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FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF SANTA MONICA

Clothed With Power

Sermon preached by the Reverend Patricia Farris

May 23, 2004

Scripture: Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53

This is the Sunday on which we celebrate the Ascension of Christ. What is that, you may well ask! Well, you may not be able to say just quite what it’s about, but it will probably sound familiar. You may have a memory of reciting in the Nicene Creed the words: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ…For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

The Ascension is one of the earliest celebrations of the church, noted since at least the fourth century. One contemporary preacher has called the Ascension the exclamation point on the Resurrection! As if the early church wanted to shout, “He really, really rose. Really and truly.” How high? As high as the very throne of God."

The Ascension is described, in slightly different versions, in three places in the New Testament, two of which we heard read this morning, one from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles and one from the Gospel according to Luke. My friend, Rabbi Jeff Marx, said to me recently: “I just learned something, Patricia.” This is from a guy who takes being a rabbi very seriously and reads and studies all the time, about our New Testament, as well as about the Hebrew Scriptures. He said: “I learned that Luke and Acts were written by the same person, and that they should be together in the New Testament, not separated by the Gospel of John.”

Now those of you who have been in Greg Batson’s Bible Study on Luke, or who have taken Disciple Bible Study, already know this, for it is widely believed that indeed, the same author wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. The first tells his story of Jesus and the second his story of the beginnings of the church. This story of the Ascension, you see, is told both at the end of the story of Jesus and the beginning of the story of the church. It marks the moment when we shift from Jesus’ time into our own, from Jesus’ story to our own story. It is the hinge between the two. In order for Jesus to be the Christ, to be both fully human and fully divine, he must be lifted up and seated now and for all time at the right hand of God. Simultaneously, for the church to take authority, for the church to be empowered, it must let him go and take his power into itself.

As Jesus ascends, it becomes clear that the Body of Christ, now on earth, is no longer Jesus, but the church.

One preacher tells a story of trying to explain this to children. Of course, if we can explain it to children, we maybe have half a chance of explaining it to grown-ups! He said he went and bought a helium balloon and took it out into the courtyard of the church. He made a drawing of Jesus on the balloon and with the children all gathered ‘round and watching intently, he let it go. They all stood there, looking up, watching the balloon until it drifted beyond their sight. Eventually, he said, all they could see was a blank blue sky. He said: “There was a moment of silence, which went on for awhile. We looked up. Then we looked at each other. I didn’t say a word. I let the silence hang there. After a while, when everyone was getting restless, I said: ‘Maybe that’s how the disciples felt after Jesus left.’ And so there’s only one thing left to do: turn to each other and ask: “What now? What next?” You look around and you realize: We’re it. It’s up to us.

There are lots of times in this life when we find ourselves in that very similar situations, it seems to me. Things change, and all of a sudden the future looms before you. You’ve been there. You work real hard in school and struggle to keep your grades up and then the day of graduation comes. You celebrate with a big party and wake up the next morning wondering: What now? What next?

You’ve been pregnant for nine long months and then that beautiful baby is born and you find yourself holding her in your arms and you can’t believe it’s real. You look at your spouse and ask: What now? What next?

Your boss calls you in and says your job has been eliminated. Ten or twenty or thirty years of being caught up in being whatever your job was ends. You go home and look in the mirror and ask: What now? What next?

You journey with your parent or your spouse through a long, difficult illness, a slow dying. Then one day it ends and there’s a memorial service and you go home and in a few days, when all the guests have gone, you get up in the morning to a silent house and you ask: What now? What next?

These moments come to us all, if different ways, as we move through this life. They are sometimes wondrously joyful, sometimes excruciatingly painful. Afterwards there we are: What now? What next?

The story shifts. A new chapter begins. We can’t see into the future. We don’t know how it will come out. It’s sometimes all we can do in those moments to have a cup of coffee and wash the breakfast dishes and put on some clean clothes and go out for a walk and get on with life. We’ve got so much more going for us in those moments. There’s an incredible gift available to us if we will just pause and receive it. That gift is a blessing from God in Christ Jesus - a blessing from God for each of us and all of us from our ascending Lord.

Just before being lifted up, Jesus says to them - stay where you are. You will be clothed in power. You will be clothed in power. Jesus blesses his disciples, the church, with power to life, to witness, to have faith, to keep on keepin’ on. You will be clothed with power, he promises.

You know sometimes I worry that we don’t believe that God longs to bless us with power. I don’t mean the power of money, or the power of status or the power of privilege. I don’t mean the power of going to the best school or driving the finest car. I mean the power of faith, the power of believing. I mean the power of knowing that God has put us here for a purpose and God wants us to succeed. The power of believing that God has a mission for us, that indeed, if God’s message is to be manifest in this very world, it’s going to be through the likes of us and God will give us the power to do it.

You know, sometimes we get so caught up in what we don’t have, what we don’t know, what we can’t do. Even in this great church, we sometimes get so hung up on how much we don’t have: don’t have enough money; don’t have enough members; don’t have enough workers, don’t have enough ideas, don’t have enough cookies for Coffee Hour. Don’t have, don’t have, don’t have…. can’t do, can’t do, can’t do. Sisters and brothers, Jesus says: “You will be clothed with power.” I am giving you what you need. I am giving you all you need. I am giving you power to be my disciples in this world at this time in this place.”

You know, most of us, when we get to be as old as I am, and even older, look back on our lives and marvel. If we had known in advance what we were going to have to do, have to get through, have to deal with, we’d have said, “No way. Not possible, God. I’ll never make it. I can’t possibly do that.” An illness, a setback, a huge challenge, a loss, a big job promotion, an impossible relationship. No way could I get through that, God. But looking back, we know we can, with the help of God. Looking back, we testify that we’ve been carried by the power of prayer. Looking back, we’re positive that a power much greater than ourselves, far beyond ourselves, far greater than anything we could must on our own, has brought us through. We already have within us more than we need to get by, to carry on, and to get through. We have power from God. And that’s finally all we need.

There’s an old legend about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven after his Ascension. It is said that angel Gabriel meets him at the pearly gates and they have the following exchange:

”Lord, this is a great salvation that thou hast wrought,’ said the angel. But the Lord Jesus only said: “Yes.”

Gabriel presses him. “What plans hast thou made for carrying on the work? How are all to know what thou hast done?” asked Gabriel.

“I left Peter and James and John and Martha and Mary to tell their friends, their friends to tell their friends, ‘til all the world should know.’

“But, Lord Jesus, said Gabriel, suppose Peter is too busy with the nets, or Martha with the housework, or the friends they tell are too occupied, and forget to tell their friends—what then?”
”The Lord Jesus did not answer at once; then he said in his quiet wonderful voice: “I have not made any other plans. I am counting on them.” Christ Jesus is counting on us now to keep the faith and pass it on. Christ is counting on us to be his church. Christ is counting on us to live lives of faith and joy and hope. Christ has blessed us. He has clothed us with power. And that power, friends, is the power of God at work within us through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

My favorite benediction, which I use frequently, comes from Ephesians, that letter to the early church. I pronounce this benediction often, as I will again this morning, because I believe it with all my heart, and I want each of you to believe it, too:

“And now unto God, who, by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly, far more than all we can ask or imagine, to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever.”

Amen.

Notes:
Ascension Day sermons from St. Bart’s Episcopal Church, NYC, by the Rev. Bill Tully and the Rev. Jay Sidebothom.

Resources for Preaching and Worship Year C, compiled by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.