Sermon - 5-17-26

Year A – Seventh Sunday of Easter and Ascension Sunday – May 17, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Acts 1:1-11 Luke 24:44-53 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who ascended to the Father, and has therefore blessed us to go into the world, for the love of the world. Amen. *** Allow me to set the scene… We have been in the Easter season, called Eastertide, now for seven weeks… which is poetically… one more week than Lent. And Bethany was a village about two miles east of Jerusalem, on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives. It is the same place from which Jesus began his Palm Sunday procession into Jerusalem. …and, the Mount of Olives was the place where, according to the prophets, God was expected to appear to reign in love and mercy over all the earth. The place… it carries weight… and expectation. On the day of his ascension… a day that the disciples would not have known was different from the day before… the resurrected Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures… telling them once again that while God's mercy originates in Jerusalem, it is destined for the whole world. Then he led his disciples out of Jerusalem, toward Bethany… toward the Mount of Olives. They have heard… but still… do not know what to expect. And that is where we find ourselves today… I'd like to share a poem with you from Pr. Steve Garnaas-Holmes… it's called:                      Ascension As we walk out of the city (why are we leaving?) the day feels fresh and open, green blades springing up (the sower knows not how), songs of birds we hear but can't see. Thomas stops to blow dandelion seeds into the breeze. To our questions, the rabbi frames his answers in more silence than usual. The wind wraps its soft baby arms around our necks, whispering. We walk on grass;  behind us it springs back up. Then words not of departure but of sending. Dispersal. Then he isn't there. Stunned, silent emptiness. (The wondergrief. The traumajoy. The un-knowing.) Our cherished certainties  float away on the wind. A space between us so real, it seems full of something. No one speaks. On the way back it does not surprise me when Thomas, without asking, reaches out, takes my hand. I appreciate Pr. Garnaas-Holmes' poetry… his imaging of what it must have been for them… to witness such a thing. A departure with echoes of Elijah… yet this time, there were no chariots or horses or fire, but instead… an enveloping cloud, and then…Jesus is gone. And then just as at the tomb… two figures in dazzling white call out to them… why do you stand looking up toward heaven? …he is not here… a new era has begun! Jesus, who has been taken up into heaven, now reigns over all of Creation… Just as all things came into being through him, Creation… all of Creation is his. And his disciples obey his word and go back to Jerusalem… and there they wait… they wait and pray… and grow in their understanding that they are to be a community that responds to God's action. Elijah passed his mantle to his disciple, Elisha… but Jesus passes his mantle to all of us. We… are to carry out the mission that Jesus began. You see, the world was waiting for a Messiah who would save them from oppression and trouble, but Jesus… in typical Jesus fashion, flips that all around. We can almost hear him say… "you may have heard it said 'wait for a Messiah,' …but I say to you, take up my mantle, for you too, have a role to play in God's story of redemption." "You are witnesses of these things, and so you shall proclaim the good news with your words… and especially with your lives!" There's a learning model that's rooted in medical training… it goes, 'See one, do one, teach one." And I see that model demonstrated in grand scale with Jesus and the disciples… and ultimately… us. Jesus came, and showed us the way… showed us what it truly meant to live in a way that brings close God's kingdom… a way that brings abundant life to all… Then Jesus guided them to do this themselves… to experience the joy as they worked together to follow this new way. And then… Jesus told them… it's time for you… for us to teach this way to others, as we ourselves continue to learn more each day. But even though Jesus ascended, we are not alone… for in his ascension is the promise of another Advocate… the Spirit of truth… the Spirit of God… to be connected to us for all time, and our ever-present guide in this holy mission. We are still… very much connected to our Christ. This is work we do together… beautifully demonstrated in our synod assembly this past weekend… we are connected, and because we nurture that connection, we will continue to grow and thrive as those who are sent into the world… for the love of the world. I'll leave you with the words from Dr. Rick Mixon: "Jesus gathered them as a community, taught them as a community, and left from the midst of their little community. The Spirit was promised to them in community. Of course, individuals can and do have experiences of the Spirit, but Jesus makes it clear that it is the Spirit, working in the community, that will spread the good news around the world and bring in the reign of God. That reality has not changed in two millennia. It still takes a community of faith, Spirit-filled, to spread the good news and bring in the reign of God. That is our challenge and our commission as the body of Christ, followers of the Way." And to that, I would add… that is our joy… and our blessing… as a body of Christ that is connected and willing to nurture those connections into a love that can grow until the end of time. Amen.