St. Charles’ Episcopal Church – St. Charles, IL

The Seventh Sunday of Easter – Easter 7 – Year A RCL

Sunday May 3, 2008 – Ascension Sunday

Acts 1:6-14 – Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36 – 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 – John 17:1-11

Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Today is one of those Sundays when it seems like everything is happening at once. This is the Sunday that both ends the Easter season and takes up the slack for the expectation that few people will show up on Ascension Day. (That was last Thursday. To those that missed it, we had a great time; Great music, great liturgy, choristers from three of the best darn choirs in the Fox Valley, like I said, a great time. I hope I'll see you there next year!) Since we get to hear the ascension story from Acts again today, and choral evensong doesn’t really have a place to preach, I think I’ll take the opportunity to share with you a bit about why the Ascension is such an important part all that makes up our faith.

It is important to remember that it is the body of Jesus, still marked with the wounds that came from living a mortal life, that ascends to heaven to be incorporated into the being of God. Not the spirit of Jesus, or the soul of Jesus, but the body of Jesus. By this action God is changed. Forever more the human body is a part of the one true and living God. The human condition, with all its shortcomings and limits, has become holy. To be sure, this does not mean that everything that humans do is holy, but it does mean that when we come before God, as we do every week, to plead our case and ask for a blessing on our endeavors, or forgiveness for our sins, God knows where we are coming from, indeed can remember where we are coming from.

But God is not the only one changed by the Ascension. We as human beings are changed as well. The Ascension not only changes how we interact with God, it changes how we interact with each other. It is the theology of the Ascension that lies at the root of why we value human life above the life of all God's other creatures. It is this understanding of the holiness of the human condition that compels us in our baptismal covenant to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being." Every human being, whether they are Christian or not.

It is this new reality that works to push us beyond the normal tribal groupings that are so much a part of human history. Ever since the beginning of time, groups of humans have banded together to survive. If you were in the group you were defended by the group and shared your gifts and talents with the group, but only with the group. If you were not in the group, you were out in the cold. When Christianity is doing it right it isn’t about sorting the world into who’s in and who’s out. Everybody’s in. When Christianity is doing it right it’s really more about telling everybody that they’re in.

And you thought the Ascension was just about Jesus flying around on a cloud! Now, I know what some of you are thinking, because to be fair, part of me is thinking it myself. “Wait a minute, what about all the rules, and the commandments?” “And everybody doesn’t really mean everybody does it?” “What if they don’t believe in Jesus?” And here is where it gets tough. Because we have to fight against our history. Everybody does mean everybody. Even the jerks. Even those who don’t believe. “So are you saying it doesn’t matter if we believe?”“That Christianity is no better than any other religion?”

One of the things that we say in the church is that the power to believe comes through grace. It is a God given power and not something we do on our own. It is the Spirit working in us. It is not something that we know or can teach. There is a big difference between knowing and believing. Knowing is all about studying and learning. Believing is about faith. And so the reality is we may never know for sure in this life that Christianity is the right religion, even though we may believe passionately, like I do, that Christianity is the right religion. Knowledge is important. It supports belief in many valuable ways, but it can only take you so far. Belief is a gift of grace from God. No one can say I believe unless the Spirit tells them.

Why do we seek after belief for ourselves and work so hard to invite others to believe? Well, there are two somewhat conflicting traditions in the church. Both are supportable by scripture. Both are right, though as often happens, neither is completely right. At the root of one of the traditions is an awareness of all that separates us from God – that's sin on our side and the unknowable mystery of the almighty on God's side. This tradition stresses the transcendence of God. Our response to this awareness is to attempt through appropriate prayers and actions to be made temporarily right to approach God and beg for mercy – for forgiveness of our sins. In this world view, the work of the church is about doing God’s work in an effort to make the world a better place, but mostly involves fixing our own mistakes. Evangelism in this view, is about recruiting the army of God, turning people from the "dark side." In this tradition generally if you're not for us you're against us and so there is a more pessimistic view of non-Christians. At the root of the other tradition is the awareness of all that God has done for us – the gift of life, forgiveness of sin, the gate to eternal life, the gift of creation, in short, the super-abundance of God. This tradition stress the intimacy of God. Our response to this awareness is radical joy and new vision. The work of the church in this view, is all about sharing this new reality and evangelism loses a lot of its edge, no longer turning people from the "dark side," but turning on the lights so people can see the reality around them. In this tradition, non believers are more to be pitied than censured.

As I said before, both of these traditions are found in the church. Both are supported by scripture. Neither is wholly right, nor wholly wrong. It is for us as Episcopalians to use our God-given reason to struggle and find when each is to be applied appropriately. With this struggle doubts often arise and we may think that we don't believe, but we forget that doubt is the natural companion of belief. "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!" No, the enemy of belief is fear, something very different from doubt. Fear stops movement, dulls creativity, and inhibits thought, while doubts encourage thought, stimulate creativity, and goad change.

If you have doubts that Christianity is the right religion, I think that is a good thing. It's good because it forces you to examine your faith, in the process strengthening it. What of those who have not been given the grace to believe? Some things I wonder about. Why would God leave the Jews behind now, after all those thousands of years of Hesed, Loving-kindness? What if we didn't actually get everything right when Jesus came down from heaven and so God decided to try again with another prophet? God certainly doesn’t give up easily, why not another prophet? What if that prophet just happened to be named Mohammad? Could they be right, and I be wrong? These are some of the doubts that come with faith, that impel us to action, that keep our faith alive and growing. Lord I believe. Help my unbelief. What is God going to do with the Jews, and Muslims, the Buddhists, and Shintoists and on and on and on?

I don't know about you, but I have enough to worry about with my own problems. I'm perfectly happy to let God take care of the rest of creation. I will share my joy and the faith I have been given. That is what I believe God is calling me to do. I am perfectly willing to let God handle the rest – I believe God has given ample evidence of being quite capable. Amen.