Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, 1 John 5:9-13, John 17:6-19, Psalm 1

Come, Holy Spirit, come; be with us in the speaking; be with us in the listening; be with us in the in between.  Amen

Several of our families are away this weekend as they attend graduation festivities for children and grandchildren.  Across the country, graduates are receiving their diplomas and then moving into that suspenseful space between the known world of the classroom and the nervousness of whatever comes next.  For many, it will be a time for celebration and relaxation intermingled with apprehension and a long to do list.  For most, it will be a time of serious discernment for life-changing decisions – perhaps seeking God’s guidance and rolling the dice.

On this seventh Sunday of Easter, we find ourselves being held in the transitional space between The Ascension of our Lord, which we celebrated this past Thursday, and Pentecost, which we will celebrate next week.  The Bible tells us that after the Resurrection, Jesus remained with his disciples, or at least appeared periodically to them, for a 40-day period, then ascended into heaven.  And, it would be ten days after that that the Holy Spirit would descend upon the followers of Jesus and remain among the followers just as the Holy Spirit remains even today among us, sustaining us and guiding us in our Christian journeys.  Thus, on the 40^thday after Easter we celebrate the Ascension.  And, next Sunday, 50 days after Easter we will celebrate Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Karl Barth, the great 20^thSwiss theologian, referred to this time between Ascension and Pentecost as a “significant pause” – a time to stand still and keep looking up as if that plane that just flew away will return from the same direction.

Our Gospel lessons from the past several Sundays have presented us with the last words of the earthly Jesus, recorded by John’s Gospel, words spoken to his disciples in the last hours before he would be crucified.  In these frightening and uncertain hours before his arrest and brutal death, Jesus speaks to his disciples about the necessity of abiding in his love. Here, abiding in the love of God, Jesus assures his disciples and us, that they and we would find peace and that their joy and our joy will be complete.  These are words of great comfort for the “in between.” Should we be celebratory or apprehensive?

Today’s lesson from Acts fast-forwards to the actions of the followers of Jesus in the aftermath of Jesus’ ascension into heaven.  Prior to the Ascension Jesus makes the promise to send “an advocate,” which we know to be the Holy Spirit.  The words that we read in the beginning of the first chapter of Acts, prior to today’s lesson, are a portion of the lesson appointed for the Feast of the Ascension.  These are the words that Jesus speaks to his disciples as he is ascending into heaven, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In this lesson, we read the interesting account of the urgent choosing of Matthias – a story that seems to describe a primitive equivalent of drawing straws or tossing a coin. For these 120 who are gathered listening to Peter’s words, casting lots was an ancient tradition for the purpose of discerning God’s guidance – asking God for a sign of his choice.  The act of choosing was urgent in order to reestablish wholeness.  The number twelve was and is a sacred number that represents wholeness and perfection.  It was urgent and necessary that the one who was lost, Judas Iscariot, be replaced so that wholeness and perfection could be reestablished.

And, so the followers pray for God’s guidance as the lots are cast to choose between the two proposed candidates.  Interestingly, Joseph called Barsabbas was not chosen, yet we know just as much about him as we know about Matthias.  Neither is mentioned again in the Bible.

We can assume that Matthias was an ordinary man who had been an unofficial follower of Jesus. We can all reflect on many ordinary people who have come into our lives and changed us in dramatic ways – an appropriate reflection for Mother’s Day.  We might think of Matthias as representing the ordinary among us who are made sacred and holy by God for his mission in this world.

Matthias represents all of us “very ordinary” children of God made sacred as we abide in the love of Christ and are called to carry out his mission.  It remains a mission fraught with apprehension requiring us to return to Jesus’ words again and again – words of sustenance of the Holy Spirit, words of the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring, words of joy made complete in the promise of everlasting life. It is a mission in the “in between.”

Since the first century, since that day of Ascension, Christians have lived in this “in between” – the period after the Resurrection and the Ascension AND the return of Christ. Along with these first followers, we continue to anticipate.  We do not choose Jesus; Jesus chooses us, as God chose Matthias for his very special mission.  The lot has fallen upon us; we are baptized by water and the spirit – sealed as Christ’s own forever, working toward the completion and perfection of his mission of Jesus Christ; the mission left to us as he ascended to be with the Father; the mission continuing until we are all gathered together as one holy and complete Body of our Lord – his holy graduates.