A More Light Congregation

Bethany Presbyterian Church

Sermon

I think God probably really likes jazz.  And modern art.  And 10 year olds.  And authors of good detective novels.


Those are just a few of the places where what is expected does not happen.


Let's take jazz for example, something I understand only a little in my head, and cannot perform a lick.  In theory, there are certain chords that make you feel solid, like a period at the end of a sentence.  You're certain of it.  Something is ending and something else is starting.  These chords have numbers, like 1 or 5.  The sound “ta da!” is a 1. (Jess play a I).  Here's a 5 (Jess play V).   (Play I-V; I-V)


Then there are chords that make you feel more like a comma.  A little unfinished, but you know that what's next is going to reduce some of that dis-ease.  That chord is a 4.  Because a 4 is so close to a 5, your brain will finish the sentence for you, if you will.  (Jessica play I-IV, then I-IV-V)  Musicians and non-musicians alike, who are familiar with western music will be able to hear this connection.  Bobby McFerrin has a great video about this, that is listed in the footnotes of the print and website version of this sermon.1  


There are many types of music that don't use that pattern regularly and thrive on taking the listener somewhere other than where they expect to go.  One of those types of music is jazz.  Just as modern art shows us enough that we are familiar with and something completely unexpected at the same time.  Or 10 year olds who are unpredictable all the time!  And a good mystery writer can lead you along nicely also, until you discover that the butler didn't do it after all!


There are many other places in our lives besides these few examples, when we have expected one thing but have gotten another.  Some of those surprises are very unpleasant, so some of us are extremely uncomfortable when things are not resolved, and we don't know what is coming next.  This happens when illness is involved, when crime is involved, when nature is at its most wild, or when something is beyond our own knowledge. Some of those surprises we also know, are stunningly wonderful.  This happens when we say to ourselves, “Who would have guessed?”  or “Whodathunkit?”  Maybe you're on one career path and not getting a promotion means you become available for an even better job.  Maybe you're buying a house and it falls through, which means you're still in the market for a house when something better becomes available.  Maybe unrequited love becomes – well, requited?  Is that a word?  


Ascension Sunday, the Sunday before Pentecost leaves us sitting in that not-yet place.  The gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts are thought to have been written by the same author.  They are both addressed to the same person – Theophilus.  Perhaps a person of some standing, maybe a particular patron.  The Book of Acts picks up after the resurrection during the time when Jesus has been spending time on earth again with the apostles.  At the end of that 40 days Jesus explains to them that there will be “the promise of the Father.”  Jesus tells them not to leave Jerusalem.  The promise he says, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”


Ah, the apostles think.  Not just the 12 apostles that we have heard about, but all who had been around Jesus and his work.  Yes, we have been around you for a long time now.  We understand more now.  They ask for confirmation of what they are expecting to happen next.  They asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” maybe even nodding as they ask the question.  This is the comma, the 4 chord, the place where something is coming next, the promise of the Father, the part that Jesus has been telling them about, the thing they should expect – Jesus will restore the kingdom to Israel.


Much to their surprise Jesus says no, you aren't to know the timing of things.  And it turns out that Jesus is not going to restore the kingdom to Israel.  It is the apostles who will be given authority when the Holy Spirit has come.  It is the apostles who will be witnesses of Jesus, not just in Jerusalem, not just in all of Judea and Samaria, but to the ends of the earth.  Commentator Gilberto Ruiz writes, “Instead, through the Holy Spirit they will soon receive power that transforms them from passive spectators awaiting the fulfillment of their nationalistic hopes to active witnesses to Jesus (see also Luke 24:48) on a global scale, beyond their familiar geopolitical boundaries.”2


Acts reminds us that our time isn't God's time.  Frank Crouch, commentator writes, “The people of God have a long tradition, continuing today, of believing we can predict God's next steps.”  When we don't see God in something or events, it's often best to wait, but we don't like to wait.  “While we wait, Acts reminds us not to assume we already know what we're waiting for.”3


We saw in the scripture that we have shared over the last five weeks, the ways in which Jesus' disciples were able to be witnesses to Jesus in the most unexpected of ways, increasing their reach with each week's scripture reading.  They had no idea how they would be witnesses but they knew from their time in today's scripture setting that the Holy Spirit would give them the power they would need.  The same Holy Spirit that Jesus had been giving instructions through during all the time that he knew them, as we read in verse 2, “after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.”


The ascension then is the very essential link then between both ministries – that of Jesus and that of the apostles.  The Holy Spirit that is being promised in today's text is essential for the continuity of God's mission.  We celebrate the ascension of Christ to remind us that we too are in the place where the apostles are.  We are reminded that being a follower of Christ means that there are times when the next thing hasn't happened yet – today, not-yet-Pentecost Sunday is the perfect example.  


We know what that day of ascension feels like.  We know what it is like to wait for something unclear.  We know that feeling as individuals when we wait for test results from our doctor; when we wait for that phone call confirming someone's safety; and as a society as we wait for clarity about safe practices before and after vaccinations; as a society as we hope for peaceful interactions between our own leaders and their followers; as a global society as we watch Israel and the Palestinians on the West Bank come to blows; as we hope for relief for India; as we hope for the health of our planet to stop declining.


We also know the promise of this day of ascension.  The promise is that the Holy Spirit is coming soon.  The Holy Spirit that will empower us to be intimately involved in co-creating a better world, to be intimately involved in God's continuing mission to the ends of the earth.  We know what that mission is.  Early on in the book of Luke (chapter 4) Jesus's first sermon “outlines the Spirit's work: to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the bind, and freedom to those who are oppressed.”4

That is our work.  Our denomination has taken on the mantel of becoming a Matthew 25 denomination, to do just that.  Presbyteries have chosen to become Matthew 25 presbyteries.  Many local churches in the San Francisco Presbytery have chosen to become Matthew 25 congregations.  We can do that if we feel called.  Here is what Matthew 25, verse 34 says to us and what taking up the Matthew 25 mantel looks like:

This is from the parables in Matthew 25:34-40:

'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'


So much of what I wanted to say today really would be better to proclaim along with the celebration of Pentecost.  Ascension is about getting ready then.  What might we do when we re-claim that gift of the Holy Spirit that we have been given?  How will we get ready?  What is ahead of us that we can recommit ourselves to?


Here is some advice to consider while waiting along with the apostles, to find our individual and collective paths.  This is from a book called Fragments of your Ancient Name, compiled by Joyce Rupp.  It is the quote that is at the top of your bulletins.


“We do not throw in a useless coin and make some kind of empty wish, or sit close to the gushing waters and simply admire their loveliness.  You ask us to leap into the source, to be thoroughly saturated.  We are to be absorbed by the cascade and become one with your love.  As you flow through our being we, too, become fountains of holiness.”

~from Fragments of Your Ancient Name


The story of Christ's ascension tells us that we don't have to be afraid of the unexpected.  We don't get to decide how God will interact with us, but we know that God does.  May we barely be able to contain our excitement about what is coming.  On Ascension day, Jesus may have left the earth but he has not left the church.  Let us leap into the source and feel ourselves thoroughly saturated.  The promise of the Holy Spirit is ours!


Please pray with me,


______________________________

1 Bobby McFerrin has a great video of this phenomenon, from the World Science Festival several years ago

2 Gilberto Ruiz, Working Preacher commentary

3 Frank L. Crouch, Working Preacher commentary

4 Barbara K. Lundblad, Feasting on the Word, Year B vol. 2, p.507.


"The Choice is Ours"

Reverend Debra McGuire

May 16, 2021


Acts 1:1-11