Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Rev. Will Malambri - "The Room Upstairs"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: Continuing the story from Acts that Bill read for us earlier. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? He replied, it is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power. And the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. When he said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, whom has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath's day journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying. Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alpheus and Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer together with certain women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. It's quite a list of people who made their way to the room upstairs. I have a list too. It's nearly as long. It all began a tearful first day of school nearly seven years ago. When we moved here, our children were entering the ninth and sixth grades. There are worse times to move in a childhood, but any move when you leave family, friends, and familiarity is never easy, especially for people who cherish friendships, people like our daughter, Anna Gray. Throughout her elementary years, she had gone to friends' houses all the time. She would come in from two straight days at Simmons House as she was crossing the threshold of our house, say, can I go to Gracie's? We were used to her having many friends, used to her being out with those friends often. So the weeks between arriving here and that first day of school, we had to continually reassure her, you'll have friends like you had in Florence. It's going to be okay. She was so excited that first day of school, ready to make those friends, to get to school. But after school, she had tears in her eyes. It had not happened on day one. It took a whole five days for it to happen. I picked Anna Gray up from school that Friday. We went to Sonic driving for a treat. Up through the sunroof in the car in front of us was a little head. Cameras popped up, smiling, waving. We waved back. We placed our order. We went to pay. They said, the car in front of you has taken care of it for you. I reached out to Cameron's mother, Kim, and thanked her for doing so. And she said it was Cameron's idea. Cameron asked her, can we buy a treat for my new friend, Anna Gray? And so it began. Before long, the girls seemed to multiply at our house. Anna Gray convinced us that her bedroom was just too small. She needed to move into the bonus room. The biggest room in our home. was more suited for her friends and her. And she was right, there was a parade after that. Cameron, Evie, Sailor, Laurel, Sydney, Sloane, Brooke, Bryn, Emma, more than I can name these girls who would come in and out, up and down the stairs, enjoying that room upstairs. When that room goes quiet in August, it's going to be quite an adjustment at our house. It's not an unfamiliar adjustment. Many of you have made it over the years. Sally and I made our first step toward it three years ago. I told some of you about the pain the universe inflicted on us the days we left our son at college. Here's the short version. We took him up to his school in Virginia, and the next morning my phone woke me up to a video montage with the song, Far, Far Away, playing in the background. is playing behind a series of scenes depicting photos of Mack and me bicycling, hiking, kayaking together. I gathered myself for worship that morning and we began with a service, the service with a song that spoke of a mother's love. And then there was a reading that Pastor JT had me read from Isaiah that talked about God bringing our sons home from afar. JT then went on to preach about how we have all kinds of ways to keep in touch with each other but fail to do so. And then I drove home with the radio playing, Till You Can't. A reminder that you can always do something together in the future until you can't. So don't put off those days. I braced myself for cats in the cradle to come on the radio next. And then having told Sally all about that, I went to the bedroom for a minute, came back to the kitchen where I found her clutching a bag of sun chips, crying out, these are his favorites. What I didn't tell you is that that actually wasn't the worst day of it all. The Monday before we took him up on Thursday was the worst day for me. The anticipation. I looked over and saw him just lying on the sofa, texting, half watching the show. And it dawned on me that things were about to change forever. He'd be back in that position at some point, but from that point forward, it always would feel temporary, a visit rather than a location. So Sally and I had to remind ourselves he wasn't being deployed. We weren't leaving him in prison or Chapel Hill. It could be worse. How blessed was our life that leaving Mac in a place that was so fitting for him was one of the harder things we had to do. We'll be telling ourselves that again this summer as we prepare to leave Anne Grey in Columbia. We'll also remind ourselves that seeing Mac thrive has eased some of the pain. College is an expensive way to hurt your own heart. Hearing your child's heart be filled is a way to heal it. The room upstairs will be painfully quiet for weeks at a time at our house in the years ahead, but for good reason. A reason that is not unlike the reason that upper room in X went quiet. Upper rooms, rooms upstairs. In Jesus' day were places for praying and studying, for meeting with people, for gathering and welcoming friends, for sharing meals, for hosting overnight guests. They were the bonus rooms of ancient Palestine. Jesus shared the last supper with his disciples in a room upstairs. He had them wait for the Holy Spirit in an upstairs room. After he ascended, they prayed together in a room upstairs while they waited. It's natural for the disciples to do so. It was a place of comfort, a place of security that they were with people they cared about. reflecting on what they had learned and experienced with Jesus. They were anticipating what may be next. They could not be fully prepared for what would happen when the Holy Spirit had come upon them, but they were better prepared because they were there together. Together in prayer, fellowship, friends with shared experiences, disciples of a common Lord, followers who had a shared mission, even if each had a distinct path to fulfill it. And if that sounds like a message for graduates, it is. but not just for them. All who seek to follow Jesus do well to recognize that he loves us enough to lead us to the security and comfort of an upper room, a familiar place with people we care about, friends who support us and help us to grow, a family of faith. Jesus loves us enough to lead us to a place like this, but he thinks enough of us not to leave us in a place like this. just as he thought too much of the disciples and their mission to leave them in the room upstairs. So he thinks of you. Like those first disciples, you have more to contribute than can be done safe and secure in an upper room or even within these walls. So come often, renew, recharge, reconnect, and get ready. Because 10 days after Jesus ascended to be with the Father, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and they did not sit still after that. We call it Pentecost. We'll celebrate it next Sunday. But for today, it is enough to know that that is the rhythm of life in Christ. You come, gather, bond, pray, be supported, support, learn, grow, deepen, and then you go. You go to serve, to witness, to be representatives of the one who calls you to and from a place like this. throughout his ministry, right up to the ascension, right up to his rising to be with the Father, Jesus was preparing his disciples for what would come. And he's been working on us too. And he won't stop. I know because he said the most surprising thing before he ascended to be with the Father as he prepared his disciples for the day that would come, that day when he would be distant from them, when they would be distant from each other. Jesus said, is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. Jesus had already told them, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. He was not leaving his disciples without guidance, without support, without love, without God. They would have all of that. We have all of that. Jesus. gave them that before he sent them forth from the room upstairs. He gives us all of that before he sends us forth from this room up a few steps. We have all we need. So what will we do with it? According to Apostle Paul, who calls Jesus followers the body of Christ, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. We have all the gifts. Paul goes on to name some gifts like healing and teaching, speaking with wisdom and knowledge, being generous, encouraging, leading, being compassionate and cheerful, gift after gift that God has poured into our lives. All kinds of gifts, different ways to do it, all for the same purpose, for the common good. Being the hands and feet of Christ for the common good. Continuing the mission that Jesus let's begin for the common good, fulfilling a purpose that we cannot fulfill if we remain stuck in an upstairs room. So get out, followers of Jesus. Come, then go, for the one who came and went.