"Looking Up"

Acts 1:1-11

A Sermon Preached by The Rev. Douglas M. Donley

May 13, 2007 (Ascension Day)

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

 

            When someone says something is looking up, it generally means things are getting better.  The Gophers are looking up now that they have two new coaches.           Her health is looking up after the treatment plan has been implemented.  The finances of UBC are looking up now that we have most of our pledges turned in.  We’re not quite there yet, but it’s looking up.  The gardens are looking up after this span of nice weather.  The weather has shifted along the Gunflint Trail, so the chances of getting that awful fire under control is looking up. 

            Looking up is a good thing.  It’s a glass-half-full approach to life. God knows we need a bit of that from time to time.  It can get kinda annoying when someone only sees the positive side while ignoring the negative.   But the intent is to keep moving forward and live into hope.

            Today is the ultimate day for looking up.  Today is what the church calendar calls Ascension Day.  It’s only been in relatively recent years that I have paid attention to liturgical calendars.  I guess we did Advent growing up, but that was more because of the media marketplace has us all in a frenzy about buying stuff for Christmas, and we kept bugging our parents about how soon Christmas would come.

But now that I’m in a profession that looks for symbolism in a lot of things, I am drawn to the discipline and security of the church calendar.  I enjoy going through Lent if for no other reason because it makes Easter so much more exciting.  There is nothing like the high holy days of UBC—not Christmas and Easter, but Palm Sunday and All Saints Day.  I have even gotten to like Pentecost, even though I count myself among the growing number of red-challenged individuals.   But Ascension Day? 

The biblical story contends that the resurrected Jesus stuck around presumably with the disciples for a period of time (40 days to be exact) which ended with his ascension into heaven.  For those of you who don't believe in the vertical location of heaven, you might be helped by seeing this as a symbol of the person Jesus no longer being here. 

So, Jesus' ascension marks the end of his one ministry and the beginning of Christ's new ministry in each of us.

On Pentecost (50 days after Passover), which we’ll celebrate two weeks from now, we are enabled to take that next step when the Holy Spirit "comes down" or descends from heaven and rests upon our shoulders and sets our tongues on fire.  I wonder why Pentecost was never termed as descension day.

So as far as I can tell, the ascension of Jesus is important for three reasons.

First, Jesus is raised up and he is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  That means that Jesus' authority is far and above all worldly authority.  Presidents, congresspeople, governors, clergy, talk-show hosts, the World Bank, the IMF even the terrorists are all under the ultimate authority of God and had better watch out because God is watching.  That means that we had better watch out, too.  We need to remember that God and Christ see all things that we do and probably take notes.

Second, the taking of Jesus up to God's right hand also reminds us of our own resurrection.  It reminds us of what happens to us when we die.  It gives us a "blessed assurance that Jesus is mine Oh what a foretaste of glory divine." So, we tell our story and live our lives with the knowledge that we have an assurance of a life after our death.   But it cannot end there.  It must not end there.  You have certainly heard the saying that there are some people who are so heavenly focused, that they are no earthly good.  Sister Helen Prejan was commended in the movie "Dead Man Walking" for her faith.  She retorted, "It's not faith, it's work."

That brings us to the third and perhaps most important aspect of the Ascension.  Since Jesus is no longer here on earth, then we have some work to do.  We remember the words of Jesus, "The poor you will have with you always, but you will not always have me."  In other words, Jesus will not live forever, but Christ is always here in the faces of the poor and the downtrodden and the oppressed.  I can just see the people watching Jesus rise up into heaven.  I can see them waiting in anticipation of what great thing he is going to do next.  They look up, they look up and they look up.   But the great things didn’t happen up there in the sky.  Sure, Jesus was up there and seated at the right hand of God and all, but the real work is down here.  Not up in the sky.

Jesus told the people on Easter to go to Galilee to see him.  Jesus was saying go back into the slums and away from the big cities where all the supposed worldly power lies.  Go out to the sticks and the seeming nobodies.  That’s where the ministry really begins.  Jesus' great commission from Matthew 28 says, "Go Ye into all the world and preach my Gospel to every creature."  That means go beyond the narrow confines of your past prejudices, catch a vision and dream of something new, different and exciting.   Therefore, when you come back to Jerusalem, on Pentecost, after the ascension, then you will have new power and new spirit and our very hearts will be on fire. 

But still, there is a hole left by Jesus’ absence.  The trumpets have blown on Ascension Day, Jesus is gone up into heaven and the people are left on earth to pick up the pieces.  It’s no wonder they looked up at the sky.  They looked up wondering, “now what do we do?”  That’s when two messengers, not unlike the messengers at the open tomb, said, “Why are you looking up?”  It’s another way of saying, “Why do you seek the living amongst the dead?”  “Bring your eyes back down here to earth, where people are in need and look at them with new eyes.  Hear them with new ears.  Touch them with increasing sensitivity.  And the Spirit of the one who has gone before you will strengthen and enliven you.

We hear this somewhat familiar story and we say, “oh those silly disciples.”  We shake our heads and say, we’re better than they are.  We’d never fall into that trap.  Not us.  No way.  We’ve read the book, we know how it’s supposed to turn out.

And yet, we look up into heaven a whole lot.  We look to those who have gone on before.  We remember their lives.  On this Mother’s Day, many of us reflect upon mothers whose earthly life has ended.  We can’t help but look up.  We remember the impact they had on us, how they shaped us, how our lives are a part of the expression of their influence upon us.  We look up for approval of our ancestors, knowing that they now see the big picture that we long to see.  We look up and remember who we are and who we want to be.  We look up and we reconnect with the core of our beings.  Looking up is a good thing.

When I participated in a sweat lodge a year ago, I found myself joining with the others in invoking the spirits of our grandfathers.  How long it had been since I had brought them to mind.  How would they respond to my work, my witness, their legacy.

Just yesterday, my mother sent me a package of papers that she had been hanging on to for several years.  Among them was a birthday card I sent to my deceased grandfather 20 years ago when I was in Seminary.  I had been working at the Scarsdale Congregational Church which is where I realized that I was going to become a Baptist Minister.  Here’s what I wrote in October of 1987:

 

Dear Grandpa: 

I wish I could be there to help you celebrate but I’m at the Detroit airport right now waiting to be picked up to go to a friend’s wedding in Ann Arbor.  School continues to go well.  I am again enjoying the challenge of going to school in New York City.  The courses are not as rigorous as they were last year (either the classes are easier or I’m getting smarter). 

The job in Scarsdale is occupying most of my extra time.  It’s nice to put some of my classroom work into practice in the parish setting. 

I preached for the first time two weeks ago.  It took a lot of preparation time, but it went over quite well—better than I had expected.  I can’t imagine doing that every week.  Oh well, enough for now.  Have a wonderful birthday and a safe trip to Florida.  Please send my love to Grandma,

            Love, Doug

 

Looking up is part of reconnecting with your past, with your mentors, with your soul’s desire.

So I encourage you to look up. 

Look up and see who you really are. 

Look up and see a vision of who you want to become.

Look up and see what you community ought to look like in the future. 

Look up and see the possibilities. 

Look up and pay attention to the plight of the world and the possibilities of blessing if we embrace the work that Jesus began.

But don’t let it stop there.  For looking up is a direction, it’s an attitude, but it’s not ultimately a location.  Looking up also means looking out.  Too many accidents happen when people are playing with their cell phones or are doing something that takes their eyes off the road.           As many of you know, I have been training for running another marathon.  I did a long run yesterday and the only thing that hurt was the top of my back near my neck.  My chiropractor says it’s because I have been holding my neck too far forward.  He suggested I look up more and have better posture.  Maybe if I get rid of the pain in my neck, I won’t be such a pain in the neck.

We need to look up so we can look out for the obstacles that may be in our way. 

We look up so we can look out for the pitfalls and negotiate our way around the fallen logs and other barriers of life. 

We need to look out for the troubles that pass our way.

So we need to look up, look out and then we need to step up and step out. 

Jesus didn’t want the Christian community to simply look to heaven. 

We also need to step out with the inspiration of the community and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We need to step out and live the great commission: “Go ye into all the world and preach my Gospel to every creature.”

We need to step up and live the great commandment: “Love God with all your strength, soul, mind and heart and love your neighbor as yourself.”

We need to step up and make sure that everyone lives by the great criteria: “whenever you have done it until the least of these who are my sisters and my brothers, you have done it unto me.”

We need to step up to the plate and take our swings at the work before us. 

We need to step up and step out in response to the inspiration of God that we have received by looking up.

We have seen the people of the world look up and see the environmental challenges of this world.  People are stepping up to lobby for legislation, to push for environmentally responsible actions and have downsized their consumption of fossil fuels. 

We have seen people look up and see the connection that God has with the peacemakers of the world.  We know there are differing ways of securing peace and people are taking to the streets, stepping out and pushing for peaceful solutions to the world’s problems.

We have seen people look up and see that all of us are created in God’s image and that none should be discriminated against because of the color of their skin, their nationality, or because of the people whom they love.  People have stepped out onto the streets and  pushed for immigration reform that respects the dignity of all people.  People have stepped up and stepped out and said that prejudice in all of its forms diminishes our society.

            At the ascension, the messengers of God said that the people need to look up to the inspiration of Jesus’ life, but that they needed to step out and make community with everybody. 

Not just with Jerusalem, if we can infer from Jesus' commissioning in Acts 1 that he is talking about our immediate church family, but with Judea—the other churches and like-minded believers who have suffered a similar fate as us—those who have a similar distrust of denominations and systems of domination.   We have found those like-minded people amongst the Rochester/Genesee Region, the Alliance of Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.

With Samaria--those who would have nothing to do with a church per se, but who might need services and community which the church could make happen.  A month ago, we presented the show “Body & Sold” here at UBC.  The show dealt with issues surrounding sexual trafficking.  One of the actors told about how unique it was to hold this at a church.  But then he stopped himself and said how appropriate it was to perform this at UBC where we take seriously the ethics of compassion and support ofr people’s struggles.

And of course to the end of the earth--this is about speaking the truth to power, making our church a witness against injustice and for community.

When we do that, sisters and brothers, then things really start to look up around here. 

So let’s look up.  Garnering the strength from those who have gone before and who now see the big picture of our lives.  Let’s follow Jesus’ commission to step out (or roll out) and place our God-inspired and unique impact on the world.  Let us support and encourage each other along the way.  And whenever we get discouraged, let’s not forget to look up.