Why are You looking up?

June 2, 2019 Acts 1:1-11 Ascension Sunday Year C Why are you looking up? Scripture Focus: Luke 24:44-53 (note: this is the Gospel text for Thursday, May 17, Ascension of Our Lord. Many churches read the ascension texts on the Seventh Sunday of Easter. There will also be a Children’s Sermon posted using the texts appointed for Sunday, May 20.) Preparation: Make a “to-do” list with the items: 1) Receive power from God. 2) Go to the temple and pray. 3) Go tell what you have seen. Faith+Open: As the children gather ask them, “Have you ever been left with a list of things to do?” Maybe you get a list at home like, first you need to finish your dinner, then you need to clean up your room, then you can go play with your friends. Guess what, the disciples got a list like that, too! Faith+Share: Today we are celebrating the Ascension of Our Lord. That’s a big word, don’t you think? Does anyone know what it means? Wait for a few answers. You guys are pretty smart! Ascension means to go up. It can also describe when someone gets more power or more responsibility. Kings and queens ascend to the thrown when they become a kind or queen. In the story of Jesus’ ascension he really does go up – up into the sky to be with God, but before he goes he leaves a “To-Do” list. Right before he ascends, Jesus tells the disciples that they are the ones who know what happened in Jerusalem (what we know as the Easter story) and that they need to tell the story to other people. Get out your list. First, though, they have a few other things to do. Jesus tells them to wait in the city until they have been “clothed with power from on high.” That always makes me think of a super hero suit from God! Like the disciples become super storytellers for God! Storytellers who can baptize people, and heal the sick and injured, who can travel amazing distances and tell the story over and over. Pretty cool, huh? Then they go to the temple and bless God for the amazing gifts that God has given them. Then they head out into the world to share the good news! That story starts next week when we celebrate Pentecost. So, this is our last chance this year to say this, Happy Easter! Faith+Prayer: Powerful God, we thank you for the gifts you give us. Help us to use our gifts like the disciples did, by going out into the world and sharing the good news of Christ. Amen Faith+Blessing: Remember what Jesus says to his disciples: Do not be afraid and peace be with you. + ~GB Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply. Acts 1:1-11 Common English Bible (CEB) The risen Jesus with his disciples 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.” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Have you ever wondered why birds chirp like to sing the first thing in the morning? I just love to hear the birds in the morning, chirping away signaling that a new day is coming, and it is time to get up. When I was a small girl, there was a rooster the lived in the back of my grandmother’s apartment. His crowing in the morning was such an important way to wake up in the morning. It seems that the birds around the parsonage are not city birds – they are on a different time table. They start chirping at 3am in the morning. Usually, just as I am about the go to bed – the birds outside my window start to sing. I read somewhere recently that birds sing in the morning as a way to signal to their partners that they are still here. They have survived through the night- and they want to celebrate life and the beginning of a new day – of adventure and love. In many ways it is like us and our faith. We too come to church to signal to the community that we are here for another day. We have survived and are well enough to come together in church to sing, and to pray. It is also interesting that as you follow along the Easter story – it seems that every week we read a story – where the disciples are gathering to sing and to celebrate. They sing when they re happy, they sing when they are confused, they sing when they understand what is going on, they celebrate when they don’t. They are not celebrating their life, but the life of Jesus. It has been 40 days since Jesus was cruficied and they found an empty tomb. Actually it was 40 days last Thursday - that is ascension Sunday. The day that Jesus supposedly ascended into heaven. I say supposedly – because this story is only found in the book of Acts and in the book of Luke. The disciples are enjoying their second chance time with Jesus. Jesus has come back, so that must mean that He is going to stay – and like Lori Lightfoot – he is going to clean up the government and make this world a better place to live. Jesus is still teaching them, and then Luke reports that Jesus takes them to a beach, starts to pray and then just lifts up in the sky. And they are standing there looking at his feet. Did that really happen? No one is for sure. But it is always the most dramatic part of a passion play – in every passion play Jesus is hoisted up into the air and he flys away and the story ends. Being that the other gospels don’t say anything about how jesus left the earth, we really don’t know if this happen, or if Luke was being dramatic. The point of the story however – is that Jesus no longer walks amongst us. We can no longer just ask Jesus every time we have a faith struggle, we have to find the answer ourselves. Christianity is not the religion of Jesus, it is the religion of the disciples. And the moment they realized that Jesus has left them all alone stays etched in their mind as if they watched him float away. It is sort of like a story of a faithful dog. There is a monument to a faithful collie at the train station in Fort Benton, Montana. The collies’s master died in 1936. The collie was there at the train station when his coffin was shipped back east to be buried. The collie followed the train as it pulled off, but of course could not keep up. So he came back to the train station and waited. Every time a train pulled up to the station, the collie was there waiting for his master to return. He never left the station. One summer day in 1942, the dog ran in front of a train and was killed. The conductors buried him on a hill and marked his grace. The monument still stands to his faithfulness to his master. No doubt the dog was faithful and loyal and honorable. But he also wasted six year of his life doing nothing. He was never able to move past the moment of his masters death. If his master had ever stepped off one of those trains, would he be impressed that he was still waiting, or would he has wanted him to go on with his life, carrying the memory of their time together and yet still living.

The point if waiting
Jesus has been constantly telling us to be patient, to wait for the holy spirit – but he is not asking us for a passive waiting, but an active waiting. A waiting where we go on with our normal lives, filled with the knowledge that life gets better. We are called to move forward, even in times when we don’t understand, knowing that it will eventually make sense. Even in times when times are hard, with the knowledge that in time things will get better. Even in times when we believe that jesus is coming back – but have no idea of what that even means Unfortunately, the dog did not have the guidance of the two angels, the same two angels that sat at the grave – to tell the disciples to stop staring at the sky – and to move on with life. they don’t have to look for Jesus – Jesus will look for them. Losing a mentor can be devastating and disorienting. I can imagine how broken the disciples must have been. They had put so much faith in this man, and now he was gone. What did that mean for his trust? What did that mean for them, for the world and all that they had hoped for? They must have been so discouraged, when Jesus told them to wait for the presence of the comforter – the holy spirit. The spirit would come and give them strength and power. We get that next week when we celebrate Pentecost. I recently read an article about spiritual awakenings. It caught my attention, because it reminded me that spiritual awakenings can be tricky and confusing. Sort of like the birds starting to sing at 3 in the morning. Truthfully, I sometimes have a hard time falling asleep at night. Hearing the birds at 3 in the morning is my spiritual trigger, that the night is over and it is the dawn of a new day – so my mind can relax enough to fall asleep in peace. Spiritual awakening have a way of taking who we are and who we should be and shaking them up together. They take our bad side and our good side and make use of both of them. Spiritual awakening are never simple, or straightforward, or easy to go through. They are like driving through a storm. We are not in control and things are not pretty. But the good news for us is that when we come through them, we are stronger, and more confident and able to face things that would have bought fear before. The disciples faced the death and resurrection with fear. Today, they were still alone, but they understood what Jesus was trying to tell them. They did not have to wonder what Jesus would do, because it was written in their hearts, they would face an uncertain future and not be afraid. >Story of the chief’s successor
A tribal chief lay dying. He summoned three of his most loyal subjects and told them that it was time for him to choose a successor. He told them to climb the holy mountain and to return with the most precious gift you can find. The first brought back a huge gold nugget, the second brought back a priceless gem. The third returned empty handed, saying “when I reached the mountaintop, I was on the other side a beautiful land, where people could go for a better life. The chief said, you shall succeed me. You have brought back the most precious gift of all: a vision of a better tomorrow. That is why Ascension is so important to us. it was the day that the story was no longer about Jesus life, but about the faith of his followers. Recently purchased a lifesized cut out of Jesus and he is in my office now. It is interesting how many people on facebook commenting on the color of Jesus complexion. Many of my African American friends complained that he was much too light. I purchased him because it looks like a middle eastern man. But the point of the ascencion is that it does not matter what color Jesus is – or what ethinic group he came from. If he ascended into heaven, to get beyond race, culture and human definitions. Jesus of Nazareth is now Jesus the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth lived a life in Isreal – Jesus Christ belongs to the world to whole world. Jesus is Christ of all people, no matter what. He came to earth to save all people, no just some. His disciples went from men who had never went more than 30 miles from home, to men who were not afraid to travel the world – to spread to the good news a universal good news. It is interesting, that we can read how the book of acts begins – but we don’t know how it ends. We can follow Jesus life on earth, but if we stare at the sky waiting for him to come down. We will be waisting our time. We don’t know how the book of acts ends, because we don’t know what is going to happen in our lives tomorrow. The book starts with Jesus – but it ends with us, with our faith. I know I have told this story before – but it tells such an important point. I have told this story before, but it works here too… NO OTHER PLAN An old legend imagines Jesus arriving in heaven right after the Ascension, welcomed by all the angels. Then the angel Gabriel asks Jesus, "You suffered much, dying for the sins of mankind. Does everyone down on earth know it?" "Oh, no," replied the Savior, "just a handful of folks in Jerusalem and Galilee know about it." "Well, Master," continued Gabriel, "what is your plan for everyone to know of your great love?" The Master replies, "I asked all my apostles to carry the message into all the world. I told them to tell others, who will in turn tell others until the last person in the farthest corner has heard the story." Gabriel’s face clouds, for he spots a flaw in the plan. "What if after awhile Peter forgets, and goes back to his fishing on Galilee, also James and John and Andrew? Suppose Matthew returns to his tax booth in Capernaum, and all the others lose their zeal and just don’t tell others. What then?" After a pause comes the calm voice of the Lord Jesus, "Gabriel, I have no other plan." You are not just a part of the plan – you are the plan. The next chapter is waiting to be written by how we live our faith. Let us pray…..