WEBVTT 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:03.759 Crystal Senesti, hallelujah, Christ is risen. 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:05.360 Aletho Senesti. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:08.240 The Lord is risen indeed. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.279 Hallelujah. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.279 Let's pray together. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:12.720 Almighty God. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.120 To you all hearts are open. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:20.160 All desires known, and from you no secrets are hidden. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:33.519 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your own name through Christ the Lord. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:23.840 Let us pray. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:42.799 Mercifully give us faith to perceive that according to his promise, he abides with the church on earth even unto the end of the ages. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:50.159 Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God in glory everlasting. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:51.440 Amen. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:10:00.480 As you're being seated, our children, grades five and below, are invited to godly play in the back of the church with this servant today. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:38.320 In the first book of the Apollo, I wrote all about that Jesus had begun to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.919 After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:55.279 After his suffering, he presented himself alive to them by many convincing truths, appearing to them during the forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:02.639 While dating with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:29.440 He replied, It is not for you to know the time or periods of the Father by his own authority. 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:41.679 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria to the ends of the earth. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:51.679 When he had said this as they were watching, he lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight while he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.000 Suddenly two men and white robes. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:47.200 He subdues the people under us and the nations under our feet. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:53.519 He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:56.399 God has gone up with a shout. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:59.360 The Lord with the sound of the rams. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:07.039 Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our king, sing praises. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.080 For God is the king of all the earth. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:13.279 Sing praises with all your seal. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.000 God reigns over the nations. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:18.639 God sits upon his own. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:57.039 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:02.879 And for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:29.840 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:44.480 God put his power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:48.240 Not only in this age, but also in the age to come. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:15:00.159 And he has put all things under his feet, and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.759 The word of the Lord. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:33.279 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, Thus it is written that the Messiah is to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sin is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.839 You are witnesses of these things. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:40.079 And see, I am sending upon you what my father promised. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:44.480 So stay here in the city until you've been clothed with power from on high. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.119 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:54.319 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:58.559 And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:02.079 And they were continually in the temple blessing God. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:04.960 This is the gospel of the Lord. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:32.880 The Lord is risen indeed. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:35.039 Please be seated. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:37.039 Hey, thanks for joining with that. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:48.240 I mean, really, the reminder is that we are now 43 days past the resurrection of the Lord, but this Easter season is a full 50 days, not one. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:53.279 So you could really say to your neighbor, happy Easter, and that would be accurate. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.400 Why do we do it so long? 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:03.200 Well, I've tried to make the case, and I just want to remind you, I think we do it so long because we've done it so wrong. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:12.880 We have spent most of our Christian lives looking for a resuscitation from the dead. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:23.440 Resuscitation means we experience pain or harm or death, and we get our life back, and maybe it's a little bit normal, maybe it's a little bit better than before. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:29.920 And to be honest, most of us want that most of the time, and it has nothing to do with resurrection. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:38.400 The resurrection from the dead is when death enters the body and the wounds never leave, and the body will never die again. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:54.240 I want to make the contrast for you because it became very clear to me when we were walking with Camino and we were coming to the end to the ocean that most of my Christian life has been a sanctified way of how I lived before. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:58.960 That is to say, hey, we all know that being a jerk is bad. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:06.720 But as a youth, and this is probably me, I don't know that my preacher told me to be this way. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.359 I couldn't be a jerk to everybody. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:11.119 Not anymore. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.880 I could just be a jerk to people who didn't believe what I believed. 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:23.680 I'm grateful for your laughing, but I'm gonna tell you that was the gospel according to how I was raised, and there's no life in it. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:28.000 So what did I do most of my youth and my college years? 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:32.799 I focused on being right and loving people who were right. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:37.519 Which is a resuscitative way of life that leads to death. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.920 We spend so much time on this because we get it wrong. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.039 We get it wrong. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:48.640 Hey, listen, I'm just like everybody else. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:51.680 I like spending time with people I like. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.960 Spending time with people God likes. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:08.240 I hope you hear the difference between resurrection and resuscitation. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:13.839 It's challenging, which is why we usually would just rather be resuscitated. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:15.519 Thank you, Jesus. 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.119 Now, this story is an interesting one because it's Ascension Day. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:23.599 And to be honest, it's weird. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:30.000 And if we take it so literally, I think we'll forget that this is actually the culmination of the whole story. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:31.279 I mean, I don't know if you know this. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:37.279 Yuri Gregarian, the first person to go to leave the atmosphere, got up there and said, Look, God's a myth. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:39.680 I've left the earth and God's not here. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.480 If you read this story literally, Jesus flies away to where? 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:48.480 We haven't found him with the Hubble telescope, friends. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.440 We haven't found him with the web telescope either. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:59.039 So just a reminder to you, we could take this so literally that we go right to the grave with the story. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:08.240 So let's enter the symbolic universe that we still occupy, where good things are up and bad things are down and we live in the middle. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.039 And here's the story of the gospel. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:12.720 God comes from up. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.160 I mean, listen, maybe this is a multiverse. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.599 Or maybe God lives in the fifth dimension and we live in the third. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.880 I don't know what you need to hear, but symbolically this makes sense. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:27.279 God comes from this good place and assumes our humanity. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:35.920 And every time we say we're saved by the blood of Jesus, I want you to hear not by like washing in Jesus' blood, but the fact that he took on blood. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.039 We get that symbol wrong most of the time. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:42.640 Has nothing to do with washing our sins away in blood. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:46.799 Has everything to do with Jesus having blood like you. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:53.519 So Jesus does that, becomes incarnate and lives between heaven and the underworld. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:55.680 And then what happens on Friday? 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:57.680 He enters the underworld. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:03.519 Then on Sunday, he comes back to the middle place, right? 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.039 Different, comes back to the middle. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:15.839 And here is really the thing that makes all of it work is that he ascends back from whence he came, changed. 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:17.920 And what's changed? 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:22.880 Well, I don't know if you we want to argue that Jesus has changed, but let's just say this. 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:28.640 What does Jesus do fills all things because he assumed all things. 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:37.519 The earliest Christian evangelist, Athanasius of Egypt, said, what has not been assumed cannot be redeemed. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:41.599 The Ascension Day talks about what God has assumed. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:43.039 What has God assumed? 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:44.160 Boredom. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:49.279 Or the special kind of boredom you have in the middle class, we. 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.440 And because Jesus knew what it was meant to be, bored. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.039 I mean, let's be honest, we don't hear anything about him for 30 years. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:24:59.839 Why is that? 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.000 Because there wasn't anything to tell. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:05.039 You ever been before you ever been bored before? 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:07.200 Well, so was Jesus, and so was God. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:08.000 And guess what? 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.200 Boredom entered into heaven on ascension day. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:14.640 You think you're frustrated with people at work? 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:18.559 Look, Jesus was with 12 people who didn't get it at all. 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.119 How am I making that claim? 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:27.119 They're looking at the resurrected Jesus and they say, Are you gonna make Israel great again? 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:31.200 And he's like, No, sweetie. 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:34.799 No, no, I'm just gonna leave now. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:35.440 Bye. 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:39.200 I mean, look, I'm not making it up. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:40.960 We read the story. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:46.319 Make Israel great again is a resuscitated life. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:47.519 What do we want? 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:49.039 A better king? 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:51.599 Yes, that's what we want. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:58.160 We'd rather have a better king or a better president or a better governor than live into God's kingdom. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.519 And I'm talking to myself. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:05.440 But I hope you hear how we get it wrong. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:18.160 And part of it is, I think the reason we get it wrong is we look at this story and we'll say, well, I mean, Jesus flew away, so I guess we're on our own. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:23.119 I don't know if you know how this goes, but a week from today is Pentecost. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:29.839 And at the end of the story today, the disciples are like, Yay, Jesus, and they're praising God. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:33.680 And within 10 days, they've locked the doors because they're terrified. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:38.720 So their fun doesn't last that long. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:40.880 And here's why I think that is. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:46.960 Ever since the resurrection day, Jesus has been showing up in small glimpses. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:47.920 Right? 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:51.680 He'll like walk through the doors or he'll walk through Emmaus. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:55.839 And Thomas wasn't there, so a couple days later he'll show up to Thomas. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:01.839 And then maybe two weeks later, he'll show up with Peter's out there fishing, and then he catches all these fish, right? 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:02.720 You know this? 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:07.519 This is a game that Jesus is playing that is developmentally appropriate for mammals. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:09.519 It's called peekaboo. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:13.519 Consider how our brains work. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:21.119 If you've ever played with an empath, it's delightful because they don't understand that when they don't see you, that you still exist. 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:24.960 And then what there you are, back from the dead. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:30.000 This is the journey of the disciples for 40 days. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:33.440 Hey, Jesus is alive, and the next day we're like, well, maybe he's not. 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:35.440 And then he goes, like, peekaboo, here I am. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:37.279 They're like, oh, there you are. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:38.480 Oh, there you are. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:43.279 And then he leaves for a couple of days, and they're like, man, I just, I just don't know if Jesus is back. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:44.960 And then there he is again. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:47.599 And today is when the game ends. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:50.000 Today is when the game ends. 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:56.160 Because today is the day in which Jesus fills all things. 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:57.839 How does he do it? 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:01.119 He takes his wounds and his boredom and his frustration. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:05.440 He takes the human experience in which some people get cancer and some people don't. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:10.000 He takes that and he takes it right to God where it exists forever. 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:15.279 If Jesus doesn't take our humanity back to God, it doesn't work right. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:30.960 Which means today is a little bit of a tough day because it means, quite honestly, that as much as we'd like to say, seeing is believing, the truth is believing is seeing. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:35.839 The disciples are not really sure. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:40.720 I mean, within a week's time, they think God could care less about it. 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:55.440 That's because they believe that they have to perceive Jesus with their eye for him to be real. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:03.440 And we could say they're a bunch of dummies, but I'm gonna tell you, I think that is pretty much human experience. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:11.119 In fact, once upon a time I knew this great priest who told me, you know why people sit in the same seat in church every week? 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:13.759 And I said, Well, yeah, because like that's their seat. 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:15.759 He's like, Well, that's the cynical way. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:17.680 I'll tell you why people do it. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:27.920 They sat there one time, and maybe it was a particular chord on the organ or the light came through the window. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.720 Maybe it was something the preacher said, probably not. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:38.559 But they sat in that seat and they had this moment where, like, just a peak of Jesus. 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:42.960 So they go back again and again because they just need to see it again. 00:29:43.839 --> 00:29:45.200 I actually think he's right. 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:47.519 I sit in the same chair every week. 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:54.079 But I want to say, I think that's what our faith life often is. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:01.519 We can have this moment of surprise, and then we go back there again and again and again, and we say, Well, Jesus has deserted me. 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:02.079 I'm living. 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:09.119 We even have these phrases like, oh man, you know, like I'm just having a desert experience, my spirituality is dry. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:15.519 And I want to tell you why I think that is, because we wouldn't believe Jesus if we saw him anyway. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:23.359 We're looking for one thing instead of Christ to be full in all things. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:27.200 And I hope you're here. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:30.160 That doesn't take away disappointment and pain and sorrow. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:31.200 It doesn't. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:35.119 I think what the ascension says, go ahead and have those experiences. 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:40.400 Jesus, Jesus had them too, and Jesus is fully in those things. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.720 I don't want that. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:49.440 I want a resuscitated Jesus in which sinners gets cured, and death is no more. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:56.160 But you realize that when Jesus died, death entered God forever. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.240 So we don't, it's like, oh, God can't die. 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:02.000 Oh no, we die in God. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:03.599 We die in God. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:12.000 I mean, that's what the story says is we live and move and have our being not outside of God, but inside of God. 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:15.680 And the real question is, are we aware of it or not? 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:31.039 So you might find yourself disappointed, well, in your faith life, in your personal life, in your work life, and you might find yourself doing things like, God, play peekaboo with me, show you're real. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:35.200 That's what youth camp was all about. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.400 But I want to change that language a little bit. 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:44.799 God, I'm really disappointed, and I'm just gonna need help perceiving your presence in all things. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:48.079 Well, Mike, you're just dickering with words. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:57.200 I think I'm really just trying to express what's resurrected and what's resuscitated, and I think the whole gospel hinges on that. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:03.680 God, I'm having a hard time perceiving your presence right now. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:10.000 And you're not listening to my advice on how to fix it, God. 00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:15.839 Anyone else had that experience? 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.079 God's not a great listener to my advice. 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:19.200 I mean, go figure. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:20.480 My kids aren't either. 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:23.119 You know, I think this is just a thing, right? 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:28.000 And perhaps it's because I'm believing the wrong thing. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:38.400 Now, I also want to suggest to you that ascension isn't just a thing that Jesus did once and that's cool and it completes the story. 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:45.599 I actually want to suggest to you that there is something really important for it as a way of life for us. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:52.720 So I want you to hear this story about ascension, and you might say, well, Mike, that just sounds like a therapeutic trope. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:53.599 Okay, that's fine. 00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:56.799 That may be what it is, but for me, it has a real spiritual value. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:02.400 I'm walking the Kamina with my kid, and my kid decides that they want a thing. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:07.119 Now, I knew that that thing was not really gonna happen. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:18.079 But instead of me saying, just no, what I said is that's improbable, that's unlikely, you're gonna have to get permission from your mom, which I knew wasn't gonna happen. 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:22.240 We call mom, and mom says, Why did you put me in this position? 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:23.440 I'm not there. 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:30.160 So finally I say, Fine, I hear you, and I'll just say no, like I should have. 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:30.799 No. 00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:34.720 My kid, of course, is very disappointed. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:40.160 And I say something like, Well, disappointment's really normal, and I get it. 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:43.920 And then about 10 seconds later, I'm like, Well, you've been disappointed long enough. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:45.519 How about you get over that? 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:53.359 And I'm just wondering if any of you with kids have ever thought you shouldn't be disappointed to this degree. 00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:58.640 And out of that should, you decided to take matters into your own hands. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:00.400 And here's what that looked like for me. 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:02.240 Hey, I gave you this really gift. 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:05.440 What that gift I gave you wasn't good enough. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:08.880 This is master manipulation. 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:13.039 And I want you to hear it comes right out of the underworld. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:14.559 Right? 00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:16.320 Comes out of the underworld. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:18.320 And so, what did I need? 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:21.840 Well, I needed to get out of hell, friends. 00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:25.599 I needed to give Anna hell because you know one thing, hell loves is company. 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:29.519 And I sure was inviting my kid right down into the grave with me. 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:34.320 Now, look, what happened eventually, I mean, I'd like to say it happened quickly. 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:37.679 And in some ways, I'm telling you the story because it's an anomaly. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:40.079 More often than not, I get it wrong. 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:49.440 Ultimately, what had happened is I realized oh, the way I was raised was that I wasn't supposed to be disappointed. 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:54.000 I was raised with the idea that feelings can be controlled. 00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:59.760 And I want to tell you, feelings can be repressed, but they sure can't be controlled. 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:06.719 Feelings are very real, they're just not always true. 00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:10.719 But feelings don't listen to the logic. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:13.679 You ever talked yourself down to being disappointed? 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:14.880 I doubt it. 00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:23.199 You might have talked yourself into repressing your disappointment, but I don't think you've ever said, oh, I really shouldn't be disappointed right now, therefore I won't be. 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:25.360 And your body was like, I agree with you. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:31.039 So what did it take for me? 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:39.280 It took me realizing, and I have this unique personality fall that says, Oh, my kid's disappointed, it's because I did something wrong. 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:45.920 It took me a moment of saying, like, wow, I've got this wound in my life that is going to wound my kid. 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:47.360 Because that's no way to live. 00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:49.039 Friends, that's no way to live. 00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:54.480 And it took me like some prayer and some grace, and then I was able to say, Wow, I blew it, kid. 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:55.840 I blew it. 00:35:56.480 --> 00:36:00.960 I told you you could say you were disappointed, and then I chided you for doing it. 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:06.079 So something in me needs resurrection. 00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:19.840 And I want you to hear whether it's a silly thing like your kid or at your job and with your priest or whatever it is, God would be really on the side of you having new life. 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:23.440 Now, me trying to control my feelings is an old wound. 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:25.039 It's never going to go away. 00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:31.199 And it doesn't have to define the way I live spiritually or as a parent or in society. 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:32.639 It doesn't have to. 00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:42.079 Christ has said, the powers and principalities I've taken care of, will you choose to enter that victory with me? 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:48.800 Most of the time, though, I'd rather Jesus just did it for me. 00:36:50.320 --> 00:37:01.039 Ascension Day is about Christ doing it alongside us, being with us, whether we do the holy work or not. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:16.960 Now, this is really weird because you know that we're supposed to have this Paschal candle up here to lit for all of Easter tide, and then you know, well, it's also Pentecost, so we're gonna do that, and then it's going to be Trinity Sunday, so we're gonna have it then too. 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:25.679 But I just want to offer you this exercise of why I think this is so difficult for the disciples and why it's often difficult for us. 00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:32.239 We've been looking at this very visible, perceptible light now for 43 days. 00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:44.079 And the disciples were looking at Peekaboo Jesus for 43 days as well, and they see him leave, and I guarantee you the thought that they had the next day was the light's gone. 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:49.280 I mean, look, in three weeks the light's gonna be gone. 00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:50.400 Right? 00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:56.719 I think you know that for a second, and you're like, I'm okay, my brain's okay. 00:37:57.280 --> 00:38:02.239 But then as hours and days accrue, wow, the loss of the light is really, really tough. 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:10.719 So here's what I want to say about God filling all things, and it's pretty much similar to what I say at funerals every time I do one, because I don't have a better message than this. 00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:13.119 All the light we do not see. 00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:21.599 And we live in a resuscitated world that says Mammoth Cave has no light in it. 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:23.599 It's absolutely dark. 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:25.360 You ever been to Mammoth Cave? 00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:27.599 Carl's Bad Caverns. 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:31.440 You ever been in a cave where they turn out the lights and you're in absolute darkness? 00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:37.599 And the truth is it's full of light, it's just imperceptible to your eye. 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.800 And you say, wow, I'm really scared of the dark. 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:44.800 There's no light here. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:48.719 Boy, that defines a lot of my life in crisis. 00:38:48.880 --> 00:39:04.480 But the truth is, Mammoth Cave, the life we have on earth, is teeming with the light of God, just not always perceptible to our eye because we've decided what light looks like. 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:06.239 It looks like this. 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:15.119 But you know, it also looks like infrared and microwaves, which you can't see, but you rely on every day. 00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:18.800 So, what do we do on Ascension Day? 00:39:18.960 --> 00:39:22.239 It's gonna be jarring, which is why we're gonna get to do it again next week. 00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:24.800 Well, what we do is we change the light. 00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:29.280 The truth is, just like every funeral, we don't put lights out. 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:38.000 Because in the Lord, life is never ended, even though it will always be changed. 00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:41.840 You're gonna watch me change it right now. 00:39:42.239 --> 00:39:47.119 You're gonna say, Mike, liturgically, you can't put the Paschal candle out. 00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:49.599 I'm not putting it out. 00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:51.599 I'm gonna change it. 00:39:51.920 --> 00:40:05.280 Because Ascension Day is when visible light changes, and over the next seven days, you might find yourself thinking, I just feel really lone in a dry place, and I want to invite you, the light's not gone. 00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:11.039 It's actually filled every crevice of every dark cavern in your life and in the world. 00:40:12.559 --> 00:40:18.400 So then we say, Help me perceive, God, what you perceive. 00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:25.840 You will never see a microwave with your naked eye. 00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:26.960 You never will. 00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:31.519 You don't need to see them to know what they do. 00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:40.559 So this is our invitation to say, I may not see you in the people I hate. 00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:43.199 And you're there. 00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:52.079 God, I may not see you in an unfavorable medical diagnosis, but you haven't flown away and left the building. 00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:56.960 You have filled all things with your presence. 00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:08.480 Maybe we say, God, it'd be enough if you could fill me with trust, but if you can't, just help my brain to say this thing until my body believes it. 00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:17.599 The truth is, if God can fill all things, what do you think God wants us to do? 00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:24.719 Love is a terrible thing to ask, isn't it?