Ascension

Common English Bible Chapter 1

1 Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, 2 right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom. 4 While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me:” 5 John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?”

7 Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.” 8 Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

9 After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. 11 They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.”

Introduction- Two Things Can Be True At Once

When I am most trying to be funny, one of my favorite sayings is to remind folks that two things can be true at once.

J, are you taking us out to lunch because you want to hang out, or because you gave up eating out alone for Lent? (Two things can be true at once!)

Is that training you’re going to more work, or more relaxing? (Two things can be true at once!)

Is having a pair of newborn twins the most beautiful, awe inspiring thing you have ever felt, or is it a trial of the human soul no one is meant to survive? (Two things can be true at once!)

Is going to a 4th grade orchestra concert a full hour of terrible noise that makes you wish you could rip out your own ear drums, or is it an absolutely beautiful moment of watching your young person come to life and grow into the person God created them to be? (Two things can be true at once!)

If you’re going to win a baseball game, you absolutely must get at least one base hit. (Two things can be true at once!)

Look, I could actually keep this up forever.

What’s funny is that our culture seems not to like this reality, two things being true at once.

We prefer A or B, not both.

We prefer black or white, not shades of grey.

We prefer to have our side in the right, and the other side totally wrong.

And as our story would show us, that’s just not how the world works.

And yes of course, this week in particular, we are once again going to preach with the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other.

But we’ll get to that...

Bible Breakdown

40 Days of Resurrection

We have been in the season of Easter since Easter Sunday so long ago.

Easter is much bigger than one day because the resurrected Jesus hung out on Earth much more than one day!

Jesus has brunch with the disciples on the beach.

Jesus shows up and teaches Thomas a thing or two about the nature of doubt.

Jesus shows up and speaks with those who are going to carry his message forward.

Jesus shows up and puts out “many convincing proofs” to those who harbor their suspicions.

And I guess Jesus could have hung around, but he’s insisting that something better is coming.

The Holy Spirit gets a whole bunch of mentions here in this week’s text.

These disciples are going to do a lot with the power of the Holy Spirit.

And as a side note, since most of these disciples were still teenagers at this point, we thought it would be a good idea to have our Youth Sunday on Pentecost to let the young people of our church speak to us about what the Holy Spirit is up to.

You should come!

Ascension- A Royal Term

But in the midst of all of this, Jesus is lifted up and a cloud takes them away.

Kind of weird.

In fact, a person who served on a committee I was one back in my previous Presbytery used to ask Candidates all the time to explain the Ascension, tell us what’s going on here!

And usually they just, froze up.

A neat way I heard this said this week by a pastor I love:

Jesus didn’t just raise himself up into space to wait for the Apollo missions to see how that would go.

Jesus ascended to Heaven’s Oval Office.

In other words:

Ascension is the iron-clad conviction that Jesus is in charge of this world.

Ascension is a reminder that Jesus has power over the creation.

Ascension is to put our trust in someone bigger and better than ourselves to take care of us.

The Angel’s Question

Naturally, the disciples stand looking up to heaven, trying to make sense of it all.

I have come to learn these last few years of preaching every Sunday that when the angels have a question, it’s usually both really important and often times super snarky!

So two angels show up with these disciples, and mere moments after Jesus was lifted up in the clouds, they ask

Why are you still looking up to heaven?

Ugh! This is so good!

They could have sat there forever looking at something they’ll never understand.

They could have made monuments and gift shops and restaurants.

They could have over-spiritualized it, and just made themselves the monks of the ascension.

They could have been frozen by inaction.

But! The angels know how important it is for these disciples to get to work.

These disciples are the ones who are going to start the church.

These disciples are the ones who are going to spread the gospel.

These disciples are the ones who are going to heal the blind and cure the lame.

If they stay standing there, they will be what one friend calls so heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good.

So the angels come along and ask a super important question: What are you waiting for?

Get to work!

Two Things Can Be True at Once

Maybe you already see it coming...

Is Jesus in charge over the whole creation? Or do his disciples need to have some skin in the game?

Is Jesus ascended and reigning? Or should we have some way to govern ourselves and our churches here on the ground?

Is it up to God, or is it up to us?

Two things can be true at once.

Yes, Jesus is reigning over the world, and yes he’s asked us to have a role in that.

Yes, Jesus has the power to bring about change in our world, and yes he’s asked us to be his hands and feet.

Yes, Jesus is the complete risen and reigning Son of God and yes, he’s asked us to finish what he started.

Two things can be true at once.

Texas Shooting

I can wish that I had something cheerier to talk about, and also feel compelled to bring up this week’s latest tragedy.

As I’m sure we’ve all been made all too aware of this week, an 18 year old walked in to a Texas ELEMENTARY school, and killed 19 children and 2 adults.

And in a moment of pastoral editorial, this one hit me harder than most of the shootings in our world.

In a moment of being honest and open with you, it’s not hard to imagine Joshua and Julian’s faces on the picture of those who were killed in this horrific attack.

And so I come at this from a place of brokenness and grief and anger and disappointment and rage and…really every emotion you could possibly have.

But what pastors do when we’re at our best is we notice what’s going on in the world, and we try to show how God’s at work there.

So let’s try to do that.

Thoughts and Prayers

This happens so much in this country, a mass shooting of unbelievable horror, that we’ve actually gotten used to the traditional response.

In the terrible wake of such a tragedy, our leaders will tell us that it’s not time to talk about guns or weapons, but instead it’s time to offer our thoughts and prayers.

Now, you know me well enough and for long enough that you know I believe in the power of prayer.

But…some of our un-churched brothers and sisters are starting to ask some good questions.

Why offer thoughts and prayers if nothing ever changes?

Are thoughts and prayers enough to do something about these tragedies?

Why do you offer thoughts and prayers for the big shootings, but we kind of leave off our thoughts and prayers when it comes to neighborhood violence.

You know what question our un-churched brothers and sisters are asking?

Why are you standing here, looking toward heaven?

Why are you praying something that you are unwilling to be the answer to?

Why are you over-spiritualizing what’s going on, and diminishing your role in the solution?

Should we pray for the victims of gun violence, or should we take an active role in bringing about a solution?

Two things can be true at once.

Political Conversations and Moral Conversations.

The other thing that tends to happen is that this discussion becomes wholly political.

The words that you will most hear in the media the last few days and the next couple are words like Amendment, Law, Filibuster, Election, and Reform, not to mention Democrat and Republican.

And you know what, to be sure it is a political issue.

The word “Politics” for as dirty as it has become in our day is really from the root word “Polis” which means people.

So anything that tends to the welfare of the people, that’s a political issue.

So of course guns and weapons and shootings and things like that are a political issue.

But what scares me so very much is that we are very content to have the political conversation at the expense of the moral conversation.

Morality isn’t about the welfare of the people.

Morality isn’t even really about what’s fair.

Morality is about what’s right, and what’s wrong.

And we are totally punting on that conversation right now, aren’t we?

We hear a lot of talk about our rights, but shockingly almost none about our responsibilities.

We hear a lot of talk about mental illness, but shockingly almost none about how the pressures we place on each other can elevate mental stress and harm.

We hear a lot of talk about different sides, and shockingly little about 19 sets of parents who could care less today who you’ve voted for in your past, they just want to hug their babies again and they’re never going to get the chance.

Is this a political conversation, or a moral one?

Two things can be true at once.

And let’s be abundantly clear: The reason this comes up in a sermon is not because I’m interested in the political side of that conversation.

I mean, I am and you are welcome to come hear my thoughts about that after church over coffee.

But the reason it comes up today is because everything is spiritual, and that definitely includes our approach to guns, weapons, and violence.

It comes up today because we are called to preach Jesus, who said that when some one strikes you, offer them the other cheek instead of fighting back.

It comes up today because we are called to preach Jesus, who said those who live by the sword are going to die by the sword.

It comes up today because Jesus said that anyone who would hinder a child from coming to him had better seriously rethink their agenda.

It comes up today because we are promised a coming kingdom where the tree in the garden is used for the healing of the nations, not their continued division.

Champions of Hope

To be honest, I always try to end my sermons with some practical things that we can do.

And that’s been hard this week, hasn’t it?

I’m guessing that many of you are like me, struggling and striving for something that we can do to push back on the evil of the world, to end the violence, to make a difference.

I don’t know if you remember my first sermon here, but I sure do.

It was about hope.

A friend of mine has defined hope as “a faithful confidence that God continues to author a story that moves us from vision to action.”

That’s the definition of hope I gave on my very first day, and it’s the one I hold to now.

If we’re going to have hope, we need to have faithful confidence in the Acesnded and reigning Christ.

If we’re going to have hope, we need to believe that God is authoring a story for us even in these dark days.

And maybe most importantly, if we’re going to have hope, we need to be moved from vision to action.

And so on that note, here are a few actions I think we can lean in to this week.

Apprentices

Embrace the tension

One of the great crimes of our world is that we lean so hard in to what aboutism.

Joshua and Julians are masters at this, but then again Joshua and Julian are six, so that’s kind of the gig.

When one of them gets in trouble, they’ll say “Well what about my brother? He did something bad too!”

Or, more often if I’m honest, when one of them gets a treat, the other will say “Hey, what about me?”

And like any tremendous six year old, our culture has become masters of what about ism.

And the best part about whataboutism is that when two things are true at once, the system can get bogged down in to finger pointing, and no one gets anywhere.

In each and every situation where we have said two things can be true at once, there is tension.

We badly want to resolve the tension, to only let one thing be true at a time, but it just won’t will it.

That’s ok!

Jon Foreman says that the only way a guitar string can make music at all is to have a good bit of tension on it.

So maybe instead of engaging in whataboutism, maybe we ought to embrace some tension, huh?

Maybe that means we’re going to have to have some difficult conversations in the coming days. I hope we do.

Maybe that means we ought to get off of social media for those conversations, where we really only have to listen to our own side of the argument.

Maybe that means we ought to be really brave and seek out someone who disagrees with us, and face to face have a conversation with them not to shut them down or prove them wrong, but to actually learn something.

We’ll never do it if we don’t embrace the tension.

There is a ridiculous amount of tension serving a reigning Christ and knowing that we have some skin in the game too.

But it’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Do something

Again, a conversation about guns and violence and laws and legislation can feel very much above my paygrade.

But I am convinced that even the smallest of actions that we take can have kingdom impacts.

Case in point:

I read in the immediate aftermath of the shooting in Texas the most predictable and also heartbreaking thing ever.

That this 18 year old who committed this horrendous act was, by the admission of those who knew him, bullied relentlessly in his youth.

According to one interview I read, because of his black hair and dark clothing choices, the employees who worked with him at Wendy’s started calling him “School Shooter” as a taunt!

And look, I’m not saying that this was the one single thing to blame for this horrendous tragedy in Texas.

Two things can be true at once, right?

But what I am saying is that if you want to start somewhere, we can start here.

If you are someone who interacts with, say, anyone else? Let’s intentionally do something about the way we speak to each other, huh?

If you are a parent or a grandparent or an aunt or an uncle of a young person, challenge yourself this week to sit down with them and have a conversation about bullying.

Are they being bullied?

Are their friends?

Are they doing the bullying?

Jesus told us that anyone who called a brother or sister a “fool” was liable to the fires of hell.

Twitter alone ought to be avoided by Christians, eh?

We can’t do everything, but we can do something.

Even if this week we just focus on how we speak to each other, that’s a great place to start.

Lean in to Jesus’ Ascension

This might be the hardest thing to do of all right now.

For all the darkness in the world, we serve the Ascended Light of the World.

For all the violence that occupies our collective consciousness, we serve the Ascended Prince of Peace.

For all the anger and the vitriol and the shouting that has been going on and is likely to continue, we serve the Ascended God of Grace.

We have to put our hope and our trust in him, because two things can be true at once.

Yes, we have to do something as a nation about gun violence. But we can also trust in Jesus to have our back.

Yes, we are off the rails when it comes to how we speak to each other. But Jesus also wants to give us a new vocabulary in our native tongue of love.

Yes, we have absolutely made a mess of this world, and it’s up to us to fix it. But Jesus is also 100% on the job.

I put my faith in the Ascended Jesus, and over and over again he rewards that faith by placing it back in us.

Let’s get to work.