Readings: Acts 16:9-15; Ps 67; John 14: 23-29 Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter. One of the daily lectionary readings for the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost is from the Acts of the Apostles. At the end of Luke`s Gospel the Risen Christ leaves a great Testament `to all nations, all people, all cultures, to the very ends of the earth`. Consider the stages leading up to this point. Jesus is conceived by a wisp of a girl, Miriam, in an obscure town, Nazareth, in an outback part, Galilee, of a minor province of the Roman Empire, Judea. Jesus is born in a stable in Bethlehem near the Judean capital, Jerusalem. Angels party all night, fringe-dweller shepherds are told the good news and soon wise men let the cat out of the bag and cause everyone to know, including the local puppet King Herod. We now call these events Christmas and Epiphany. Epiphany means a disclosure, something openly broadcast so that everybody knows. The events of Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost are all part of Epiphany 2 - the Risen Christ is openly preached and proclaimed so that everybody knows - all nations, all people, all cultures to the very ends of the earth. If ever there was a feast of Epiphany 2, we`re celebrating it right now.

In the Acts of the Apostles we read how difficult it was for the followers of Jesus, the risen Lord, to implement his Testimony. The Acts of the Apostles is an account of how the Holy Spirit breaks down cultural and geographical barriers. This NT book is a history of struggle and resistance, not so much of Peter, Paul, Silas, Lydia and company but of the Holy Spirit itself, to break down messianic nationalism and the Jewish ethnocentricity of Peter, Paul and all the other disciples and apostles in order, precisely, to reach out to all people, all cultures to the ends of the earth.

The Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35) after a long struggle among Jewish and gentile converts, finally decided that they would not demand the circumcision of Christian gentiles, even though that was the absolute biblical requirement for the true Jewish man in solemn covenant with God. In doing so this assembly embraced the legitimacy of the Gentile congregations. It was such a momentous decision that the Jewish Christian congregation in Jerusalem remained stuck to its identity of an ethnic-centred vision of the Christian Church. It was out of respect for this position that Paul had Timothy circumcised even though he disagreed with its necessity in following Christ.

The point of all this, is that from the first day of the Church`s life it faced constant struggles and resistance by its own members to the Testimony of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit.
And so, on the one hand the Testimony of the Risen Christ was out there for all to hear and respond to - out there so that everybody knows. And on the other hand we can see that the Holy Spirit had its work well and truly cut out in coaxing and convincing the Christian communities to get their act together in reaching out to all people and all cultures.

There is a song by Leonard Cohen called `Everybody Knows`. Some of the lyrics are:
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows that the good guys lost.
Everybody knows that the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
That`s how it goes - everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that it`s moving fast…

Everybody knows that you`re in trouble
Everybody knows what you`ve been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach at Malibu.
Everybody knows it`s coming apart
Take a look at this sacred heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows.

That how it goes - everybody knows.

For many this well may be how it goes. Well, there`s something else other people want everybody to know isn`t there!

This coming week we are going to celebrate the Ascension of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. It`s recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

The New Testament takes up the ancient Jewish Temple liturgy which had an enthronement Service for God as King. This Temple liturgy was cast in dramatic terms of God going up in power. Psalm 68 33-36 says,
Kingdoms of the earth sing to God
Come, acknowledge the power of God
God`s glory over Israel, God`s might in the skies
Israel`s God is the Lord
Who gives strength and power to his people.

It`s the same as the song of Francis of Assisi:
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and let us sing!

But this season of Ascension and Pentecost is about a special kind of power. Not a power of domination, never about standing over another. Let`s look at Ps 68 5-6:
Father of the orphan, defender of the widow
Such is God in his holy place
God gives the lonely a house to live in
God leads prisoners forth into freedom
But the rebellious live in a parched land.

God`s power is the power of relationship, the power of faithfulness, of solidarity - standing with the unprotected in a violent and competitive society. Yes, `God`s might is in the skies` but not as a joy-rider. God ascends to a place of power to see, to hear, to know, to care for, to intervene, to forgive, to heal, to reconcile and to liberate. This is what we want everybody to know. This is how it goes.

Christ has won, the Lion of Judah fought the fight and has prevailed, in Christ all things hold together. That`s how it goes. We live in a world where we a known and loved and cared for. We can change, it IS possible. We can be there for each other in all kinds of new ways.

That`s how it goes. Everybody knows that`s how it goes. God is abundant generosity and there are more than enough loaves and fishes for everyone. There are plenty of baskets` full left over. That`s how it goes. With the ascension of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit of God heaven and earth are under new management. All of us are empowered by hope; all of us have received mercy and, like the apostles we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard not only from biblical truth but from the experience of our very own congregational life together. The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever. That`s how it goes. Everybody knows.