As I mentioned a few days ago, I preached today, my last sermon at St. Luke's (though I only preached there a handful of times. Here is a truncated version of how it turne d out, complete with the scripture passages used:
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Matthew 28:16-20 (New International Version)
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore,go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Acts 1:6-11 (New International Version)
So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
2nd Corinthians 13:11-13
Finally, brothers and sisters, goodbye. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
We are people who really like to honor graduation. There are graduations from high school, or college, or seminary. There is even graduation from pre-school, which I never quite understood. In each of these cases however, we recognize that something has been accomplished, that a part of something is finished. Sometimes, we can get caught up in the midst of the “completion” aspect of graduation that we miss the greater point, however – graduation isn’t really an ending so much as it is a beginning.
Think about it. How many of us, when we were in high school, thought about what life would be like “when I graduate.” It became this idealized dream of moving out of the house, away from our parents, to enjoy a life of non-stop fun. We could finally stop doing the subjects that we didn’t like, and start focusing only on what we wanted to. In this dream, we could see our life, in a sense, beginning at graduation. All of our plans were set to begin to be realized at that point.
Graduation from college may not have that same starry eyed nature to the world that we had in high school, but it is still a point of significance. Once I graduate I’ll have to finally get a real job and pay back these loans. I’ll have to buy a house, find a person to marry and start a family. To some, this is pressure, an anxiety that reality is waiting to slap you in the face the second you receive your diploma. To others, this feeling is exciting – finally, after years of study, we can put all of this hard work into practice, to do what we have set out to. Either way though, the clock starts ticking on all of those things the day we graduate. Again, graduation is an ending, but it is also a beginning.
These three passages that we have just read are all about endings and beginnings. The first two deal with the end of Jesus’ time with the disciples, as he gives to them his final words and then ascends into heaven. In Matthew, Jesus offers to the disciples words that have come to be known as “The Great Commission.” Jesus is telling the disciples, “Look, you can do this. I have taught you many things, and now you have graduated. You need to take what you have learned and share it with others, in word and in deed. YOU CAN DO IT. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” The disciples have graduated.
The passage in Acts shows us the rest of the scene, after Jesus has ascended in to heaven, the disciples are still standing there waiting, as if they do not know what to do. Christ has just empowered them offering them the power of the Holy Spirit, and commissioning them to spread Christ’s Word to the ends of the earth. But instead of doing anything, instead of rushing out to begin living out Christ’s Great Commission, they are just standing there, as if they are unsure what they are suppose to do. It is here that two men dressed in white, who we can assume are angels, appear to prod the disciples into action. These men in white are direct and to the point:
“What are you looking at?? Why are you still standing here?”
The disciples, in the midst of this clear charge from Christ, are still uncertain; they still have doubts. They are still apprehensive about going out and answering that call. So they need two angels to show up and point them in the right direction.
This reminds me of the very end of the movie
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. At the very end of the all of the credits, Ferris comes onto the screen, looks right in to the camera, and says, “What are you still doing here? The movie is over. Go home!” That’s what I think of when I think of these angels in Acts chapter one. The disciples have work to do, and standing around waiting for Jesus to return is not it.
The last passage that we read was from the apostle Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, a church that he had founded, but was having an incredibly difficult time with. They were a church that was constantly struggling with what it means to be in
community as a church Body, and how to serve Christ
in the midst of their culture. Paul had written them several times to try to guide them to being true followers of Christ’s call on them as a community. They are so focused on only seeing their own problems, that they are missing the call of Christ. In a sense, the Corinthians are in the same place as the disciples, stuck staring at the wrong thing, ignoring what Christ is sending them to.
The passage that we read is Paul’s closing to them, reminding them of their call and of God’s presence with them. The words that Paul uses are the words that have become the basis for one of the most common structures of our benediction. The benediction in the church service isn’t a prayer, it isn’t a wrap up or a recap of that we talked about in the service. Just like graduation, the benediction is a beginning. We are being called out into the world by Christ, to spread the Gospel like the disciples, and to live in community and serve Christ, just as the Corinthians were called. Just as Paul is trying to reminded the Corinthians of this, the benediction should remind us of this call as well. It is not a closing, it is a sending. It is not saying “Goodbye for now, see you next week” but rather "Go! You have graduated – go out and do something with what you have learned."
We are a graduated people. Just as we expect high school and college graduates to take what they have learned and put it to use in their lives, we to are called as Christians to do the same thing.
The Great Commission is not an ending, it is a beginning.
The Benediction is not the ending, it is the beginning.
God is with us right now, God is with you right now.
Christ is calling us all out into the world.
Whether you know it or not, the Holy Spirit has equipped you with exactly what you need to answer Christ call, whether you are a teacher, a salesman at John Deere, a retail clerk, a new youth pastor, or a new high school graduate, God is going to use you.
God has a purpose for each and every one of us, beginning right here and now,
and it is not to stand around looking at the sky, waiting passively for whatever comes next.
The disciples didn’t get it at first. Christ was calling them to action, but all they could do was stand around looking toward the future without realizing the work that needed to be done in the here and now.
They were too busy looking at the end to see the beginning.
So…as you prepare to leave here, let me ask you...
what are you looking at?
In the patches of "relaxing" that I have been able to get to this month, I spent time playing Grand Theft Auto IV with my friend Braddison. Now before you start throwing virtual stones at me, let me explain a bit. GTA is clearly wrong on a lot of levels, but my friend Val found a far more challenging and virtuous way to play it. I have tried to obey all laws, traffic or otherwise. That means no killing, no speeding, stopping at traffic lights and stop signs, and paying the toll to cross into Manhattan. Ironically, the game will allow you to do all of this. Essentially, you are driving around town, listening to the radio. As you stop at traffic lights, people will honk and swear at you. It should be called "Virtual Drive Around New York." It sounds dumb, but it's actually incredibly hard.
Here is my previous desktop, which to me looks like a Panda version of "The Ring," especially if you imagine this as the panda not laying down, but rather walking toward you down this long corridor, eating a baby panda on the way...
- A and I accepted a call (position) at a church in Mooresville, North Carolina. We are both really excited for the move. The last month has been largely consumed with trying to lock down a house, and last week we traveled on down to NC to check out some. We found two that were awesome; one that was perfect, but has another buyer that will likely take it first, and the other is near perfect, but about 10-15 minutes outside of town. Mah. It's weird looking at these houses, because your brain is trying to grasp the fact that you could potentially be in this place for the next 5-10 years of your life. Anyway, that's still going... Add the stress of a June 15th start date in NC, and that makes the house search pretty high priority.
- Adrien got me a new iPod as a graduation present. She is awesome. It is awesome. That filled me with too much awesome to handle, and I dropped the iPod. I felt like I had dropped a baby. It seemd alright, but again, I feel as though I dropped a baby that now seems alright - you never know if this drop is going to have cause some hidden damage that will come back to haunt me in the future.
- My computer died (well, the fan died, rendering it useless), and I had to go back to the old iBook Macintosh that is a good 8 years old. That made me realize a few things. One, Macs are awesome, and I miss owning one as my primary machine. This sucker, despite having sat dormant in a closet for three years, and being purchased well over eight years ago, still runs like a genius. However, I have also discovered that technology has done a lot of things over tha past eight years, and I was now limited to what was essentially a sleek looking word processor. In a lot of ways, that made me realize that, for as much as I really appreciate and utilize my laptop (good old chunky Compaq), I really don't need it. All I need is a word processor. Anyway, I got the Compaq pack - it was still under warranty - and it worked like gold again, but the technicians for some reason put stupid Windows Vista back on it (I had painstakingly downgraded to the far better Windows XP). In the process of putting Vista back on it, they also erased the entire hard drive. Way to go, guys. Fortunately, I had backed everything up, but it was a tedious chore to load everything back on (and find all of the XP drivers for the hardware again). So I finally got it loaded up, back to normal last night, and then the plug somehow got frayed and starte sparking. Hooray. Fortunately, the warranty extends to the plug, so they are sending me a new one. It does however mean a few more days with the Mac Daddy / Daddy Mac. 12 GB hard drive and all. No wireless, system 10.1. Go for it!
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