May 15-16, 2010
Ascension Day
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 47
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24:44-53
Salem Lutheran Church
Sycamore, Illinois
By tomorrow afternoon, I will have officiated at four funerals in the last week, with another one coming up next week. I must say, this hardly ever happens. Usually these spread themselves out a little more evenly, but sometimes it just goes like this. So it's filled my week… my usual practice of sitting down with the families in the days before we gathered to formally commend these loved ones into God's care… I sat down with children or spouses and urged them to tell me about the one who had died. And in so doing, they spoke each one, about what they had left behind. Not about things nor in what would come to be once wills are read. Rather they spoke of the qualities the person held and they told stories. They shared things like laughter and love. Like the sizes of growing children marked on a door jam. Like his habit of writing letters --- when he was happy or not so happy alike. Or of her love of color and the ability to duplicate portraits. Or a gift for gardening. Or of special memories of holidays shared. Or the witness of having cared for a handicapped child for 20 years. They spoke of what is left behind that is imprinted on their hearts and they laughed and they cried as they did so. And it occurred to me as I listened that the greatest legacy left by anyone is in the sharing of our gifts in the shaping of other lives. Children, stepchildren, grandchildren, spouses, friends. In that way, the legacy lives.
And if that is so for all of us, how much more true is that for those whom Jesus leaves behind today. Indeed, like with all of us, the greatest inheritance is the one that lives in and through those left behind. In his case, in and through all of God's people on earth. In how we show our love for all the saints, as our 2nd lesson reads today. In how we live a life in the shape of the sacrificial love of Jesus. And not just here. But wherever and however and whenever the opportunities present themselves.
On this day as we mark Jesus' ascension, we could well find ourselves staring up into space ---- wondering just how Jesus did that… thinking that if the clouds just parted we might get a better view. For just like with any family left behind it sometimes takes a while to move away from the loss and back into our lives. Even so eventually we all must do well to listen to the advice of those who came upon those disciples and urged them to quit looking for Jesus up there. Rather, it is ours to look for signs of God's work down here on the ground. And so we do and as we do today, we give thanks for all those who volunteer their gifts in this place (which our puppets named a few moments ago.) All of these amazing legacies of kindness and compassion and love which you all are shaping and sharing and which will live on long after us. For in all these ways and a thousand more, the very legacy of Jesus lives on the ground right here.
This past spring, you will recall that our young people took on a project of collecting shoes. I am ever so glad to invite you to see their work, our work together, from beginning to end in the following presentation. It is but one example of how things happen in this place among God's people here. It surely speaks of the power of God among us. And not just for us, as you'll see. And not only for those who drive by or who find their way through the doors of this place. But for un-named thousands of God's children who today have shoes. This is Jesus' legacy: that he would raise up people who would live their faith in concrete ways… and who would even love people they'll never meet. Because Jesus loves them. Because Jesus lived and died for them, too, we do what we can to show that love. So join me now in seeing and celebrating God's gifts, Jesus legacy, living here among the people of this place. And now, as you will see, it also lives all around the world. Amen.