LOOKING AHEAD WITH DOUBLE VISION
(Preached on Sunday, May 24, 2009)
They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared — in white robes! They said, “you Galileans! — why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly — and mysteriously — as he left.” -Acts 1:10-11
Did you celebrate last Thursday? It was a holiday. Anybody have the day off work in celebration of Ascension Day? Didn’t think so. It is clearly the forgotten holiday. Most of us probably weren’t even aware of it, and we are good church folk. No wonder the rest of the world did not take notice!
Truth be told, we have several problems with Ascension Day. First, the story of the Ascension of Jesus makes most of us modern, scientific people uncomfortable. In our world, nothing goes up but rockets and the cost of gasoline. And since we started shooting people into space on those rockets and they began circling the earth and traveling to the moon, we are not sure anymore where “up” is and where Jesus might really have traveled to on those clouds. The other problem, which is actually somewhat embarrassing to mention, is that we don’t quite know what to make of the ascension because we’re not quite sure what it has to do with us. It’s awkward to confess such a self-absorbed approach to theology, but such is our nature.
We are like the King of Siam. Do you remember the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, starring Yul Brynner as the proud king of the country of Siam in the 1860s? Some of you may have seen the original production on Broadway in the 50s and some may have seen the movie in the 60s, or on DVD or TV reruns. (My stepdaughter Kati wore out a VHS tape watching that movie over and over again when she was in elementary school, it was such a favorite of hers.) One of the initial points of conflict in the movie between the King of Siam and the English teacher he has hired to teach his many children is over the use of a map. She has a map of the world with which most of us would be familiar, in which Siam is a tiny country in Southeast Asia. The King is not happy she has replaced the traditional map used in his court. This map has Siam in the center of the world and it is much larger than all other countries. It is a fairly common human perspective to view the world and life through our own self-interest.
This is just the view to which the disciples of Jesus continued to cling. After all they have experienced with Jesus — his teachings, his healing of people, his extravagant hospitality of people on the fringes of society, his death and resurrection — as he is giving them final marching orders they ask: “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” While Jesus is speaking of the eternal and ultimate work of God and while he is sending them across the entire globe, they remained preoccupied with their own tiny little neighborhood.
In his commentary on the ascension, Peter Gomes, biblical scholar and campus pastor at Harvard University, insists that the event has both an upward vision and a downward vision. The upward vision is heaven: Jesus being lifted up to a place of honor and responsibility eternally present with God the Creator, from where he can be always and everywhere present with all his followers and all people who need a shepherd. Amidst the troubles of this world, we want to be lifted up, too — we need an upward vision. But there is also the downward vision, expressed in the question, “Why are you looking up toward heaven?” In other words, there is more to do. Put you hand to the plow, be faithful and Jesus will return. Immerse yourself in the daily life of this world.
There is a pastor who tells the story of the inner-city Methodist church in the deep South which he served as a part-time Youth Director when in college. There were about 100 people in the church: 75 people age 75 and older who had built the church, and 25 people under age 25 who lived nearby. There was no one in his or her 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s. The church had missed almost two generations. At the beginning of worship, the song leader would take requests from the old hymnal. Invariably, a senor adult would request “Victory in Jesus.” This youth director would think to himself, “These folks just want to escape. Their church is dying, and they’re singing about streets of gold beyond the crystal sea.” Later, though, he would see it from a different perspective: these were the builders and the sustaining members of that church. They loved the youth even though they were not related to them by family ties. They were teaching him and the others the importance of an upward vision, of being sure to keep their eyes on God, their spirits and their trust connected to God.
Yet the downward vision remains: the work of the church goes on, as the needs of the world persist. These same upward looking saints had a downward vision as well, for they were the very people who were paying for that part-time youth director, to help them connect with and minister to the young people of the neighborhood around the church. Their upward vision did not prevent them from being able to look around themselves, see the needs around them, and see the presence of God in those around them on earth.
Author Anne Lamott tells in her book Traveling Mercies why she makes her son, Sam, go to church. St started going to St. Andrews Presbyterian Church I San Francisco early in her pregnancy. One Sunday at the end of the worship she stood up and told the congregational that she was pregnant and people cheered. She was not married and she did not expect that reaction. She reported that even people raised in Bible-thumping homes in the deep South clapped and clapped. Even the old women whose grown-up boys had been in jails or prisons rejoiced with her. They reached out their arms and adopted her. They brought clothes and blankets for the new baby. They lugged in casseroles that she could freeze and use later. The church members kept telling her that this new baby was going to be part of their church family. And then they began to slip her money. A bent-over woman on Social Security would sidle up to her and stuff her pockets with tens and twenties. Ancient Mary Williams always sat in the back and brought Anne baggies filled with dimes week after week. Anne brought Sam to that church when he was five days old. Church folk stood in line and called him “our baby” and “my baby.” People in that little church kept her going. They cared, reached out, prayed, and loved her and saw her through some hard days. She says Mary Williams still gives her bags of dimes even though she is dong much better financially. Anne says she gives them to homeless people. But she writes, “Why do I make Sam go to church — none of his other friends go? I make him go because somebody brings me dimes.” For when Anne looked around her she saw the face of God in the people of that church. They connected her with both an upward vision and a downward vision — a double vision that is larger than herself and larger than themselves.
Otherworldliness is a real temptation in religion. But the God who has been made know to us through Jesus the Christ is always correcting that temptation. Down to earth, real flesh and blood, exhibiting great care and concern for the lives and struggles of all people. Whenever God’s people begin to focus solely on heaven, God speaks a correction: “Why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky?” As if to say, take a look around you: your work is here!
As we look to the future, to the next year of ministry in and through this church, let us remember the double vision we are called to embrace. Let us look to God, and seek God’s guidance for what God wants us to do, in giving of our money, or time, and our energy. Let us also look to the world around us, to see what needs God is bringing to our attention. Let us also look to one another in this church, and agree together, like the first followers of Jesus, that we are in this for good. Let us be completely together in prayer, as we seek God’s guidance, and empowerment, to embrace and embody the work of God in the world.