Ascension (writing in the Albuquerque airport)

Last week we celebrated the ascension of Jesus. It seems this is important but for most of my life, the churches I have been a part of did not really celebrate it. Here is the description in Acts:

Acts 1:1-11
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 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."

There are a few things that seem important to me. First, faith in Jesus always looks to the future. The past was devastating for the disciples. Their leader had been tortured and killed. It could have been a time of lamenting. But Jesus points to the future and the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new way. It is not like we should ignore the past – the past work of Jesus is very important. Rather, it is that the purpose of the past is for the future. So, I wonder, how can we look to the future at ROC? The second important thing is that the power is not temporal but spiritual. The focus from outside of time is very different than the one from inside of time. It is not that the physical or material is unimportant, it is just that the spiritual realm is where God works so powerfully. We tend to look for the temporal. The question is, what will happen next in the spiritual for us? The third is that the focus is not looking up to heaven. Heaven is obviously important but it seems that the focus in this context is not up – it is out. The angels ask the disciples, why are you looking up? Later in the chapter it says “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.” So, they go back to Jerusalem as Jesus commanded. They pray and wait. I wonder how we at ROC might pray and wait?

I hope this season of celebration of the ascension of Jesus is meaningful and inspiring for you.