Ascension: Why Aren't We "Engaged"?

The parish council met yesterday, and on the agenda were the results of the ME 25 engagement survey that I already talked about and printed in the bulletin.

In case you've forgotten, that survey of member engagement, professionally done by the Gallup organization, measures how you feel about your parish.

At first glance, we were shocked by the key results: Twenty-eight percent of our parishioners are engaged, 51% are disengaged, while 21% are actively disengaged. This is after several years of very serious efforts to promote intentional discipleship and a culture of mission at Christ the Redeemer.

But just as I was polishing my resume to see if I could get a job teaching canon law somewhere, our friends at Gallup came to my rescue.  Our scary numbers are within a percentage point or two of the other parishes surveyed.

And then a fellow Vancouver pastor, one I quite admire, shared his ME 25 results with me. Again, they were almost the same as ours.

The parish council could only reach two possible conclusions. 

One, that America's most famous polling organizations was just giving everyone the same numbers, without bothering to tabulate the surveys.

Or, two, that almost every Catholic parish is in the same boat, battling some factors that even our best efforts can't control.

Which do you think is true?

Obviously, the second conclusion. Best practices, great music, excellent preaching, warm welcomes, interesting programs, dynamic youth ministry—they all only go so far.

Let's be clear: we're not going to give up trying. We're not going to settle for anything but the best possible parish. However... the readings for today's great feast of the Ascension answer a question that no survey ever can.

And the question is: why aren't we experiencing what Jesus promised and what Paul preached?

Forget a wussy word like engagement. Why aren't we on fire?

Because I can tell you with 100% accuracy that the two-thirds of our parish family who are not "engaged" are not burning with the hope to which God has called us. They're not experiencing anything like "the riches of his glorious inheritance."

And they—and I can say we, since I also fall short here—are not living as people clothed with power from on high.

Have we received the spirit of wisdom and revelation that St. Paul talks about in the second reading? Have we come to know Jesus and "the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe"?

If these words from Jesus and from Paul strike our ears as over the top, out of reach, or just plain silly, then we're certainly not engaged. Full stop.

But this is not a bad news homily. The survey asked 25 questions. God only asks you one. Do you want what the Father is offering?

If your answer is 'yes,' you only have to ask.

Although the Ascension is an important part of the Paschal Mystery, it is something of an overture to Pentecost. The Ascension is the moment when Jesus tells his disciples—then and now—that he's really not leaving them when he returns to the Father.

He is sending down the Holy Spirit, so powerfully that he calls it a second baptism.

Exactly what "baptism with the Holy Spirit" means is complex, because there's clearly some overlap with what those involved in the Catholic charismatic renewal often call "baptism in the Holy Spirit." There's no time to tackle the subject now, but Ralph Martin has a fine scholarly article on the subject.

Dr. Martin—whom many of you will remember from his visit with us last year—also offers much simpler thoughts about today's first reading.

He says "Despite having three years of the best teaching that anybody could ever have, besides having personal attention and personal spiritual direction, personal formation from Jesus ... and despite having seen the Risen Lord—Jesus said ‘you are not ready yet’. There is something else that has to happen."

"Something else has to happen to make it all come together. So wait until that happens, and what you need is to receive the promise of the Father." Having three years of instruction wasn’t enough, seeing the miracles wasn’t enough, seeing the risen Lord and being taught by him for forty days wasn’t enough.

And being baptized wasn't enough, since we can be sure the Apostles had been baptized. They had to wait for Pentecost, for the promise of the Father to be fulfilled.

One thing is completely sure: parish programs, faith studies, Alpha courses are all great. But they aren't enough. Every one of us needs to pray to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, the words St. John the Baptist uses in all four Gospels.

You don't need to wade into charismatic waters to ask Jesus to fulfill the promise we heard in the first reading today. It's a promise from the Risen Lord, who makes John's words his own: "this is what you have heard from me."

We too must wait for "the promise of the Father." And what a great time to wait—because "not many days from now" is Pentecost.

We all know that Jesus said "ask and you shall receive." How can we fail to ask for exactly what we're promised?

And if we ask—how can we fail to receive? It's unthinkable that the promise of the Father would not be fulfilled.

So let me end with an answer to the question I asked earlier in the homily: why aren't we experiencing what Jesus promised and what Paul preached?

Because we don’t ask.