It’s Up to Us
Reflections on the Ascension
RCL Easter 7A
24 May 2020
New Westminster BC
Tuum est
I want you to search your memories to the first time you remember being put in charge of something. Perhaps it was when you received the keys to your first car as a teenager or when your boss left you in charge of the workplace or when you babysat a child or children for the first time. If your experience is similar to mine, it was a moment filled with both excitement and terror.
The first time I remember was the summer after Grade 9. Two of my teachers owned a firework business and hired former students to work for them. It was considered quite the coup to be asked to work for Mr Knox and Mr Kordula. They were highly thought of among my group of friends and the idea of having access to all those fireworks for the 4th of July was a powerful incentive.
We had to begun by an assembly-line process of packing up assortment bags and then delivering them to the various stands that Mr Knox and Mr Kordula had around the city. Then, four weeks before the 4th of July, we were permitted to open the shutters on the stands and begin our sales.
For the first week we first-timers were accompanied by one of our former teachers or by one of the older high-school boys. But on the second week we were dropped off and left alone for the first four hours of our shifts. I remember being given a cash box with fifty dollars or so in change, the key to the padlock in case I had to leave for any reason and a promise that someone would be back later to be with me. Then off they drove and I was alone in a plywood fireworks stand on a busy street in a neighbourhood I didn’t know. I was thrilled to have the responsibility and I was terrified by all the things that could go wrong on my watch.
I think back to that summer and find the motto of the University of British Columbia pops into my mind’s eye: Tuum est. Whether you translate it as ‘It’s yours’ or ‘It’s up to you’, the message is the same: Life is filled with moments of excitement and terror when we realize that the responsibility is ours and it is up to us fulfill that responsibility as best as we may.
God may have seriously over-estimated our ability.
The Scriptures are filled with humorous moments despite the opinions of some people. Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles is a case in point. Jesus and his disciples go to the top of a hill near Jerusalem. A few words are exchanged and then Jesus is taken from them, just as Elijah was taken from his disciple, Elisha.
As Jesus disappears from their sight, the disciples are all craning their necks upwards, each of them hoping to catch one final glimpse of their teacher. Then comes the moment of humour. Two persons, clearly angels of God, come upon this scene. The disciples are gawping into the heavens. They are oblivious to everything else going on around them. The angels then intervene.
I’ve always had a sense of the angels aping the disciples’ upward gaze into the heavens before they speak. Our English translations are so formal: “They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1.11) I think that the angels said something more like this, “Guys, quit gawping. There’s a lot of work to be done before the kingdom Jesus spoke of comes in its fullness. So get yourselves in order, go back to Jerusalem and get ready for incredible amount of work that will soon be coming your way.”
It’s traditional to speak about Pentecost, next Sunday’s celebration as the birthday of the church, but I’m of a different mind. To my way of thinking, the ascension of Jesus marks the birthday of the church, this assembly of free people called upon to take counsel for and to work towards the common good of the whole world. Ascension is the day that the keys to the car are handed over to us. Ascension is the day that the boss puts us in charge of the workplace. Ascension is the day that God gives into our charge the care of all God’s beloved children. Ascension is the day that all Christians should feel a tremor of excitement and a shudder of terror. The responsibility is ours and it is up to us to fulfill that responsibility as best as we can.
One of my classmates in seminary faced a difficult first year in ministry. When he went to his bishop for counsel, the bishop said to him, ‘Remember, God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.’ My friend, never one to take advice easily, said to his bishop, ‘Well, I think that God has seriously over-estimated my ability.’
Infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Christian discipleship at the best of times is not easy. Each one of us knows the struggles we’ve experienced as we have sought to follow the way of Jesus. We can commit ourselves to doing justice and then learn how costly justice can be and how differently faithful people believe justice is. We can find comfort in loving kindness and then tell tales about how kindness has been thrown back into our faces and how our goodwill has been misused by others. We can do our best to walk humbly with God and then remember how we’ve been overlooked at important moments and how our gifts have not been respected.
And then there are times such as these. Open public worship has been suspended. The many community groups that use our facilities have also suspended their activities. We’ve experienced loss of income without any significant decrease in our expenditures.
Despite the losses we’ve also experienced gains. Through our on-line presence we are reaching people we’ve never reached before. Just recently I had a conversation with a person who has been watching our on-line services because they had seen our banner over the front door. They thought that a church that would share such a message was a church worth looking at more closely. We’re re-learning the importance of a simple telephone call and the value of regular and constant contact, whether by e-newsletter or by post.
Friends, Christ was raised and ascended two thousand years ago. In the meantime ordinary disciples such as we have been taking up our responsibility to witness to his ministry of justice, of compassion and of humility. We’ve made spectacular contributions to the well-being of the human family and we’ve had catastrophic failures from which we are still recovering. Through it all we can still dare to give glory to God “who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3.20) We’re not standing around gawping into space. We’ve gone back to Jerusalem and have been hard at work.
It’s still thrilling to be part of God’s mission here in New Westminster. So much is being done, so much still to be done. It’s also a little bit terrifying as well. Ours are the hands God using, ours the feet that walk the path, ours the voices that speak the words people need to hear. Whether thrilling or terrifying, the truth remains: Tuum est. It’s ours. It’s up to us. And God has not chosen badly.
