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In February of 1946, ENIAC changed the way we live. ENIAC, as some of you may know, was one of the first computers ever built.  Right across the river at the University of Pennsylvania, as a matter of fact.  Its development is generally known as the beginning of the information age.

By the way, ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, and it was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems.  It was designed and built, initially, to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory.

Today, 60 years later, computers are literally everywhere.

• There are big computers – at the IRS, at the phone company, at financial institutions and in Government,
• There are common, everyday computers – calculators, for example, and personal computers, not to mention ATM machines and those machines that every store and restaurant need to have, these days, to process credit and debit card transactions; and there are
• Embedded computers – in your cellular phone, for example, and your car’s carburetor, your CD player, and your VCR

Actually, I love the fact that computers make our lives more efficient.  I certainly don’t want to go back to the era before this technology exploded upon us.  But I also love the following exchange between Bill Gates, the Microsoft Chairman and the symbol of the technological revolution and the Chairman of General Motors.  Actually, it is not clear that this exchange ever really happened.  Some say it is one of those Urban Legends.  Either way, it is interesting:

Some years ago, at a computer expo, Bill Gates compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that get 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, the General Motors Chairman issued a press release, tongue firmly planted in his cheek:  “If GM had developed technology like Microsoft,” he wrote, “we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics: 

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grab hold of the radio antenna.
6. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car, and
7. You'd press the ‘start’ button to shut off the engine.”

I think it is safe to say that the advent of the Information Age, or the Computer Age, or the Age of Technology – whatever we might choose to call it – has been a mixed blessing. 

For some, it has meant new opportunity and wealth beyond their wildest expectation.  Certainly, the stock market boom that has unfolded pretty much without interruption since the 1980s would not have happened without it.

For others, however, technology has made things worse, de-humanizing the workplace and favoring the few at the expense of the many.

But regardless of your position on the “goodness” or “evil-ness” of the revolution, no one can deny that a revolution has occurred.  And going back is most certainly not an option. 

You will always be able to divide modern history into two chapters:  before and after the computer arrived on the scene.

As significant as it was, however, that modern transformation of the world pales by comparison to the day we celebrate today.  Ascension Day.

Our Gospel lesson for this morning is the scriptural account of that day.  Interestingly, it is one of the few events recorded only by Luke.  He talks about it twice, in fact.  Our text is the first time, in the last section of the last chapter of his Gospel.  The second time he mentions it is in first chapter of his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. You could think of it as the transition passage between his two works.

Anyway, when we come to this passage, the crucifixion and the resurrection are already behind us.  The disciples are wandering about, distraught over the loss of their leader. 

First, Jesus appears to them and they don’t recognize him.  Finally, after walking with him and eating with him, their eyes are opened ant they realize that he is right there in front of them.

They were “startled and terrified,” Luke writes, when they encounter the Risen Christ. But Jesus calms them down, reminding them that everything that has happened, from his birth to his resurrection, has occurred in order to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies concerning the promised messiah. “The messiah will suffer and die,” he says, “but rise again; and therefore, repentance and forgiveness of sins is offered to all - Jews and Gentiles alike”.

After he reminds them of what has happened, Jesus goes on to commission the disciples, sending them forth as "witnesses of these things,” supported by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Abruptly, Jesus and his disciples then move out from Jerusalem to the vicinity of Bethany. Here, he blesses them and is "carried up into heaven."

One would think, at this point, that the Disciples would be frightened, once again.  After all, Jesus had taken them on quite a roller coaster ride.  First, he is executed, then his body disappears, then, miraculously, he reappears, in the flesh (Luke makes it clear that he was in the flesh, braking bread with them), and then, suddenly, he is gone once again.

But the disciples aren’t frightened this time.  Instead, they return to Jerusalem filled with what Luke calls “great joy,” and set out to change the world forever.

For a long time, I found this Ascension story to be troublesome.  Actually, I’m not alone in this regard.  It is easy to get hung up in the biology and physics of the story.

After all, people don’t vanish before your eyes.  This flesh and blood of ours is physical.  It is matter.  And matter doesn’t suddenly get carried up into heaven. 

Moreover, heaven is not some physical place, somewhere our there – beyond the bounds of our universe.   The notion of a three-tiered universe – Heaven above, Hell below and the Earth in between – just doesn’t square with any modern understanding of astronomy and the vastness of space. 

But that no longer troubles me.  I have learned, and firmly believe, that the primitive physics implied by the first century account of the Ascension has little to do with its meaning. 

The core meaning of the Ascension is that it is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the world.

Lutheran preacher Luke Bouman writes:  “The problem is that we think of heaven as another place, as there are places in the world.  If Jesus ascends to heaven, then he must go to that other place, is the logic that many might follow.

But that does not appear to be the case at all, when you carefully read the text.  For the disciples on that day, the Kingdom of God, what everyone assumed to be heaven, is no longer a reality in a different place (located up in the sky somewhere); but, from that day forward, it is rather God’s future, broken into the present by Christ’s death and resurrection.”

The Ascension, then, is the point in time when the future becomes the present.  I’m reminded of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus: The Kingdom of this world, is become, the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. And He shall reign for ever and ever.

Speaking of the Hallelujah Chorus, look at the disciples’ reaction to the events of that day.  They don’t act like Jesus is absent from them.  They are joyful, Luke reports, and they do amazing things in the name of their risen Savior.  Miraculous things happen. 

Why?  Because Jesus, though ascended, is still very much around.  In fact, He is everywhere – present in and through his disciples.

In a very real sense, the Ascension closes the period of Jesus’ ministry, and opens the period of the Church’s mission. 

That is why, as I said earlier, ENIAC and the power of the technological revolution of modern times is no match for the power of the revolution that begun on that Ascension Day, nearly 2,000 years ago.

Karl Barth, arguably one of the greatest theologians of the 20^th Century, puts it this way:  “There is no historical turning-point which approaches this,” Barth writes.  “Here we have the mystery of what we term world history, Church history, the history of civilization; here we have the thing that underlies everything.

Christ founds his church by going to the Father,” Barth continues, “by making himself known to his disciples.  This time, which now breaks in, is the time of great opportunity; of the task of the Church toward the world.  The Ascension is the beginning of this time of ours.”

Today, Ascension Sunday, 2007, is a perfect day for us to remember that God’s Spirit at work in the Church – in this church – makes all sorts of impossible things possible.  Things that are a good deal more mystifying than Jesus rising into the air.

Like those disciples who were gathered at Bethany, we have heard the good news that we are redeemed by the crucified Lord.  Like them, we have received God’s blessing; and like them, we are challenged to carry out the commission to proclaim God’s name to all the nations.

What an opportunity we have!  You and I, like the early Church, can indeed make impossible things possible; right here, right now.  We can show this community that our Lord is not gone; He is not somewhere “out there.”  He is right here.  Working through this congregation to make this world a better place.

And like those disciples who realized that their Lord was not gone and were filled with Joy, let us, likewise, accept our task, embrace our mission, with rejoicing.  Remember the promise:  failure is not an option.

                                                                                                            AMEN