Ascension and Gratitude

Acts 1:1-11

Psalm 47

Ephesians 1:15-23

Luke 24:44-53

This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on May 13, 2018.

Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Ascension, a feast that commemorates a truth we claim and proclaim every Sunday when we say, “I believe…in Jesus Christ…who ascended into heaven.” According to the two-part book that scholars call Luke-Acts, Christ was lifted up to heaven and a cloud took him away. Honestly, my left brain (my logic and reason) has great difficulty accepting this part of the Creed and the Scriptures. I have what one colleague jokingly calls “Ascension Deficit Disorder.”[1] My problem with this “ascension” is that the author was writing according to an ancient worldview, which held that Heaven was physically above us and Hell was physically below us. Modern science and space exploration have challenged and shattered this worldview. The first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is purported to have said about his experience in space in 1961, “I looked and looked but I didn’t see God.” This thus begs the question, “What really happened to the Risen Jesus?”

My left brain is partially satisfied in thinking that Jesus ascended into another dimension since String Theorists suggest that there are at least 10 dimensions in physical space that our limited, three-dimensional minds cannot perceive. That is a very fascinating suggestion, especially in light of what we Christians believe about there being saints and angels among us and the idea that we sing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. It is a very compelling thought that Jesus ascended into another dimension, but then that kind of makes me feel like I’m reading a science-fiction story. And why did he have to ascend in order to enter another dimension?

It always helps me to remember that these sacred Scriptures are not scientific documents but rather stories attempting to communicate supernatural phenomenon. Religious author Karen Armstrong calls theology “a species of poetry,” using metaphor and imagery to convey spiritual truth. Luke was using this “species of poetry” when he wrote about the Ascension. So what spiritual truth is he trying to communicate?

The authors of the Christian Scriptures often make allusions to stories and scenes from the Hebrew Scriptures in order to express a truth about Christ. Here, Luke is alluding to the prophet Elijah’s Ascension in II Kings (2:1-12). Before leaving his faithful student and disciple, Elijah says to him, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” His disciple responds with a bold request: “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” Elijah, willing to grant his disciples’ request, tells him to watch him as he leaves. So the disciple watches Elijah leave but he also screams and shouts while watching Elijah leave because of the whirlwind and the fire and the flaming horses that snatched Elijah up into heaven! But it worked. After Elijah’s ascension, all the prophets declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests on his disciple!”

So according to Hebrew tradition, a disciple receives the spirit of the master while watching the master ascend to heaven. That is why Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Holy Spirit will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). In fact, Jesus said his disciples (including us!) will do even greater things than Jesus since he is leaving! (John 14:12). It’s almost as if we all get a double dose of Jesus’s spirit.

When Christ’s disciples received the spirit of their master on Pentecost, they also got caught up in a fiery whirlwind not unlike Elijah’s chariot and began speaking in other languages and preaching and behaving in such a way that others thought they were drunk! And thus the Church was born. (And next Sunday we celebrate this birthday of the church, the day of Pentecost.)

Now that same Spirit that empowered and seemed to intoxicate the apostles is available to all of us through our baptism. Just as the disciples received the Holy Spirit after the Ascension so too do we receive the Spirit of the master through our baptism. And the Spirit of the master clothes us with power from on high and empowers us to do even greater things than the master himself!

This may initially be difficult for us to believe or comprehend, especially since we don’t often see ourselves performing the same great signs and wonders that Jesus performed while on earth. However, since Jesus was only physically on the earth for a short period of time constrained to one geographical location, we should not be surprised by the possibility that we can do much more as a community of people here for a much longer period of time and connected to a global economy and a worldwide communion of fellow believers (all of our fellow Anglicans and Christians around the world). We can indeed do greater things than Jesus as long as we remain connected to that same Spirit that dwelled in him. And we remain connected to that same Spirit of Christ by practicing the spiritual disciplines.

Last week, I mentioned the three simple rules of the Anglican priest John Wesley: Do no harm, do good and stay in love with God. Later that day, I spoke with a Methodist who attended the Sunday afternoon concert here at Christ Church and he told me that the original three rules of John Wesley were actually slightly different. They were “Do no harm. Do good. And practice the spiritual disciplines.” That makes sense because that is, in fact, how we stay in love with God and stay connected to the Spirit by having a regular practice of prayer, worship, Bible Study, and service to others. These are ways that we can overcome Ascension Deficit Disorder and do even greater things than our master.

One especially important discipline that we recognize today is the discipline of gratitude, a discipline that Paul references in his letter to the Ephesians when he says, “I do not cease to give thanks.” We recognize this discipline of gratitude today because today is the United Thank Offering Spring Ingathering. For those who don’t know, the United Thank Offering, is an important ministry of the Episcopal Church that began in 1889 in order to encourage men, women and children to practice the discipline of gratitude, to give thanks to God for the thousands of little things that go right every day. We are invited to express this gratitude by simply putting coins each day into a little blue box. Twice a year, these humble thank offerings are collected, blessed, and then united with other thank offerings from across the diocese and the country. They are then sent to the national United Thank Offering program, which administers grants to help feed the hungry, clothe the poor, provide shelter for the homeless and provide care and support for those with physical, mental and emotional challenges. Over the years, the United Thank Offering has helped bring healing, health and wholeness to millions of people around the world as a result of the monies raised. By practicing the spiritual discipline of gratitude as a community, we become empowered by Christ’s Holy Spirit to indeed do even greater things than our master.

So let us continue to tap into the life-giving and world-changing power of the Holy Spirit by practicing the disciplines of prayer, worship, service, and gratitude so that people can say of us what was said of Elijah’s student after Elijah ascended: “The spirit of the master rests on his disciple!” May people say, “The spirit of the Risen Christ who has ascended rests on the people of Christ Church Eureka.” May it be so. Amen.