Ascension Day is this coming Thursday, the 20th., That is the day when the Church remembers
Jesus' return to heaven. There is no scriptural record of his reappearance here in any similar fashion after that
event, and so for the Church this marks a real turning point in what it means to be a disciple, to live in that
time between presence and absence,---in the almost but the not yet, with the memory and the promise.
Entering that space requires a necessary leave taking and a developed understanding of the importance of timing.
There is an art to saying goodbye and in the traditions of both Old and New Testaments the most spiritually advanced
people take their leave in mythic ways, yet with eloquence and dignity. From Moses to Paul there are dramatic departings.
Here in the last of the Gospels John gives us his account of how Jesus chose to say "good-bye." It is
plain and simple, but there are unique elements in the packaging that are anything but coincidental.
There are three things about his admonitions that are also found in our reading from The Book of the Revelation.
It too is a kind of "leave taking" since it records the end of the Bible story as we know it. It gives
a vision of a time when all the scattered pieces come together again. When what began in a kind of primeval garden
called Eden, with no organized religion---ends in a highly organized city, carefully planted with life-giving trees
and a bright, crystal river running through it. That new Eden, a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven also contains
no formal elements of religion,---no temple, no external source of light--- but back where we first began, with
God in the midst of us once more!
It's the blessed day the psalmist celebrates when all of the earth's people will recognize and rejoice in the sovereignty
of God, and peace---that long sought after prize will finally come!
We certainly know our history as a people and the sorry relationship between nations--the Holocausts, the genocides,
the wars, the abuses of prisoners in every age, the horrific acts of cruelty. So in this vision we can be truly
grateful that there is a tree of life, whose leaves bring forth healings of every kind. A river that washes clean
and bright. In a world that is divided by religion, by theology and by doctrinal stance Revelation pictures a day
not just done with sin and a bent to sinning, but done away even with religion as we have known it in the past.
It tells us first and foremost that few things in life go the way we thought they would, and that the consequence
of that is likely to be FEAR!
A colleague shared the story, supposedly true of a plane which landed for re-fueling after a long but smooth overnight
flight on the morning of bright and sunny day. It was announced that there would be enough time for everyone to
get off the aircraft and then re-board in 50 minutes.
Everyone got off the plane except for one gentleman in first class that the pilot noticed as he walked by. He could
tell that the man was blind because his guide dog lay quietly underneath the seat next to him. "Sir",
the pilot said to the blind man, "We will be here for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch
your legs?"
The blind man replied, "No thanks,-- but maybe my dog would like to stretch his."
You can imagine all the people in the gate area when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane, wearing
sunglasses and being led by a guide dog! And the scramble to seek passage on alternate flights that followed.
Where there is fear, there is no peace. Ask anyone who runs a church nursery. Children who scream week after week
for fear the parent who left them will never return.
Fear brings with it anxiety, worry, apprehension, dread, restlessness, panic and tension - none of which lead us
to feel calm, peaceful, relaxed and stress-free.
Fear is a normal human response. It is a part of every person's life - perhaps more so in some than others - but
still everyone has to deal with fear at some point.
On the night of the last supper, John tells us that Jesus well aware of what the next day would bring sought to
comfort his friends with some good advice on getting through the time of uncertainty that would be coming. As gently
as he could he told them something of what the future held.
Like a child lost in a department store, the disciples were afraid, uncertain, confused and nervous. And so he
continued saying, "Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me …. Peace is what I leave
with you; it is my own peace that I give to you. I do not give it as the world does. So do not be worried and upset;
do not be afraid" (John 14:1, 27).
If after 2,000 years that peace has still not come…shouldn't we be concerned?
But it was never the peace of the world…it was the peace of the soul he promised. How do we find it here and now?
There were three important things to remember:
Be patient.
Be open.
Be grateful.
First - be patient.
The Epistle lesson from Acts 16 tells of Paul's first missionary work in Europe. It's the first time we hear Luke
the author, describing the activity as "we did this, and we did that." Paul had felt from the start that
God had called him to take the gospel to foreign soil, and as he records in his other letters he had tried on three
different occasions to get there but every time God seemed to block his way.
He was extremely frustrated, but he continued to preach his message wherever he found an audience, and the word
continued to spread. Finally, as recorded here Paul had a vision of a "man of Macedonia pleading with him
and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." He tried again and this time it worked. Many years
had passed in the process…but when the timing was right, when it was God's time…doors opened and he went!
Jesus didn't go to the cross and take away the sins of the world in the first year of his ministry, even though
we are told he knew his purpose from the beginning. He didn't go in the second year either, when it was apparent
that the people just weren't getting his message. Somewhere in the third year Peter confessed him as the Christ…and
from that moment on Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem and began his journey to the cross. It was God's time.
It was the right time!
In the in between time we must wait patiently in order to see the signs when they come.
Secondly - Be open.
When Paul finally did arrive in Macedonia you can imagine his disappointment to find no audience, no interest among
the men of that town. There were not enough believers to even form a minion, the group of ten men necessary to
invoke God's presence through the Jewish prayers. So seeking some place to begin he went to the river which he
assumed would be a place of prayer. All of the ancient faiths saw those living waters as places where the spirits
moved.
It was there we are told that his most remarkable recorded accomplishment was the conversion of one woman named
Lydia,---actually a woman of Lyda, whose conversion and subsequent faith was expressed in gracious hospitality.
She supported Paul's ministry and enabled him to gain a foothold in this new land from which our own faith sprang.
There never was a man from Macedonia. There was only Lydia…a wealthy woman who owned a business that dealt in purple
cloth, the textile of royalty…and she opened such doors for him. In the future all of Paul's letters would express
his deepest affection for this church, the one he established through her in Phillipi. He would comment how they
were always the first ones to respond to his needs, and always to keep him in their prayers.
What if he had not been open to this change in expectations? What if he had held to the traditional beliefs of
his own culture and training that women could have no part in the faith?
No doubt he remembered the promise "Do not remember the things of old. See I am doing a new thing."
And a new chapter began to unfold.
Many of you are old enough to remember a time when within the Roman Catholic faith those of one family who were
not also Roman Catholic were denied burial within the sanctified grounds of Catholic cemeteries. Husbands and wives,
parents and children were separated in death by walls meant to keep out the "unsaved." Did you know that
throughout the world following Vatican II many of the walls came down. It was a symbolic and certainly much needed
act of enlightenment that opened the doors which Christ had opened so long before.
It was a beginning that we can look back on now and shake our heads at such ignorance…yet far too many doors remain
blocked. They are not just issues…they are minds. Be open!
Third - be grateful!
If it cannot be the way you thought…don't miss the way it is…and find within that situation the gift that God has
prepared for you! Therein is perfect peace.
Two artists vied with each other to see which could produce a painting that could depict the idea of peace. One
painted a picture of a quiet lake--way up on a mountain. Not a breeze was stirring. Not a bird was flying. Not
a ripple disturbed the quiet waters.
Initially everyone agreed the vision of the first artist was the truest picture of peace.
However, the second artist painted a picture of a roaring waterfall, with a mighty tree hanging over it. In the
crotch of a limb of that tree, bending over the turbulent waters and almost within the reach of the rising spray---
she painted a tiny sparrow sitting calm and unperturbed upon her little nest.
There in the midst of the mighty roar, surrounded by what seemed to be frightful danger, that sparrow hadn't a
worry in the world: Her cozy little nest was secure ---a a sanctuary on the edge of oblivion.
Afterward viewing both the pictures, everyone agreed that despite the potential for annihilation at any moment---the
second picture came closer to depicting the highest concept of true peace. A peace not as the world gives but secure
in the heart of the believer.
In Hebrew - peace - or Shalom - is much more than the absence of things that disturb. Peace is rather linked to
the concept of wholeness,---of being "at one" with God and with our neighbors - and certainly with ourselves.
It is not only an absence of war but also of the causes of war - greed, hate, fear, and their children - injustice,
intolerance, and prejudice---eliminated once and for all.
It is not only an absence of pain and distress - things that Morphine or Demerol might provide--- but also of having
the disease that causes the pain and distress cured…not put into remission but cured forever.
That is what Jesus was about when he walked among us and what he is about through his Spirit even to this day and
this moment. As we await the new heaven and the new earth - that heaven and that earth to be inherited by those
who keep faith with him, by those who claim the vision and by those who walk by the light it sheds-may we be patient,
be open, and be grateful!
My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Therefore, do not
let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
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