May 28 2017 Sermon
Acts 1:6-14
“6 So 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 towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards 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.’
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.”
This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Ascension of the Lord was celebrated on May 25, this past Friday, and the New Testament text from the 1st chapter of Acts that chronicles the Ascension is also this morning’s lectionary reading.
This morning’s reading is the prelude to the celebration of the Festival of Pentecost, during which the Spirit of God descends as promised on the gathered disciples of Jesus. Ever since Easter, we have focused on those occasions when Jesus teaches, preaches, and instructs his disciples on what life will be like when he is no longer bodily present to them. With the aid of the Farewell Discourse in John’s gospel, we have been able to hear the promises that when Jesus enters into the presence of Almighty God, that he goes ahead to prepare a place for us-not necessarily a room in an eternal mansion positioned behind pearly gates but a place in which we will abide in relationship with the Everlasting God. Jesus goes ahead of us showing the way to perfect love of God and neighbor.
Jesus also promised on the night of his betrayal by Judas and Peter, that after his exaltation and hour of glory in the absurdity of the crucifixion that God will sent an Advocate, Comforter, and Friend to reside among those early followers of Jesus. The Spirit isn’t a replacement for Jesus the Christ-it is because of God’s deep love for us expressed in Jesus Christ that the Spirit of God was promised to those early disciples. Without Jesus walking, teaching, and demonstrating what the reign of God looks like, the disciples had a slim chance of propping up the Jesus movement on their own. They needed a power and vision not of their own crafting to continue offering the life-giving ministry they came to know in Jesus the Christ. No different for us. The ministry we do is not our own-it’s not for our gain or self-serving purposes, popularity in the community, or done by our own self-reliance and power. If we’re not drawing water and life from the deep well that is the Spirit of God among us, this thing we’re doing will dry up, burn out, and become a relic of religious history in middle Tennessee.
It is the Spirit of God breathed first among the resurrection community and on every would be follower of Christ that dares splash in the waters of baptism that gives energy, vision, and daily life to the body of Christ, the church. I promise you, we can’t do transformative ministry on our own accord for very long.
As the gospel of Luke comes to an end and the Acts of the Apostles begins, (and they should be considered a two part volume written by the same author), the Ascension takes center stage. While the disciples are asking whether or not Jesus is going to get around to fully realizing their expectations and hopes for messianic deliverance from the tyranny of Rome, Jesus makes a promise and commissions them in one breath.
“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.’”
The Jesus movement began out on the lakeshore in the backwoods but seemed to end not far from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where Solomon and Herod had the Temple erected. Not too far out of town, the women find an empty Easter tomb and rush back to tell the others that the Lord is not to be found. Over the next several weeks, Jesus appears to his disciples in and around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the nexus for the post Easter global missionary enterprise. It is from Jerusalem that the apostles are sent out to bear witness of what they have seen and experienced in Jesus Christ. Some apostles will stay in Jerusalem bearing witness, others venture out a bit further in the regional vicinity of Judea still bearing witness. A few brave ones head to Samaria which wasn’t exactly hospitable to Jewish sojourners because of long standing socio-religious divides. And like Paul, Barnabas, and Thomas, there are followers of Jesus who ventured off to the ends of the known earth, to Antioch, Cyprus, Syria, Rome, and India.
The promise of and the arrival of God’s Spirit compelled the early church to fulfill Jesus’ commission to bear witness to the reign of God locally, regionally, and to the ends of God’s green earth.
The late Reverend J Richard Allison modeled the ministry of being sent forth by God’s Spirit to cast vision for what a transformed life in Jesus Christ can look like. Reverend Allison served as a global missionary on behalf of the Methodist Church from 1949 to 1966 in India. He told a reporter in July 1949, “I don’t want to thrust my ways, my culture, or beliefs upon anyone. I want to share my experience of a fuller life.” (The Tennessean, April 8 2001). Reverend Allison was a witness to the grace and love of Jesus Christ for every living soul, no matter whether they reside in Davidson and Cheatham County or halfway around the world. The commission is the same. Church, go and tell some stories of what God is doing in your life. Some of you will stay here in this community and some will travel some great distance to do it. Regardless, bear witness that God’s grace is doing something amazing, miraculous, and transformative right in front of eyes for individuals and entire communities.
Personally, I’ve gone to some of those far reaches to support ministry for a time because the love of God that is for kids in South Cheatham is the same for kids in rural Mexico and villages in sub-saharan Africa. Always for no longer than two weeks, I traveled to United Methodist churches and ministries in Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and Malawi. I’ve had the privilege to preach in churches framed up by sticks with a thatch roof. I’ve drunk water out of deep boreholes that were funded by Sunday school classes and women’s groups back state side. I’ve worked in a nutrition clinic where mothers brought their malnourished babies and children looking for instruction from a Community Health Worker who graduated from the United Methodist Church’s Africa University on how to make a way out of no way.
I don’t share these glimpses of ministry because ministry in far away places is sexy and glamorous or because I want this church to send an international mission team to somewhere thousands of miles away. I’ve painted just a brief picture of the ways that this very morning, this Sabbath day, almost anywhere on God’s green Earth, there is a United Methodist pastor, lay preacher, Sunday school teacher, or missionary, bearing witness to the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ either in worship, over a dinner meal at home, or out in a community gathering. On our behalf in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ, the United Methodist connection is bearing witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. I would love to tell you more about the ways this is happening but we’re trying to wrap this up at a decent time this morning.
Let me put it this way: the United Methodist connection at work across the globe is a gift from God doing the hard work to celebrate and help others see the reign of God in their very midst. Go and do likewise.
Bless you in the name of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.