"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead-as if innocence had ever been-and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak, and involved. But there is no one but us. There never has been."        Annie Dillard

This Sunday, May 20th we celebrate Ascension Sunday. The scriptures tell the story of Jesus being taken up to heaven,"after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen." My favorite line in this story comes toward to end of the account in Acts: "While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said,"People of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?"

As people of faith, I believe we have spent a lot of time "looking up toward heaven." We have spent a lot of time trying to find a way for someone else to take charge, be responsible and responsive to the Holy in our midst. But what if, as Annie Dillard writes, "there is no one but us."

It seems to me, as I read the scriptures, that Jesus was always trying to prepare his friends and followers for the time when he would not be with them. Through his example, through his stories, through the parables in particular in which he asked important questions, trying to get them to think and act from the Spirit’s movement through them, he was always preparing them-and us-for seeing God’s movement in our own lives and world. Each generation gets another opportunity to help birth the kin-dom of God. It is  always a partially realized experience and yet we have glimpses. Even in our inadequacies, our ineptitude, in our doubt, in our fear, we still are called each day to be a conduit, a midwife for God’s in-breaking.

Have you glimpsed the movement of the Holy this week? Have you had an experience of the kin-dom of God in your work place, your family,in your faith community?

Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who will stand in the holy place of God? The gift is our to receive and to pass on to a world in need of gentleness, kindness, hope and wholeness. We have been chosen and empowered by the Spirit.

There is no one but us.

Blessings on your weekend……………………………….