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"I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up -
Up to the roof tops,
Up over the town,
Up past the tree tops,
Up over the mountains,
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds.
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around,
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down."
Today is "Ascension Sunday" - the final Sunday in the season of Easter - and the closing verses of today's Gospel reading become almost Silverstein-esque. Everse 50:] "Then Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. [Verse 5 1 :] While blessing them, the savior left them and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshiped the risen Christ...." "Risen" as in "from the dead"? Or "risen" as in "Look! It's a bird...it's a plane...it's Jesus!"?
This picture of Jesus "ascending" to heaven...his departure from earth, leaving the disciples in Jerusalem to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, takes on a strange and surreal image in the mind's eye! What really happened? Who knows?
One theological writer interpreted it like this: "What happened was that Christ passed, almost instantaneously, into another dimension. They could only describe it as a shimmer, perhaps an upward dazzle, a swift blurring of outline, and he was gone...."
Whatever the phenomenon was that has passed, through these two thousand years, to us as the "Ascension," it would be easy to get so caught up in debating the physics and the metaphysics ofit all, that we might miss a more relevant issue. So we're going to keep our feet on the ground this morning and focus our attention on the words and meaning of verse 50: "...Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples."
The last they ever saw of Jesus in a physical body on this earth, his hands were raised in blessing. Now that's a fairly familiar sight to anyone who has done very much "church" of most any variety. It's common for pastors...ministers...priests...religiou leader types...to raise hands in blessing - whether greeting the people in worship, praying, consecrating Communion or dismissing the worship service with a benediction.
The tradition ofthis practice dates back, for us, to Old Testament times. The closing verses of Leviticus, chapter 9 relate the first time where Scripture mentions lifting up the hands in order to bless...whcn Moses' brother, Aaron, acts as a priest overseeing the sacrifices of repentance and atonement from the people to God. Deuteronomy 21 says, in so many words, that God had chosen priests "to minister and to bless in the name of the Lord" and Numbers, chapter 6, gives the well- known words that became one of Christianity's first traditional blessings:
"The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord's face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord's countenance be lifted up upon you,
And give you peace."
This raising up of hands in blessing signified that God had accepted the people's sacrificial offerings for their sins, considered their sins to be gone, and so God was kindly disposed toward the people; there was a blessing for them from God instead of a curse.
The very word, "blessing," means the act of declaring, or wishing, God's favor and goodness upon others. At its root, a blessing refers to God's friendly approach to those who are open to receiving divine generosity. To "bless" someone is to call upon God's mercy, assistance, joy and protection on their behalf.
With the coming of Jesus, the old tradition of making sacrificial offerings for our sins in order to receive God's blessing came to an end. Scripture teaches us that Jesus is the ultimate priest - God's own High Priest. And when His hands were uplifted on the cross, it was both the ultimate and final sacrifice for the sins of all people...and a permanent gesture of blessing for the people of God. Under the upraised arms of Jesus, the Lord will always bless us and keep us.
The New Testament also teaches that, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we now belong to a "priesthood of all believers." And so we, too, can bless others in the name of God. Through us, the world can experience the generous and merciful blessings of God. We are blessed to be a blessing to others.
Now, as a pastor, I've had the occasion to bless a lot of people and things. I have, of course, blessed lots of relationships. Some have lasted...some haven't. A blessing isn't magic...people can still mess things up! But one blesses with good intentions and the belief that, if God is truly the foundation of the relationship, then God and the people involved will work things out for the best.
I've also blessed "things." Houses, apartments, condos. Jewelry...crosses, rings, necklaces. I've blessed new Communion ware and musical instruments. Bibles. I've never actually "blessed" a computer, but I have wanted to "lay hands" on a few!
Every year, at the beginning of October, we have a "Blessing of the Animals" in a local park. We loosely tie that blessing to the annual remembrance, in some traditions, of St. Francis who is always depicted, in paintings and sculptures, as being surrounded by animals. Once, at an animal blessing in Florida, I was asked to bless two hairless rats...who also happened to be covered in tumors. I was really tempted to invoke a reminder of the "priesthood of all believers" and get someone else to do that one. But I went ahead...knowing full well that St. Francis probably wouldn't have been quite so beatific with bald, disease-ridden rodents!
It's common, for us today, to hear the words "Bless you" thrown around pretty randomly. Give away a dollar to a street person and they may utter, "God bless you." Someone sneezes, and - returning to an ancient superstition about evil spirits invading the body - we quickly say, "Bless you' I love the part in the movie "Sister Act" when the bad guy, Vince, is being taken away by the police and is screaming vulgar threats at Whoopi Goldberg, who - in nun's habit and under the watchful eye of the Mother Superior - checks herself before retorting and says, simple, "Vince...bless you ! "
But the blessing Jesus pronounces on the disciples as he departs from them, to return to heaven, to resume the place which, in our limited human understanding, we have described as "seated on the throne of grace," is much, much more than an idle, polite, perfunctory pleasantry.
Jesus has blessed them to be a blessing to others. He told them, just before they walked out toward Bethany together, "In my name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of all this." Then He tells them to stay together in the city until they are "clothed with power from on high." Next Sunday, we will remember the day of Pentecost, when that power came to give them and all believers since them, including us, the power necessary to be witnesses for Jesus Christ to all the world. You see, Jesus's outstretched arms still extend over us today...with the empowerment to be witnesses to the world.
The other night, at a meeting with the leaders who facilitated some of the small group meetings we've held recently in regard to the development of our 3-year Ministry Priorities Plan, one of the ideas that several folks brought back from their groups was the idea ofoffering "evangelism training." Now that scared me a little. Too many of us have "been there, done that" in regard to pressing, pushing and embarrassing unsuspecting people with propaganda about "coming to Jesus." Yikes! Think about our community today! Do we really want to go there?
After we talked about it a little though, what really came out is that some of us...probably lots of us...want to share with people about what God has done in our lives and to invite them to church...but we're just not sure how to do that. Now that...I can understand and that...we can address.
Sometimes people say that they are afraid to "witness" because they're not sure what to say theologically; they don't feel capable of debating "religion" with their friends, nor do they really want to. But you see...we don't need to learn a lot of theology or become biblical scholars in order to be witnesses for Christ. We simply need to tell our story.
Everyone has a story to tell. There's an insert in your bulletin today inviting you to briefly share how God has used this church to change your life. This fall we will be sharing some of your stories as a means of practicing "witnessing" right here together.
Maybe you used to spend all your time in the bars...looking for love in all the wrong places...using "happy hour" as a socially acceptable drug binge...laughing and dancing to hide the pain of facing your real self in the mirror. Maybe now you've begun to realize that seeking happiness and peace in those ways doesn't work but that God has begun to show you a new kind of happiness and peace that is possible through faith. Tell your story.
People today are spiritually starving to death. Maybe you're not so full yourself yet. But if you've even begun to glimpse through your worship or fellowship with others in this place, that there is a free banquet oflove and acceptance waiting for you to respond, tell your story. People don't have to hear that you're a finished product, floating worry-free in some pool of perfection. They just need to know there is a path that leads there. Tell your story. That's what "witnessing" is.
And remember.,when you tell your story, you never do it alone. Jesus promised, and delivered to those first disciples, a power beyond themselves - the Holy Spirit - who would speak for them in their weakness and limitation. If you don't believe it, just look at the apostle Peter. Compare his three denials of Jesus with the speeches he makes to multitudes in the book of Acts. He went from weak- kneed whiner to powerful preacher because of the presence and strength of the Spirit within.
The greatest obstacle to our own "evangelism" - if you want to call it that - is our fear of others' reactions and of our own capability. But the Spirit works to help us share Christ through our stories...while our fear of reactions is really an expression of uncertainty about God's acceptance of us. So hear this and hear it clearly: not only are we accepted - as we are - but we are loved. Not only are we loved but we are called to be witnesses to the world. Not only are we called but we are equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not only are we equipped but we are blessed. We are blessed to be a blessing to others.
In that final moment with them, as Jesus stretched out his arms in blessing, I wonder what he said? Perhaps what he said to those disciples, he would also say to us today. Perhaps what he says to us today is what we can say to other people, too.
"If you seek peace,
you will have none.
If you seek life,
you will lose it.
If you seek wealth,
you will find poverty of soul.
If you seek adventure,
you will be unfulfilled.
If you seek joy,
you will ache with sorrow.
If you seek love,
you will despair in loneliness.
Ifyou seek God,
you will find God.
You will have peace
that surpasses understanding,
gain eternal life,
find true wealth,
be fulfilled,
worship in joy,
and revel in God's love."
Bless you! Amen.
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