June 4, 2000

Pastor David G. Mullen

Luke 24:44-53

Thinking about this story of the Ascension, I wondered, why did the disciples return to Jerusalem "very happy", or as another translation puts it, the disciples go back to Jerusalem with "great joy." What could possibly be the reason?

After all, most of the situations in which someone we really care about leaves us, we are not happy at all, but we may even be grief-stricken, depending on the situation. This afternoon Sue and I will welcome to our home a dear friend from our North Dakota days: the girl who babysat our kids more than any other and is now married with children of her own. We will happily welcome Tammy and her family, and though we rejoice at the good life she now has, we not be happy to say goodbye when they leave tomorrow. Yet, at the Ascension, when the man they loved more than any, who had been killed on the cross then miraculously given back to them by the resurrection, their teacher and leader Jesus is taken away from the disciples again in a most sudden and mysterious way, they go back to Jerusalem, very, very happy. Why?

There’s something important going on between the lines of the story. Driving around the other day I punched the button for my favorite Christian radio station and found that a retreat leader was finishing up a talk on conversion. Conversion, the retreat leader said, is not just turning around and trying to live a better life, but really means giving one’s life and future over to God, letting God be God, and giving up being general manger of the Universe.

The Ascension is all about seeing, believing and having all of life’s possibilities changed by such a God. In Acts 1 Luke writes, "Jesus was taken up in a cloud. The disciples could not see him, but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky." They kept looking up. Looking up is a sign of seeking or finding something greater than ourselves. The disciples are realizing much in such a short time. They finding out there was a God, and they weren’t him! And then they must have realized that neither were the powerful rulers in Jerusalem or Caesar in Rome, who actually claimed to be God! Jesus was Kyrios, was Caesar of the universe. They had followed Jesus, tried to understand him, believed that he was the Messiah, but now, now, something totally beyond all expectation: They were looking up and seeing: Jesus was God! No wonder they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem incredibly happy. Who could hurt them now? God was in charge of their future and that’s why they were very happy! Don’t worry, be happy!

Very happy! How happy are you? Martin Luther described sin as the self curved in upon itself. In modern slang it has been called, "navel-gazing", a kind of spirituality and life-style that focuses on nothing but one’s self and one’s own supposed wisdom and power or sorrow. That is sin, and sin always leads directly to unhappiness. Sin, the self curved in on itself, never looking up to God. Failure to look up to God leads to misery.

Browsing in Tower Books Thursday evening, I found a fascinating book of meditations on the 12 Steps of AA, a month’s worth for each step. Now those steps, you should now, were grown in Christian soil, and are, I believe, as do many others, God’s wonderful gift to 20^th and 21^st century people. They are a powerful, life-changing spirituality for the modern era. At the core of the 12 Step program is God. The higher power. There is no recovery without God–as we understood him, the program emphasizes. You see, the program is about God, not about opinions about God. That’s been the problem with churches, by the way. Arguing about whose got the right ideas about God and or the best morality. Arguing about religion is so self-focused, and only leads to misery, while looking up to a higher power bring happiness and healing. The truth is, there is plenty of recovery without religion. But no recovery without God.

Well, in this little book was a meditation on the 2^nd Step, "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Some say insanity means doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. Today let’s say that insanity is living as though God really doesn’t matter–as though we, Mr. or Mrs. God Jr., must manage our lives and the universe, because God either can’t or won’t. No wonder so many people, even so many Christian are miserable and unhappy. Are we trying to do a job that belongs to God? Insanity!

"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." The little meditation on that step said that some have found it helpful to break out the first three words of the sentence, "came to believe" into three stages, like this: "Came." And then, "Came to." And then, finally, "Came to believe". Now if Ascension for us has anything to do with conversion, and real life with God, I think that little progression shows us the way.

"Came." Well, we’re all here today, so we’ve got the first stage right. One thing is for sure. Staying away from the source of the spiritual life is in fact "nuts." But that’s exactly what many do when their lives tank out. Talk about insanity. Just when we need God and the fellowship of the church the most, that’s when we stay away. Hey, I’ll show them–I’ll show God. I just won’t come there anymore! No, just being here in the presence of Christ like the first disciples is a sign that we, like them, admit our need of something. And that’s true whether this is our first Sunday in church, or whether we’ve been coming here every Sunday for the last 30 years. Being here always is the first stage of a new life. "Came."

"Came to." Second stage. The unhappiness of daily life, the depression, stress, the heaviness we feel, is the way God’s Spirit has of trying to get our attention. Like a doctor slapping the face of an unconscious person, shouting, "Can you hear me, wake up," our problems and foul moods are God’s way of trying to get us admit that our old way of life is bankrupt. "Came to," means waking up to see we are powerless over the mess of our lives have become, and it’s largely our own fault, our own most stupid fault. "Came to" gets us ready to let God be God.

The third stage, "Came to believe." In the dark night of the soul, when all efforts to pull ourselves up from our own bootstraps fails, then it is that the Spirit of God beckons to us, invites us not ourselves, but up to Christ our Lord our life and our only hope. "Came to believe," means that everything we really and truly need will be found in and given by God. "Came to believe" is looking up for salvation and sanity from a power greater than ourselves. We look up and finally see Christ in his glory and power to change us and give us a future.

That’s the happiness of the Ascension. Looking up and discovering: We really have a God, and with God, we have a wonderful future! And then Jesus tells us, "Look around your world. See all the lonely, unhappy people. Go and tell those suffering souls the Good News. Share what God has done for you and promises to do for the world." And in the telling, it’s conversion all over again "Came. Came to." "Came to believe." What? That we, individually, and as a church, could actually make a difference in the world, could actually be a part of what someone has called, "God’s plan to mend the Universe." Look up–and by happy! Amen.