May 20th:
Let's Get Ready
May 20, 2012
Call: Acts 1: 1-11
Text: Acts 1: 12-17, 21-26
Read: W&S #35
Let's Get Ready
Ascension Sunday is
The most underappreciated
The most undervalued
The most under celebrated
Of all the Christian special days.
For on the day he ascended after his post resurrection appearances,
Christ gave us a job to do
And despite our 2000 years of excuses, of dawdling, and of attempts to ignore it,
Christ still expects
Or at least still has hope that we will do that job.
The fact that He still has hope is
Either comforting, encouraging, and reassuring
Or so foolishly naïve,
that it causes us to question whether Christ was/is as sharp
As we have always thought He was/is.
We celebrate His ascension just six weeks after Easter
Just Six weeks! Just 42 days!
Wouldn't you think that
The impact of Easter would still be powerful enough
To make it hard for us to be indifferent to performing the job that Christ gave to us?
And wouldn't you think that celebrating the day He gave it to us
Would be done with enthusiasm and joy
rather than with the ho hum approach that we so often see?
Our celebration has to begin with the story of that ascension
We heard it told in the call to worship
After Christ had made forty days of post resurrection appearances
[NOTE: 40 days would not fall on a Sunday, hence the 42];
After Christ had ordered the disciples to remain in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit;
After the disciples had come together and Christ had made it clear that despite their unbridled curiosity, it was not for them to know
The times or periods
That the father had set by his own authority;
After all that, After all that,
And after
Christ had commissioned, commanded, and conscripted us
To be his witnesses in all Judea and Samaria -
And to the ends of the earth
He was lifted up
Taken away by a cloud.
And for the next 200 decades
Yes, 200 decades; 20 centuries; (about 800 generations)
You and I and our ancestors and our predecessors
Have used an exorbitant amount of energy
Trying to ignore that commission;
Trying to find loopholes in that command
And Trying to avoid that conscription.
Why? Why would we want to avoid what Christ charged us to do?
Why? Because worshipping God can be inconvenient.
Why? Because being loving to others (what better way to witness?)
can be hard
Why? Because sharing with others
can interfere with our self indulgence.
Why? because we allow ourselves to think we have to do it all on our own
Despite Christ's making it quite clear that this job was to begin
After we had received the Holy Spirit.
It is now, six weeks, (40 or 42 days)
After our 2000th annual celebration of the gift of Good Friday
And of the resurrection that followed
And yet,
It seems that we still just don't take seriously enough,
God's commission to us.
Isn't that sad? Isn't that disappointing? Isn't that inexplicable?
For if we truly believe in God, how can we not trust and obey God
It appears that we need help
A look at the example the disciples set, can provide that help.
Remember what they had been through
In the weeks leading up to the ascension
For nearly three years they had observed and experienced
What Jesus did and taught
Who Jesus was
Then, they had seen Jesus cheered by enthusiastic crowds
Who waved palm branches and spread their cloaks
Who shouted hallelujahs and proclaimed him "Lord."
Four days after that, they had eaten with Him at a special dinner
and learned that He was about to be betrayed and lose his life
The next day at Golgatha
they saw him hanging on the cross and then placed in the tomb
A day later in an upper room
They hung out together afraid for their own lives
But on Sunday, early in the morning they discovered
that the tomb was empty
later on the morning they learned
that he had appeared to Mary
and on Sunday evening they saw him and they heard him
in the room with them.
And then for forty days
He walked and talked with them again
Their fears seemed to vanish
They became comfortable and confident and reassured
And then,
he was taken up
And they were commissioned, commanded, and conscripted
To continue his work
What do you suppose was the state of mind that they were in by then?
All I can think of is one winter day
when I was in seventh or eighth grade.
(See, I do have a pretty good memory)
The junior high was located down a moderate incline from the high school.
It had no cafeteria
And so, each day we walked to the high school for lunch.
On the day that comes to my mind as I think of what it must have been like for the disciples,
Some friends and I were returning to the junior high
The incline was slippery
I fell on my back, knocking some of the wind from me
Shaken, I got up
Took two steps
And fell again - this time on my front
Expelling the last of the air from my lungs..
For a moment, I just lay there, gasping for breath
And feeling quite foolish in front of - and considerably below - my friends.
I think that must have been how the disciples felt
On the day of Christ's ascension.
The breath had been knocked out of them - again!
And they were worried that to others
they now looked foolish
So, not only were they shaken and out of breath,
But they worried
That cynics would think them foolish and mock them by saying something like this,
"So you expect us to believe
that your teacher and spiritual advisor
was killed, but then came alive again
but you can't show me any physical proof
because he was taken up by a cloud."
The question in the disciples' minds, was whether to take seriously
Christ and his commission, command and conscription
Or to walk away
And go back to fishing, tax collecting, and farming.
This is what they did. Acts 1: 12-14,
And then Acts 1: 15-17
And after telling about the end of Judas, Peter quoted a psalm
Acts 1: 20
And they took action Acts 1: 21-26
When I fell, I got up and I went to my afternoon classes.
I really didn't have much of a choice
Lying on the cold ground was not an attractive alternative
And some teacher or student would have come by and made me get up.
The disciples had a choice
They could each have gone back to what they had done before
With memories and stories and lessons
Can't you just picture an older Peter and Andrew in a fishing boat
Sharing wistful memories of the good old days
"back when we traveled with Jesus"?
But that was not the choice they made.
Instead, they chose to take seriously
Jesus and the commission he had given to them
And so they returned to the Upper Room
to wait expectantly for the Holy Spirit to empower them
And they prepared themselves for
that empowerment and the task that would follow
By prayer
and By faithfully selecting a replacement for Judas.
In short, they took him seriously
By getting ready.
They got ready to do what Christ had told them to do.
They got ready to be Christ's witnesses.
They got ready to make disciples of and for him.
You and I have a choice
We can take the great commission seriously
And do what Christ has charged us to do
Or we can return to whatever it was - or whoever we were -
before Christ called us
Limiting our involvement to swapping stories of the old days.
But the disciples recognized that the choice they had was illusory
The knew that, their lives had been touched by Christ
Thus, they had no choice - no choice but to be Christ's witnesses
They had to get ready
And then they had to do
what Christ had commissioned them to do
You and I need to recognize the same thing
We too have been touched by Christ
We too have to be Christ's witnesses
In Potsdam
In West Stockholm
And to the ends of the earth.
Let's get ready. And then let's do it.