Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

Preached by Winton Boyd on May 4, 2008

Acts 1:6-14

Every parent who has ever taken a long trip by automobile with a child knows the most common words spoken by children during those trips -sometimes within moments of departure.

“Are we there yet? Of course, the more children ask that question, the more we all begin to wonder the same thing. Children are not the only ones who want to know how long a trip is going to take or what the outcome of a difficult situation will be.

• Maybe the wait has been inside a plane on the tarmac – waiting for news, any news, of when you will take off, go back to the terminal.
• Perhaps you can remember an interview for a job you really wanted and then waited for the outcome.
• Maybe it is the way you feel about the current presidential primary season – are we almost there yet?
• It may have been a medical diagnosis, waiting for test results, waiting for treatment options to be decided?

Whatever the situation might have been, we have all been in the situation of waiting, of wondering, of praying, of breathing deeply – and in one way or another asking, “Are we almost there?”

Our scripture reading from the book of Acts has the disciples gathered with Jesus after his resurrection. There had been a forty day period in which the risen Christ had been with them. Now it is time for Jesus to leave them - for good! It is the narrative of Christ’s ascension into the heaven. And, as such, it is the story of the in-your-face, wild and wonderful, cosmic and glorious event, the icing on the cake, if you will, of the resurrection life and power of Jesus of Nazareth.

It is important that we not get stuck on this fanciful, unbelievable story. We know we live in a modern, scientific world where we understand that God is not sitting on the next cloud over there. We don’t have the same view of the cosmos that ancient people did, but that is not the point here. The story of Christ’s ascension is not a page from an science text book.

Rather, it is a song of words and description of a post resurrection event that illuminates the meaning of the Easter itself.

Yes they had been told that Jesus would be with them and that the Holy Spirit would be present with them. But from their perspective - he was about to leave them and they would not see him again on this earth.

The issue of “Are we almost there,” in this case is huge! Israel had been occupied by one nation after another. When the disciples asked Jesus if he was about to restore the kingdom to Israel, they were doing nothing more than expressing the hopes of Jewish people for centuries. There was not a Jewish man, woman or child who did not pray for the coming of Messiah who would bring back the glory days of Israel. When the kingdom comes - Rome will retreat from the Holy Land, the influence of Israel would extend to the proportions it had known under King David, and the kingdom would have come back once again.

The disciples’ question translates to something every person of faith can understand. “God, is it time for all wrong to be made right and for justice to prevail for every single person on earth?” If we had been there with the disciples, we to would have wanted to know, “Lord is this the time when you will restore the kingdom…?”

And how does Jesus answer them?

“It’s not for you to know…”

“Well thanks a lot!”

But there is more to Jesus’ answer. Listen again carefully:

“It is not for you to know the times or periods that God 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.”

Do you see how this shakes out? There is God’s business and the disciples’ work. God alone is in charge of the timing and the disciples are charged to work faithfully!

Jesus had been absolutely consistent in telling his disciples they would complete the work he had come to do. In the gospel of John, Jesus tells his followers that they will do even “greater works” than he was doing. [John 14:12] “God will take care of the timing,” Jesus said, “You must simply work faithfully.”

The words were not limited to the small group of disciples who stood with Jesus just East of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. They are spoken to every Christian of every age including those of us gathered here today. God will take care of the timing. We are asked to work diligently and faithfully.

The text in Acts lays out three key reminders about how we are to live with such faith.

First, the text says, “You will receive power.”

The very first thing that happens to people who come to realize that they are responsible to become representatives of Jesus Christ in this hectic, broken world is to wonder how in the world they will accomplish such a thing! “I’m not qualified. I’m not capable. I’m not equipped.”

I remember the first time I heard the phrase, “work as though it all depends on you, pray as though it all depends on God.” It was from Loren and Ruth Halvorsen, founders of the ARC retreat center in Cambridge, MN where Tammy and I lived in the late 80’s. 10 years prior to our living there, Loren and Ruth followed a dream of Ruth’s to open an ecumenical, contemplative, justice oriented retreat center. They sold their house, gave up all sorts of security to start a something they knew very little about. They were not capable on their own, they reminded us. They depended on the gifts, generosity, and spirit of others drawn to the dream. They depended on the Holy Spirit giving them just enough vision to take the next step; just enough energy, just enough money. It was the encouragement of the Spirit that countered their own discouragement.

Their lives were a reminder, and remain a reminder, for Tammy and me, we are not left alone to accomplish this work. The power of God’s Spirit is the basis for everything we do in Christ. Faith is a remarkable balance between humility and confidence.

Whatever the wait, whatever the gap that we stand in between our known world and our unknown task or future, today’s story reminds us it is the power of the Spirit allows all of us to not only endure the wait, but even to thrive in the midst of it.

(How many of us have deepened our faith in the periods of unknowing?)

Secondly, the text says, “This same Jesus will come again”

Or as Julian of Norwich siad, “all things will be well.”
As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” (King is quoting Isaiah)

When Jesus was first taken from them, the disciples did a bit of stargazing. It was all perfectly natural - who would not? But they could not spend their lives looking to the heavens. They had their work to do and as Jesus had already told them, they could trust that God would prevail.

Again, this text is rooted in a world view and a theological construct we don’t understand fully. The early church fully expected Jesus to “come again.” To return to bring justice to all those waiting in faith and judgment to all those promoting oppression.

What we can draw from this early Christian hope is the certainty that the future is in God’s hands – that the goodness of God, the goodness of the Spirit’s movement in our lives and throughout our world will prevail. As with the early disciples, we know not when – but we know and are promised that regardless of what it seems like today, our efforts to live justice and love are not in vain.

One of the reasons I value travel and value rubbing shoulders with and working alongside people of all cultures and languages is that we who are educated and mostly privileged have a great deal to learn from those who are not about this kind of faith and hope. It is much easier for us, who are used to “controlling” our own fate, to forget that faith means staying the course and living our values even in those areas we have no control, even in those areas that seem discouraging and fruitless. Sometimes it is easier for those “living on the edge” in worldly terms to understand living on the edge in faithful terms too.

As we spend our lives working do justice, love kindness and live mercy to our world, we can rest in the fact that God will bring about the kingdom we all long for. The promise of God’s kingdom is the confidence for everything we do in Christ.

Thirdly, the disciples, the text says, …were constantly devoting themselves to prayer…

So how do we access this power God has promised? The disciples went back to where they had spent so much time with Jesus and did what comes natural to people who want to stay close to God. They engaged in spiritual practices of prayer, sharing community, encouraging one another in faith, turning over their hearts and lives on a regular basis to the grace and strength of God. Over the centuries, the forms of prayers, the style of the psalms being sung, the layout of the room in which we gather and texts we read have shifted and changed and evolved – but what remains is the recognition that prayerful living is the key to courageous living. One of the beautiful things about this congregation is that we recognize so many different forms of prayer. In recent weeks, I have been told by others that prayerful, soulful living is enhanced by

• Walking outside on a starlit night
  Listening to music – of all kinds and at all times
  Baking bread
  Reading the psalms
  Digging in the garden
  Flyfishing
  Listening to a choir
  Participating in group drumming
  Doing yoga
  Reciting the Lord’s prayer with others

The form, of course, evolves. What has been true throughout human history, however, is the critical importance of soulful living in times of waiting, in periods of uncertainty.

Today, as we read this text – the question “are we there yet?” may have a very personal component. It may take a social or political form, it may be a large, existential and spiritual reality we are living with – but regardless the text reminds us that as we wait for the realm of God to be made more clear in our mixed up and confused mind or mixed up and violent world, it is not for us to know all the “whens.”

We are promised…
the power of God to sustain us
the promise of God that goodness and grace and justice will prevail
the practice of soulful living, prayerful humility to sustain and encourage us. Amen