May 4, 2008 Sermon
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Ascension Sunday (Easter 7 - A)
May 4, 2008 Allan Conkling
"Since we serve the God of the universe...the sky is not the limit when it comes to what the future may bring."
That's a quote from a Christian Century article this week. The article is about our need for patience and waiting upon God's timing. The writer of the article Kelly Lyn Logue was making the point that, just as the disciples experienced a time of waiting between the Resurrection and Pentecost, so to do we have our times or seasons of waiting upon God. Instead of heading out in haste to serve the Lord, Jesus slowed them down for a time--for a season. The promised Holy Spirit would come, Jesus assured them, but for now they were to wait. Wait and learn...Wait and have patience...Wait and trust in God’s timing: Even when you don't fully understand.
"Since we serve the God of the universe...the sky is not the limit when it comes to what the future may bring."
Ascension Day in the Roman Catholic Church remains a day of holy obligation. Still for most folks last Thursday probably came and went without notice. According to the book of Acts forty days after Easter the risen Jesus took his friends, and within their sight, ascended from the earth into heaven. Since the time of the Enlightenment we no longer need to take this passage literally--it is not essential to our faith to believe that Jesus literally took off up into the air. "What really happened?" or "Where did he go?" is not the point! In fact if we get stuck there we miss exactly what Acts is trying convey.
Ascension Day is important because it makes a statement about where we as a church place our priorities. This day celebrates the primacy of Christ. If Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated "at the right hand of God the Father Almighty" then our primary allegiance is to Christ. All other earthly authorities, kings, emperors, presidents, dictators, are demoted. All the things of this world, all the work of human enterprise, take second place to that which is eternal. Beyond the language of myth and metaphor is the much deeper call to affirm a loyalty to Christ. In this drawing of ourselves, this holding fast to the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ gives us the promise of a life without bounds, a future that does not end; which begins here and now as we live our lives guided by God.
That is where the quotation comes into play:
"Since we serve the God of the universe...the sky is not the limit when it comes to what the future may bring."
In the final analysis the true miracle is not that God could raise a corpse from death to life or make a body levitate into the clouds. The real miracle is found in the awareness that there is a Creator God who loves you and me- particularly in those times when we find ourselves so unlovable, and find life so pointless. The real miracle is found in our response to this overwhelming and extravagant love of God. Those hapless disciples, who felt themselves irrevocably changed, testified to the miracle that Jesus Christ can take a soul and make it new.
"You will be my witnesses," Christ told them, "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." What does the Acts passage mean for us today? Can we sense the spirit of Christ leading us? Are we aware of his Spirit as we say our prayers, as we come for Communion and meet in fellowship? I hope so! Will we be his hands and feet, not in Judea and Samaria, but in San Angelo and all the Concho Valley, in our homes, in our families, at work and at school? That is my prayer!
This was a critical time in the life of the early church. Their leader was gone, really gone. Would this be then end or would it be the beginning for the small band of followers? Who would lead them? Time would tell: To get the end of the story you will have to come back next week! One thing for certain standing there gazing up in the clouds would not be an option. Messengers from God we are told roused them to their senses, to fellowship and to prayer: "Don’t just stand there, do something!"
"Since we serve the God of the universe...the sky is not the limit when it comes to what the future may bring."
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Revised: 05/19/08