May Update from Pastor Mark
We tend to direct our gaze upward, and wonder. We look up at the clouds, especially those of the big, fluffy cumulus variety, to see what we can see (“I see a pig.” “I see a baby’s face.” “I see a dragon.” What do you see?); we look up to follow an airplane (or the ISS) flying by; we look up to point out to our companion on the journey the constellations in the night sky, the changing phases of the moon, and other planets in the solar system; we look up and are captivated by rainbows in the distance on a rainy afternoon, and by hot air balloons floating near-silently overhead. Of course, as we spend our time looking up and away, we risk missing important things that are right in front of us, including what we’re about to trip over – the curb, uneven pavement, a tree root, the young neighbor’s toy that has strayed into our yard. All that looking up, and we are sure to miss what’s happening not only in front of us, but to this side and that, behind and below.
Maybe we spend so much time looking up, with wonder, because we inherited a model of a three-tiered universe from the ancients, according to which the heavens are above; the Earth is, well, right here on this level; and the underworld is below. So we have imagined that heaven is “up” (it isn’t, not really), that God is “up” (God isn’t either, not really).
On the fortieth day of the fifty-day season of Easter, the church commemorates Ascension Day (Thursday, May 29, this year) with the story of Jesus’ “going up to heaven.” Here’s the way Luke tells it in the sequel to his Gospel, the Book of Acts (Luke also knew the myth of that same three-tiered universe!):
6 … [the apostles] asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” 7 Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. 11 They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.” (1:6-11, CEB)
We’ve met these two men in white robes before. Back on Easter Sunday, at the tomb (Luke 24)! Then and there their question to the women was “why do you look for the living among the dead?” Good question, by the way. Here and now they ask us: “why are you just standing there, looking upward with wonder?” Another good one.
Disciples of Jesus crucified and raised from the dead, then and now, are told to not gaze up into heaven to look for Jesus. As we also heard on Easter, we see Jesus not up somewhere but in; namely, we recognize Jesus in the breaking the bread – at the meal we share around the table where the risen One is himself the host. This is where we see Jesus!
But at Easter we also came to understand that we see Jesus, and that Jesus meets us, not only in the Word proclaimed and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion, but in the life of the stranger, who is the foreigner, who is the immigrant – who comes to walk (meaning “to live”) alongside us. Whom, it would seem, as followers of Jesus, we are to welcome into our homes, to stay with us. Whom, it would seem, as followers of Jesus, we are to invite to eat and drink with us at our tables.
The festival of the Ascension invites us into the mysterious fullness of Christ’s presence, both in the places we think to look (up – sometimes we can’t help it!) and in the places – and faces – we don’t. So take a break from all the looking up, and wondering! Watch your step! Lest you miss the really important things and people who are before and behind you, and right at your side. There is wonder all around you! May there also be in your life and in mine a welcome to the stranger, the hungry, the forgotten, the voiceless, the fearful, the lonely.
I wonder: where might you – and where might I – be surprised by the sight and presence of Jesus?
Happy Easter!
+ Pastor Mark