Skip to main content

We're Still Here!

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen

This past Thursday, May 29, was a very special day in the history of Christianity, but a day that is rarely celebrated in the church. Thursday was the Ascension of Our Lord. That is, Thursday was the 40th day after Easter and therefore it marks the day that Jesus ascended back to heaven, from which he came, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus’ departure literally inaugurated the beginning of the church, but according to Luke, the author of this Acts text that we read this morning, that beginning of the church was not exactly clear to the disciples. Can you imagine that; the church wasn’t sure hat to do? Actually, as I read this story, I find humorous, because for the past several weeks we have been reading about how Jesus had been preparing his disciples for his departure and how he had been telling them that when he left, it would be there job to carry on and when the time actually comes and he does leave, all they can do is stand there and stair.

In fact, we are told that as they stood there, two men in white robes appeared and they had to rattle the disciples cages a little to get them moving: “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" (Acts 1:11). Had the angels not been so politically correct at that moment, I personally believe those two angels wanted to say, “What are you doing? He told you when he left you would be the ones to go and continue his work. Stop standing around, go do it!” But, as we know, they only asked the guys what they were doing staring off into space, so instead of beginning the ministry of the church, they went back to their “upper room,” and prayed. Now there is nothing wrong with praying, but, there was work to be done!

Next week, as we celebrate Pentecost, we will hear how the Holy Spirit came and “woke them up,” so to say, to go do the worldwide mission of the church. But in the meantime, once we have heard this humorous story, our Gospel story for today, takes us back to hear a few more of Jesus’ words to his disciples before his death. The words we read today are powerful words that are meant to encourage his disciples and us today.

Now as we read this text, we get the feeling that Jesus is praying, and he is, but unlike we Lutherans today, who like to pray silently, so no one can hear us, Jesus prays aloud. Jesus is not off alone somewhere with clutched hands praying by a big rock while the disciples take a nap, as our stain glass window depicts. No, as Jesus prays this prayer, he is sitting around a table, after the meal and some extended conversation, and the disciples heard every single word of that this prayer. So much for praying silently!

I find this to be a very powerful prayer and a prayer that gives me strength, because this prayer is a prayer for us. Jesus prayed for us! Jesus asked his Father, our Father, to give us eternal life. Wow! Now the question is what is eternal life. So often when we talk about eternal life, we talk about heaven. We talk about some future place that we can only hope for, but Jesus, in this prayer, tells us exactly what eternal life is, and it is something God gives us now. Eternal life is not about some future after-life, no eternal life is knowing God and Jesus whom God sent into this world. On this last Sunday in the season of Easter, we are reminded that eternal life is much more than a resurrection. It is more than an empty tomb. Eternal life is to “know” God, and to know God in in John’s Gospel is not about knowing God intellectually. It is not about some creedal statement, not is it about confessing Jesus as our Lord. Knowing God, according to Jesus, is to be in a relationship with God. Jesus asks God to always be in relationship with us. That is eternal life and you and I have already been given this gift. Why? Because Jesus asked for it and his Father, our Father, will do whatever His Son asks. That is the promise of Easter and with that promise of eternal life being ours, Jesus is ready to send his followers, and that means you and me today into this world, “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world…” (John 17:11).

Jesus is no longer physically in this world. Jesus is no longer here to take the rejection for those who decide to following in his ways, we will feel rejected, we will be persecuted, but, Jesus says, Father, protect them. As we prepare to bring this Easter season to a close, we know we are entering a season in which we will be challenged constantly to go do God’s will, and when we do, we will face unbelievably hard challenges and barriers. At times those challenges and barriers will seem impossible to overcome, and if truth be told, if we do these things alone, we will fail and evil will win.

But, the great promise we hear in this prayer today is that we are not alone. Not only do we have God’s Spirit in us; not only do we already have the promise of eternal life, but we also have each other. Alone, we will fail, but together we are one and we can and will do incredible things. Together, we, that is the church, can and will change the world. Together we can, and will, be a light in this darkened world.

As I prayed about this text this week and thought about some of the difficult tasks that have been set before us as a faith community, God opened my eyes to some incredible things we have done together. One of which is our financial situation. You know, it seems like we are always saying we are short of money, and, we are. We need more money to fix our old facilities. We need more money to expand our staff to meet the needs of our community and the ministries we have been called to do. But, do you realize that in the past 7 years, this faith community has spent over $1.4 million dollars in facilities and property, and, yet, we only have a debt of $350,000. As one faith community, not a community of 450 individuals, we have made huge strides financially in the past 7 years.

Since 2010, this faith community has been distributing bags of groceries to families in need and last year alone we gave away over 1200 bags of groceries and that equates to over 14,000 meals served. As one faith community, not a community of 450 individuals, we have made huge strides against hunger in the past 4 years.

In addition, this congregation, along with many other congregations, serves meals at Children’s Memorial. Through our youth programs and the Kansas city Lutheran Youth Coalition, KCLYC, and our adult service network, the Kansas City Service Network, we have served other families and other faith communities by offering literally thousands of hours of labor for various projects. Individually, not one of us could have ever accomplished all of this, and yet, together, working as one, we have accomplished greater things than Jesus ever did in this life, as he told us we would

Brothers and sister, Jesus ahs returned top the Father, and he will come again, but we are still here! As we await his coming again, we know we have already received the gift of eternal life and with that relationship with God, together we have and will continue to do great things. I know at times the challenges laid before us seem impossible, but with Christ, all things are possible and today we are reminded that although Christ is no longer physically in this world, we are still here and we have been empowered to do great things. Jesus has prayed for us and through his prayer, we have been given everything we need to be one in Christ. Thanks be to God!

Tags: Sermons