Munud i feddwl: Rhwng y dyddiau

I don’t know about you, but over the past few years I have felt like the big news stories of our day have left me feeling on times like I’ve been in a perpetual state of waiting.

First there was Brexit and waiting for the practical implications of the referendum to gradually unfold. Then there was the Coronavirus pandemic where we all seemed to be constantly waiting to hear whether restrictions were going to be tightened or eased from one month to the next. Then came the wait for the vaccines, and then where and when those vaccines were to be rolled out. And then who will ever forget waiting for the seemingly inevitable news that Russia had invaded Ukraine after weeks and weeks of gradually building up greater and greater numbers along the border. Now that is past of course, and we wait instead for any signs of hope for an end to the horrors and tragedy of war we’ve become all too familiar with.

Make no mistake about it; waiting is hard.

But shortly before Jesus left his first disciples which we now recall as his ascension, waiting is exactly what he had commended them to do. In Acts 1 Jesus tells them to wait in Jerusalem for a gift which the Father would provide to them, the gift of the Holy Spirit which we now recognise and celebrate as Pentecost.

I often wonder how it felt for those first disciples, having no idea at all how long their time of waiting was to be. Nor to be frank, did they have much of an idea what they were waiting for. And after all the disciples had been through with Jesus by way of his ministry, the tumultuous events in Jerusalem, his death, resurrection, post resurrection ministry, and finally his ascension, I can’t help but wonder what was going through their minds. Were they excited? Apprehensive? Fearful? What did God have planned for them? And when would the next chapter begin?

There was a song in the 1980’s by the Cure called ‘In Between Days’ and I often think that’s how the days in between Ascension and Pentecost must have felt. One incredible chapter had just closed, and another was yet to begin. But the wait must have seemed an awfully long one in between!

The feelings those first disciples must have felt are ones I suspect we all experience from time to time. I well remember my journey to Ordination. It was one that lasted several years and at time it felt like the day would never come. When the day finally arrived, it was indeed everything I’d hoped it would be, but the waiting seemed to last forever.

We all have times when the waiting seems hard, but here those early disciples offer us a template. For in Acts 1 we’re told they didn’t just sit around doing nothing, but instead we’re told they devoted themselves to prayer.

Praying isn’t always easy, but it is a discipline we are each called to, and in times of waiting and for those ‘in between days’. It’s what God asks of each one of us. For ourselves; for the Church; for Ukraine; for the World.

Revd Chris Burr