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Ascension Meditation                                              May 24, 2009

This morning we celebrate the Sunday after the Ascension, and the church - our First Moravian congregation and people gathered in churches throughout the world - wait for Pentecost next Sunday, the birthday of the Church, the festival recalling the gift of God's Spirit.

It's appropriate, this morning, for us to remember that we are waiting.

Waiting, this Ascension Sunday, as we have year after year for centuries.

Waiting for the true Church to be born, waiting for the perfect community that really lives the love and grace of God.

One that we know exists, but that we've never really seen.

The dramatic presentation we just saw points to two important truths:

First, it points out that, according to some accounts, anyway, 40 days after his death and resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven.

We could probably spend the rest of the morning discussing this supernatural event.

Suppose I asked for a show of hands:

• "How many of you believe that Jesus floated up into the clouds - bodily?
• "How many of you believe that this was some sort of vision?
• "How many of you have no idea?

Debating the literal truth of this reported event is actually pretty pointless. We all know that heaven is not a physical place in the way that Riverside is a place. We all know that heaven isn't "up there" anymore than hell is "down there."

As Karl Barth so eloquently puts it, "Jesus leaves earthly space, the space that is conceivable to us. He no longer belongs to it as we belong to it."

"The Ascension," Barth goes on to explain, "means that Jesus is removed in the direction of divine space, which is utterly concealed from man. He is with God. The Crucified and Risen One is where God is."

How Jesus leaves this world, then, is of little importance. Our faith wrests on his presence with God, not how he got there.

The second point that our little drama makes is that even though Jesus has indeed ascended to that divine space, he is also still with us.

He is still with us, in particular, whenever we follow his lead and act like the people he intended us to be.

In our Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus prays for those he is about to leave behind: "Now I am no longer in the world," he prays, "but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."

Once again, as he had done many times before, Jesus lays out what he expects from his followers. It's a tall order.

I'm reminded of a story that's worth repeating.

When Jesus ascended to Heaven to return to His Father, the story begins, the eleven disciples stood and watched Him go. An angel was watching and called out, "Jesus, where are you going?"

"Back to be with my Father in Heaven," he said.

"I thought you were going to bring salvation to everyone in the world!" the angel protested.

Jesus said, "I have. My work on earth is finished."

"But who is going to be your witness and go out into the world to share the Good News and tell people that you love them?"

"They are," Jesus said pointing toward his disciples.

The angel looked down on the motley bunch of disciples and asked, "Do you have a plan B?"

The bad news is that there is no "plan B." But when you think about it, the good news is that there is no "plan B."

There is no other way for the transformation that Jesus set in motion to be brought to fruition than for us, his church, to imitate his example and carry out his mission of salvation and reconciliation. Our task could not be more clearly described.

Yet, we wait. Some of us wait for others to take the lead. Some of us wait for the stars to be properly aligned, or until we get "around to it." Some of us even wait for some amorphous Second Coming.

The message of the Ascension is that it is time to stop waiting. The church is anything but perfect. But it is the church. It is the body of Christ - chosen by God to accomplish God's work. Let's never forget that the church was God's idea; that God expects the followers of Jesus to operate as part of that Church, even with all its faults.

When Jesus prayed, "May they be one," that is exactly what he was talking about.

Next Sunday, we'll celebrate the fact that while the task of perfecting the church is clearly ours, we are not alone. That the Holy Spirit is with us to guide us and inspire us along the way.

Today, we celebrate the fact that God raised Jesus up - that he is present, this very moment, with God - and that his raising up means that we too are raised up to new heights.

Join, now, as we affirm that good news in song. . .

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