Reboot the Mission: Acts 1:1-11 - Sunday of the Ascension

[Luke writes:] ¹In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning ²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. ⁴While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
  ⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸But 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.” ⁹When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹They said, “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.” (NRSV)

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to lead a team of explorers up the Mississippi River to survey the Louisiana purchase and locate the fabled Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean—which would open up lucrative fur trading with the Western Native American tribes.

But there was a big problem. There is no Northwest Passage. The maps were all wrong! Eventually, they ran out of river. To continue the mission, they were forced to abandon their boats and journey across the Western Continental Divide otherwise known as the Rocky Mountains.

Ultimately, their mission was successful because they adapted and overcame. Another key to their success is the guidance of Sacagawea, who helps them navigate the terrain and negotiate with Native tribes for supplies and safe passage. For her part, she was unexpectedly reunited with her brother, who was a Shoshone chief—whom she hadn’t seen since being kidnapped by a rival tribe during childhood.

Over the last two years, the leaders of our Synod have been studying a book called Canoeing the Mountains, which likens the circumstances of the modern-day church to the Lewis and Clark expedition running out of river. To put it bluntly, churches like ours have been sailing on the currents of 20^th century realities. But the world we’re living in has changed dramatically. The future before of us looks nothing like the past behind us. We’ve run out of river.

And for any of us who may have been in denial about the significance of these changes and their impact on the church—the Coronavirus has been a dreadful wake-up call. But our present situation allows us to see God’s work and God’s promises in a whole new light.

Take today’s first reading from the book of Acts. Jesus is taken up into heaven. No longer will Jesus be with his disciples to teach them, lead them, and accompany them. No longer will Jesus be there to perform miraculous signs and works. Yet, Christ’s mission is going global. When the disciples are baptized by the Holy Spirit, they will be doing even greater works than even Jesus had done.

The mission—and their calling into that mission—are expanding far beyond their horizons. And yet—if Jesus had given them the ability to choose between living into these promises, versus going back to the life they’d known before and having him there with them, I’m sure they would’ve chosen the latter. Wouldn’t you?

It’s not an exaggeration to say that we’re standing at the crossroads of history right now—as individuals, as Americans, as a global community, and especially as the Body of Christ. I truly believe that life will never again be as it was before Covid-19. Much of the change will be tragic and traumatic, and the pain of it is going to stay with us for a long time. That’s especially true for the families of 350,000 people around the world. But we believe that Christ brings new life out of death. I believe that Covid-19 is a catalyst to bring about a radical transformation of our common life so that we and the people of our world will be blessed by Jesus’s love in new and powerful ways. The mission hasn’t changed in 2,000 years. But the ways in which God is calling us and equipping us to carry out the mission is changing.

Ascension is what happens when God acts to takes you from where you are to where God desires you to be.

Did you ever think that we could survive as a church for ten weeks or more without being able to gather in a building, while at the same time caring for one another, reaching out to those in need, and increasing participation in Sunday worship? If that’s not ascension, I don’t know what is! But we still have a long way to go from where we are to where Jesus calls us to be. And the transformation isn't exclusively for the church. 

God will be changing what you define as important and valuable in your life. Things that were once so important to you will be set aside for new priorities and new urgencies. Neighbors will be connecting with neighbors, instead of being isolated in their own lives. The church will arise as God’s answer to the politics of rage, division, and conquest. The Holy Spirit will awaken the better angels of our nature to fight against Covid, poverty, hopelessness, and despair, as opposed to fighting each other.

Ascension is when God lifts you out of the dark and deep places you’re living in, and draws you into new life and new ways of living.

You may feel like a fool to believe that the future is brighter than the past behind us. The magnitude of disruption and loss lends great credibility to despair. But God keeps promises. And because it is God who is calling you, empowering you, and sending you, the mission will be accomplished, and the promises fulfilled—if you but trust in God. This change will bring you closer to Jesus and each other—and ultimately to the Kingdom of God.

And today, we are all ascending from who we were to who God wants us to be.

Grace has brought us safe thus far. The mission continues—and God will provide everything you need for the journey toward the fulfillment of God’s every promise.