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In my office over at the Retreat House, I keep a copy of this old church bulletin. I’ve been the pastor here for 7 years now, but this bulletin is from 10 years ago, from all the way back in 2011. It was from the very first Sunday I ever stepped foot inside this church, and I’ve kept this bulletin all of these years now as a reminder of the day something extraordinary happened to me.
Well, as I mentioned at the top of the service, today we’re celebrating Jesus’s ascension into heaven. As we heard in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is enveloped in a cloud, and he’s lifted up into the heavens, as the apostles look up in astonishment.
In our gospel reading today for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.” But, which commandments is Jesus talking about here? Is he talking about The 10 Commandments that Moses received from God back in the Old Testament, or is he talking about the new commandments that he gave us in the New Testament?
Well, today’s Gospel reading, where Jesus says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches,” is one of my all-time favorites. I think that the symbol of “the vine” is the perfect metaphor to explain our connection with “the Di-vine.” But, before I get to that, I want to take a moment to briefly talk about another reading from today’s lectionary, from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8. Verses 26-40.
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