The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
Glorify your name,
Glorify your name,
Glorify your name in all the earth....
We are now in what used to be called Ascensiontide, one of the very shortest seasons of the Church year. It lasts only ten days, from the time that Jesus ascended into heaven until the time the Holy Spirit came to the company of believers in the upper room where they had eaten the Last Supper and had met with Jesus on Easter evening. Ten days. Not a very long time, but one of my children, years ago, once told me that in her mind Ascensiontide was like Advent and Holy Saturday all mixed together: a time of watching and waiting, a time of not really knowing what will happen (although we've been told over and over again), a time of wondering what this momentous happening will mean for us. It's rather worrying, and at the same time full of joy and sorrow mixed together with a large helping of anticipation and a bit of fear.
We know the story. Jesus ascends into heaven, goes home to his Father, for a richly deserved rest after all the ordeals of his ministry, his passion, death and resurrection, and the long time of trying to convince his dear friends that yes, he's REALLY alive, yes, he's REALLY Jesus, and yes, he REALLY must leave them again soon. And then he goes out with them, one fine spring morning, and while they are trying to persuade him to make plans for starting a revolt and throwing out the Roman army of occupation, he simply ascends, rises up out of their sight, and leaves them standing around looking at the sky, with their mouths open probably, trying to figure out where he has gone and when he'll be back again. They're not quite ready to face the fact that he WON'T be back again, at least not in the way they have known him all along.
And then the two angels, because that's what the young men are, more or less tell the disciples to close their mouths and get their eyes back down to earth and go back to Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Spirit which Jesus had promised. Ten days of waiting and wondering, praying and hoping and trying to envision the ministry without Jesus' bodily presence....how on earth are they to go on? What will they do? Who will tell them what to do and how to do it, and explain the things they don't understand? They all know they cannot fill Jesus' shoes. And what about the promises to free and save Israel? Are they supposed to lead a civil war, or what?
So they go back to the upper room and pray and talk and pray some more. The talk is really unnecessary; they are not yet empowered by the Holy Spirit, and they are therefore not really able to make any specific plans for how to carry on Jesus' ministry. But people have to talk and think and chatter. That's how we people are.
Perhaps, during those ten days, their minds went back to the Last Supper and Jesus' long High Priestly prayer, part of which we read for today's Gospel. If they thought about it at all, and we cannot be sure they did, there are some clues in that prayer, clues that would help them in their attempt to carry on Jesus' ministry. Were you listening? Did you catch them?
(pause and give the people a chance to respond; repeat any answers they give. Then continue:)
Jesus prays that God will glorify him, so that Jesus himself will be able to glorify God. That sounds a bit like the little prayer we make at the time our offerings are brought to the altar: From your gifts we give to you. And that is exactly right. We give glory to God by using the gifts he's given us, the skills and knowledge and temperaments and abilities he has blessed us with....and by using those gifts to carry out God's plans and work for his Kingdom, just as Jesus did.
Jesus has gotten eternal life for us, and eternal life, he says, is to know God. That's why it's so important to read our Bible and study our religion, to find out exactly who God is and to know him better.
God sent Jesus to us, and now Jesus is ready, since he's going to die, to send out the disciples. That means they are no longer to be disciples , which means students or learners. Now they are to be apostles , people sent out to do a specific job. The word apostle comes from a Greek word which means "to send out."
Jesus tells us that part of his work of glorifying God is making God's name and love known to the people to whom God sent Jesus , and we, as apostles, also have that responsibility: to make God known to the people among whom we are sent to live and work.
The people and the gifts we have are gifts to us from God, and we are expected to return these gifts and people to God. We return the gifts by using them for God's work, and we return the people by
committing them to God's care and by not trying to hold onto them and make them our own possession. This also respects the dignity of those people as children of God, just as we are.
We need, like the disciples, to believe that God sent Jesus to us....and that God sends us to others in Jesus' name . We can only glorify God by using his gifts to do his work.
We glorify God by our work for him in this world, knowing that, like Jesus, we will someday leave this world to enjoy the close-up presence of God for all eternity.
Father, we love you, worship and adore you;
Glorify your name in all the earth.
Glorify your name, glorify your name; glorify your name in all the earth.
Jesus, we love you, worship and adore you;
Glorify your name in all the earth.
Glorify your name, glorify your name; glorify your name in all the earth.
Spirit, we love you, worship and adore you;
Glorify your name in all the earth.
Glorify your name, glorify your name; glorify your name in all the earth.
Amen.
