SPEAKER_00: In the name of the one holy and living God, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this morning we are observing the ascension of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: To go briefly backward, we call this day actually Ascension Day Observed, because the ascension falls 40 days after Easter, and that falls on a Thursday usually.
SPEAKER_00: So we have moved it to Sunday so that we can observe it today.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the privileges in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Today is when Jesus is raised up into heaven in front of his disciples who then rejoice with joy and then were continually in the temple praising God.
SPEAKER_00: They saw something extraordinary happen that Jesus told them would come to be, and they were humbled by and grateful for it.
SPEAKER_00: Other pieces of scripture and theologians through time have also described the ascension as Jesus ascending into the heart of all creation, ascending into our very spirits as humanity.
SPEAKER_00: He had spent three years teaching his disciples and his followers, then suffering and dying, being resurrected, being resurrected, and then teaching them after the resurrection, too.
SPEAKER_00: Which is to say, he had done all he could to prepare us for what it is to live as he taught us to live.
SPEAKER_00: One of his final prayers, actually, before this moment, was to ask his father to protect us.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that it would not be an easy road to trod without him being present before us each day.
SPEAKER_00: But he knew we could be entrusted with the responsibility of following the way that he taught.
SPEAKER_00: He had made us ready to try and bring the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He believed in them then.
SPEAKER_00: He believes in us now that we can do it.
SPEAKER_00: Part of what the kingdom come means is a level setting of sorts, because the kingdom is not a hierarchy.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, we are all equally beloved parts of creation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to level that playing field, to show us the way of how things can and should be, and then entrusted us with that responsibility to live as he showed us.
SPEAKER_00: And we know what he taught: the way of mercy, of justice, of love.
SPEAKER_00: But all those things have to be tended and nurtured with a deep intention, because some of our baser instincts are rather toward self-protection, identity, politics, tribalism, borders.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus broke all of that down to help us see that we are all neighbors, that we are all equally valuable to God, and therefore we have to work for the betterment of all.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus showed how to do this by honoring the widow who gave two pennies, as much or more as the one giving a lot of money out of their wealth to the treasury.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus healed a blind man without telling him that he needed to be different or to convert.
SPEAKER_00: He taught about second chances through the prodigal son and the woman at the well.
SPEAKER_00: I could go on and on about these stories that we know so well, but you know as I do that everyone we say might be considered on the outside, Jesus brought inside, which really means that there's no one who is on the outside in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're all just in it together.
SPEAKER_00: Now, even though he showed us how to be, we immediately started botching it, right?
SPEAKER_00: We humans are messy, and we stay messy.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking with my partner about these passages for today, and she said almost in passing, but it stuck with me: justice is not our immediate inclination as humans.
SPEAKER_00: We have to actually work for it and stay diligent about it because we can fall into these self-serving ways without realizing it.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to pay attention to how we're engaging with each other and the world so that we are sure not to just have those baser instincts in the driver's seat.
SPEAKER_00: We must drive with intention toward the goals we know Jesus calls us toward.
SPEAKER_00: This actually goes hand in hand with the concept of Jubilee that we hear a brief summary of in our first lesson today.
SPEAKER_00: This biblical model is primarily found most explained in Leviticus, but we're hearing something of a summary statement in Deuteronomy today.
SPEAKER_00: Every seven years, basically, a Sabbath year was declared, just as Sunday is a Sabbath day in our week.
SPEAKER_00: So every seven years, debts were canceled in the communities.
SPEAKER_00: And once that cycle had been done seven times, then in the 50th year was a full Jubilee year, even more fully living into these restorations and level settings.
SPEAKER_00: So land was returned to original owners, broader debts were forgiven, fields were laid fallow to rest, and those who had been indentured or enslaved were released.
SPEAKER_00: The goal was to assure that we don't just fall into and then never climb out of layers of injustice or greed that occur in the world around us.
SPEAKER_00: We're asked to open our eyes and look around, see what has gotten out of alignment, and then restore it to wholeness.
SPEAKER_00: It also assures that no one person ended up with everything while everyone else had nothing, because things had to be returned to proper ownership and people to freedom on this regular cycle.
SPEAKER_00: The playing field is leveled in the model of Jubilee so that all have equal ability to thrive.
SPEAKER_00: Our world might do well to actually try to live out Jubilee, especially in this time of deep disparities of wealth and access.
SPEAKER_00: We see so many suffering, while so many more have so many have more than they know what to do with.
SPEAKER_00: That is not what the kingdom looks like.
SPEAKER_00: I'd go so far as to say that these disparities separate us from God, which is actually one definition of sin.
SPEAKER_00: So we are called upon to work for justice and mercy and restoration as a response to this sin, so that we can be living as Jesus taught us.
SPEAKER_00: I think that is where the idea of Jesus ascending into the heart of all creation becomes so powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't ascend just into heaven and is now apart from us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus ascended into each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: His spirit, his life, his being dwells within each one of us, and we get to decide how we are going to live through him in our lives for the sake of the world that he loves.
SPEAKER_00: How will we do Jesus' justice?
SPEAKER_00: How will we do Jesus' restoring to right?
SPEAKER_00: A lot of what's possible when we understand Jesus dwelling within us is a courage that allows us to face sin and harm that is happening around us.
SPEAKER_00: We learn to speak it aloud and face it rather than brushing it under the rug or hoping it will go away.
SPEAKER_00: We work to figure out how we can do our part in our time to make things better.
SPEAKER_00: Many of the problems of our world and our nation did not start overnight.
SPEAKER_00: They came from a long time of placing justice and restoration way down the list of priorities.
SPEAKER_00: We might just want to blame our forebears and say that they did that, not us, so it's not my fault.
SPEAKER_00: It has little to do with me.
SPEAKER_00: But we all have the opportunity and the responsibility to make the world a little bit better while it's on our watch.
SPEAKER_00: We just have these brief lives that we're living here and now.
SPEAKER_00: In a blink of an eye, our time will be done.
SPEAKER_00: What legacy do we want to leave?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus within us invites us to try and make the world a little bit better for those who come after us.
SPEAKER_00: Our children or our grandchildren, even those that we will never have the chance to know on the other side of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus knows we're all connected.
SPEAKER_00: We all need one another, and we are the whole human family under God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows and told us that in the kingdom of God, He goes to prepare a place for each one of us so we are all equally beloved and valued.
SPEAKER_00: No one is on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: So we must do our part to assure the wellness of all of us for the sake of all of us.
SPEAKER_00: So we tell the truth.
SPEAKER_00: We tell the truth about sin that we have seen or known or done or experienced.
SPEAKER_00: We honor the truth of others as they share their stories.
SPEAKER_00: We take part in jubilee however we can in our lives and hearts, knowing that restoring the truth and getting free and resting and loving as a regularly scheduled commitment will only make us stronger and better off.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave us everything we needed in his teachings and presence so that we could do our part to bring the kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: He entrusted us with the responsibility of the truth of his message, and that we would use it for good.
SPEAKER_00: Now we get to build new and healed relationships with others by living these truths in community.
SPEAKER_00: Because no one is outside in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: That is what Jesus entrusted us with upon ascension.
SPEAKER_00: And it remains in our hands today.
SPEAKER_00: He believes in us.
SPEAKER_00: He believes in our ability to continue as he called us.
SPEAKER_00: Now it is our job to believe in ourselves, to link arms toward the common goals of justice, mercy, and dignity for every human being.
SPEAKER_00: The world needs nothing less than this.
SPEAKER_00: It is in our hands.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.