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Walking
with Illumination Welcome Grace Fans! People from around the world are gathering at Churchill this weekend to celebrate the so-called “Sport of Kings.” I am thankful that we have the opportunity to gather in church and celebrate God’s love for people around the world. As you know, I try to go to great lengths not to horse around with any chatter about Churchill during the sermon. Heaven nose, if I deliberate about the Derby, you can bet that it might stirrup the temptation to trot out a paddock-full of appalling pony puns. That could have its ups and downs. I’m sure there would be some neigh-sayers who would nag me about it later. So it would be-hoove me not to make horses the mane emphasis in the message. That would be a tail of whoa—a real stretch—and it might leave folks scratch-ing their heads or tapping their shoes a bit. They might run from their rowses, leave the place, and never show up again. I would hate to saddle you with a pun-ishing message. The odds are that you couldn’t take it furlong. I’d wager that you might have to rein me in a bit, so I don’t go galloping off on the wrong track. That could be a night-mare; it would be a gamble to try to filly you up with an over-dosage of foal-ish figures of speech. I promise to try to buck the urge to whip out any puns or jockey any Derby words into the sermon on the spur of the moment. Otherwise, you might get colt feelings, mount up some resistance, rail against me, or turn away—exacta what I wouldn’t want! And based on what’s been happening in the news lately, I don’t want you to “Wright” me off! We have seen what happens when pastors start ranting and chanting crazy things! Even presidential candidates depart from their pastors’ points of view! AND AS YOU CAN TELL, THE SERMON TITLE AND TEXT DON’T REFER TO FILLIES EITHER, SO IT WOULD BE A LONGSHOT TO TRY TO MAKE ANY CONNECTION TODAY! If you have been here lately, you know that we are in the midst of a seven-week sermon series that is being presented by a committee. Our Evangelism Consultant, Dr. Gary Straub, has been leading a class: “Practicing Resurrection—Walking the Way of Light.” The “Way of Light,” or “Via Lucis,” is a centuries-old Christian devotional practice based on 14 scripture passages. We have been examining some of these resurrection passages and thinking about what it means to walk in the light as people of faith. We have been invited to walk with joy, awe, strength, faith, and love. Next weekend we’ll celebrate Pentecost and give thanks that because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can walk with power. But today, we’ll consider this passage from Acts 1—a passage with two distinct parts—and think about walking with illumination. THE FIRST PART DESCRIBES JESUS’ ASCENSION. Many of you know that Luke and Acts are believed to be written by the same author. Luke and Acts are “Volume One and Two” of a dynamic series about God, who is working through Jesus and the disciples and the early Church. But some of you may not remember that Luke tells two stories of Jesus’ Ascension. The first seems to have occurred on Easter evening and is recorded in a passage we read two weeks ago, Luke 24:51. Jesus’ Ascension provides a dramatic, uplifting, out-of-this world ending to Luke’s first book! So why does he repeat this scene—with several notable differences—at the beginning of Acts? Luke gives his new revised standard version of the Ascension in Acts 1, moving it back an additional 40 days from his resurrection. The disciples receive 40 days of instruction from Jesus. Do you hear the resounding echo of previous 40-day periods in the Bible? For instance, how long did God spend with Moses on Sinai to bring about the transformation of the people? How long did Jesus spend in the wilderness, transforming himself? Could it be that Jesus spent 40 days with his disciples in order to transform and prepare the people to become the Church? Jesus proclaims: “The power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be my witnesses—to the ends of the earth!” And BAM! Before they can say a word, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye—Jesus is out-of-sight! And there is a moment of illumination for the disciples. They are given another glimpse of Jesus and what’s about to happen! It’s another one of those burning bush, mountaintop, transfiguration moments! And it would have been so easy to just stand there—pondering and wondering and piddlin’ and diddlin’! But moments of illumination can face quick elimination if they are not nurtured. Someone said: “Christianity is a ‘come and go affair.’” “We come up to the mountain, but we must go back down again.” “We come to worship, but we must go to serve.” And that offers a super segue into the next section of the passage. In order for our moments of illumination to escape elimination, we have to maintain the motivation to PRAY! Prayer “keeps the lights on.” Prayer enables us to stay connected to the Resurrected! We might describe this period of time between the Ascension and Pentecost as God’s “pregnant pause.” God’s people were called only to wait and pray. Waiting and praying are features of faithfulness. You may recall other biblical images like the one in Isaiah 40 where the prophet proclaims that those who patiently “wait for the Lord” shall “renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles!” Friends, let’s pay attention to this before we rush to the Pentecost party! When we are busy, we exhaust our energy on a host of tiny, inconsequential, trivial tasks. If we don’t take time to “wait and pray,” we will not have a chance to recharge our spiritual batteries. This has been the focus of our “Unbinding Your Heart” emphasis this year! Wait and pray…and wait and pray…and the moments of illumination will come. I don’t think the members of the early Church understood Jesus’ Ascension as a going-away party for their revered rabbi and friend. Rather, it was another moment of glorification and illumination! The Ascension did not mean that Jesus was no longer with them. In fact, Jesus would be with them in a new way—empowering them to continue his ministry. The same holds true for us today. Jesus has not checked out; he has not left the building. He works within us and through us as we seek to bring Light to the darkness of the world. As we wait and pray…we’re given the eyes to see God’s presence and work all around us. As we wait and pray…we’re given the vision to see opportunities to illuminate others by sharing the love and goodness of God. And those moments can happen on a grand scale—or on a very personal level. SOMEONE DROPPED AN ARTICLE IN MY BOX WRITTEN BY JIM WALLIS. Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening and the title of the newspaper article is: Faith-Inspired Movements: A New Generation Awakens.He writes: “Last month, I spoke at Park Street Church in Boston.” “I faced a packed church of hundreds of 20-something evangelicals.” “They want to be a generation of new abolitionists—focusing on the most vulnerable people in our world today.” “They suspect that Jesus would likely care more about the 30,000 children who die globally each day due to unnecessary poverty and preventable disease than he might worry about (other issues).” Wallis says: “The young evangelicals are not alone, but are a part of a broader new and spiritually rooted progressive movement.” “This movement includes the religious from many traditions…young Catholics, seminary students in mainline Protestantism, young black pastors, next-generation Hispanic Pentecostals, children of Asian-American immigrants, the spiritual but not religious…” “All of these people are making the vital connection between evangelism and social justice.” Wallis proclaims: “We may be on the brink of a revival of faith that leads to big changes in society.” “(I see) a new generation applying its faith to the greatest moral challenges of our time”—a movement that has been “almost entirely missed by a media obsessed with the political horse race.” We may be seeing the beginning of the next “Great Awakening”—a sweeping movement of illumination that transforms our country and culture! Of course, some illuminating moments happen on a smaller scale. I recently heard the Ballard High School Choir sing at the convention center—our son, Brandon, is part of the group. If you know the director, Noel Weaver, you may realize that his title is “Choral Director,” but he actually functions like a Youth Minister to hundreds of teens in our community. Many of the pieces he selects for the choirs are songs of faith. The piece they sang at the convention center was Veni, Sancte Spiritus from Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. The sign on the outside of the building said “Kentucky International Convention Center,” but the room we were in became a sanctuary. The young men and women sang in Latin—but they were offering up prayers for illumination from God—whether they knew it or not. Veni, Sancte Spiritus—“Come, Holy Spirit; send forth from heaven the ray of thy light.” “Come, God of the poor; come, giver of gifts; come, light of hearts, thou best of Consolers, sweet guest of the soul, sweet refreshment.” “In labor, thou art rest; in heat, the tempering; in grief, the consolation.” “O Light most blessed, fill the inmost heart of all thy faithful.” “Without your grace, there is nothing in us, nothing that is not harmful.” “Cleanse what is sordid, moisten what is arid, heal what is hurt, flex what is rigid, fire what is frigid, correct what goes astray.” “Grant to the faithful, those trusting in thee, thy sacred gifts.” “Grant the reward of virtue, grant the deliverance of salvation, grant everlasting joy. Amen.” And tears rolled down
my cheeks as I listened. It was a moment of illumination, a time of worship.
And sometimes illumination happens on a very personal level. One of the
people who was really in touch with that was Chris Smith, a beloved church
member who passed away recently. He had just turned 60, and those of us
who knew him were not ready to let go—especially his dear wife,
Carol, and his family. As many of you know, Chris had a deep thirst and
curiosity about life—and especially about all things biblical and
spiritual. But he also had a servant’s heart. He didn’t stay
on the mountaintop—he worked in the valley, behind the scenes. In
fact, despite his cancer, just a few weeks ago one of his final acts of
service was to crawl around in the boiler room. He was trying to find
a circuit breaker that had tripped while the youth were making coffee.
And here’s an
interesting “P. S.” to the story. Robin Brown and my wife,
Ellen, took Chris’ wife, Carol, to a local restaurant for lunch
the day after the service. They were sharing “Chris” stories—moving
from laughter to tears and back and forth. And wouldn’t you know
it? During one of the lulls in the conversation, one of them suddenly
noticed. “Oh my God—listen to what’s playing!”
In the midst of the noise of that crowded restaurant, they heard Bridge
Over Troubled Water. Oh, I know, it could have just been a coincidence.
It could be just another story like that convention center choir thing
or the supposed “Great Awakening” or the Ascension. Or maybe
God is all over it? Maybe they are all moments of illumination and assurance?
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