(I preached at the community service for Ascension at Trinity, Middle Village)
The readings
Acts 1:1-11
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.”
Ephesians 1:15-23
I have heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and your love* towards all the saints, and for this
reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I
pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a
spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes
of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called
you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what
is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the
working of his great power. God* put this power to work in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And
he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things
for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Luke 24:44- 24:53
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to
you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of
Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their
minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written,
that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and
that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see,
I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until
you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his
hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and
was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem
with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
The Message
For those of you who do not know me, my name is Joseph
Mantovani and I serve as the pastor at St Jacobus Lutheran Church in
Woodside. I have been there for almost 7
years. During that time, our diverse church community has changed, survived,
shared and served others. I also took
over as dean of our Northwest Queens conference last year after Pr Longan
completed 8 great years of service in that capacity. I am glad to be here with all of you here at
Trinity, Middle Village and thankful for a chance to share some thoughts on
this strange and complicated Ascension Day.
It really is a strange and complicated day. The number of significant things happening and
new ideas introduced in our readings can make it hard to focus on one and
almost impossible to figure out how they all fit together. We have the intense anxiety and emotional
experiences of Jesus first disciples as they say goodbye to their teacher and
assume responsibility for telling the world of God’s love. We have the great commission, Jesus telling
the faithful to proclaim Christ dead and risen for the forgiveness of sins, to
pray, teach, heal and help. We have the 2 figures who appear after the
ascension and remind Jesus disciples, “don’t just stand around staring into
space, go do what you were shown, taught and told”. We have some of the most important doctrines
of our church, the divinity of Jesus (they worship him), the Trinity, how God’s
presence in the world is understood and experienced, the power of Baptism and
the opening of God’s kingdom to all. We
have the great promise of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will come to guide,
empower and enable the assigned work. We have a conversation about the end
times, We have Jesus disciples, for the first time and just in time,
understanding “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise
from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is
to be proclaimed in his name to all nations”.
To make things more complicated, we hear different accounts
of the same exact event, by the same author.
In the Acts reading, they talk about the end times and 2 figures appear
to further guide the disciples. In Luke,
they talk about the fulfillment of scripture and no one appears. At this point, everyone’s head should be
spinning a little, I know mine is. All
this places us right where the people who witnessed the ascension almost 2000
years ago were and more importantly, right where God wants us. Over the past few years on Pentecost, I have
completely changed our worship. I choose
a setting and hymns no one knows. The peace, prayers, sermon , confession, communion
and offering all get shifted around. It
is a strange and difficult thing to follow because the Holy Spirit entering our
world is a strange and difficult thing to follow. (plus it’s a great
illustration of what Pentecost was like and what church can be like for new
visitors). We are not supposed to make sense of these things on our own. We are not supposed to get it instantly, have
all the answers and be comfortable all the time. Our faith, our encounter with God’s love
revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, has moments of
struggle, trust, mystery, prayer, faith and wonder.
We are not left alone to figure it out. As different as the
ascension reports are in Luke and Acts, they both center on the promise of the
Holy Spirit. We are given the unchanging promise of God’s presence in the world
to lean on, depend on and come back to. We
are prepared for being faithful in a complex and changing world by the
invitation to trust God, look to the scriptures, love one another and depend on
God’s grace.
At my church, we
operate a preschool and part of my responsibilities include weekly Children's
church services. When we look at the story of the Ascension, of
Jesus saying good bye to his friends, I get dramatic. I climb up the steps to the balcony, share a
version of Jesus last words for 4 year olds (remember God loves you) and then vanish (duck underneath one of
the pews) Since the Ascension comes towards the end of the school year, I also
tie it together with leaving school. For many of the kids in our school, we are
their first time away from home and familiar family, even for a few hours a
day. In September, it’s a mess. The
rooms and halls are filled with the unfamiliar, with screaming, crying,
occasionally kicking and uncomfortable children who want to go home or see
parents. Once the end of June comes, we
see how much they have grown and changed..
By June those hallways are filled with laughter, excitement, joy and
friendship. As they leave we celebrate
what they are leaving with, the knowledge of basic counting, the alphabet,
colors, days of the week and months of the year. The social skills they learned
and practiced, stuff like sharing, waiting for your turn, helping each other
and following a teachers instructions. I also want them to leave knowing that
they will always be part of God's family and welcome at our church. If we do our job right, they leave prepared
for kindergarten and aware of God's love.
We have no idea what they will encounter in another school or place how they will adjust, thrive or struggle but
they are ready.
The Ascension is that last day of school. Like my
preschoolers from September to June, Jesus disciples have all changed a lot
since meeting him. These disciples are the same group of people who constantly
misunderstood Jesus teachings, feel asleep, could not stay awake and pray with
Jesus in the moments before his arrest, who all deny him, publicly, boldly
telling the other “I do not know that Jesus guy” and hiding 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, sharing
the lessons Jesus taught and exhibiting the active joy that comes from knowing
the story of God’s love.
Finally, I want to share a few last thoughts by going back
to the reading from Acts. In particular , these mysterious figures who tell the
disciples “you are ready, you have 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”. 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
through our worship, faith, care for others and work for peace. It’s time for
us to get out of here, to stop waiting around, staring at the walls and
windows. Jesus tells his disciples: Thus
it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the
third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in
his name to all nations. Let’s Go and do
it.
Do not try this alone though. Go, with prayer and the power of the Holy
Spirit, Go knowing you are part of something much bigger, a church community of
God’s all different people who will be here for you, Go, with the sure and
certain hope in the resurrection and the forgiveness of sins, Go to prayer,
sharing the peace, the communion table, lunch, school, home and work, knowing Jesus is ascended into the heavens but God is
still very much present in our world, in our churches and in our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment