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Lectionary Readings

Featured Artwork

Title: The Ascension (1636)
Artist: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Location: Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Reflection on the Art:
Observe the emotional range of the disciples—a blend of awe, confusion, and reaching hands. They are depicted in a transitional moment, lingering in the shadows while bathed in the retreating light of the ascending Christ.

Reflection: The Holiness of the "In-Between"

Life is often punctuated by "waiting rooms." These spaces manifest literally as the quiet anxiety of anticipating medical results or waiting for a callback after a job interview. More broadly, they exist in the mundane waiting of daily life; scrolling through news feeds with the hope that global crises, political divisions, or economic slumps will finally turn a corner. There is a specific exhaustion that accompanies living in the "not yet," where the past is gone, but the future has not yet arrived.

Today’s lectionary readings place us in one of history's most significant waiting rooms. In Acts 1, Jesus ascends, leaving the disciples standing in Jerusalem. They are promised the Holy Spirit, but for the immediate moment, they are instructed simply to return to an upper room and wait. There is no grand plan or immediate action step; just a small community of everyday people navigating hope and confusion.

Modern culture is primed for action; we are taught to fix problems immediately. When a loved one is hurting, or a professional situation spirals, the instinct is to provide a ten-point plan. However, the disciples demonstrate that sometimes the most faithful response is to sit together in uncertainty.

Before his departure, Jesus prepares his followers not with a strategy, but with a prayer. In John 17, known as the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus does not ask that his friends be taken out of the world or spared from its messiness. Instead, he prays: "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."

Jesus recognized that "in-between" spaces are when humans are most vulnerable to isolation, irritability, and anxiety. His prayer serves as a protective shield over relationships. He does not pray for them to have all the answers; he prays for their connection.

If you find yourself in an "in-between" space today, whether in your household, community, or the broader world, resist the urge to rush toward a fix. You do not need the perfect answer today. Like the disciples in Rembrandt’s painting, you may feel bewildered or in the shadows, but there is strength in leaning on one another.

The call for today is simply to stay present. Check in on a neighbor, sit quietly for a few moments, and seek the patience to endure the wait. The Spirit is coming; for now, it is enough to be together.

Prayer

God of the transitions, when we are caught between what was and what will be, settle our anxious hearts. Keep us connected to one another when we are tempted to isolate. Remind us that in all our waiting, Your prayer for our protection and unity continues to echo over our lives. Amen.