In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I find this a difficult feast to talk about . . . the feast of the Ascension.  It’s just about as hard to talk about as the Resurrection . . . because with both events we 21^st century people tend to get caught up in questions of “how” . . . just HOW did Christ rise from the dead and HOW did he ascend to heaven?  And, as if these questions weren’t difficult enough to answer, they may be followed by others: “And just where IS heaven, anyway?  Is heaven a PLACE that we can find somehow?  Hmmmmm?”

It doesn’t help matters that only one of the Gospels clearly mentions the Ascension:  the Gospel of Luke.  (The Ascension IS also mentioned in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, but since we think the same person wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, I don’t think we can count these as two different testimonies.)  Turning to the Gospel of Mark, we’re not quite certain how it originally ended . . . my study Bible has three possible endings and only the longest of them mentions the Ascension . . . 1 out of 3 aren’t very good betting odds.  Matthew ends with a speech by Jesus . . . no Ascension there.  And, as usual, the Gospel of John tells quite a different story from the other three . . . it ends with breakfast on the beach and Jesus and Peter taking a little stroll.  Oh dear . . . .

Well, HOWEVER it happened . . . it happened.  Take my word for it.  And by that I mean that Christ, risen from the dead, left his disciples for a second time.  Somehow, somewhere, he went away . . . again.  And I wonder just how they felt about this.  Angry?  Sad?  Lonely?  “There he goes again . . . .”

Remember, they didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet.  Pentecost hadn’t yet occurred.  They’d not been filled with the power of God . . . yet.  The church didn’t exist . . . yet.  Pentecost is often described as the birth of the church . . . but Pentecost hadn’t occurred yet, so the church didn’t exist yet.  The disciples were on their own.

And yet, things had fundamentally CHANGED for them.  So maybe the disciples didn’t so much feel lonely, or sad, or angry . . . as they felt expectant.

In other sermons I’ve talked to you about the Resurrection and explained that the “how” of it isn’t so important . . . it certainly wasn’t important to the evangelists because they didn’t talk about it at all.  What’s important about the Resurrection is the effect it has on the disciples . . . on EVERYONE who encounters the risen Lord.  Encountering the risen Christ people’s HEARTS are changed . . . they encounter the divine . . . they get a taste of the Kingdom of God.  They are CHANGED.

Oh no, the disciples still don’t UNDERSTAND what’s goin’ on.  Intellectually, they’re still mystified.  In the Book of Acts, as Jesus is explaining to the disciples that he’s going to leave them again, but return a final time, they ask him, “Lord, is THIS the time when you will restore the Kingdom to Israel?”  After everything they’ve been through, the disciples are still clinging to the idea of the earthly Kingdom of David being restored to the Israelites. They’re still holding onto old dreams, old desires, old ways of thinking.

But their hearts ARE changed.  They may not understand what’s happening, but they have the heart now to wait and see . . . .

Ya know, we may be a little like them now.

The other afternoon, trying to figure out what I’d say to you this evening, I went for a walk in the neighborhood.  It was a gray day . . . a little drizzle was falling . . . Parkville was not looking its best . . . and even on the best of days, Parkville isn’t the most beautiful of neighborhoods.  I began to look closely at the buildings, the shops and their wares, the fliers and the occasional graffiti, the trash on the streets . . . I watched the cars going by and the people passing me on the street.

School was out and a group of adolescents was walking toward me.  I could tell by looking at him that one of the boys in the group was thinking about giving me a hard time . . . nothing serious, just a bit of adolescent hazing . . . maybe it was my Anglo face . . . maybe it was my collar . . . who knows.  I simply looked at him and he thought better of doing whatever it was that had crossed his mind.  As the group passed me I marveled at the language they were using:  the word “vulgar” doesn’t seem to do it justice.

And I found myself thinking about those young people . . . and about language . . . and I began to wonder what the word “God” might mean to them.  And then I began to wonder how many people really know – really and truly KNOW – the love of Christ.  Fewer and fewer I fear.

On this little walk, I began to think that you and I live more and more in a world that resembles the world the disciples lived in between the Ascension and Pentecost.

“Oh, but the CHURCH is here!” you may exclaim.  “There was no community filled with the Holy Spirit during that time between the Ascension and Pentecost . . . and now we have all THIS!”  True, and your presence here shows how important the church is to you.  But consider, my friends, how few of us there are inside these walls and how many there are outside.

We live in a world in which, increasingly, the church is seen as unimportant and even irrelevant.  In growing corners of the world, the church might just as well not exist.  And, like the disciples after Jesus left them at the Ascension, we may still be holding onto old dreams, old desires, old ways of thinking.  Oh yes, our hearts have been changed by our encounters with the risen Lord . . . but like the disciples we may not fully understand what’s going on.  I hope, at least that we’re expectant . . . .

What to do?  What to do?  We could use a little guidance, couldn’t we?

Well, why not turn to the Bible, to Jesus, to the last words he left his disciples?  I remember when I was a kid being told about famous people’s last words . . . they were supposed to be a summing up, a revelation of personality, a dispensation of wisdom . . . all delivered in a few choice words.  I remember seeing collections of these pithy sayings.  Let’s see what Jesus has to say just before he leaves his disciples.

Of course, as I’ve mentioned, we’re not quite certain how Mark’s Gospel ends . . . but in the longest of the three potential endings, Jesus says this:  “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” 

The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus saying this, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We assume that the same person wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts . . . and here, just before Jesus is lifted up into a cloud, we find him telling the disciples, “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.”

It sounds to me like a theme is developing. . . .  Of course, as I’ve mentioned to you already, the Gospel according to John ends very differently from the other three.  Nevertheless, I think that Jesus’ last words fit the theme of evangelism that the other three Gospels clearly state . . . I think Jesus’ last word here are hauntingly perfect.  What are they? . . . “Follow me!”  “Follow me!”

What to do?  What to do?  In this time when society increasingly finds the church to be irrelevant . . . in this time when our hearts may be full, but our thoughts may be clouded by old dreams and old desires . . . what to do?  Follow Jesus!  Follow him knowing that he is indeed with us to the end of the age.

May we indeed follow Jesus into the world spreading the good news.  May we help more and more people to know the love of Christ.  May we experience at Pentecost a rebirth of the church . . . and KNOW the power of God within us.  Come Holy Spirit!

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