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“Choosing Oneness”
Acts 1.1-14 & John 17.1-11
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been asked a question I imagine you have been, too. “How are you doing with the isolation?” My answer is that I’m doing ‘okay.’ Most of my rhythms remain the same. The only changes are the ones at church. However, even that hasn’t really changed too much. I continue to shelter-in-place at home. However, when I need a break from my house, or when my dogs get annoyed with me, I head to church. My study, the sanctuary, and the silence of the church is the perfect place for me to listen for God’s voice.
Lately, though, the silence has gotten to me. I miss gathering with you all in our church. I miss hearing the choir practice before worship. I miss bumping into Leo before people start to arrive and catching up on how disappointing the Bears are or how overrated the Cardinals are this season. I miss the laughter from you all as you catch up with one another before worship. I miss the way we transition from ‘getting here to being here’ and the way we let that silence guide us into worship. I miss singing, I miss communion, and I miss listening together to the organ as it says our final ‘Amen.’ More than all the bells and whistles of worship, I miss you.
Right now, there’s a lot of unknown. Many of us are asking, “When will we get back to normal?” Some of us are channeling our inner philosopher, asking, “What is normal even?” Still, others of us are letting the theologian ask, “What new normal is God creating with us at this moment?” All good questions. All come to a conclusion—we aren’t sure.
And that is okay.
God’s people know how to live in the unknown. We are a people who seem to always be on the move, going from the known to the unknown: from Eden to exile; enslavement in Egypt to the place of promise by way of an exodus; a season of plenty with palaces packed with goods to another exile where our water jugs and hearts were empty; and of course, the known life this side of heaven and the unknown mystery beyond. We are a people with a long history of navigating the unknown of life.
The Acts story is an essential story for us in our current season of unknowing. It is the story of Christ’s ascension to heaven. As he goes, Christ says, “This is what you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Christ offers them a word of promise as they enter into an unknown season without their resurrected Teacher. Still, what he promised doesn’t seem to satisfy the disciples, “As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?”
A fair question. They didn’t know what was happening. Christ promised them something that sounded like the revolution they anticipated. They simply wanted to know what to expect. The ascending Christ responds, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, 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.”
Wait. What? They were going to do what? And where? Jerusalem, sure. But ‘all the ends of the earth?’ If I were in their shoes, I would have stood with my mouth open, staring up to heaven. They were just told they will be Christ’s witnesses, but only after they receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly the students would become the teachers. Christ revealed the love of God to the world through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and now, the disciples and the women are commissioned to do the same. Christ makes the promise known to those gathered, but there is still so much unknown.
Thanks be to God, there were angels there to lite a fire them. “Why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.” It is as if the angel said, “stop looking upward, waiting from heaven. Instead, bring heaven to earth…now!” What happens next is my favorite part of the story.
In an hour of great unknowing and with only the promise of the Spirit, they respond in prayer. Through their prayers, they were united not only to one another but also to God. From their prayers were they able to minister to the people in their lives. Perhaps the most important nugget of wisdom in this Acts passage is that we will receive power from God’s Spirit and that our task is to become both heavenly minded and earthly good. What the angels declared to the disciples and women, they say to us as well. Our calling and our work is to spread the good news and embody Jesus’ ministry of hospitality and healing in our lives. We can do this in many ways, such as standing up for those who are overlooked in our community [think the homeless, the widow/er, the person just out of prison and in need of a fresh start]. We can reveal the love of God to our neighbors by praying and acting for the liberation of the oppressed [think of those who can’t live as their authentic self for fear of violence or betrayal by loved ones]. Finally, we can witness to the love of God by bringing beauty to our daily relationships [think sending a ‘thinking of you’ card to someone randomly, resisting getting into petty arguments that only drive people farther apart, and being a decent, kind, sensible human being.] We have work to do as God’s companions in healing the world beyond the pandemic.
As I conclude this sermon, I think it is essential to highlight the Gospel text. In a season that the unknown is becoming more known—restrictions are being lifted, and *normal* seems to return to our town—we must listen to the prayer of Jesus. In an hour of uncertainty for his disciples and after they question him about what would happen after his death, he prays. More specifically, he prays that they may be one. Christ knows that the only way the disciples will make it through the challenging, uncertain days lingering around the corner, they will need each other. As one pastor notes, “Earlier in John’s Gospel, Jesus commands his disciples to love one another so that “everyone will know” that they are followers of Christ. On the night before his death, Jesus declares the loving unity of his disciples the litmus test of Christian witness.” The precise way the world will know who and whose we are is by the way we love one another across differences, our willingness to preserve and cherish our God-ordained oneness. We will make known to the world the love of God in the way we love one another. In all that we say and do is how the world will see, taste, touch, hear and find Jesus. It’s through our unity that we will embody Jesus, make Jesus relatable, possible, plausible, to a dying world. In choosing oneness, the world’ will experience peace in the great unknown of the days to come.
How am I doing with all of this pandemic stuff? It depends on the day. But usually, I make it through because of the love I experience in and through you all. While so much about what happens next is unknown, I take comfort in what I do know. That God is with us. The risen Christ is in our midst and makes all things holy. And the Spirit is praying on our behalf.
With the Love of the Triune God overflowing onto us, we have work to do. While the date and time of when we will assemble together in our sanctuary are unknown, we know what is being asked of us now—to take our place as Jesus’ companions in the creative and transformative work God is doing right now. In our unity and through our prayers, the world will know we are God's beloved by our love.
God is in us and with us and is luring us forward toward new adventures in faithful discipleship.
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