Sunday, April 3
the reading
Acts 1:1-14
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus
did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had
chosen. 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. 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; for John baptized with water, but you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is
this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is
not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own
authority. 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.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted
up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were
gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 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.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called
Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a , sabbath day’s journey away. When they had
entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying,
Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and
Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain
women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers
The message
We are now starting the third section of our Sunday readings. From today until Pentecost, 6 weeks from now,
we will go through the stories of the apostles and other disciples in the first
years after Jesus resurrection and ascension.
That’s the same group of people who feel asleep, who could not stay awake
and pray with Jesus in the moments before his arrest, who all deny him,
publically, boldly telling the other “I do not know that Jesus guy” and who
hide in rooms due to fear. They are now awake and ready to confess their faith,
boldly telling the others Christ is Risen from the dead, reporting what they
witnessed and sharing the lessons Jesus taught.
Today, we hear the first words of the book of Acts. The full
title is the Acts of the Apostles and that is exactly what this book is, a
report of what the Apostles saw, what they did and experienced and where they
went in the years after Jesus resurrection. Acts starts with a reference to the
first book (which is the Gospel of Luke, both have the same author) and is
addressed to Theophilis which is either the name of Luke’s patron / supporter
or a word meaning “people of God”. Acts
starts with what was missing from Mark’s Easter story (if you remember last
week, Mark originally ends with the women running from the tomb, in terror and
amazement, saying nothing to anyone, because they were afraid). Here, Jesus appears to his followers, with
many convincing proofs that he is really risen from the dead. During this time, Jesus is speaking of the
kingdom of God. (which is the topic Jesus talked more about than any other in
the Gospels). The Kingdom of God is a
complicated term but generally refers to the time when God retakes control of
history and shapes the world as God intended. In
their conversations on the Kingdom,
Jesus tells them that it is not complete yet, his resurrection was not
the end of the story, he would return, at an unknown time, to fully usher in
the kingdom. Jesus also tells them what
to do while they wait. First, there is
the promise of Pentecost, instructions to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy
Spirit comes. After that, they should go all over the world and tell the others
what they witnessed and learned.
After this time of Jesus appearances and instructions, we
have the ascension. 40 days after Easter Jesus is taken up into heaven. After
Jesus disappears into the clouds and sky, the disciples are just sort of
standing there, staring into space. Like
Easter morning, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 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.”. In plain English, these
mysterious figures tell the disciples “you heard the promises of the Holy
Spirit and of Jesus return, you received the instructions to go and tell the
others, don’t just stand here and glare at the sky, get out of here, go and be
the people of God”. Perhaps that is the
lesson for all of us too, we have received the promised Holy Spirit, we have
the hope for Jesus return, we have received the instructions to tell the others
the Christ is risen, that God is in the world, to care for others and work for
peace, it’s time for us to get out of here , to stop staring at the brown
paneling and go be the people of God.
We are not going too far, not yet at least. From
time to time, I find myself starting or advertising a project without doing the
back ground work, without analyzing the needs, getting commitments, doing sufficient planning or talking to
the community, they are great ideas and they usually fail before they even
begin. Jesus disciples wisely do the background work first. In the case of being the people of God, that
work means prayer. After all they had seen, heard and talked about, the
disciples did not find themselves running all over Jerusalem doing stuff, they were constantly devoting themselves to
prayer, After all this, they turn to
prayer (just like Jesus showed them in his last hours). I expect they prayed to give thanks, to seek
guidance, strength and vision. They also
prayed to remind themselves that God was listening, that God was in the world
and cared about the world. Before
running to do anything, they stop to pray.
We are not a meeting hall, a social club, a rental site, a
school, an emergency aid center, a food pantry or a study hall, we might do all those things and fill those
roles, but we are a praying place, a community that might work, advocate and
play together but above all, we pray together. It’s easy to lose track to of
that to focus on work and service, on budgets and buildings, on attendance and
statistics
There is a long history of constant prayer in our faiths and
other faiths. In Isalm, their faith
requires highly ritualized and organized prayer 5 times a day, with various
prayers, reading, poses and body movements. In Judaism, after the destruction
of the temple, daily hours for regular prayer were scheduled throughout the
day. It was known as the sacrifice of
praise (as a replacement for the sacrifice of animals). In many Christian
traditions, especially in monastaries there is a practice of praying the hours.
The whole day is scheduled around 8 times of prayer (including the always
popular midnight, 3 and 6 am). Each
prayer time involves a series of readings, prayers and hymns. In most traditions, these times all begin
with a verse from psalm 70: God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to
help me. All of these practices can help
people keep God’s love in the center of their lives, to face the day with
courage and wisdom.
Almost 500 years ago, Matin Luther, the founder of our faith
tradition, told believers "I have so much to do today that I'm going to
need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done”. Now, prayer is not just something other
people do. Our brothers and sisters at
Trinity Lutheran in LIC have committed to pray for their church every day at
10:11 am or pm. I often need a reminder
to pray to pray as much as anyone else.
At least a few times a month, someone reminds me, shouldn’t we say
grace, or wait you forgot to pray before we start. That makes it hard for me to stand up here
and say “hey everyone, you should pray more, it will bring joy to your lives”. Instead, I’d like to commit to stopping for
prayer 3 times a day this week and invite you to do the same. I’ll let everyone know how it goes next
Sunday. (I know, you actually show up
the Sunday after Easter and you actually get homework).
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