Why are you standing there?

The story of the Ascension of Jesus in Acts 1 is one of my favorite. There is a line where the angels have appeared alongside the disciples who have watched Jesus ascend and they ask "Why are you standing looking toward heaven?" Basically, it is a reminder to the disciples they have been given a new mission and need to allow the Holy Spirit to work within them to transform them into what they need for their mission to go out to the world. I think we sometimes stand looking toward heaven too when we need to be looking for what God is up to next. 

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Welcome to season four of Faith in the Cracks. I'm Pastor Karen Wright. Life has cracks, moments between activities, places where we feel fractured. This is the space where we listen for God in the ordinary moments of life, where we are reminded that just as cracks let things in, it's a space for light and love to shine through. So just like plants grow in the cracks of a sidewalk, let faith grow in the cracks of our lives, trusting that God is at work within us. Episode 16. Why are you standing there looking up? Acts 1 has one of my very favorite stories in the Bible. It is the ascension of Christ. So this is following the resurrection. There's been lots of resurrection stories, and the disciples who lost Jesus, got him back for a while, and now Jesus is ascending into the heavens. And part of this story is the disciples are given a new mission. They're told to go home, sit tight, pray, and wait for the Holy Spirit. So they go back to Jerusalem to an upstairs room to wait, to pray, and we have not gotten to Pentecost. So they're kind of in the middle, not knowing quite what to do. And there's a part of this story where they are looking, and this is the Jesus is ascending, because the disciples who've been following him for three years have had the luxury of letting Jesus do all the heavy lifting. They've just gotten to hear him teach and walked around with him and been with him. And now they're gonna have to do the heavy lifting. Because Jesus says, You will receive power, you will be my witnesses. So it is on the disciples now, which is a little bit terrifying, if I'm honest. And so there's a line in the middle of this, and there's angels that appear around them that say, Why do you stand looking toward heaven? And it's a bit of the, what are you waiting for? Like, don't just stand there, go do something. And I feel like sometimes we all get caught in that. Kind of the now what? And we too can get caught, just like the disciples, standing there looking up, going, okay, what now? But here's the thing: what happens with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? That they were waiting on that power. Waiting, which I don't like to do, waiting is not wasted time. Hanging tight, praying, waiting for power is about waiting for God to move and then moving with God. And the disciples have always struggled through all the gospels to understand exactly what Jesus is talking about. And so they often miss the point, kind of like us. It's a very human thing, and they are not really sure what this means for them to be the witnesses, kind of like us. And this is about how do we trust and wait on the spirit? How do we work with God, work with the spirit to move forward into what is next? Because it's not about creating what we've always been, it's about transforming into what is next. So it's shifting from looking up to looking forward, from watching to being witnesses, and so they're going out in mission, and that's what the church is called to do as well, is to be a community, to gather, to sit together, to pray, to wait for the Holy Spirit, and then to act, to move forward as witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit. And I think sometimes we miss that because we get stuck in, oh, wasn't it great when we used to? So in this kind of in-between time in the Bible, it's a great reminder that just stopping, being, praying, listening, and waiting is part of the preparation for what God is about to do. Until next time. Thanks for listening. New podcasts are released every Monday. If you like the show, share it with a friend, or scroll to the bottom of the episode description and support the show for the cost of a cup of coffee once a month. You can also check out my webpage at faithinthecracks.com. As you go through your week, remember you are a child of God and you are love. May God seep into the cracks and bring forth new life.