First Lutheran Church
May 24, 2020 – Ascension Sunday
Acts 1:1-11
(Luke writes) 1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After 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. 4While 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; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But 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.” 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going, and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They 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.”
“Ten Days”
Rev. Greg Ronning
This past Thursday, liturgical churches all around the world, celebrated “The Ascension of Our Lord,” the day that the risen Christ returns to the heavens to be seated (and in some cases - standing) at the right hand of God.
Today we celebrate Ascension Sunday and you have just heard the appointed biblical texts for the day. They tell an amazing story, a mystical story, a story that’s admittedly hard to even imagine. It’s a wonderful story that Christians have cherished for eons. Churches have been celebrating the Ascension dating back to the year 68 AD. (Hundreds of years before the church started celebrating Christmas.) Yet it is also a story that, at first glance, really doesn’t make a huge claim on my life, today. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what to do with it? (What are we supposed to do with a story about Jesus flying up into the heavens.) I like the story, it’s a great story, but it’s so different than my experience, the context and world view is so very different, I just don’t know what to do with it.
So, I had to go back to the text, do some more work with it, looking for a way to connect with it, seeking out that “spot” where I might enter into the story, that place where the story might enter into my life, that theological moment when scripture becomes that “Living Word of God.” And then it hit me, I did some quick math, and I discovered “The Ten Days,” and suddenly I was there, I found my way into the story, I became engaged with something that I could relate to, something that could, and would, and does, make a claim on my life, - those “Ten Days!”
So, some of you might be wondering, “Where did you find the “Ten Days?” “There’s no mention of “Ten Days” in those scripture verses!” I guess that’s where the church nerd in me kind of took over. Let me explain, we are in the liturgical season of Easter, it is a season that lasts “fifty days,” a season that begins with Easter Morning and ends with the Day of Pentecost, the day the church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. In our first reading this morning we read that after the resurrection, during a period of “forty days,” Jesus appeared to the disciples teaching them about the kingdom of God. That forty-day period ends with the Ascension, and thus, - that leaves “Ten Days” until Pentecost.
And here’s why that grabs hold of me, these “Ten Days” begin with the disciples staring up into the sky, watching Jesus get smaller, and smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until he finally disappears. And as that happens - suddenly the disciples seem to be kind of “stuck.” And I imagine that they are all wondering to themselves, and perhaps to each other, “What do we do now?”
It’s been a real confusing time for them, a perplexing time filled with joy and fear, faith and doubt, peace and anxiety. Just some forty odd days ago they watched Jesus suffer and die, and suddenly they were without their teacher, their leader, the person who inspired them the “to leave everything behind” and seek after this “Kingdom of God.” Jesus dies as a “wanted man,” as a criminal of the state, effectively making them “wanted men and women,” enemies of the state. So, they go into hiding. And then comes the news, his dead body is missing. And then it gets really strange as Jesus begins to make himself present to them, mysteriously, yet also in the flesh, appearing and disappearing. When he is present, he reminds them of all the things that they have seen and done together, and he continues to teach them about the kingdom. And then just as they are perhaps getting used to having him around in this “new way,” he announces to them that it’s time for him to go, to leave, to ascend to God, to no longer appear and disappear among them as he has been doing. And then according to the scriptures, according to our appointed readings for this day, he slowly disappears up into the sky.
Yes indeed, it’s all very strange and confusing. He does however leave them with a promise, the promise of Pentecost, a promise that they will not be orphaned, a promise that God is about to do “a new thing” “in, with, and through” them. But you wonder if they have even begun to understand what that promise might be all about, as they stand there, seemingly stuck, looking up into the sky. I wonder how long they just stood there, stuck with their heads in the clouds? It finally ends when two men “dressed in white” arrive to “unstick them,” wake them up, bring them back to the present on planet earth, “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.” So, they head back to Jerusalem, waiting for “whatever it is” that will come next. And they will wait “Ten Days;” and I’m sure they were ten challenging days, ten trying days, ten anxious days, - ten long days.
In many churches Easter begins with the lighting of a special candle, “The Paschal Candle.” This candle is lit every time people gather for worship in the season of Easter, (as well as it baptisms and funerals,) signifying the presence of the risen Christ among us. And, some churches, including First Lutheran, (at least over the past few years,) will blow this candle out on Ascension Day, signifying the end of the presence of God incarnate among us in Jesus.
And this is where I find myself entering into the story. I can relate to “looking up into the sky” stuck and unsure what to do next; I can relate to the flame suddenly being blown out, the flame disappearing, leaving only wisps of smoke; I can relate to the “Ten Days” between the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit; a time of uncertainty, a time of intense spiritual discernment, a time of doubt, a time of fear, a time of despair; but also a strange time of excitement and hope; a time of waiting on a promise. I’ve been there!
And perhaps you can relate to those “Ten Days” too. You’ve had incredible faith moments, you have been exposed to the Kingdom, a vision of peace and justice, the love and grace of God; And it’s taken you to amazing places, it has caused you to be involved in great things. But then things change, as things are “want to do!” You get older, you move, circumstances change, you graduate from college, you get a job, you get married, you have children, you get a new job, things get finished, people come and go, loved ones pass away, a new challenge emerges, an opportunity arises. Life is always changing on us.
And this year we were all thrown for a huge loop, an epic loop of historical magnitude, the arrival of the Coronavirus and life in the midst of a global pandemic. Life has really changed, even down to the core, and what will happen next is not certain. We’ve been told that life will not return to normal, we’ve been told to expect a new normal! Life is always changing on us, in small ways, medium ways, and in big ways.
Life changes and suddenly it’s time to do something new, and more often than not, that something new is not easy, and it’s not clear. And you find yourselves in the midst of those “Ten Days” wondering where God is, what God might be up to in your life, what God might be up to in the life we share together, and how it is that God might show up in a new way, for a new time and a new place. Just like the disciples, we find ourselves in the midst of those “Ten Days,” perhaps feeling stuck, trying to be patient and hoping that death once again leads to resurrection, that God will continue to make all things new.
So, what did the disciples do during those “Ten Days?” We don’t have too much information about those days, but we do know that they returned to Jerusalem; back to the place where they had gathered to share bread and wine on that fateful night “in which he was betrayed;” back to the place where Jesus died, was crucified, was buried, and rose up from the grave. I think that it is important to note that they did not each go their separate ways to figure out what might happen next, but that they stayed together, realizing the importance of being in community. They also went to the temple to worship God and give God thanks and praise. And we know that they prayed, the scriptures tell us that they “devoted themselves to prayer;” seeking God’s will, remembering and contemplating all the things Jesus taught them about the kingdom of God. As they waited, they prepared for what was to come next by diligently practicing their faith.
As we find ourselves waiting on the spirit, as we work through those times in our life when we are uncertain or struggling with God’s call in our life, as we work through this current time of uncertainty, let us remember what the disciples practiced and modeled for us in those “Ten Days.” Let us gather, reflect on the teachings of Christ, and engage in prayer. For as we do these things, we are made aware of the coming of the Holy Spirit!
I know that gathering these days is not physically possible, and that this is a challenge. Yet there are still ways that we can spiritually gather together. Together we are able to “experience the same worship” online even though it might be at a different time and in a different space, together we are still able to participate in “Zoom” gatherings, together we are still able to connect with a phone call, and together some of us are connected through a letter that arrives in the mail, much in the same way that Paul gathered up the early church with his epistles, letters to the faithful. Do not underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, that moves in each of these ways, that moves in each of us, that moves in and around each of us all together. As we are able to contemplate the same Living Word of God that breaks into each individual life in different ways, God is at work in us. So together, let us continue to dwell in the word, let it shape our reflection, and our prayers.
A time of great spiritual discernment is before us; what is God calling this community of faith to do, to be, to look like, to bear witness to - in this current time and place? How will we practice our faith in a new context? How will we continue to live out our mission in downtown Fullerton?
In the season of Pentecost, we leave the Paschal Candle out in the Sanctuary even though we will not kindle its flame. It will remain unlit reminding us that God is now present in a new way. On the day of Pentecost, the flame will return, this time dancing upon the heads of the disciples, signifying that Christ is now present in the church, in faithful people gathered, a gathering which is now the body of Christ. And that Sprit continues to come even now, in new and exciting ways, present anew for every time and place. Just as it was present yesterday, it will be present for this current time and place. So, let us abide in the word, let us be in prayer, let us seek the kingdom together, let us gather in those holy things, practicing our faith, in order that God might open our eyes to the flame that surely still burns today. Amen.