Dear West Family

I have started this mail about ten different times. I haven’t known what to say, and I still don’t really know what would be helpful. It has been a week full of horror, loss, hurt, and despair. 

I thought I could write about the horrific revelations of organizational abuse and cover up that emerged from the report into the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committees, but truth be told, none of us have any sort of actual influence into the leadership of that organization, and so anything more than empathy with victims (which is a must) and loud calls for ongoing reform (which we continue to do) seem like hubristic attempts of self-righteous separation rather than meaningful engagement.

I thought I could write about the agonizingly painful mass shootings we have seen recently in Buffalo and Uvalde, but I genuinely don’t know what to say. Like all of you, I am dumbfounded and deeply grieved, but if I wrote about my ongoing perplexity at what seems to be America’s unstoppable love affair with firearms, I know that I would just irritate many of you - and I know that I still have much to learn in the conversation - even though I cannot for the life of me understand the logic of legislation that says that an 18 year old doesn’t have the maturity to buy a Bud Lite but is free to purchase an AR 15. You see? There I go again, irritating people, but I don’t know what to say, and I am genuinely wrestling to find the way of Jesus in the midst of the response. I know you are too.

I thought I could write about some of the personal pain points that Sue and I are experiencing in a season of prolonged health struggles in our family far away, but I know that those struggles pale in comparison to the difficulties and heartache that many of you are experiencing right now.

In short, I feel a little exasperated as I sit down to write this. Why is the world so busted? Is there truly a way to live in the tension of the now and the not yet Kingdom of God without giving into empty platitudes or cold-hearted decrees? 

So, I am asking the Lord for His help, for help to face the world as it really is, and as I have been sitting here I believe that He has given it. I just remembered that today is actually a significant day in the church calendar. Today is Ascension Day, the day that comes forty days after Easter Sunday, when we remember that the resurrected Christ ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. I love how frankly Mark’s gospel records the account.

“So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” - Mark 16:19 (ESV)

What an incredible thought. But how does my remembering it help me (and us if you’re still reading) to face the reality of today? Well, here are five ways that I can think of right now.

Firstly, when I remember that He ascended, then I also remember that He descended. 

Ephesians 4:9-10 tells us: (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 

Jesus came to us, and participated in the reality of suffering and loss and grief, and He did it to the fullest extent. He descended all the way down, into the pit of utmost despair, and He didn’t try to escape any of it. This helps me because I remember that I don’t need to try to pretend that reality is anything other than what it is, and I don’t need to think that when I have to go to the depths that I would somehow lose the companionship of my King. In fact, there is a very real way in which Christ is most fully experienced in the deepest and darkest of holes. Why? He descended there already. He knows what lies at the bottom, and He know the way to get out.

Second, when I remember that He ascended, then I remember that He resurrected.

Acts 1:3 records the account of Christ’s ascension in this way. 

 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

He presented himself … alive! This helps me to remember that the keys to death and Hades are held in His hand, and that as a result, the darkest of Friday nights are no match for the dawning of Sunday’s fresh rays of resurrection life. If God could bring His Son out of the grave then he can bring new life out of situations marked by death and sorrow and loss. 

He is not dead, and so He is not done.

Third, when I remember that He ascended, then I also remember where He is currently seated.

Mark told us that He is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the seat of authority, from which Jesus rules and reigns over the world, and from which He advocates for His saints.  I will be honest, on days like today, I am not actually sure of how the mechanisms of God’s sovereignty work. But, I am comforted as I remember that the one who is way more just, way more kind, way more merciful, and way more wise than any other has not abandoned His seat. He sees, and He misses nothing, and He will judge the living and the dead.

Fourth, when I remember that He ascended, then I also remember that He didn’t leave us alone.

In John 16 Jesus told His disciples that it would be advantageous to them if He left, because then He would send them the Spirit to be with them, which (in the words of Jesus Himself) would be better! In Acts 1, He warned them not to leave until the Spirit was poured out, and in Acts 2 Peter explained exactly how that happened when he said … Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from  the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 

Ascension Day reminds me to ask the Father to fill me with the power of the precious Holy Spirit who was sent into the church when Christ went back to be with the Father. I don’t know how we would be able to face today, or any other day for that matter, without the power of the wonderful Holy Spirit. Ask the Father to fill you now.

Lastly, when I remember that He ascended, then I also remember that He is returning.

Someone messaged me this week and asked me what my official stance is on the events of this last week. The only answer I could send with integrity was … “Maranatha: Come Lord Jesus.” That isn’t an attempt to be glib or dismissive. I genuinely long for the day when Jesus comes to fix this, and I pray that it will be soon. The ascended Christ promised that we wouldn’t have to wait long for His return when He spoke of it in Revelation 22:20. I am taking Him at His word, even though I know that He and I measure time differently. 

Please come quickly Lord Jesus.

Last thing, the song this week is one that we are singing this Sunday. It had me in tears this morning, but to be fair, that wasn’t hard.

With You | Live | At Midnight | Elevation Worship

See you Sunday,
Ross