{"id":10000,"date":"2024-05-08T07:51:51","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T14:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10000"},"modified":"2024-05-08T07:51:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T14:51:52","slug":"the-festival-of-the-ascension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10000","title":{"rendered":"The Festival of the Ascension"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acts 1: 1-11; Luke 24:44-53<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Festival of the Ascension<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this Sunday which is closest to the Festival of the Ascension (May 9), there is something that is important for us to be aware of and that is that Jesus is present in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s go back and see it from the point of view of those apostles. Remember first of all that there was that enormous defeat because the one that they followed was crucified, and they all fled. Of all things, there was a victory; he arose from the dead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he was among them in a different way. He seemed to be able to go through doors. On the other hand, he could eat fish. He was there, and then he wasn\u2019t there. They didn\u2019t recognize him when they met him on the road to Emmaus, but then they knew him when he broke the bread (Luke 24:35). And there\u2019s the story about going fishing and how they knew him when he took bread and gave it to them (John 21:1-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here at the end of Luke, Jesus is for the last time with his disciples in this new way, yet he going to leave them again. What were they going to do? Remember Thomas, doubting Thomas. In the fourteenth chapter of John, it says: \u201cLook, I\u2019m going to go. I\u2019m going to go to my Father and prepare a place for you.\u201d And Thomas says: \u201cLord, we don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, how can we know the way?\u201d \u201cYou can\u2019t do this to us.\u201d It says further in this chapter: \u201cI\u2019m not going to leave you desolate.\u201d They were desolate. It\u2019s all over, again. He said: \u201cI will come again, not simply at the end.\u201d Of course, he is going to come again when everything is rolled up in him. But before that, he\u2019s going to come again through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That raises this problem of what it means to be \u201cspiritual,\u201d and who is this Holy Spirit? Commonly we think the Holy Spirit is sort of floating in the air. We think that what is \u201cspiritual\u201d is something that\u2019s not real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How exactly is Jesus Christ present with us now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know how the Lord is with us in Baptism, but he also continues to be with us in the Lord\u2019s Supper. He\u2019s present with us in the bread and the wine, in his word and promises. It\u2019s important for us to realize what that\u2019s about. We tend to think that\u2019s sort of an idea, or that\u2019s symbolic, or whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we point out that he is present truly, really among us, we\u2019re concerned about the fact that this is not just invisible. We make a mistake by thinking whatever is visible, that\u2019s what real, and then there\u2019s the invisible, and who knows what that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to that, when we talk about this, we talk about that which is \u201chidden\u201d and \u201crevealed.\u201d It\u2019s important to us to use that kind of thinking, rather than \u201cvisible\u201d and \u201cinvisible.\u201d \u201cHidden\u201d because God is different from us. But \u201crevealed\u201d because he is truly there in the water, bread, and wine, in his promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can spell this out by looking at a couple of ways people mix this up. At this time of year, we hear about people reenacting battles from the Civil War. They really do it right. They have authentic uniforms, authentic weapons, and they go to the actual place and do it right, except for killing each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that what we\u2019re doing in the Lord\u2019s Supper? Reenacting? There is a sense in which it is dramatic. We say it\u2019s a meal because that\u2019s after all what the Lord\u2019s Supper is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some congregations celebrate the Passover meal that Jewish people call the Seder. When Christians do this, however well-intentioned, it is a mistake. We cannot and do not do it as the Jews do. Many Jewish people don\u2019t like it when we Christians do it because even as we do it respectfully, we\u2019re still playing make-believe. And that is not what we\u2019re doing when we celebrate the Lord\u2019s Supper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are we doing in the Lord\u2019s Supper? We are not play-acting. We do not baptize cats and dogs. Kids might do that. They play-act at almost anything. They play church, play the Lord\u2019s Supper, as they might play a wedding or a funeral, and the like. But let\u2019s remember that that isn\u2019t appropriate. That\u2019s not what it\u2019s about. What we\u2019re doing here is something that is based on God\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about infant communion? Why is it that we don\u2019t commune tiny infants? After all, we baptize them. What\u2019s the problem? In the Orthodox Communion (230 million Christians) they not only baptize infants, they commune them at the same time. They also confirm them. All three at the same time. They have an entirely different way of doing these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But within Western Christianity, we sort this out by saying there are appropriate ways the Lord works with us. When the child is old enough to know what a meal is, over against eating baby food, then that\u2019s a different thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same thing with confirmation. To confirm a baby who is one month old doesn\u2019t make sense to us for what confirmation is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if it\u2019s all play-acting, then so what? What is it that is decisive about the Lord\u2019s Supper? Four points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we may say that when we come forward to receive the bread and wine, we \u201cgotta\u201d believe. And the answer to that is it doesn\u2019t depend on our believing. When this promise is given, this is truly the Lord\u2019s body and blood. This is what it is in spite of us. Both the one who believes, and the one who doesn\u2019t believe receive the same thing. But for the one it\u2019s a blessing and for the other it is condemnation. That\u2019s why we can sort out the seriousness of what is happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s true that the Lord\u2019s Supper strengths the faith of the one who is already baptized and believing. But the Lord\u2019s Supper doesn\u2019t depend on us, our thinking, our feeling, our imagination, our believing or anything like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, Paul does write that we\u2019re supposed to remember, and we\u2019re supposed to do this again worthily (1 Cor 11:23), but \u201cworthily\u201d does not mean: \u201cAm I good enough? Am I repentant enough? Am I alert enough?\u201d No, the worthiness is based on saying: \u201cI come because it\u2019s the Lord\u2019s doing.\u201d That\u2019s entirely different from the way people think of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third place, people will say it has to be a pastor doing it, which, of course, is true in the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions. In 2003 Pope John Paul II put out an encyclical that spoke to the whole question of the Lord\u2019s Supper. There it says that it cannot be the Lord\u2019s Supper unless there is a true priest and that has to be a priest who is ordained by a bishop in Holy Orders and in communion with the Pope in Rome. It says this not once but twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why it is inappropriate for us who are not in the Roman Catholic Church to go to a Roman Catholic Mass. When one does that, one is not only saying: \u201cYes this is God\u2019s presence, but I am also accepting the basic priesthood as it is in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. I\u2019m accepting the Pope in Rome.\u201d It is bluntly stated and has the authority of almost infallibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that in the US Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in this country the Lutheran and Catholic scholars refrain from celebrating communion together because they know that to do that means not only accepting the real presence of Christ, which Lutherans of course do, but also accepting the Roman priesthood and the Pope in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The understanding we Lutherans have about the Lord\u2019s Supper is that it doesn\u2019t depend on the minister. This problem is not new; it was sorted out in the early church. They had the problem that there were persecutions and in those persecutions many of the laypeople and the priests caved in. When the sword was put to their throats, they said: \u201cOf course, I\u2019ll give up Christianity and bow to the emperor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the persecution was over, they said: \u201cWe didn\u2019t really mean it. We had our fingers crossed. We want to repent.\u201d The church asked: \u201cHow can somebody who betrayed our Lord this way, be somebody who celebrates communion?\u201d That can\u2019t be a real communion. And the answer of the church has been: \u201cIt does not depend on the one doing it.\u201d The minister can be a rascal or even an unbeliever. It doesn\u2019t depend on the one who\u2019s doing it. It depends on the promise, the word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in the fourth place, what if we don\u2019t do it right? What if we drop something on the floor? Or what if we don\u2019t say the words right? What if the pastor says it wrong or mumbles? Does that make a difference? When does it happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you go to a Roman Catholic or Orthodox Church, you\u2019ll hear a bell ring and that\u2019s \u201cthe moment.\u201d What is it? When does it happen? All of these are questions we say don\u2019t matter because of the promise and because it happens in the whole worship service. After all, the proclaimed word (preaching) and the word as it happens in the Lord\u2019s Supper (sacraments) is the same. It\u2019s in the doing of it, and it\u2019s also not dependent on whether we do it right. The Lord smiles at his little children who don\u2019t always manage so well, and that\u2019s what we are. It doesn\u2019t depend on: \u201cDid you do it just right?\u201d Rather, his promise is his promise, and his promise never fails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we celebrate the fact that he continues to be with us, between his Ascension and his coming again at the end, our burdens are lifted, our loads are lightened, as Psalm 47, the Psalm for today, says (paraphrase): Clap your hands, shout to God with loud songs of joy because the victory is his, and we are in him, and therefore the victory is ours as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever it is that we need, forgiveness, health, comfort, whatever we need, he is here giving that because he is Lord, and everything is in his hands. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 1: 1-11; Luke 24:44-53<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Festival of the Ascension<\/p>\n

On this Sunday which is closest to the Festival of the Ascension (May 9), there is something that is important for us to be aware of and that is that Jesus is present in a different way.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s go back and see it from the point of view of those apostles. Remember first of all that there was that enormous defeat because the one that they followed was crucified, and they all fled. Of all things, there was a victory; he arose from the dead!<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10000"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10006,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000\/revisions\/10006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}