The Seventh Sunday in Eastertide
In our joys and our sufferings let us give glory to God. And let us offer prayers for all
persons in the world, to keep them in God’s name.
For this holy gathering and all who enter our circle of faith.
We praise you, O living God.
For our church leaders, and our Home and Away teams,
and all the holy people of God in every place.
We pray your guidance and presence.
For President Obama, Vice President Biden, Senators Brown and Portman, Representative Portman, and the leaders of all the nations and peace in the world.
We pray for wisdom, mercy, and justice.
For this city and the community around us.
We pray your healing touch.
For all in any pain and all who sorrow.
We pray for your healing and comfort.
For the dying and the grieving.
We pray for your comfort and peace.
For ourselves, our families, and those we love.
We pray you search our hearts, and fill us with your love.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, who does infinitely more for us than we can ask or
imagine. Hear our prayers for all your creation and gather us in the embrace of your
abundant and life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture Lesson Acts 1:1-11
Ac 1:1 ¶ In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
6 ¶ So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
8 But 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 ends of the earth."
9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
Sermon "Let’s Get Busy"
When I was a kid, I loved to watch Superman--not the Christopher Reeve Superman (I was no longer a kid when he came around). I watched the George Reeves Superman. Anybody else watch that stuff?
It was the cheesiest thing I can ever remember. It was the place where we got the phrase, "Look, up in the air--It's a bird! It's plane! It's--Superman!"
And then you'd see this really cheap special effect which consisted of a matte shot of George Reeves in tights lying on a board with clouds going past him.
And the people would stand there in awe of this obvious and hokey effect.
I liked it because I knew it was cheesy. I knew that the people were idiots who couldn't put two and two together that Clark Kent and Superman were one and the same. And how moronic they looked staring into space at this tacky effect that wasn't all that special.
It was the people that captured my attention.
But, the Superman people kept trying. A few years later--well, several years later, they came out with the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. The tag line for that first one in 1978 was, "You will believe that a man can fly."
They wanted you to know that this one wasn't to be as cheesy the TV show. But I never could believe that a man could fly.
And George Reeves had nowhere to go after Superman. It's hard to be mortal after being Superman. He killed himself in 1959.
And Chris Reeve, well, he was just a mortal, too.
And there are still idiots looking up at the sky.
Some of the original idiots looking up at the sky were Jesus' disciples in the Acts reading. There they are--looking up into the sky--it's a bird, a plane, it's--the Son of God!
From a religion standpoint, Luke writes it that way so that Jesus' place would be understood by everyone who heard it. Jesus wasn't just any religious figure--he was the religious figure.
No doubt those early disciples would have understood Jesus as rising to heaven as an actual place in the understanding of cosmology in the biblical world. There was earth--flat and 4 corners, sky, and heaven beyond it.
That's why I like Salvador Dalí's painting of the ascension. Jesus is not rising into outer space, but rather into the nucleus of a giant atom—becoming one with everything. Uniting heaven and earth.
Because the point of this scripture is missed if we focus strictly on geography and space travel rather than our own spiritual journeys. In a way, the story of the ascension is similar to the story of the creation of the first woman from Adam’s rib – that story is not about male hierarchy or anatomy, but about unity and intimacy.
And this story is about us. The point of the story is found, I believe, in the angels’ challenge, “why do you stand looking up at heaven?” And, this is a very important point. The heart of this passage is that we have work to do here in this lifetime, in this precious and unrepeatable moment and life and in this beautiful world.
Bruce Epperly (the speaker at the Scott Lectures in Bethany this year) writes "This world is not the front porch to eternity, nor is it worthless in light of eternity. Rather, our life is in the here and now. Heaven is heaven and earth is earth, and both are beautiful!"
We are called as Christians is to heal and change the world – this world. It has been said that there are some people who are “so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.”
Such was the temptation for the disciples – to gaze at the heavens, to wait for a Second Coming, and forget that their calling is to live faithfully in this life as God’s partners in healing the world.
One of the strangest things driving some in the church is looking upward to the heavens for a way out--looking to the consummation of history to take over the present. Its reward is only found in the next world—looking up. It encourages uncritical support of the nation of Israel, as some believe that a fully restored nation of Israel will hasten Christ's return. And it has spawned a wildly popular series of books, which, frankly, has left me behind. It views God’s world as only evil. It sees demons in those with whom we disagree, and looks for a divine rescue operation from life’s problems. It pores over symbolism in the Bible and grabs dates for the end of time out of the air--most recently, two weeks ago! I’m still here.
The first disciples looked into the sky after asking Jesus if now was the time to restore the kingdom. They were still looking for a dramatic overthrow of the Roman empire. But there was no sudden divine rescue operation to overthrow the oppressors, to set the people free, to restore the kingdom to Israel. Instead, Jesus turned to them and said: “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has set by his own authority. But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the furthermost parts of the world.” They were to proclaim the coming kingdom and they were to be the kingdom. They were to pray “your kingdom come” and they were to let the vision of the kingdom set their agenda. They were not to be waiting around for the kingdom, qualifying themselves for future entry and busying themselves with recruiting drives so that others might one day enter, too. They were to live out the life of the kingdom, to let God reign, now and to allow that life and love to extend to the ends of the earth, to all people now.
We are that community of disciples. We are the life of the kingdom. We are the people of the vision. We are, for here and now, the fulfillment of the promise yet to reach its completion.
We do not need to look up to the heavens to find meaning and fulfillment. If we stand around looking up at the sky for Superman or a flying Jesus, we'll miss that heaven is right here in this wondrous moment. God is here in our lives and God has given us everlasting life right where we are. For us, this means companionship with God in life and beyond death – a loving adventure in God’s justice and love in discovering, proclaiming and sharing the love of Jesus Christ in this world, not looking for him to rescue us from it. This is the day that God has made and we can do something beautiful for God and with God, in prayer and worship, ministry in this community and beyond, service to others and actions which move beyond our corporate efforts to individual actions– and in living faithfully today, God’s eternity is ours.
God's eternity is ours. Today. Here, and Now. What do you think? Amen.
Invitation to Offering
God’s generous nature knows no bounds. God is constantly in a state of giving to us all that we need. Give from that place inside you where hurts are taken seriously and where the church can properly respond with compassion and love.
Offertory Prayer
Holy One, we bring these gifts from the depths of our being, praying that, together with the gifts of others, our gifts may make a difference in the world. Bless these gifts and use them and the gifts of our lives for your mission. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Benediction
You are charged with the ministry of Jesus Christ to be his people in the world.
Let’s get to it. Amen.
