ASCEND!

This blog post is based on this reading from Luke, not the above picture (from a Scandinavian website)

I have a hard to explaining the Ascension to other people. Our rationally based culture makes it hard for me to just say, "Come on it's in the BIBLE!" To see just how poorly the Ascension is viewed in contemporary culture, just look at the popular TV series The Office. In a great episode entitled "Secret Santa," Michael Scott, says to his employees, “His last name is Christ, He has the power of flight,” alluding to Jesus’s last day on earth. If we attempt to be rational Christians we have a hard time holding at the same time a belief in scientific laws, like the Law of Gravity, and a belief in Jesus’ miracles, like flying away from his disciples.

Yet, to read a sacred text, like the Bible, with only a literal lens limits the spiritual impact that any story can have upon us. This is not to say suspend all questions, but rather to suggest that the story of the Ascension is more than a precursor to the Superman comic strip. Our gospel text from today possesses a powerful piece of our understanding of God and our relationship with God, and yet we are left with questions. What happens after Jesus is raised from the dead? He cannot die again, so does he just sit around until the end of the age? Can he fly? Where did he go? I do not have sufficient answers to these questions, yet I feel in the wake of the Ascension that I am floating in the Truth. He who has been raised from the dead will never die again, he who has been raised from the dead continues to bless us, and he who has been raised from the dead has returned to the Father. Yet it is even more encompassing than this. Let me tell you another version of the Ascension from our sisters and brothers in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In the countryside of Bethany, a boy was walking his dog, Spot. Well, the dog’s full name was Spoticus, a slight jab at the Roman occupiers of his day, but the boy just called him Spot in public. As the boy and his dog walked along the countryside the boy saw in the distance a small crowd gathered. They were raising a bit of a raucous, so the boy went to investigate it further. He approached with caution, and soon discovered it was Jesus and his followers.

The boy had heard of Jesus from some people in his town. Martha, Mary, and the once dead Lazarus told stories about this powerful, healing, teaching prophet. Recently, they even said he was more than a prophet. The boy overheard his parents arguing about whether Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. “He died and returned from the dead,” his mother said in a hushed voice, but his father cut her off as the boy entered the room. So more curious than usual the boy walked closer to hear Jesus speaking to his followers, but he could not understand what the teacher was saying.

This crowd grew closer together as Jesus raised his arms up into the air. Jesus then began blessing them with tears washing down his face. As he was blessing them he withdrew from them and he was being carried up into heaven. Yet, at that moment something strange happened. One man looked around at the others in the crowd, then he wrapped his arms around Jesus’ ankles. Fellow disciples began shouting, “Peter, what are you doing?”

Peter looked up at Jesus, then he said, “Jesus where you go, I must go also.” Jesus, almost surprised by this action, gave Peter a look, as if to say, “Please let go,” but Peter did not get the message. Then, Jesus looked up to Heaven, saying, “Father, what shall I do?” A voice from on high spoke, “ASCEND!”

At that moment, two men began jostling for position. The similar shape of their faces made it seem to the boy that the two were brothers. As they were pushing each other, one grabbed onto Peter’s ankles, the other shouted, “John, I am supposed to go first, not you.” John replied, “James, I am the greatest.” James and John jockeyed for position, then others hopped onto the chain. Before too long it was a long link of disciples. Martha, Mary, and a limping Lazarus connected to this heaven bound train. Jesus kept asking the Father what he was to do, and the Father each time replied with the same word, “Ascend!”

All the while Spot and his boy were walking closer to this action. Spot was barking and the boy did his best to keep his jaw from dropping. After the crowd thinned out a little, the boy asked a woman if she was going to join this line. The woman, who was actually Mary Magdalene, calmly replied, “I think so, what about you?” Well, I have my dog.

Just then a man thought about jumping up to join the heaven bound procession, but then he looked doubtful that he could make the jump to reach Andrew’s ankles. “Thomas, you better hurry,” Mary spoke.

The boy tied up his dog to a nearby tree, hugged him goodbye, and he began to run and jump after Mary who was now leaving the earth behind her. Mary asked, “What about your dog?” The boy quickly questioned, “Can I bring him?” Jesus looked down, then up toward heaven, and the voice again shouted from on high, “Ascend!”

As Mary was pulling him off the ground the boy ran back toward the tree and with no time to untie the dog he grabbed Spot with one hand and held onto Mary’s foot with the other. The train began to pull out of the station with Jesus as the engine. His toes no longer touching earth, the boy left the ground, Spot was pulled up with him, the leash held the dog tightly to the tree, and for a moment it seemed like this holy chain would just dangle in the air. Then, all at once the ground shook and the earth quaked and this Jesus-led string of saints pulled the entirety of Creation from its hinges. Everything from the tree down (the roots, the dirt, the entire earth and all that was in it) stayed connected to that dog and that dog was held fast by that boy and the boy stayed attached to those disciples and those disciples stuck to Jesus and Jesus remained connected to God the Father, so that all of Creation was pulled into Heaven with the command from on high, “Ascend!”

Ascension is not a story about Jesus flying. It is not a story about magic or superpowers. This is the day that we celebrate that Jesus who overcame the power of death, will never die again, and that as he left Jesus was blessing his disciples. Jesus’ blessing never stopped in the story from Luke, and his blessings have never stopped since then. We are still being blessed by the Son who came down to live with us, to die for us, to raise us from the dead and to raise us with all Creation into Heaven. Ascension is a day when we remember that through Christ earth and Heaven are one. Now let us, like those disciples return to our lives with joy, let us bless God continually in our church, and let us wait patiently for the gift of God’s Spirit! In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Choose To Love

Love. It is a powerful four letter word. Yet, I feel like it is lost in a world of Hallmark cards, Russell-Stover’s chocolate covered cherries, and Kay Jewelry boxes. Long before I was born, love began to shift from a verb to a noun. While that was dangerous enough, now love has been so corrupted by advertising agencies, big corporations, and even well-meaning people that its most common purpose is to peddle new laundry machines, station wagons, and even membership at a church. Love is not what it used to be.

When I was a kid I had it out for my sister and she had it out for me. There was barely any love between us. We could not sit in the same room, much less say to one another with any real honesty that we loved one another. Maybe we had conflicting personalities or perhaps we were just too different in age, but we fought like Alabama and Auburn. It was not very pretty. One time after I got angry because of something my sister did that I have now long forgotten, I asked politely if she could tie my shoe. While she was lacing my shoes I took my revenge and I kicked her over as she was innocently trying to help me. Even being 8 years older than me this required that she tell mom.

As my mom sat me down to talk about what I had done, I felt this furious emotion rising up within me. My mom asked, “Why did you do it?” I replied, “Because Elin” (my sister) “makes me so angry.” This was the first time, but hardly the last time that I heard the following words, “No one else can make you angry.” Growing from a frustrated child to confused adolescent I continued to allow my emotions to make me visibly distraught. In one fit of rage, my mom told me, “Anger is a part of life, you always have a choice of what to do with your emotions.” I am still learning this lesson of the difference between emotions and responses, but what does this have to do with love? Stick with me.

I still struggle with emotions. I imagine most people do. We live in a high-paced world in which processing emotions falls somewhere below taking out the trash and somewhere above reupholstering the couch on my to-do list. Yet, emotions have very little to-do with love. Jesus’ summary of God’s commandments shines as a beacon to follow through whatever sea of emotions washes over us. Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

This seems simple enough. Except, what about when I don’t feel warm and fuzzy around my neighbor? What about when I feel more excited about buying a new bow tie than I do about showing mercy, compassion, and kindness to my annoying acquaintance? What about when I feel angry because I did not get my way, because my sister made fun of me, or because I observe someone who is abusive to another? What about when I do not feel like loving someone else or even myself?

Simply put, we have lost the meaning of love. It is not about feeling good, though hopefully love does bring us abiding peace, joy, and spiritual growth. God continually from the beginning of time has shown us mercy, kindness, and compassion, as God faithfully responded to us, God’s Children. God desires that we love the Lord our God with our heart, mind, and spirit and love our neighbors in the same way God loves us. This means that we have to choose to show mercy, kindness, and compassion. God yearns for us to choose to love everyone we meet, to reciprocate what God shows to us, to be faithful just like God is faithful.

We cannot wait for a feeling to come to us. Jesus shows us his love by choosing to live beside us, die for us, and rise and ascend with us. No one can make us angry, happy, or sad. No one can make you love her or him. We have a choice regardless of our emotional state to love God and love our neighbor. Love is not a feeling, it is a choice. I choose to love God and to love you!

Searching For Some Good Real Estate

Do you ever find yourself stuck watching Home and Garden Television (HGTV)? When I was younger I made a promise to myself that I would refuse to watch such "an old person network." Yet, even before I hit 30 years old I find myself stopping on shows like "Beachfront Bargain Hunters," "Love It or List It," and "House Hunters." (Oh young Seth, you have so much still to learn!) What I find so intriguing about all of these programs, especially being a "homebody" at heart, is that I like to envision what it would be like to one day in the distant future live somewhere featured on HGTV (I do not intend to leave any time soon. I am talking four years down the road St. John's, Decatur folks). Maybe not in one of the actual homes appearing on TV, but I think about living in the mountains, on the beach, in the city, or in the country. By the time I flip off my television I am searching in my mind for a new place to call home.

Daydreaming about living somewhere else for a brief moment feels like a great escape at the time. It is refreshing, like a mini-mind-vacation. Yet, when I go searching inside for some fictional place to live I tend to leave behind what is really going on in life. This is not to say we should not think about where we live, or to dream about where we might one day live, nor is it to discount the necessity for us to have outlets for the stresses we encounter in life. We need to have healthy ways to get perspective on our daily lives. Still when I start to "future trip" to a beach bungalow in Clearwater, FL or think about flipping a home in Chattanooga, TN sometimes I end thinking that I will not be happy until I ______ (own a home, own a nice home, have granite counter tops, etc.). Believing that I have to do something to be happy is very similar to believing that I have to do something to achieve connection with the salvation that Christ initiates.

In today's letter to the Colossians, the author (probably not Paul) uses what is known as a Christ hymn to clarify for the readers that there is no requirement of any spiritual practices to satisfy some cosmic authority. There was a belief that was rampant within the church in Colossi that without ascetical work redemption in God's eyes is impossible. In the beauty of this passage though the writer of Colossians makes it clear that through Christ all things were made, in Christ God was pleased to dwell, and with Christ God lovingly reconciled all things to himself. 

Maybe this is familiar to us, and not just when we start to think that buying something new will make us feel better. Our salvation does not rest in something that we must accomplish, like updating our old bathroom with puke green wallpaper from the 1970s, so that our home might have better resale value. We are not a spiritual home-improvement project. We are not flip or flop. We are redeemed. 

We are holy and blameless and irreproachable before God because Christ Jesus has reconciled us. We can search for lots of good real estate, but we ought to know that we are priceless right were we are. Thanks be to God for that!

Lost and Found

When I was three years old my family took a vacation to London, England. For a couple weeks we traveled through the streets of this historic city, we went to museums, we saw Big Ben, we watched soccer games, and we celebrated Christmas. I loved it… for a while. But at the end I got homesick. Even though I was there with my family, I missed my bed, I missed my home, and mostly I missed what was familiar.

For those weeks in London I had a hard time recognizing anything. People there spoke with a funny accent (said in a funny English accent), they ate food that was not all that tasty to me, and they drove on the other side of the road. By the end of a couple of weeks I felt lost and confused. Finally though it was time to go home.

Since my parents were staying to teach a college course in London, my grandparents accompanied my sister and me home. We flew from London to Atlanta. Then we drove from Atlanta to my grandparents’ house in Birmingham. The journey felt like it took forever, even though I slept a lot of the way.

When I finally got to my grandparents’ house I finally recognized something. As we pulled into their driveway I saw something that did not seem odd or confusing or foreign. My eyes were opened when we got to my grandparents’ house. So what did I do? I started laughing. I could not help myself but keep chuckling. I giggled and snorted and snickered for the better part of an hour. I even went around touching things to make sure I was not dreaming because I finally did not feel lost anymore.

Sometimes though we feel lost. In my case it was because I was in a foreign land. The disciples in today’s gospel story are lost without their teacher, their leader, and their Savior. They are walking along a road that they probably knew on the way out of the troublesome Jerusalem where Jesus had died. We don’t know why they are going this way, but we know that they had all but given up hope in the Resurrection and were walking in the other direction. It is in this foggy state that they meet but do not recognize Jesus as he approaches them on the road.

Jesus though, walks with them, talks with them, and teaches them about the Scripture. Still these disciples do not recognize anything. Finally, they get to where they are going and Jesus acts like he is going to keep on walking. Something in the disciples urges them to invite Jesus to stay with them for evening is near. Jesus stays and they sit down to eat together. It is when Jesus breaks bread with the disciples that they finally recognize him.

We do not know what happened to Jesus, but he disappears. The disciples though identified him and they remembered that their hearts had been burning the entire time they were with Jesus. I wonder if those two disciples had a moment when they laughed and laughed and laughed until they cried. For they had been walking away from Jerusalem, the empty tomb, and the Risen Lord, they had been lost and confused, but now experienced the Resurrected Jesus.

Sometimes in life we can walk around and feel as though we have lost hope. Maybe it’s because we are feeling lost in a far away place, or maybe it’s because we feel lost right here at home. It is almost impossible in those moments to know that Jesus is walking with us, but he is. Jesus will come to us at all times and he will walk with us. Even if we cannot recognize him he will walk with us. Like the disciples we must listen to what Jesus tells us. Like the disciples we can feel our hearts burning within us. Like the disciples we are to invite Jesus to stay a little while longer. Jesus longs to break bread with us, to be with us in fellowship and in life.

This is the joy of our Risen Lord that he will make our hearts to burn and he will break bread with us. Thanks be to God for this!

Are You Bearing Good Fruit?

When I go to the grocery store I like to check where the fruit on the produce shelves is grown. Often it says Mexico, or if it is organic the label reads “Product of California.” At this time of year most of that fruit, shipped thousands of miles to get to our grocery stores is so dang expensive and not all that fresh, so I opt for something else. Sometimes though I will get a yearning for some fruit and so I will take a chance on some strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries, even when they are not in season locally. I have found that there is little in life that is less satisfying than biting into a strawberry that I paid too much for just to have it taste bitter, stale, or mushy. We all want good fruit, especially our vinegrower, but what makes good fruit?

At the age of 20 I took an outreach trip to Quito, Ecuador during Spring Break. Sewanee’s outreach department called it Alternative Spring Break. For nine days we stayed in a hostel, helped to build a school, played with children, taught a hygiene program, and processed our experience. One of the leaders, a woman named Cameron Graham Vivanco, explained to us a phenomenon in short term missions.

Cameron stated that most short term outreach, anything from a couple hours to twelve months of mission, is meant to inspire the persons who go on the trip to do something more. It was not to be seen merely as a trip, like a vacation, but rather a starting point that would change one’s life. She explained further that when one returns home he or she will go through stages of readjusting to home culture and one’s home life. There are commonly five such stages and they all begin with the letter F.

First, it is FUN to be back in one’s home culture. The language makes sense. One can order off the menu at a restaurant without hesitation. Home culture is comfortable.

Yet, home culture can seem strange and overbearing after being somewhere else. Therefore many people will FLEE that culture. This is when one starts to think, “The people in Ecuador have it right. They did it this way or that way. They live more simply or more positively.”

Often, this leads to the third F, which is FIGHTING. One might find home culture problematic and will do battle with that culture. Cameron told the story of going to Jamaica where there was not hot water, so to fight her home culture she stopped taking hot showers for a couple months.

Most people eventually give up the fight after some time and end up in the fourth F, as they FIT back into their culture. This is when the missional experience just turns into a photo album on one’s shelf or one’s computer. This is why most experts who work long term in mission say to short term mission groups, just send us your money. You will waste our time and your time if you just end up falling back into the same routines as before.

However, the last stage is the goal, not just of short term missions, but of our relationship with Christ, our relationship with God, and our life here on earth. The fifth F is FRUIT. If a short term mission experience was provocative, life-changing, and spirit-filled, then quite often it will lead to bearing good fruit.
Later I would return to Ecuador three times as an Alternative Spring Break leader. Each time we talked about the most important part of the experience was coming home. Each time the group worked on going through the first four F’s, so that we could begin to bear good fruit. Yet, still I find myself wondering, what is good fruit?

Jesus is our vine. He is the source through which we are fed. God is the tender of us branches. The vine tender will watch over our growth, will clean us off when we get to dirty, and water us with living water. Sometimes I worry about whether or not I am good enough. I focus on the times when I have grown in the wrong direction or taken more than my share of food or blocked others from the light. Yet, God does not worry about this, he finds those parts of us that are effecting good growth and with a kind heart clips away that which is not fruitful.

We can worry about whether or not we are good enough as we are. The message though is not about our being. We are already connected to the vine. We are already branches. We are part of God’s work in the world. God is calling us through Christ to bear good fruit, not just to fit into our culture, but to bring the love of God to those who need something sweet to eat.

Initial Thoughts on Emmaus

Read the text here.

“Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?"

On Saturday I had the privilege of running in my first half marathon. It was a blast and if you are in the least bit inclined to enjoy running and have not run in a big event like the Nashville half marathon, I highly recommend it. The fans, the support, the other runners, the after party, and the organization of that event was awesome! While I have been sore after races in the past, most notably the first time I ran really fast in track, what I forgot about running really fast is that afterward I pay for it. Yesterday and today I have been walking around like a ninety year old with achy muscles and creaking joints. To go so fast on Saturday means that I go so slowly today.

The ones who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus were foolish and slow of heart, and Jesus lets them know that they are missing the point. Yet, even when he points out that they are foolish and slow of heart, they do not recognize the Risen Lord walking with them and opening the Scripture to them. I have to stand up for these disciples who do not get it though. Sometimes when so much has happened, like when these disciples spent the last few days in fear of their lives, like when these disciples were running away from the religious and political leaders who killed Jesus, like when these disciples were mourning the loss of their faithful leader, we can be slow to move.

Our society moves at a pace that is ridiculously quick. We want everything and we want it right now! Jesus wanted his disciples to believe in the words of the prophets, but they have been spinning the wheels of their hearts too much to understand that the Risen Lord is among them. When we rush through life at a ridiculous pace our hearts often do not have time to keep up, so they become bogged down and we turn into fools.

The good news is that Jesus walks with us still, that he makes himself known to us in other ways, and that in God foolishness becomes wise. In this fast paced life, take time to slow down, to walk with Jesus, to listen to his words, so that your hearts might be quick to believe in the Risen Lord.

Knock, Knock... Who's There?

Here slightly abbreviated audio of this sermon here.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Open up, Seth!” the voices were almost inaudible over the sound of the blaring music. I was furious, fuming, and fearful. Not for the first time in the last week, I had blown up at my two best friends and suitemates. In shame and rage I locked myself inside my room. There I sat, alone, and tearful.

“Open up, Seth! We’re not mad, even if you are.” I did not want to open the doors up to my room or to myself. I felt too ashamed at the way I had treated my friends. They had shown me their love through laughing with me at things I had done and teasing me, but I took it so personally that I blew up at them and closed myself inside. So there I sat, locked up inside as the knocks kept coming.

The disciples heard no knock at their door. On a day that perhaps should have been filled with happiness and joy, they kept up their guard for fear of the Jews. Of course, they themselves were Jews, so John means the Jewish leaders who put Jesus to death. Yet, earlier in this same day Mary Magdalene brought these same men the joyful news, “I have seen the Risen Lord!” Still, the disciples locked themselves away.

Perhaps it was not just fear of the Jews. Maybe they were ashamed, maybe they were anxious, maybe they were afraid of meeting the Risen Lord. Peter had denied him and the rest had deserted him. How could they face their teacher now? Yet, even in this fearful moment when the disciples locked the door to their hideout and the doors to their hearts, Jesus finds his way inside.

“Peace be with you.” Then showing his hands and his side, wounds indicating that this is indeed Jesus in the flesh and blood, not some ghost, he says it again, “Peace be with you.”

When we hurt those whom we love we often find it so hard to let them inside. I was not willing to forgive myself for the stupid way I had treated my friends. When we hurt our spouses, children, parents, friends, or neighbors we can so easily hold onto that taking it personally. When we feel shame we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. This was how I felt that day in college, and that is, I believe, how the disciples felt. They were so afraid that they had let Jesus down that they did not want Jesus’ peace to come into their lives, for they were ashamed of how they had acted.

Jesus, though goes beyond just saying “Peace be with you,” as he gives them an eternal gift. Jesus breathes on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This wonderful gift though is accompanied by something more. It seems that Jesus knows that the disciples locking themselves away is not just a physical response, but also a feeling of guilt associated with the act of betraying him just three days earlier. Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Even if those sins are your own. If you hold onto sins, if you cannot forgive yourselves or others, you will have a hard time receiving the Spirit. Closed hands have a hard time holding onto a gift; a hardened heart has a difficult time receiving the Spirit. Yet even when we are stuck in our rooms with the doors locked, Jesus will come and find us.

Of course, there was one who missed this visit from the Risen Lord. Who knows where Thomas was, but he did not make it to this gathering. There is often much made of this disciples’ lack of faith, but he desires simply to have the same relationship with Jesus that his fellow followers did. What is amazing is that Jesus responds to Thomas’ need. Again the doors are shut, perhaps Thomas is still closed off, but Jesus greets him with “Peace be with you!” Then he offers something more, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas responds with a statement that shows his remorse, his belief, and his relationship with Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

We can of course, shake our finger at Thomas for lacking in faith, but we all struggle at times to surge forward in our belief. Jesus’ respond to Thomas is not accompanied by more shaming, but rather that we, and all who have come along as ones untimely born not present for the life of Jesus, are blessed when we believe without seeing. We are continuing to receive the Holy Spirit, and we continue to find Jesus though.

I spent far too long locked away in shame for my actions on that day long back in college. We can spend a lifetime withholding forgiveness for ourselves and others. Yet, when we are not open to God’s Spirit and its ability to help us forgive and be forgiven, then we miss the gift from God. Do not lock the doors to your hearts, but instead open up and allow the Holy Spirit to come inside.