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Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "Look Around" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: The New Testament lesson comes to us from the book of Acts, the first chapter, the six through the 14th verses. This is the story as it is recorded, the ascension of Jesus. So when the disciples had come together, they asked, 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 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. 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 who has been taken up 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 day's 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 of 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. Well today is Ascension Sunday and most people really didn't notice that this past Thursday was actually Ascension Day. I know some of you did and I know you celebrated but everybody didn't notice that. Now this coming Sunday is Pentecost which is a very big day in the life of the church. But today is also certainly worthy of our attention. We have traveled the season of Easter, which will end next Sunday. Mary was weeping at an empty tomb. I like to call him honest or believing Thomas displayed his doubt. Disciples were on the road to Emmaus. the disciples experienced post resurrection encounters with the risen Lord. There has been a lot going on, but there still is. Even though we're coming to the end of the season, there's still a lot taking place even this week as we approach Pentecost. We heard in the text just before Jesus ascends, the disciple asked him, so. Is this the time that you're going to restore Israel? Which is what they have been waiting on. And this is just so shocking. Jesus did not answer them directly. Rather, he tells them that that time is for the Father to know, not for them. But here's what will happen. What will happen is that you will receive the Holy Spirit on God's timeline, not yours. But when that happens, then you will be my witnesses. And then he tells them how this is going to happen. They're going to start in Jerusalem, and then it's going to spread through all Judea. Up to this point, they probably have a pretty good understanding of the geography. But then Jesus says something really unusual. This would have caught their attention. You're going to start in Jerusalem, makes sense. Spread through all of Judea, makes sense. Then he adds, and Samaria. That was a place that in their travels they would have gone around to avoid because they didn't really get along that well with each other. But Jesus says this is how it will happen. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then he says to the ends of the earth, to places that you have never seen and will never travel. and that's what they received. They basically received their marching orders. Well, they received theirs and it was a model of the church and they are still in effect for us as well. So then the next thing that happens after they've asked this question, Jesus told them that time was not theirs to know. You will receive the Holy Spirit and this is what's going to happen. And as he says that, then he is lifted out of sight. by a cloud. And then two figures in white challenged the disciples about, they gently did it, but they asked them, why are you standing around staring upward? You've just received your marching orders, so to speak. and they're paralyzed looking up. Well, we can understand why they might have been paralyzed looking up because they didn't really expect that to happen and it had never happened before. But to their credit, in the midst of all of that, they did return to Jerusalem. They went back to the upper room and they did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They joined together in prayer along with, and we're given this little detail, and anytime we're given these details, you've heard me say this before, when we are given these kinds of details, it means that they are important. The disciples go to the upper room and they join together in prayer, but we're told they were also there with the women that included Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. So in this act of joining together and being together in prayer as they are waiting, this circle has expanded already. It is already beginning to happen. because these are Jesus' first eyewitnesses. And now they, along with the women, are praying together. So they find themselves, as we do in this brief time in the church or the liturgical year, in this sort of odd, I like to call it the in-between time. It's sort of a holding pattern. They're waiting. The time has not yet come. Jesus told them it will. So they're in kind of a season or a time of waiting. Jesus has left, the Spirit has not yet come upon them. They're told to pray and they are called to trust and remain in prayer rather than rushing off to the next thing. Now I don't know about you, but I can speak for me. Waiting is not easy. Most of us do not like to wait. Have you ever been in a fast food car line? It's been two minutes. What is the problem? We are not accustomed to having to wait and we become impatient and we feel like we need to be doing something. But here is good news. I have to remind myself of this as well. Waiting is not doing nothing. They were told wait until... you receive the Spirit. Their waiting is very active. This time of waiting is preparation. This time of waiting is vital. Waiting is doing something. So the disciples, while it appears they were not doing anything, they were doing something. They were gathered together with others and doing exactly what Jesus told them to do. Be together to pray and to wait. And then he gave them the promise the Holy Spirit would come, but not on your schedule. And here's what's going to happen. When you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the circles of your witness will become larger and larger and larger. from Jerusalem and he tells them again to the ends of the earth. It's a pattern of expanding circles. It's a pattern, it's a model of the church, of carrying the gospel message into the world. We are here in a place that they never visited. They never knew, the first disciples would not have known where Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina, would have been located. Well, it wasn't Merle's Inlet yet. It wasn't South Carolina yet. God knows. And because of their faithfulness beginning in Jerusalem, the gospel message has spread all over the world. So for us, the ascension is important. It reminds us that in this brief in-between time to lift our eyes and to look around. I'm going to invite you to do that. Just look around. Wave to each other so I'll know that you're looking at each other. Just look at your neighbor. Look around. That's what we're invited to do, to look at each other. Look around at people. in their ordinary everyday lives. Look at people when you meet them. Looking around, this is where we see the evidence of the presence of Jesus Christ. The way the disciples used to know Jesus being present in the flesh. is not the way they're going to know him now. Once he ascended, because he has risen, he has made post-resurrection appearances and then would disappear. But now the ascension that he tried to explain has happened and he has returned to his father. So this is the new way of experiencing the risen ascended Lord. He is out of physical sight so he could be unrestricted by time and space and be everywhere including right here with us right now. So on that day, the Ascension Day, something astounding happened. It feels like a day that we sometimes don't really notice a lot, but this was astounding when they stopped looking at the sky and they refocused and they were looking at each other. Over time, it became very apparent of what had happened. They looked around and they saw each other. But then they saw others. And then they saw others that they had never met. And then they were in places and circumstances that they could not have imagined. They were in places. that they could experience and they could be used and perform feats of ministry that they would have never imagined. They saw opportunities to continue the ministry that Jesus had been teaching them for three years and how to carry it out and had told them that you will do great things. But here's the really amazing thing. With nothing but a promise, and a prayer. That small group of people did exactly what Jesus told them to do. and the world was never the same again, beginning right there with them, just as Jesus told them and just as Jesus has promised. They became witnesses of the risen Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. And here is more good news for us. It didn't stop with them, so are we. You see, they... They stopped staring at the sky. They looked around at each other. They saw the opportunities that God had put before them. And they got on with the business of being the church. And then things began to happen. They recognized that it wasn't just them. They were not carrying this by themselves. There was someone else with them, not physically as they had been accustomed to, but just as they had been promised. There was an abiding presence. They recognized it in themselves, but they really recognized it in the faces of others. Barbara Brown Taylor once said it this way, it was almost as if Jesus had not ascended but had exploded so that all holiness was concentrated in him alone. It flew everywhere so that the seeds of heaven were sown in all the fields of the earth. Wow. What had been concentrated in Jesus' physical presence has now been scattered throughout the entire world through us, his disciples. So here's what happens in the Ascension and here's why it's so important. the Ascension event shifts the disciples' focus from followers, who would have much rather kept Jesus somewhere confined so that they knew exactly where he was. They could go to him, they could see him, they could touch him and speak with him as we speak with one another. Well, the Ascension changed that. were followers and shifted them to now apostles. They became leaders and witnesses and active in ministry. The Ascension event expanded their ministry focus and their reality. You see, they were experiencing the one who rides on the clouds, which is the theme of this day. So the ascension is important because it reminds us the Holy Spirit is a gift and will come. You are and will be my witnesses. Like the disciples who returned to Jerusalem and we're told how they returned. The disciples returned to Jerusalem after all of this that has happened. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy because they and we have work to do. The work is to witness, to proclaim, and love in Jesus' name. It is about being the body of Christ in the world. And we hear this in our liturgy. ⁓ God, make us one with Christ, one with each other and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Merciful God, we gather in the in-between time after the ascension and before the mighty wind and flames of Pentecost. And like those first disciples, we gather together expectant, not knowing what comes next, but we gather knowing that you are faithful and that you hold us and you do not leave us on our own. You do not leave us orphaned or alone. We join the disciples in worship and in joy. The risen and ascended Lord reigns and we can face tomorrow with confidence because we know that you hold today and tomorrow and we trust in you, the one who holds us. ⁓ God, we pray for those who serve, for those who are waiting. who are waiting for healing, for work, for reconciliation, for peace, for answers that have not yet come. Hold them close. We pray for those who grieve who are experiencing that empty space where someone used to physically be. Hold them gently. Hold us all, O God. Your love radiates from communities gathered in your name. Bless those experiencing significant transitions in life. Graduation, new addresses, retirement, employment, health, and there are so many other transitions in life. Accompany us in our prayers during these times. Give us your strength and your comfort. God of resurrection power, your promise of eternal life is certain and sure. Inspire us by the steadfast faith of those who have gone before us that we may be confident in the assurance that you give. Use us to proclaim the good news of new life in you, drawing the circle wider. drawing the circle to all the world beginning right where we are. And with the confidence of the children of God, we pray the prayer that our Lord taught us to say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen.