Brace Yourselves

Preached at St. Michael and all Angels on May 16th, 2010
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 47
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24:44-53

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him, so that, with the eyes of our hearts enlightened, we may know what is the hope to which he has called us. Amen

So, Easter is almost over and Pentecost is just around the corner.
What do we do with this week where we say goodbye to the resurrected Jesus and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit? We are about to celebrate the birth of the Church almost 2000 years ago and kick off the celebration of 100 years worshipping as this gathered community of St. Michael’s. Four years ago this Sunday I first stepped through those red doors with my family as recent pilgrims to the west coast.

Four years ago we were – amazed at the way this community celebrates Pentecost. Balloons, fancy outfits, cake. It is indeed a wonderful celebration here and I am looking forward to next Sunday, but we must not forget that the Spirit comes to us to send us out into the world. We should be ready to be like bottle rockets with our fuses burning, not lit candles stuck in our pews. These tongues of flame will empower the community to speak our truth boldly and proclaim repentance, forgiveness, resurrection, life, love, and the deep transformative peace of God in languages our neighbors can understand.

This is also a week to say goodbye to the resurrected Jesus.
The disciples’ first goodbye on Good Friday was by all accounts a disaster.

They kept falling asleep as Jesus begged them to stay awake and watch with him. Judas who had traveled with them and eaten with them turned out to be a betrayer. Soldiers came and dragged away their beloved rabbi, their friend and teacher in whom they had placed all of their hopes for a liberated future of peace and justice. The man for whom they had left their families and livelihood. An ear was cut off, there was panic. then they scattered. They hid and denied the very one they had named as Messiah.
It was a bad night.

there are some kinds of goodbyes we play over and over again in our minds. wishing for different outcomes. it gets mixed in with grief and loss.
its not hard at all to empathize with the post crucifixion heartbreak.
Not only the sorrow of never seeing Jesus again, but wishing to rewrite the last few days completely. Did they accuse each other, or merely turn it in on themselves? Oh if only I had…, If you had just…., Why didn’t we…
is that what they were doing when Mary Magdalene comes bursting in with the most crazy news ever?
oh joy of joys, the resurrection!!
Every hope we ever hoped for pales in comparison with the conquering of Death itself. This messiah who we loved has broken through every boundary and come back to us.
Can you imagine?
To have all of your regrets and shame face straight into the face of love that defied death and all the constraints of this world.
this Jesus is all new- some of us don’t even recognize him at first. And its not just because they aren’t expecting him. I mean it had only been three days.
the stories differ. About how long Jesus was with the disciples. what all happened in that time.

In the gospel of Luke it all happens in one crazy whirlwind day, On Easter he eats some fish with them and then opens up their minds to understand all of scriptures which I think was really nice of him. Then he tells them that they are to be witnesses to him and proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all nations.

In Acts he has forty days with the disciples. One assumes a lot more fish gets eaten in that time and he speaks more about the kingdom of God. but then on the 40th day he tells them to wait in Jerusalem for the holy spirit. and then the disciples ask him in one last desperate attempt to fit everything that has happened so far into a context that they can understand:

"Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"
I want to believe at this point that our friend and Lord and savior Jesus Christ did not roll his eyes here, but I’m not sure.
have you heard anything I have said about the kingdom of God! and how it is here now present and among you?

“and now Lord will you fulfill our human understanding of justice. will you do what we have been hoping for in Israel now? will you restore us?"
poor Jesus-
its official
We really don't get it.
We can look into the face of resurrected LOVE and we are still going to want for you to enact our understanding of peace and freedom not yours.

We are still going to want this kingdom of God to happen for people a little more like ourselves and a little less like the other.

we are still going to on some level hope that being chosen, that being faithful, that being disciples means being on the right side of things. That we will be favored with rewards and not assignments.
These disciples, are the chosen ones, right? and what do they get? to go share this good news with the other - out of Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
that would be a no, then to the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel on earth as you were understanding it.

What the disciples are told to do is wait. Wait for the Holy Spirit.

So what if this week we wait for the Holy Spirit and try to open our hearts and minds to new understandings of things we have long assumed we knew.
lets try to wait for the spirit of God and not rush in too quickly with our Old Kingdom dreams.
What if the Holy Spirit for real comes upon us next week and transforms everything about how we are here at St. Michael’s and we are called into completely new and uncomfortable relationships. What if what God has in mind for the next 100 years for us is nothing like what we have in mind? Would we be okay with that or do we already know what we want from Jesus?

So Jesus drops a final blow on our expectations

And then Jesus leaves. And I don’t want to spend much time being anxious about the exact details of the Ascension; there are lots of great paintings with little Jesus toes at the top, and the crowd craning their necks at the bottom. But I think what we can say is that Jesus was with them for a time. This was a community that spent time with the resurrected Jesus. And he did not stay that way with them forever. Whatever it was exactly, that happened on Easter was not a permanent thing. it was a unique experience They got to see him again, but they had to say goodbye again. and I think that their second goodbye goes better.

In Acts they are left staring up into the sky and the guys in white come and say
" why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go."
which if he had really flown up skyward would only keep me craning my neck longer to see him come flying back the same way.

the end of Luke is the total opposite of Good Friday.
While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
No one is suffering, no one is ashamed. Everyone is there to wave goodbye to Jesus.

Why does Jesus have to go?
Couldn’t he have just stayed here with us for ever?
Maybe because there is no other way this part of the story can end, so the next part can begin.
Maybe he missed his dad.
Maybe we need to hold onto him in a way he couldn’t let us before he ascended.

but we aren’t left alone.
the Holy Spirit is coming.
Brace yourselves.