Ascension Sermon 6/1/2014

Sermon June 1, 2014
Ascension
Luke 24:44-53


Imagine standing with Christ, receiving a blessing,
comforted that for the past forty days you have been reunited
with the one who invited you into a special group of men and women to become more aware of God and God’s work in the world. 
In these past forty days it all became clear:
for these past three years of traveling in and around Jerusalem,
you watched your friend perform miracles and healings,
challenge authority, take risks,
teach and eat and befriend all kinds of people. 
In these forty days all that was unclear became clear.
Looking back, remembering the parables, you now
understand the complexity of the stories. 
Scriptures are revealed,
explaining the fulfillment of prophecies and psalms. 
Laws make more sense. 
You began to understand what you are supposed to do
with all that you experienced with Jesus. 
It’s your AHA moment,
that moment when you realize that
you are prepared for the next part of the journey,
and you are capable of teaching and praying for and with others. 
You’ve graduated.
And then…

While he was blessing them,
he withdrew from them
and was carried up into heaven.

Jesus ascended.

Maya Angelou died this week. 
She impacted the world with her poetry,
reminding us that we are all God’s children. 
Oprah Winfrey, in her expression of grief,
reframed one of Angelou’s quotes, saying
“She will always be the rainbow in my clouds.”[1] 
A woman of many, many words,
Maya Angelou used them to elevate humanity to a
deeper understanding of our interconnectedness
and dependence on one another,
learning from the bad
to find the good. 
Empowering goodness and expecting transformation.
Jesus returned to transform us. 
He ascended because he believed we were ready.

While he was blessing them,
he withdrew from them
and was carried up into heaven.

Have you ever wondered what it looked like?
I have a friend who lives near Cape Canaveral and she has been witness to a number of launchings into space.
She recently shared a series of pictures of a satellite launch.
Her view is from a beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
In the first of the pictures I can see a crowd has gathered,
looking up at the bright light of the glowing craft ascending.
In each of the following pictures, the contrail grows,
marking the path of the satellite.
Soon, the contrail is dancing in the sky
as the satellite exits the atmosphere:
a white trail against a darkening blue sky,
twisting in the wind, eventually disappearing.
Did Jesus glow?  Was he standing on a cloud,
ascending slowly into the outstretched hands of God?
Was there a contrail following him,
dissipating as he got higher and higher?

While he was blessing them,
he withdrew from them
and was carried up into heaven.

Can you imagine the looks on the faces of the followers of Jesus?
One of my friends from college posted a
picture on Facebook this week.
 It’s of two little boys, shirtless under their bib overalls,
looking up into the sky with bright eyes and open smiles
and the caption says,
“Sometimes I just look up, smile and say,
 I know that was you, God!  Thank you!”
There is sure wonderment expressed on their faces.
Delight and joy! 
The older one has grabbed the wrist of the younger as if what he was seeing was not to be believed or missed!
The two are sharing a first of a lifetime experience
and grinning with glee.
Can you hear the Jesus followers?  “Wow!  Did you see that?”
While he was blessing them,
he withdrew from them
and was carried up into heaven.

He was carried up.  He ascended.  And so, we, we look up.
Of course we look up!
We raise our hands to the ceiling.
We praise God, raising our voices and singing.
We open our hands with our palms up with a willingness to receive.
We reach up to touch God, like Michelangelo’s painting
on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
We hope to see God come down from heaven,
from a throne, from above.
We look up, into the sunshine to warm our faces.
We look up to feel the cleansing relief of the rain.
We look up to praise.
We look up to receive.
We look up because we hope.
The image of Jesus rising helps us to look up.
But that’s not the end of the story. 
Jesus told his followers to return to Jerusalem,
to stay there, to continue to study in the temple
and to wait “until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 
They may not have known what that meant,
but they did it anyway. 
Their trust and faith and understanding were different now. 
They had a different level of confidence. 
Maya Angelou may say they became courageous.
In a 2013 interview Dr. Angelou said,
“I believed that there was a God because I was told it by my grandmother
and later by other adults.
But when I found that I knew not only that there was God
but that I was a child of God,
when I understood that,
when I comprehended that,
more than that,
when I internalized that,
ingested that,
I became courageous.”[2]

Those forty days with the resurrected Jesus
helped the disciples learn how to comprehend the magnitude
of their relationship with Jesus. 
In their brokenness, sinfulness, carelessness, unbelief and disbelief,

they learned that they,
like Maya,
like you,
like me,
are children of God
When we begin to internalize and ingest the depth of that reality,
we too can become courageous!
And what does that look like? 
What does being courageous children of God look like? 
According to Maya Angelou,
“When I was asked to do something good,
I often say yes, I'll try,
yes, I'll do my best.
And part of that is believing,
if God loves me,
if God made everything from leaves to seals and oak trees,
 then what is it I can't do?”[3]
Now, that is a good question!
Is what we do for the love of God?
Do we live, like our Psalm today tells us, clapping our hands
and shouting to God with a cry of joy?
Do we live like children of the holy, mighty and only God,
trusting that who we were created to be
will manifest our faith to the world?
The disciples returned to Jerusalem with not just joy, but great joy:   Great Joy like the expression on those two boys’ faces when they look up,
smiling at something astounding.
Great Joy in understanding that the bright light that ascended into heaven, into the arms of God,
was the light of unconditional and abundant love.
 Great Joy in seeing the rainbow in the clouds.
Great Joy in the knowledge and love of God, because…
While he was blessing them,
he withdrew from them
    and was carried up into heaven.       
Amen.