Going Up to God:  Escalator, or Telescope, or…?

May 24, 2009—Ascension Sunday

Acts 1: 15-17, 21-26, Luke 24:50-53

I believe that people with an awareness of the spiritual dimension of life desire to have an experience of Creator God or an experience of the Cosmic Christ—The Spirit of Christ—in their lives. Not simply an intellectual, rational explanation, but a deep knowing based upon their own experience, not the footnotes of other person’s stories.

And I believe that much of our spiritual journey to experience The Holy is with an upward perspective. In the traditions of our Hebrew ancestors important encounters with God happened on mountain tops—Like Moses receiving the 10 commandments. The ancient world-view reflected in Biblical theology is of the 3 story-universe with Creator God up there and out there, being a benevolent monarch sitting ruling the world from a royal throne.

The Hebrews also had their important figures, like powerful prophets, leave this life ascending to the heavenly realm in chariots of fire. So, from that perspective heaven was up and hell was down,  Join me if you’ve ever sung this old camp song:  Jacob’s Ladder:

       1.We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, (3x)          Sisters, brothers, all.

          2. Every rung goes higher higher,….sisters, brothers, all

          3. If you love Him, why not serve him?, sisters, brothers all

Think about how rising up is part of lifting the spirit:  high 5’s, get out of your sadness—lift UP your spirit; McDougall’s front steps, 100 years ago, the preparation for worshiping God was to “go UP” to the sanctuary. Then there is the story of Jesus’ return to the heavenly realm, 40 days after his resurrection, and 10- days before Pentecost.

Listen to the story from Luke 24: 50-53

       Then Jesus led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where he raised his hands and blessed them. As he was blessing them, he departed from them, and was taken up into heaven.

That sounds like the escalator to heaven. Some people still hold on to that old world-view and hang on to the literal interpretation of the story. I think it’s much deeper and much more significant than pushing the button and waiting for the elevator car or the escalator to carry us to a new realm.  Jesus came to the human family, or was sent to the human family to enable us to engage with the miracle and mystery of the new spiritual consciousness. 

And of course the new reality upset some religious folks and they killed him to try to keep the status quo. Hasn’t it ever been thus—new ideas face resistance because most people are more comfortable with what they know, than they are risking the unknown.  This year the world is remembering the 400^th anniversary of Galileo building his crude 32 power telescope. It was 1609.

People for a long time had observed the stars and the planets, but the world-view was dominated by philosophy, theology and astrology. By using mathematics and a telescope, Galileo turned astronomy upside down. He demonstrated, what we now take for granted, that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around. Of course, the new perspective took a long time, and much conflict to gain acceptance.

The United Church takes the Bible very seriously, and part of that serious engagement with the Scriptures is to understand the context of the culture when the passages were written, not just to accept the literal words. 

We do that in life. When a person says something to us we don’t just listen to their words, we listen to their tone of voice, we observe their body language and we take in their facial expression. That is hearing the words and also being aware of the “context.” 

Jesus’ life was to share a new understanding of the realm of God, a new understanding of the qualities of the Holy. Jesus came to the human family, or was sent to the human family to help us realize that The Holy One, Creator God is not just up there and out there in the stars and planets, but also is in the nano-particles, in our DNA, experienced in our relationships, gives us blessing when we give our blessing away to others, and his life also reveals that the presence of God can be found also by embracing the suffering of life and not running from it.

I think that the new reality of the Creator is revealed to us in the story of the young community of followers having a meeting to decide who was to replace Judas—the one who betrayed Jesus.

Again, the followers and friends “go up”—back up to the upper room where they observed the Last Supper with Jesus, and where they hid in fear after Friday. They needed to replace Judas.

The most obvious choice was Mary of Magdala, who in my opinion was either Jesus’ wife—based on the language they used in talking to each other, or Mary was truly his closest friend. You decide for yourself. Why was she the obvious choice? Among other fine qualities, Mary did not run away from the horror of the cross, and then on Easter dawn, she was the first one to experience the risen Christ.

And because Mary had that experience of the risen Christ, she ran to share her experience with the others, and perhaps gave them permission to be open to the same kind of spiritual encounter. But, Mary lacked on credential on her resume to be voted in  the vacancy. It was a penis. That was a patriarchal time with its rules and Jesus broke many of the boundary rules in simply speaking to the woman at the well. To this day, Mary of Magdala, Mary Magdalene remains a mystery figure in the early Church and parts of Christendom especially Spain and France have traditions, churches and shrines lifting up her presence. But she didn’t have the votes so Matthias replaced Judas. It’s interesting that this election by casting lots is the last scripture mentions Matthias.

So, if you have that desire to experience the Holy in your spiritual journey then I encourage you to do the following:

1. Use intentional awareness to observe and embrace the mircle and mystery of the creation. Continue to observe with awe and wonder the mystery and majesty of the firmament. Pay attention to the blades of grass, the petals on the flowers, the waters of the earth and the air you breathe.  Just 5 minutes of deep breathing every day helps to focus

our attention. Meditation and Prayer are also tools to help us focus.

2. Embrace the encounter with all of life:  the good times, the great times, the bad times, the tough times, the painful times. With intentional awareness we can learn and grow and have our own consciousness raised and deepened to new dimensions. From my own life, I can honestly say that my bad times, my tough times have provided my most profound learnings. Have you had that same experience?

3. As Jesus followers, our spirituality is not about us. That’s simply spiritual or psychological narcissism, selfishness. Jesus’ Spirit calls us to spread the light of a new way of living life. Because we are blessed, we are expected to pass the blessing along.

How?  Be aware of your own spiritual journey, your own spiritual experiences, your own doubts, questions and your own “aha’s!”  Learn how to talk about your human spirit with people who are seeking, and asking, about their own spirituality. Don’t share these most important parts of your life with people who cannot understand. Jesus instructions were, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.”  Our spiritual pearls are the most important elements of our human spirit.

I believe that many of today’s problems and crises are symptoms of a deeper spiritual hunger and thirst in people who may not even be aware of how spiritually empty and spiritually thirsty they are. Our responsibility is NOT, is NOT to tell others what do so, that’s up to them. We are called to offer hope to folks by simply sharing our story of what we are discovering in our journeys.

Up, down, or all around it really doesn’t matter. We are not alone, ever. Thanks be to God.

Rev. John Henry Weinlick