“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:14)
The book of Acts starts with the wonderful period of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, where he proves to his numerous disciples that he was truly raised from the dead. But then, Jesus leaves and ascends to heaven. Before doing so what does he tell the disciples to do? To wait. They are to stay in Jerusalem until they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which will enable them to witness powerfully to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1:4,8).
Waiting, Praying, Discerning (Acts 1:15-26)
Waiting – 1:4
In Acts chapter 1, we are reminded that over a period of forty days, the resurrected Jesus had appeared many times to his followers and convinced them that he had truly risen from the dead.
Then he leaves them, by ascending into heaven.
Jesus had told them in verse 4, that they are to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Spirit. But why the wait? Why couldn’t Jesus just give them the Spirit and let the mission get going.
Isn’t waiting just a waste of time? In our busy and rushed society we would probably think so!
Yet, the waiting itself, is an important moment for the formation of the church. It builds anticipation of what is to come, but also gives space to re-align with God, rather than rushing into activity.
It helps them to see that our mission and work needs to happen with:
God’s timing, not ours.
They can’t just start when they want to, they need to wait for God to give the green light.
It needs to happen with
God’s power, not ours.
Although the disciples had all the proof, evidence and information they needed to be witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, nonetheless they needed the power of the Holy Spirit to make their witness possible.
It needs to happen with
God’s plan, not ours.
We may have our own ideas about what should happen. But we need to give space and time for our plans to be shaped by God.
- Year of discernment is waiting not rushing
In this year of discernment, we are basically waiting. I and a few others could have quickly drawn up some plans and vision of what the churches should do and rushed ahead with it. That’s often what I’ve done in the past.
But at the end of last year, I really sensed that we needed to pause, wait and give space to reflect over a longer period, so that we could seek out God’s plan not ours.
Praying – 1:14
And when we give space to reflect on our need for God, the natural response is then to pray. That is what we are told Jesus’s followers did during this time.
It says in verse 14:
“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:14)
Prayer expresses and accepts our need to have:
- Patience for God’s timing
- Dependence on God’s power
- Discernment of God’s plan
It is a turn away from self-empowerment and dependence and a turn to trust and depend on God for the help we so desperately need.
- Year of discernment means seeking God
And the year of discernment needs to have this focus on prayer on seeking God, before doing anything else. Our verse of the year expresses that powerfully:
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
Discerning – 1:15-21
But for the apostles this was also a period of discernment. For them it was not so much about discerning God’s plan – Jesus had told them that in verse 8:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” (Acts 1:8)
Rather the discernment was more about the team.
Discerning the Team
There were 120 followers of Jesus gathering together at this point, they were all involved in prayer and as far as we can tell they were also all involved on the day of Pentecost.
But Jesus had also called Twelve Apostles for the specific service of apostleship. To be the core witness to his life, death and resurrection. The team that would together express the truth about Jesus on which the worldwide church would be built. Indeed, the New Testament contains the essence of their teaching, and so even today as we read, preach and study the Bible, we tap into their witness.
But there was a problem. Jesus had appointed twelve to the team, but Judas had defected and played a key role in the attempt to destroy Jesus, rather than following him. As Peter reflected on what Judas had done and the Psalms of David that seemed so clearly to foreshadow the experience of Jesus as the ultimate Son of David, Peter discerned not just that this was all part of God’s plan, but that Judas needed to be replaced.
The full complement of twelve apostles was needed, that the figurative Twelve was needed to show that Jesus was creating a restored Israel built not on Twelve sons of Israel and their descendants, but on the Twelve witnesses of Jesus and those who believed their message.
So, in this space of waiting and prayer, the church discern who Judas’s replacement should be – someone who practically could fulfil the criteria as a witness to the whole of Jesus’s ministry, death and resurrection, but also someone chosen by Jesus himself through Lot.
- Year of discernment means considering mission and team
For us in this year of discernment, we need to discern God’s plan for us here in Ramsgate and now in the 2020s, but we also need to discern the shape and make-up of the kind of team God wants us to be to be his witnesses in Ramsgate in the 2020s and beyond.
St. George's Church Ramsgate 