figure out who would serve as Judas’ replacement. It might seem a little risky to pick a disciple like this. Would the disciples have done something different if Jesus were still there? Would they have done something different if the Holy Spirit were already present? We will never know. But, in that time of transition what they thought important was doing the good work of completion. They wanted fulfillment. Fulfillment appears to be a theme among the other readings as well.

In John’s letter, those without the Son, without Christ in them, do not have true life. If we think of reading this statement in a time of transition we are anchored in the truth that God remains with us. Even if Jesus has ascended into heaven, even if he is no longer bodily here that does not mean we are without the Son.

In John’s Gospel lesson we discover fulfillment through the same type of belonging to Christ. We do not belong to this world, a world that is ever-changing. We belong instead to Christ. Through Christ we belong to God. This means that we belong to the changeless one. This gives us reassurance as everything in this world shifts and moves, and as we see our children, our adolescents, and ourselves changing. We are reassured that God will always be with us even through the shifts, the storms, and the struggles of this life.

But, still there is more about this “In-between Sunday.” As Evan wrote about this morning in his blog, we must not skip over this time. Waiting is important. We waited for the Resurrection outside the tomb on Holy Saturday. We must also wait for the Holy Spirit to come among us. If we are not able to abide in this liminal space we may completely miss what God is doing in us, through us, and among us.

It is always hard to be in between where we are and where we are going. However, this journey that is life is chalked full of in-the-middle moments. If we do not abide in these times we will miss the richness of God meeting us in the everyday. We will overlook the gift that is right now. We will not see how God is gifting us even as we wait for something more. May we celebrate “In-between Sunday” by living in the liminal space where God meets us, inviting us to be ready for something even more transformative!