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Dear Friends,
We have just experienced a pivotal time in the Church year as we move from the season of Easter into ordinary time. The easter season ended followed by Pentecost, which itself came nine days after Ascension Day. This is the moment when Jesus handed the baton onto his disciples, telling them that it was now up to them to continue his work to build the Kingdom and spread the good news to all people.

It is possible to explore this analogy of a baton change a little further. When the baton is handed over in a relay race there is often a brief period of confusion and the race can slow down, or even come to a halt, especially if the baton is dropped. It must have been like this for those first disciples. They had just about come to terms with the miraculous fact of the resurrection and then Jesus left them to ascend into heaven. They knew what they had to do, he had left them with the great commission, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Matthew 28.19-20). But knowing what to do is very different to knowing how to do it and having the strength and will to carry it out. Jesus was handing over the baton but the disciples were very unsure about taking hold and, in our relay analogy, either dropped it or came close to doing so.

The period of confusion continued during that first Novena (the nine days between Ascension Day and Pentecost), until strength and clarity of purpose were made manifest by the coming of the Holy Spirit, a coming that had been promised by Jesus, ‘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)

So, what did the disciples do during this period of confusion, in the time from Jesus handing them the baton until the time they finally rejoined the race and continued his work? What they did was to pray together, to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit and to pray for the strength to carry out those final instructions from Jesus, the strength to continue his work.

Whenever we are feeling confused or unsure, whenever we may be in danger of ‘dropping the baton’, we too can pray for strength and guidance. Let us pray that we may recognise the power of the Holy Spirit within us, and use that power to transform our own lives and then to reach out and share the good news of Christ with all those we may meet, just as Jesus commanded those first disciples and commands us to do.


Revd Lawrence Gittins.
Priest in Charge.