This is my last planned Sunday in the pulpit before maternity leave, which is oddly appropriate since it’s also Mothers’ Day. I want to tell you one story about preparing my family for the new baby: I was snuggling with Sophie (my 3 year old) earlier this week and asking her if she remembered how we went to the hospital a year or so ago to get Sam. She said yes. I explained that when [Maya] was ready, we’d go to the hospital and get her too, but only when she was ready--and we wouldn’t know when to go until she was ready! Sophie repeated, “when Maya is ready, we go to the hospital.” Wow, Good, I thought. She understands.
Twenty minutes later, after breakfast, Sophie stands up from the table, looks at me and says, “I’m ready, let’s go to the hospital!” She looked at me like, “what are you waiting for?” But, as we all know, it just isn’t up to her or me!
Pregnant Expectations: Patience and Waiting
If we can understand a child’s impatience to see her new sister, or even if we know the feeling of waiting for a baby to be born and not quite knowing when--which I know is a theme for many families in our church this spring and summer--then maybe we can understand how the disciples felt, standing on that hill on Ascension Sunday. Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Holy Spirit, which would come to them, “not many days from now.” And the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They really were anxious to know--not only when they would see Jesus again, but also when the world would be made just, when the Roman military would be gone from their country and they’d be in charge again. A lot was wrapped up in their expectations of what was coming next. So we can understand their disappointment when Jesus told them, “It is not for you to know the times which the Father has set by his own authority.”
Still, there was something in store for them as they waited. Jesus also said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Basically, they will be given an incredibly important and massive task. This seems like a lot of news to absorb, so we can understand why they all stood there gaping when Jesus then is lifted up to heaven and out of sight!
Same Story, Way Different Endings: Choose Your Own Adventure?
Now, I want to back-track for a moment, because maybe you noticed that there were two Ascension stories read this morning. I would like to point out that they were even written by the same author--the same guy wrote both Luke and Acts, which are really to be read as Book One and Book Two. Luke covers what Jesus did, and Acts covers what the disciples did, and this story sort of overlaps. However, did you notice the difference in how the story ends? In Luke, the disciples hear what Jesus has to say and head on down the mountain worshipping God and with great joy and spending all their time in the temple blessing God. But in Acts, the ending changes, and the same disciples are just dumbfounded that Jesus has left after giving them this huge task, so much so that two angels come and say, “What are you waiting for? He’s gone, and he’ll come back when he’s ready!”
To be honest, if I put myself in their shoes, I’d be more like the second version. And I might be thinking, ‘And you want me to do what? And you want me to do it how?’
As one of my colleagues put it recently, this sounds an awful lot like the day you learn to ride your bike without training wheels. Sure, you’ve gotten good at it with the supports there, but this is a major step. There is a real risk of falling, or failing. And yet, we’re not entirely powerless--just as Jesus says, the Holy Spirit will give the disciples power to be witnesses, even to the ends of the earth. It is not a hopeless task for people abandoned by God. Although Jesus had physically disappeared from their sight, the Holy Spirit was still present, equipping them to make a difference in the world. And certainly the Holy Spirit is present with us now, whether we realize it or not, equipping us also to make a difference in the world! This is a good reason to go out with joy, and whether here or anywhere, to continually bless and praise God.
Go, My Children, With My Blessing:
I’d like to take a moment and talk about this blessing, which is a word used throughout the scriptures today. Jesus is blessing the disciples, the disciples are blessing God--at least in one version of the story; and Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, which is in Turkey, that he does not cease to give thanks for them. Everyone is blessing one another, or giving thanks or praising them, and that’s kind of neat. And also I think kind of essential for everyone keeping up each others’ spirits in the work that they are doing. I might also say that I wonder what Jesus was thinking in that moment of taking leave. After all, he knew the disciples, probably knew well that dumbfounded look, knew what hijinks they had been up to before and what mistakes they might make in the future. Still, he blessed them, and commended the Holy Spirit to them to help them--as human as they were, and with all their foibles.
Which brings me back to us here in this church. Just as the scripture has a lot of parting words, I suppose at least for a time, I have a few parting words about the next few weeks of my leave. You’ll probably still see me with our family on Sundays, though we’ll be hanging out in the back pew. I give thanks for all the people who will lend a hand while I’m taking time to focus on our family, because I know that the church is in good hands, between the Session, and Pastor Nancy who is coming to help, and with the Deacons, and in the office with Priscilla and Sue and Dave and Marge. I know that during this time, I’ll get to experience our church from a different view, and hear someone else preach, and those will both be blessings to me. There will be some days when I’m away--for example, one weekend I’m co-presiding at my best friend’s wedding in Chicago; another Sunday I’m accepting an invitation to visit our neighbors over at Hillcrest [Bible Church, also here in Oregon]. If we’re up to it, I might even spend one Sunday back at my home church in Iowa. These opportunities to be in different places are also blessings to me. We’ve got plenty of plans for when I get back to work, what with camp and the mission trip and even the Mallards game, and those are all exciting as well. But whether I am away or I am here, I give thanks always for you, because I know of your faith and your love in this congregation, and I know that the Holy Spirit is with you in all your efforts to serve the Lord. Let us bless one another and give thanks for one another, knowing we are not alone in our tasks, but continually aware of God’s presence. And let us go forth from this place in joy. Amen.
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