Acts
1: 1-11
This
past Thursday is described on the church calendar as Ascension Day – 40 days
past the Easter Resurrection, commemorating the day that Jesus was lifted up and
taken out of sight, beyond the clouds.
And
this past Thursday we learned that Dr. Maya Angelou had died. She was described
by her family as a teacher, activist, artist and human being; a warrior for
equality, tolerance and peace. In their statement, they described her passing
as her ascension, interestingly enough.
One
of Maya Angelou’s most well-known poems is called “Still I Rise”, and this
weekend the Rev. Kathleen Sheets took excerpts from that poem, read by Dr.
Angelou, and combined it with artwork depicting Christ’s life, death,
resurrection and ascension. She then graciously offered it up for use by other
clergy. I’d like to share it with you to begin today’s proclamation of the
Word.
Just
when we’re getting used to life’s routines, it seems, something is bound to
change. We finally get used to kindergarten, or high school, and boom! we
graduate and on to the next unknown. We develop a stride in our career, or our
home life, and something changes to make us learn how to live with a new
normal.
Whether
it’s a change we bring about ourselves, or a change that is imposed on us that
we would rather not have happen – moving on is hard.
And
even as we try to settle into a new normal, there are times that we wish things
would just go back to the way they were – back to when the place was familiar,
the faces were familiar, the expectations were familiar.
There
is grieving associated with change. Because change means giving something up. There
is a loss involved.
The
disciples had settled into something of a routine as they followed Jesus. Even
though their lives had changed dramatically the day they left their fishing
boats and their families, it appears from the scriptures that the pattern of
their lives were shaped by following Jesus, listening to Jesus, doing whatever
tasks Jesus assigned to them.
Even
though the three years brought many strange and unimaginable experiences, the
pattern of their days was not all that different than the life of any student
who apprenticed to a rabbi. They didn’t have to make many decisions for
themselves; they followed Jesus.
As
the time drew near, and Jesus knew his days on earth were numbered, his words
of instruction were still so confusing that they didn’t really sink in. What
was happening was not clear. And so his arrest, trial and death were a terrible
crisis for them. And so it’s not surprising that they responded first with
fear, and then with disbelief, as they tried to imagine life without him, and
then tried to comprehend the fact that there he was, alive again.
So
for the next 40 days, even though he was saying to them, “I will rise; I’m not
staying long; the Holy Spirit is coming and you will learn a new way of following”,
who could blame them for falling into the old routine; listening to him, following
him as much as they could in this new way of experiencing him, and hoping that
things would stay as close to the same-old, same-old as possible. As long as
Jesus was there, they could all safely play second fiddle; none of them really
dared to step out on their own, to move on.
And
then one day, without any real warning, Jesus rises up, up, and away, and he’s
gone. It’s not hard to imagine the disciples standing there, looking up, their
mouths hanging open with astonishment. Until the angels on the ground say, come
on now, it’s time to move on. You have work to do; kingdom work. Jesus will be
coming back again, don’t forget. And he left you specific instructions until
then. Which did not include going back to the way things were; that is no
longer an option. Don’t look back; we’re not going that way.
My
friend, Jenee Woodard, lives in Jackson, Michigan. She graduated from a
Methodist college, and married Bob, who is a special ed teacher. Jenee worked
in a variety of ministry capacities, and planned to attend graduate school and
pursue an academic career. Her interests were the Bible, early Christianity and
commentary on Biblical texts.
She
gave birth to her daughter Jaie, who is now 25 and a biophysicist pursuing her
Ph.D. at Harvard. Several years later her son Phil was born. He is now 22, and
at age two he was diagnosed with severe autism. And that is when Jenee’s life
took a hard left turn.
For
Jenee, that change in her life’s reality meant dropping plans for the
doctorate, dealing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with Phil’s autism, and
figuring out how she could still develop a ministry. And so in 1998, with the
internet still in its infancy, Jenee imagined how cool it would be if a pastor
preparing a sermon could read all of the different commentators right next to
each other.
So
she began to collect all the online commentaries, liturgies, articles, and other
sermon supporting materials she could get her hands on, and she organized them
online according to their related scripture texts.
And
she named it The Text this Week. It’s now internationally known as
textweek.com, and it gets over 2 million “hits” (or people clicking on its
links) each month – 4 million around Easter!
In
an article written last year about Jenee in Faith and Leadership Journal, the
Rev. Peter Wallace, the president and executive producer of the Alliance for
Christian Media and on-air host of the Day1 program, said, “Her influence on
the Christian church today is unbelievable. If you think of all the preachers
who use her resources and preach sermons from all those resources, she probably
has more influence on mainline churches than any resource today.”
Jenee
lives just down the road in Jackson, Michigan, and still is a one person show
handling textweek.com. It never would have come to be if Jenee hadn’t landed in
the midst of a life changing situation that caused her to change her life
reality, and to move on from the initial plans she had made for herself and her
family.
As
she says now, “A ministry, to me, means giving myself away – not for what it
gets me or God or the church – but for the act itself. To me, this is probably
the essence of faith.”
The
disciples had to move on without Jesus in their daily midst – without him being
visible and follow-able. Their challenge was to continue following him, feeling
his love, hearing his voice, all through the power of the Holy Spirit, and
finding new ways to be his hands and feet and body and ministry in the world, to
share his love so others would experience him and want to follow him too.
And
this is our challenge as well. In order to follow Jesus we have got to be ready
and willing to move on when the time comes to change. We cannot turn around and
fold our arms and say we want it the way it used to be, the way it always was. Christ
makes all things new.
Christ
calls us to follow, including following in new directions when it is time to
move on.
And
so, despite grief and loss and fear, still we rise, and still we go forward, in
the words of Maya Angelou, in the path of Jesus Christ our Savior, in hope, in
trust, and in faith.
In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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