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Viewpoint from Rev Judith Bell 10/05/2024
 Rev Judith Bell
Presbyter in the Norfolk Broads Methodist Circuit
Minister for Bradwell, Caister, Christchurch, Magdalen Way, and Newtown Methodist Churches
In recent weeks I’ve had the privilege of leading a number of funerals. As we meet to discuss the funeral and the person whose life we are commemorating all sorts can happen; there can be tears, there can be laughter, there can be anger, there can be shock, there can be relief, and there can be a mixture of these things all at the same time
This week (Thursday 9th May) the Church marked Ascension Day. On this day we remember the story of the risen Jesus’ last appearance to his disciples – he shares some last words with them, and then is taken into heaven. It strikes me that for the disciples this might have felt like living through the bereavement all over again
 What has caught my attention this year, is the way in which the Ascension story is told in the Bible. It’s one of the few incidents where the same person tells their version of the story twice. You can find it in Luke 24 and Acts 1. The tone of these two versions is remarkably different. In one the disciples seem to immediately run back to town, joyfully shouting and worshipping God in public places. In the other the mood is much more muted; they struggle to take their eyes off the last place they saw Jesus; there is no talk of joy and their first reaction on returning to town is to withdraw to the place they are staying
The same situation, the same narrator, two different points of view
If we only restricted ourselves to one account, we’d miss out on the depth and complexity of human emotion; we’d see the disciples as one-dimensional caricatures
Humans are storytelling people – it’s how we communicate with each other and how we make meaning in our lives
I wonder what the important stories in your life are?
I wonder if, as you retell them to yourself and to others, you’ve fallen into the habit of always telling them the same way?
Might there be another version of the story that it’s time to reclaim?
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