Ascension Sunday

Our readings for Ascension Sunday of Easter:

1. Acts 1: 1-11
2. Psalms 43: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9
3. Ephesians 1: 17-12
4. John 24: 46-53

• Waiting on, and for, the Lord
• One of the struggles of the early Church revolved around the time table for Jesus' return.  If He was coming right back, there's no point in buying green bananas.  On the other hand, if it is going to be years, decades, millennia before He comes again, that's a horse of a very different color.
•  If you knew that Jesus was returning tomorrow, what would change in your life?
• How about in a year?
• Or five?
• Maybe fifty (for you younger disciples)?
• Why does it make a difference?
• Should it?
  

• The Light of Christ
• Power.  Apart from the understanding of that term in physics, we are conditioned to never seek power.  Perhaps that is because power is so often abused by us and among us.  But what if that didn't have to be the case?  What if power could be used for the good?
• What sort of power do you think it is that Jesus wants to confer on us as His disciples, His community, His Church?
• What are some examples of power that you have seen in your life?
• Do you feel that any of that power came from God?
• What should we, as His people, be doing with the power that we have?
• How do we find what that power is?
  

• A joyful noise
• Not all of us are talented.  Some may find it hard to bring anything offer God in worship.
• We tell the gathered assembly that they don't have to sound ethereally beautiful in order to properly worship the Lord in congregational singing.  If the sound isn't the point, what is?
• Conversely, is it possible for a soloist, or even an entire choir to sound glorious, and not be properly worshiping the Lord?
• What is that proper worship that God is looking for?
• How can we foster such worship in our hearts and the hearts of the gathered assembly?
  

• Go, you are sent
• Sacramentally, we believe that the Holy Spirit falls on us a Confirmation.  Fair enough.  But then what?
• Is the anointing of the Spirit a one time event, a process, perhaps a sequence of anointings?
• How do you tell that you have been anointed?
• Once that Spirit has come upon you, then what?  How do we find what to do next?
• Is that "finding what to do next" an event or a process?
• How do we know when we have it right?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
• Are you ready for Jesus to return?  If not today, when?
• Where might God be inviting you to offer the less than perfect parts of you?
• Where might God want you to better use the power that He has given you?
• Where is God sending you? 

 A Power Like No Other

Once upon a time, in a remote village in the northern foothills,
There was a an old brother named Matthias.

He had seen many years, dozens of kings.
Famines plagues, wars come and go.

And now, in the sunset of his life,
He fashioned poetry in the clay.

Fired in a hearth of his own making.
A few pieces at a time, but enough, just enough.

Matthias' needs were simple,
All he needed was time and health enough to pray.

Occasionally, one or another of the villagers would seek Matthias out.
Looking for the meaning of their lives.

Especially after some calamity, or senseless tragedy.
Matthias would listen, softly ask questions.

Help them talk it out.  And eventually lead them to silence.
Not as much because they had run out of things to say.

But because his guests finally realized that they needed to listen.
And Matthias would help them hear more clearly, with greater boldness.

Once a mighty king came to town on foot.
Clad simply, with a single companion to keep him company.

The king had just one question:
Why am I here?

Matthias did not answer for the longest time.
While the king spilled his years of frustration and longing.

Finally Matthias said "you already know the answer.  You just don't know that you know."
The king replied "my people, in the end, I just want to help them find happiness in who they are."

Matthias said "and that, your majesty, is your power in these lands.
You see, we each have power we scarcely know.

And until we find the courage to use that power,
We are useless, weak, and weary."

"What then, is your power might I ask" queried the king.
"My power lies helping others wait for the clamor in their hearts to find inner peace.

That they may finally ask the real questions.
And learn why there are here, now, in this sacred space and time.

And how to honor that holy destiny
With their whole body soul and spirit."

Shalom!