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 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,
more than that,
when I internalized that,
ingested that,
I became courageous.”[2]
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,
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.