Ascension (2)

Scripture Readings

WWTW- ME!

Introduction- Ascension Deficit Disorder.

I am pleased to sit on the committee for preparation for ministry, which is admittedly a whole lot more fun than the name suggests!

This is the group that is in charge of examining and evaluating candidates for ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church.

It’s a terrifying group to be in front of when you’re being examined, but it’s a fun group to be a part of!

I had a friend who served on the committee with me a while back, and every candidate that came before us, she would ask “tell me how the theology of the ascension plays out in your life and ministry.”

I always liked that, because there would be a moment or two of slack jawed silence from the candidate while they gathered their thoughts.

Truth is, we don’t think about the ascension very much, do we?

In fact, one theologian I read said that the American church in particular has a pretty bad case of Ascension Deficit disorder.

We just tend not to think about it.

So today, we’re going to see what’s going on in the ascension, and how Jesus is inviting us to participate in it.

Leviticus- Elevation Offerings

The journal I use for my daily devotions has me going through Leviticus right now.

Which can be hard, because even just now when I said the word Leviticus, 8 of you in this room fell asleep.

But, as I was reading, this passage that we read today I caught something interesting.

Celebrations!

My Rabbi friend has often said that if you throw a dart at a calendar, you are pretty likely to hit a Jewish festival or feast.

While we might not think about it when we think of Leviticus, what we have here is an outline of the celebrations that they are partaking in.

They were, and still are, party people!

Sacrifices

With each of these celebrations, there were prescribed sacrifices to be offered.

The Jewish people understood as we do that our sin has separated us from God.

In the Old Testament understanding, you would sacrifice a goat or a sheep or other animal, depending on the kind of sacrifice.

The death of that animal stood in for your own death, so that everyone could have a clean slate with God, and know right where you stand.

The animal sacrifice was a physical reminder of the forgiveness that God has spoken over you.

The priests job- Lift things up so everyone can see it.

At a big festival like that, I was struck that the priest has a very specific job.

The priest in this passage that we’ve read isn’t the one who held the knife to the sacrifice.

The priest didn’t offer long and drawn out prayers.

The priest didn’t do much of anything at all, except for one thing:

Because it was a big festival, there would have been tons and tons of people in attendance.

And it would have been hard to see.

Which is annoying when you’re at a concert or something,

But when your whole theological reassurance is riding on it, when you need to see that animal so that you know where you stand with God, you need to make sure you can see!

So the priest’s job is to lift up the sacrifice in front of everyone.

The priests job is to raise up the offering.

In fact, these kinds of offering got to be called “Elevation Offerings,” and I kind of love that language!

What’s happening in Jesus’ ascension?

We can celebrate!

I was reminded this week of a quote from one of my favorite professors in Seminary.

I dare to suggest that the recovery of Ascension sion Day as a major Christian festival-why not with Ascension Day parties and Ascension Day gift giving-could spark profound renewal in the life of a congregation, as it could in the ministry of a pastor. The reason should now be familiar: Jesus is a living, reigning and acting Lord. (Andrew Purves, The Resurrection of Ministry)

Just before this in his book, he suggests that too much we are caught in the mood of Holy Saturday, the darkness and depression that can come about when you reflect on Christ’s death.

And for sure, we ought to reflect on Christ’s death from time to time. (More on that in a second)

But ascension reminds us that we live in the reign of the risen and lifted up Christ.

These are happy days.

Perhaps our Jewish brothers and sisters have it right to have as many feasts and celebrations that they do!

Christ is the ultimate sacrifice

The folks in the time of Moses needed a constant stream of sacrifice to understand where they stood with God.

We need and in fact already have Christ.

We have God in the flesh, taking on the punishment that was meant for us.

We don’t have to worry about where we stand with God.

Through Christ, we stand (literally) in God’s good graces.

Through Christ, we have a clean slate.

Through the sacrifice of Christ, we are made right and righteous.

And so then it makes sense that Christ too would be lifted up, doesn’t it?

Lift up the reign of Christ so everyone can see.

In Luke’s other telling of this story in Acts, the disciples are kind of staring slack jawed at the heavens as Christ is lifted up.

They can’t take their eyes off him!

Angels actually have to come back to them and say “Hey guys…it was a good show…but I think he gave you an assignment, didn’t he?”

You know what Christ has done for you.

You know the sacrifice he made.

You know where you stand with God.

And how interesting then that both ascension stories that Luke tells come with assignments.

Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed.

Not just here, but in all nations.

We have to be witnesses.

We are the sent ones, the Apostles in Greek.

It’s almost as if Jesus says “I’m about to be lifted up in the ascension. Don’t ever forget that you have some lifting up to do on your own.”

Lift up forgiveness.

Lift up repentance.

Lift up the story of Christ.

What are we lifting up?

We can lift up the wrong things.

We can lift up division

There are plenty of folks that do this, particularly in religious circles.

Rather than focus on what unites us in Christ, we lift up theological differences.

Rather than focus on what keeps us together in Christ, we lift up differences in worship styles.

Rather than focus on the gifts of the Spirit, we lift up those who don’t seem to have the same gifts as us.

We can lift up negativity

Ever know someone who can’t seem to find anything that’s right with the world?

It’s always raining in their soul.

There’s always something wrong with the day.

Nothing is ever going right.

They could be in a room filled with puppies, chocolate, and winning lottery tickets, and yet find a way to lift up the cracks in the ceiling and complain.

We can lift up heartache

There are some who would prefer to wallow in their broken heartedness than ever seek help for it.

There are some who have been rightly wounded, but rather than work toward setting things right have decided to highlight and amplify the heart ache of their wounds.

It’s like they need to make sure that everyone can see the wrongs that have been done to them.

We can lift up the wrong things.

Or we can choose to lift up the better things.

We can lift up our unity in Christ.

We can recognize and celebrate that no one is anything other than a child of God.

We can proclaim forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name, even over people who don’t know that they believe in Christ.

We can start picking apart the dividing walls of our culture, rather than stacking those stones.

We can lift up the beloved community of followers of Jesus, a community of welcome and inclusion.

We can lift up positivity and hope.

A deep part of the ascension theology we embrace is that Christ is reigning.

No matter what they might try to tell you on the news about who’s running for what office, the Ascended Jesus Christ is ruling over God’s creation until he comes again.

And so we have hope.

So instead of lifting up negativity in the world,

What if we lifted up hope?

What if we were so commited to hope that people labeled us naieve?

What if we proclaimed loudly that tomorrow doesn’t have to be like today, in fact it can be substantially better, and we can play a role in that?

What if we were a church on a hill that could lift up that kind of hope to the community we find ourselves to the point that we were actually known for hope?

We can lift up healing.

Look, a lot of us in the room have been wounded in so many ways through life.

We’ve been betrayed.

We’ve been hurt.

We’ve been insulted.

We’ve been the butt of the joke.

We’ve been the outcast.

We’ve been the excluded.

What if we were dedicated to lifting up healing?

What if we were relentlessly committed to forgiveness?

What if we were aggressively pursuing redemption?

What if we were agents of reconciliation?

What if we were never content to let people wallow in their pain, but rather seek to see them set free?

We can lift up healing for sure.

And we can lift up people.

One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is when the people of Isreal were in battle.

When Moses was able to lift his arms, the Israelites were winning.

When Moses got tired, and his arms fell down, they would start loosing.

And so Aaron and Hur came alongside Moses, and lifted his arms up for him, so that they could continue to have victory.

We can do that.

We can lift up people too.

We can lift up those who are grieving in this community.

There are folks among us who have recently lost a loved one.

And if you’ve ever been there before, you know that sometimes it can feel like trying to walk through mud every day.

The grief can grab a hold of you and try to hold you down.

And so one of the joys of this community is that we can come alongside those who are weighed down by grief and lift them up.

We can sit in stillness and silence, to just be a presence with them.

We can listen to stories, and allow memories of loved ones to live on.

We can provide for meals or rides, or just call and check in on them.

We can lift up those who are struggling with illness.

I’ve been beyond thrilled to watch this community work on this one.

So many people have had knee and shoulder replacement surgeries lately that I’m starting to wonder if there’s a coupon floating around out there.

But I’ve watched this congregation come alongside and lift these folks up, as well as those struggling with other kinds of illness.

Once again, food is key and central here. We Presbyterians will never allow anyone to go hungry.

But I’ve seen us lift people up with phone calls.

I’ve seen us lift people up with cards.

I’ve seen us lift people up with prayer requests.

We’re good at this!

And part of what makes us good is that we’re always looking for ways to be better.

So if you know someone who could use some lifting up, let us know!

We can lift up those who are on the margins of society.

There are some folks who, in this particular culture or economy, might feel a bit like Moses.

They’re just too overwhelmed to lift their arms up.

So let’s come alongside them, and let’s lift up those who are on the margins.

Let’s give away our extras the way Leviticus challenged us to do, and make an elevation offering of it.

Let’s welcome in people to this building who feel like they don’t belong anywhere, and maybe lift them up to a status no one else would be willing to bestow upon them.

Let’s work hard to pray for those in our community who are suffering, but then let’s go be with them in their suffering, and see how best we can work with Christ to lift them out of it.

We can lift up the best things, and the best people.

How can we do some lifting?

Do you even lift bro?

When I was a youth pastor, we went on a seemingly endless string of retreats.

And getting middle schoolers to actually go to sleep was…challenging.

But almost every night, there was this delightful moment where the worst of the rowdyness had stopped, but there were still whispered conversations that you could listen in on.

My friend and coworkers used to call this stargazing, as we’d just listen to whatever nuggets of joy would come out.

One particular night, we had finally gotten everyone to sleep, and even the little whispered conversations had started to die down.

It felt like legitimate sleep was shortly in our grasp.

And then…out of the deadest of silences, with absolutely no context or instigation, we heard this exact phrase:

“Hey Vlad.”

“Yeah.”

“How much can you lift?”

I lost it.

But, it’s an important question for us.

Weight lifting is practice for the real thing.

Weight lifting is what you do in the gym to prepare for the moment during the game where you’re going to need those muscles to do their work.

Weight lifting is preparation, and a good bit of dedication.

I wonder what weight lifting looks like for lifting up the right things?

Maybe we practice by keeping a gratitude journal every day.

Maybe we practice by leaving notes for ourselves around the house.

Maybe we practice by surrounding ourselves with others who are engaged in this kind of work.

Elevation Offerings are going to take some practice.

Endless observation

We’re looking to do Volume Two of Finding God in the Music this summer.

And as I’ve been starting to prepare for that series, I’ve been listening to songs that I think are going to get in the mix.

One of my favorite songs that I don’t think is going to make it is called Title and Registration by Death Cab for Cutie.

Weird name for a band, but give the song a try!

It is masterful song writing if only because it is a 3 and a half minute song about…the glove compartment being inaccurately named.

Anyone here actually keep gloves in your glove box?

But I’ve always loved that song for the level of observation required to write it.

It’s something that we all interact with almost every day, but sometimes we just brush right past it.

We need that level of observation to be engaged in good elevation offerings.

We need to observe the world around us, and the people we pass by every day in order to best lift them up.

We need to observe the heartache our fellow travelers are experiencing, so we know best how to lift up healing.

We need to observe the world around us.

Father Richard Rohr said “There is a tremendous difference between seeing and recognizing.”

We see lots of things.

What can we recognize about the world that needs to be lifted up?

Keep our eyes on Jesus

We remember today the ascended Christ.

We remember that he was lifted up so that we could see our own redemption.

We remember that he was lifted up so that we could see our own forgiveness.

We remember that he was lifted up so that we could see how we stand with God.

And so no matter what, no matter where you go from this place, keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keep your eyes on mercy.

Keep your eyes on grace.

Keep your eyes on love.

And let’s see what we can lift up along the way.