Ascension
Happy Ascension day! This is the day on the church calendar that we celebrate Jesus ascension. I led worship last Sunday at Jubilee and decided to focus on this story and thought I might go ahead and share it here too. My husband Michael has been trying teaching himself to read the New Testament in Greek and I had some fun learning a little for this. We sang "Christus Victor,""Holy Holy Holy," "Over my Head," "Only in God is my Soul at Rest" and "Our God Reigns" We also had special music from Genia and her siblings Christ and Georfie from Congo Brazzaville. She sang a song about Jesus being the living water and had also written a song about Jesus walking on water. She taught some volunteers the songs and moves she made up to go with it. When she was done I asked if anyone could translate and there was a visitor who spoke perfect French who could help us fully appreciate the message. Hope you enjoy!
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Acts
1:1-11
1 In
the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and
taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was
taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 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. 4 While staying[a]
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; 5 for John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized with[b]
the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”6 So
when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the
time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He
replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the
Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.” 9 When he had said this, as they
were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their
sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up
toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 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.”
Of all the stories in
the Bible of Jesus' life on earth- his immaculate
conception, countless miracles of healing, feeding crowds, taming the
weather and walking on water, his resurrection and ascension into
heaven – one of the hardest ones for me to wrap my head around is
his ascension. I read a commentary that said when folks believed the
earth was flat and didn’t know what was beyond the sky it was not a
stretch for them to think of a flat earth sandwiched between heaven above
and hell below. Now that science and technology have allowed us to probe
and explore the depths of our earth and our vast universe and even
consider universes beyond our own, belief in a bodily ascension in
which Jesus went “up” to heaven seems really hard to believe. So
this week as I read and reread this story and countless sermons and
commentaries on it in preparation for today, I tried to read the
ascension with new eyes. To lay aside my doubts but to also lay
aside images of old European paintings of Jesus swirling up in a
cloud, his blond curls blowing in the wind, while is disciples gaped
in amazement. I have been trying to imagine what it was really like
to be there and what it means for us, his disciples two thousand
years after the fact.
Forty
days after his resurrection the eleven living disciples that he had
chosen were staying in Jerusalem because Jesus had promised the gift
of the Holy Spirit would come to them soon. When he appeared to them
this time they wondered if he could go ahead and restore the kingdom
of Israel already. After all they had been through with him they
still didn’t get it. They wanted an earthly king to establish an
earthly kingdom. Jesus assured them that it was not for them to know
the times that his Father had set, then he told them that they
will be his witnesses throughout all the world. They were asking
Jesus what they hoped for when he rode into Jerusalem on palm Sunday, "Can you go ahead and rule us as an earthly king?" Instead he empowered them by sending them out to his witnesses. After this “he was
lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." Where he would have authority over everything not just Israel.
“He was lifted up
and a cloud took him out of their sight.” The last time we saw a
cloud in the Bible is the story of the transfiguration in which
Peter, James, and John see Elijah, Moses and Jesus together and hear
the voice of God from a bright cloud. It is also upon a cloud that
Jesus tells us he will return. The Greek word used for cloud in this
case is Nephele which is the same word used to describe the cloud
that guided the Israelites through the wilderness and the clouds in
Revelation upon which Jesus and angels proclaim the glory of God.
Shekinah is a word that doesn’t appear in the Bible, but
ancient Rabbi’s used it to describe the presence of God like the
pillar of cloud that guided the people. Shekinah is derived from
the Hebrew verb שכן to settle,
inhabit, or dwell. So here we have two words the
greek “Nephele” makes us look up to the clouds the Hebrew
“Shekinah” makes us settle down.
When you picture a
cloud in your mind what do you think of?
Something light and airy, fluffy and blown by the wind? All of these
are true. When you think of dwelling or inhabiting what do you
picture? Something solid with walls and a roof,
unmovable, unshakable, permanent, rooted, safe? All of these could
be true too. But let’s try to stretch our understanding a little
wider have you ever thought about how much a cloud weighs in pounds?
Scientists say that a little cumulus cloud weighs about the same as
100 elephants! A thunderstorm cloud is like 200,000 elephants! There
is a tremendous weight to clouds. So when we imagine Jesus being
taken up in a cloud, that is the presence of God, we can see the
power and weight of God’s glory, something like thousands of
elephants, revealed in something as light as a cloud. In his
ascension Jesus went away with a promise to endow us with his Holy
Spirit. I imagine his Ascension less as a bodily trip into outer
space as a bodily vaporization of a solid Jesus into God’s Holy
presence that then becomes accessible to each of us like drops of
Holy Spirit rain in a cloud- showering down healing, blessings and
his very presence to sustain us as we wait for fullness of his Glory
to be revealed.
While on retreat at Conyers
Monastery this spring I found some goose down by the pond. I picked up some soft as a cloud down and and
held it in the palm of my hand. When I closed my eyes I could not tell the
down was there, but I felt warmth on my palm, assuring me of its
presence. Psalm 91 says, “He will cover you
with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his
faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” God’s love and
protection for us is complete but not confining, we have the freedom
to move and can easily blow Him off or scurry away and leave God’s
presence but if we enter into those gentle wings or that bright cloud
we will be filled with warmth and comfort and safety.
The Angels said, “what
are you doing looking up?” Jesus had already given them a job to do, to go
and be his witnesses. They just assured them that it was time
to shift their gaze to one another and trust that He would return and the Holy Spirit would come to help them.
So how do we bear witness? He is present in our listening ears and kind
words spoken, in acts of generosity and service in bearing one
another’s burden and washing one another’s feet. In our courage
to speak truth to power, to challenge oppressive structures, to
declare authority over powers and principalities that seek to destroy. How do you know he is there? I was talking with a
friend who went through a very hard time and kept asking God for help
yet nothing changed. She began to lose her faith in God. But then
when she had the courage to leave that bad situation she realized God
was there all along, waiting for her to move in faith, and giving her the strength by the Holy Spirit to do it. We have been
entrusted as the hands, feet, eyes, ears and mouths of Jesus and to
let people know where we have seen him. So have you seen Jesus? Have you felt his presence? What is your story?