On Wednesday, we celebrated a major holy day of the church. Did you know? Did you gather here at the church in worship and praise? Did you make special food at your home to celebrate? Did you even have any sense that there was something special about Wednesday? Wednesday was Ascension Day. The Ascension is 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus, when Jesus is taken up into heaven. This rarely celebrated holiday is an important celebration in the life of Jesus and in the life of the church. Often churches have celebrated this festival on Sunday, if they have celebrated it at all. Jesus speaks to his disciples after a number of resurrection appearances, reminding them of what he had taught them over the last three years. From the first chapter of Acts, we hear, “In face-to-face meetings, Jesus talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”
When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”
These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left.”
Jesus is lifted into heaven, before their eyes and they find themselves dumbfounded staring at the sky. Content, the disciples find themselves standing there. Savoring the moment. Enjoying the specter. Being present. All of the catch phrases of modern, pop psychology. The angels shake them back to reality – why are you just standing around – get to WORK! You have been given the gift of God’s strength for the very purpose of using it!
On this Ascension Sunday, we remember that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father (as our creeds remind us). But we also remember that before ascending Jesus took care of his disciples. He began to prepare them for what was coming next. Next Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost, we will delight in how while the disciples were gathered together the Holy Spirit came among them and came upon them in ample giftedness. But we get ahead of ourselves in the story of God.
For today, we celebrate the power of God in the lives of the disciples of dusty roads and two thousand years ago as well as the power of God in our lives today. The power of a God who can indeed move mountains and heal disease. The power of a God who can comfort pain and change lives. The power of a God who brings justice and renewed mercy. A God who offers God’s very power, if we but choose God.
Our psalm this morning, Psalm 1 opens the entire psalter. It is an invitation to God’s presence and wisdom, God’s mercy and power. The psalter as the songbook of the people of Israel and for us today, invites the whole community to the hope and promise that blessings will come from delighting in the instruction of the LORD. Psalm 1, specifically, describes the life that is available in the power of God.
In the final analysis, Psalm 1 invites our choice in life. Part of our quandary is this: Robert Frost wrote “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry that I could not travel both…” Will we receive the power of God and walk in the way that leads to life? Will we continue on our own ways without the presence and power of God? The biblical scholar, J. Clinton McCann says it this way: “The contrasting ways yield sharply different consequences that are emphasized by the first and last words of the psalm — “Happy” and “perish.” “Happy” begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and “perish” begins with the final letter. The rhetorical style emphasizes the comprehensiveness of the choice. Will we choose God’s way, which promises life? Or will we choose to go our own way, which promises death?1”
God’s way, the way that promises life also promises the strength of God in our very lives. In the letter to the Colossians, we hear prayers for the strength of God. The author’s prayer for them in verse 9 does not indicate a necessary lack in the knowledge of God, nor does verse 11 indicate a lack of strength. Rather building on the fullness of possibility to the people at Colossae, the author is directly connecting the reality that the gospel creates with the imperative to live fully with the strength and knowledge of God. Knowledge, nor strength is not then, some secret understanding or giftedness imparted only to a few privileged initiates.
The strength of God when “I am weak, but thou are strong2”. The strength of God “when the storms of life are raging, stand by me3”. The strength of God when we pray for “strength for today and bright home for tomorrow.4” God’s strength that carries us.
This week was our annual conference in Oaks, Pennsylvania. We, here at West Grove, sent four delegates: Pastor Jim, Cindy Haley, Luke Chalmers, and myself. One delegate in training, Peter. As well as had Betsy playing for our memorial service. Over 900 persons gathered to praise God and seek God’s way for the direction of the church. Resolutions were brought forward, debate engaged us, and conversation moved the days forward. One of my favorite things about Annual Conference is that we expect God to be present. We know that as a body of various opinions and experiences, thoughts and personalities that we will get nowhere without the strength of God undergirding our very proceedings. You will hear more about Annual Conference in the weeks and months to come reflecting the important work of being the church together. However, for today, I give thanks to God that we can 900 people strong have together the strength of God for the building up of the world.
On this Ascension Day, we celebrate the strength of God every time that the body of Christ gathers. We celebrate the God never calls us to walk life alone. We can leave on God and on one another. We call on the power of Jesus for healing and wholeness, and or wisdom and inspiration. Each and every time, you find yourself faltering, I invite you to call on the name of Jesus and know the strength of God.
We feel our arms stretched upward, our roots deep, and we are trees giving glory to God, swayed only by the wind of the Spirit, watered by the grace of Baptism. We call on God to know we too, can have the strength of God. Leaning on the everlasting arms – We cannot FAIL! The strength of God is our Strength!
Thanks be to God, Amen.
1https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2452.
2Just a Closer Walk with Thee
3Stand By Me
4Great is Thy Faithfulness
New Testament Lesson: Colossians 1:9-12
For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 1
The Two Ways
Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.